Tickmill Review UK 2026 (FCA Regulated)

Risk warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Tickmill scores 82/100 in our testing. This review is based on a live UK account, opened at the broker's FCA-authorised entity, funded in GBP and traded. The EUR/USD, GBP/USD and EUR/GBP spread figures shown are modal values recorded on that account across three trading days in July 2026.

Tickmill is the lowest-commission anchor of the UK set, with a confirmed FCA authorisation and a clean MT4 and MT5 offer. Tickmill UK Ltd, part of the Tickmill Group, is FCA-authorised under FRN 717270 and runs its CFD business from London. Its Raw account tested at 0.1 pips on EUR/USD with about £2.25 per lot, per side.

Active, cost-sensitive traders running MT4 or MT5 get the strongest fit. Traders who want native TradingView or a proprietary platform should look to Pepperstone or Eightcap instead, because on the UK entity Tickmill offers neither.

Tickmill quick facts

Tickmill UK Ltd runs its CFD business from London under FCA authorisation, and the table below collects the figures a UK trader checks first.

Trading costs and fees

Tickmill’s pricing is the reason to choose it: the Raw account pairs a low per-side commission with a tight spread, and on commission alone it is the lowest in our set. The spreads below are tested modal values, the most frequent spread David Levy recorded on a live UK account across three trading days in July 2026 rather than a broker “from” figure. How we record spreads, and the evidence tier behind this review, is documented separately.

Raw account costs

Raw is Tickmill’s cost-led tier and a genuine ECN-style offer, built on raw ECN-style pricing rather than a marked-up spread. EUR/USD tested at 0.1 pips and GBP/USD at 0.3 pips. Commission is about £2.25 per lot, per side, converted from Tickmill’s published US$3.00, because Tickmill publishes no separate GBP rate (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). One standard lot of EUR/USD costs roughly £5.29 all in.

Classic account costs

Classic folds the whole cost into the spread and charges no commission. EUR/USD tested at 1.7 pips and GBP/USD at 2.0 pips, which puts one standard lot of EUR/USD near £13.35, all of it spread. That is wide for this set, so Classic only suits a trader who values a single number over a low one.

Raw vs Classic: which costs less

Raw costs less, and not marginally. On one EUR/USD lot the tested figures give Raw about £5.29 against roughly £13.35 on Classic, so Raw is cheaper by well over half even carrying a visible commission. The gap here is wider than at most rivals because Tickmill’s Classic spread is wide rather than because its Raw commission is low. Add the commission to the raw spread before comparing, never the spread alone.

Other fees UK traders should check

Tickmill charges no fee of its own on deposits or withdrawals, though intermediary banks and e-wallet providers can apply theirs (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). Two costs are easy to miss. The Raw commission is per side, so a round turn is about £4.50 rather than £2.25. And because that commission is billed in US dollars rather than pounds, the sterling figure moves with the exchange rate, so recompute it at the live rate before relying on the all-in number.

Trading platforms

Tickmill UK runs MT4, MT5 and a mobile app, with CQG and TT Trading Technologies serving the separate Futures and Options account (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). One correction most reviews miss: TradingView and the Tickmill Trader proprietary platform sit on Tickmill’s Seychelles entity, not the UK one. There is no cTrader.

MetaTrader 4

MT4 carries both the Raw and Classic accounts and remains the default for expert advisors. It is the platform most Tickmill UK clients trade on. See which brokers offer MT4 in the UK for the field.

MetaTrader 5

MT5 adds timeframes, order types and depth of market over MT4, and Tickmill offers both tiers on it. For a trader starting fresh rather than porting an EA, it is the better MetaTrader choice. Our UK MT5 broker list covers the alternatives.

Mobile app

Tickmill’s mobile app handles account management and order entry alongside the MetaTrader mobile clients. It is a companion to the desktop platforms rather than a replacement.

Trust and safety

Tickmill UK Ltd is FCA-authorised and runs its CFD business from London rather than passporting it in.

FCA regulation and global licences

Tickmill UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the FCA under FRN 717270 (FCA register, checked 15 July 2026), registered in England and Wales. It is part of the Tickmill Group, whose other entities hold licences from CySEC in Europe, the FSA in Seychelles and the FSCA in South Africa (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). Only the FCA-authorised UK entity serves UK retail clients, which is exactly why the TradingView boundary matters: those platforms belong to a different entity with different protections. Tickmill positions the Raw account as an ECN-style execution model; treat that as the broker’s own framing rather than our measurement.

Client money, FSCS and negative balance protection

Tickmill UK Ltd is one of several group entities, and only the UK company sits inside the FCA perimeter. Client money is held in segregated accounts under the FCA’s CASS rules, separate from the firm’s own funds. Negative balance protection applies to retail accounts, so a position cannot leave you owing more than your balance. If the firm failed, FSCS cover runs up to £85,000 per eligible person, covering shortfalls in client money and assets rather than trading losses. Disputes go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and its award limits sit in our guide to the FCA rulebook.

