Why choose Pepperstone
Pepperstone is a top-shelf broker for forex and CFD traders, striking a good balance between competitive fees and a solid forex/CFD product selection. I found Pepperstone’s forex fees particularly favorable. By default, Pepperstone uses the old-school MetaTrader platforms, a turn-off for many novice traders; but thankfully, you can link your Pepperstone account to external trading interfaces, including the popular TradingView platform.
No inactivity fee, no withdrawal fee
The brokerage charges no inactivity and account fees.
Withdrawal is free for credit/debit cards and electronic wallets, except for Skrill and Neteller. Bank transfer withdrawal is also free for EU and Australian clients, but quite pricey ($20 or equivalent) for others.
Low index CFD fees
All index CFD fees are built into the spread. For example, the spread for S&P 500 index CFDs is 0.4.
Low stock CFD fees
The commission for stock CFD trading is the following: $0.02 per share with $0.2 minimum fee.
Safety
Pepperstone is a legit brokerage. It is regulated by 7 national authorities including top-tier regulators such as the FCA in the UK. At the same time, the company is not listed on any exchange, does not disclose financial information and does not have a bank parent.
Deposit and withdrawal
Pepperstone provides plenty of deposit and withdrawal options, as well as a wide selection of account base currencies. However, there is a high, $20 fee for bank withdrawals for clients outside the EU and Australia.