History and ownership

Tickmill was founded in 2014 and the UK entity is registered in England and Wales, with the London office serving UK clients directly. The group is privately held, so it publishes no listed-company accounts, unlike CMC Markets or IG whose parents report to a public market.

Public reviews

Trustpilot shows no score for Tickmill. Its profile carries the notice “This company’s rating is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines”, against 1,151 reviews (Trustpilot profile, checked 15 July 2026). Trustpilot does not publish which guideline was breached and we have not established it, so we report the status rather than the cause. It means the usual public-review signal is not available for Tickmill, and no rating should be inferred from its absence in either direction. Trustpilot profiles cover the whole brand across every market, not the FCA-authorised UK entity alone.

Account types and minimum deposit

Tickmill UK lists a Classic, a Raw and a Futures account; the Pro tier no longer appears on its accounts page (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026).

Account options for UK clients

Raw is the lowest-commission route and Classic the commission-free one, both on MT4 and MT5. Tickmill UK does not offer a spread betting account, so CFD profits fall within capital gains tax. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change.

Minimum deposit

The minimum deposit at Tickmill is £100 on a GBP account, which is 100 units of the account base currency on both Classic and Raw. The separate Futures and Options account starts at $1,000.

Futures and Options account

Tickmill UK offers a separate Futures and Options account served by the CQG and TT platforms, starting at $1,000 (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). It is a genuine UK extra: no other broker in our set offers exchange-traded futures alongside a retail CFD account.

Funding and withdrawals

Tickmill charges no fee of its own in either direction, with a minimum deposit of 100 and a minimum withdrawal of 25 units of the account currency.

Deposit methods (UK clients)

Funding runs through bank transfer, Visa and Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, Rapid Transfer, Sofort and PayPal (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). Third-party payments are rejected, so funds must come from an account in your own name.

Withdrawals

Withdrawals return to the original payment method first, a standard anti-fraud control, with a minimum of 25 units of the account currency. Intermediary banks or e-wallet providers can apply their own charges even though Tickmill does not.

Account opening

Opening is online, with identity and address verification under the FCA’s client-onboarding rules. The £100 minimum applies at the first deposit rather than at application.

Product range

Tickmill covers forex, stock indices, commodities, stocks and ETFs on the CFD side, plus German bond CFDs and an unusual exchange-traded extra. Our CFD trading guides cover each asset class properly.

Tickmill’s international entities market crypto CFDs, and UK searchers arrive expecting them. The FCA banned the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021. The markets table above states the retail unavailability in the crypto row, and no crypto tier appears in the leverage list because the FCA caps do not include one.

Futures and options

Exchange-traded futures and options are the range extra here, served by CQG and TT on a separate account. Bond CFD access is worth a look too: our bond and treasury CFDs page shows how it compares across the set.

Leverage for UK traders

Retail leverage at Tickmill follows the FCA’s standardised caps rather than anything the broker sets. These caps apply to every FCA-regulated broker, and what retail leverage limits mean covers the margin.

Customer service

Tickmill’s London office serves UK clients directly, with support by live chat, email and phone during market hours.

We have not run timed response tests on the UK desk, so support here is described from published information rather than scored from our own contact.

Research and education

Tickmill’s research and education set is functional rather than a headline feature. It lists market analysis and daily commentary from an in-house team, webinars and platform tutorials, plus an economic calendar and trading calculators on the broker site. We describe the offer from Tickmill’s published material pending a live assessment. The raw pricing, not the research, is why most traders pick Tickmill.

How Tickmill compares to alternatives

On commission, Tickmill runs level with Vantage, while Pepperstone adds cTrader and native TradingView at a slightly higher commission. The table below points you to the closest alternatives by priority.

Vantage matches the commission case with more platforms behind it, and Pepperstone’s UK entity carries cTrader and TradingView that Tickmill’s does not. For range rather than cost, weigh what IG covers. The our commission ranking guide ranks the field on all-in cost and works Tickmill against the rest.

Should you open an account with Tickmill?

Yes, for commission-led MetaTrader traders. The Raw account’s per-side commission is the lowest in the set, on a London-based FCA firm authorised under FRN 717270, with a Raw spread that tested at 0.1 pips on EUR/USD and a £100 entry. The top FCA-regulated brokers are ranked together.

Not for TradingView and cTrader users. Both sit on the Seychelles entity, not the UK one, and the market range trails IG and CMC.

A demo is free and worth the time; our guide to demo accounts for UK traders covers how to use one. If the cost case fits how you trade, open a Tickmill demo account before funding a live one (affiliate link, see our advertiser disclosure).