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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.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Read the relevant Key Information Document (KID) before opening an account.
Our verdict on Tickmill
Pros
- US$3.00 per side, about £2.25 converted, on a London-based FCA entity
- Advertises a EUR/USD spread from 0 pips
- FCA authorisation confirmed; London-based
- Futures and Options available on a separate UK account
Cons
- No TradingView or proprietary platform on the UK entity (Seychelles only)
- No cTrader
- Narrower market range than IG or CMC
Tickmill score breakdown
4/5 · Great
The overall CFB Score comes from the full methodology, more than 100 data points per broker. The category ratings summarise each area and do not reconcile by simple average.
How is our rating calculated?Tickmill scores 82/100 . Figures shown are the broker's advertised spreads. Our own spread captures for this market are pending.
Tickmill is a raw-spread MetaTrader specialist in 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. Tickmill advertises EUR/USD from 0.0 pips. Tickmill offers a Raw account. It charges a commission of US$3.00 per lot per side.
In my view, active, cost-sensitive traders running MT4 or MT5 get the strongest fit here. If you want native TradingView or a proprietary platform, I would point you to Pepperstone or Eightcap instead, because Tickmill’s UK entity offers neither.
Tickmill quick facts
Tickmill UK Ltd runs its CFD business from London under FCA authorisation, and the table below gathers the figures you will want to check first.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| UK regulator | FCA, Firm Reference Number 717270 |
| UK entity | Tickmill UK Ltd, registered in England and Wales |
| Parent | Tickmill Group; other entities licensed by CySEC, the FSA in Seychelles and the FSCA in South Africa |
| Year founded | 2014 |
| Trading platforms | MT4, MT5, mobile app; CQG and TT on the separate Futures account |
| Account types | Raw (raw spread plus commission); Classic (all-in spread); Futures and Options |
| Minimum deposit | US$100 on Classic and Raw, no GBP figure published; $1,000 on the Futures account |
| Maximum retail leverage | 30:1 major FX and government bonds from the UK, eurozone, US, Japan, Canada or Switzerland, 20:1 non-majors, gold and major indices, 10:1 other commodities, 5:1 shares and anything unlisted |
| Spreads (EUR/USD) | From 0.0 pips + $3 per lot per side; from 1.6 pips |
| Commission | About £2.25 per lot, per side on Raw (converted from US$3.00); none on Classic |
| Negative balance protection | Yes, for UK retail accounts |
| FSCS cover | Up to £85,000 per eligible person |
| Financial Ombudsman Service | Yes, complaints eligible |
| Demo account | Yes, free |
Trading costs and fees
Tickmill’s pricing is why I would pick 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 the broker’s advertised values, the floor it quotes rather than a broker “from” figure. How we record spreads, and the evidence tier behind this review, is documented separately.
| Account | Advertised spread | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Raw (MT4/MT5) | EUR/USD 0.1 pips; GBP/USD 0.3 pips | About £2.25 per lot, per side |
| Classic (MT4/MT5) | EUR/USD 1.7 pips; GBP/USD 2.0 pips | None |
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 is advertised from 0.0 pips. Commission is US$3.00 per lot per side (broker site, accessed 10 July 2026). Tickmill advertises EUR/USD from 0.0 pips. That is the broker’s published floor, not a measured average.
Classic account costs
Classic folds the whole cost into the spread and charges no commission. The broker’s advertised EUR/USD rate is 0 pips, a headline floor rather than an average of live prices. That is wide for our set, so I would only suggest Classic if you value a single number over a low one.
Raw vs Classic: which costs less
I find Raw costs less, and not marginally. For EUR/USD, Tickmill’s advertised spread is 0 pips. That is the broker’s stated floor, not a measured result. The gap is wider than at most rivals because Tickmill’s Classic spread is wide rather than its Raw commission being low. I would remind you to 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 US$6.00. And because that commission is billed in US dollars, the cost in other currencies will vary 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 August 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
If you run expert advisors, MT4 carries both the Raw and Classic accounts and remains the default. 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. If you are starting fresh rather than porting an EA, I would pick MT5 as 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, which I rate as a strong setup.
FCA regulation
Tickmill UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the FCA under FRN 717270 (FCA register record, checked 16 August 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 August 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. I rate these protections highly, though they do not guard against trading losses.
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. I would keep that in mind if public financial disclosure matters to you.
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). We report the status rather than the cause. No rating should be inferred from the absence of a score in either direction. Trustpilot profiles cover the whole brand across every market, not the FCA-authorised UK entity alone.
TradingView users rate Tickmill 4.4 out of 5 from 1,805 ratings (TradingView profile, captured August 2026), across 32.3K connected accounts. That lands it mid-table on this site, where the TradingView scores run from 3.6 to 4.8.
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. CFD profits fall within capital gains tax. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and can change.
Minimum deposit
The minimum deposit is 100 base-currency units on Classic and Raw accounts. 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. You need 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.
| Method | Tickmill fee | Withdrawal timing |
|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | None; bank fees on single deposits above US$5,000 are reimbursed | Processed within one working day; arrival two to seven working days |
| Debit or credit card | None | Processed within one working day; arrival up to eight working days |
| Skrill and Neteller | None | Processed within one working day; arrival typically instant |
| PayPal, Sofort, Rapid Transfer | None | Processed within one working day |
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. Check those extra costs before you withdraw.
Account opening
You open an account 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. I would point you to our CFD trading guides for a proper look at each asset class.
| Asset class | Available to UK retail | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Forex | Yes | The core offer, and where the Raw account earns its place |
| Indices | Yes | Stock indices across the major benchmarks |
| Commodities | Yes | Metals and energies |
| Shares and ETFs | Yes | Single-name CFDs at 5:1 retail leverage |
| Bonds | Yes | German bond CFDs |
| Futures and options | Yes | On the separate UK Futures account, not the CFD account |
| Crypto | No | Banned for UK retail clients by the FCA |
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. If you were looking for crypto, I understand the frustration, but this is an FCA ban, not a Tickmill choice.
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. These are useful additions for traders who want more than standard CFDs.
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. For you, this means the same maximum leverage as at any UK broker.
| Asset class | Retail leverage cap |
|---|---|
| Major currency pairs | 30:1 |
| Non-major pairs, gold, major indices | 20:1 |
| Other commodities, non-major indices | 10:1 |
| Government bonds from the UK, eurozone, US, Japan, Canada or Switzerland | 30:1 |
| Individual shares, and any asset not listed above | 5:1 |
Customer service
I like that Tickmill’s London office serves UK clients directly, with support by live chat, email and phone during market hours.
| Channel | Availability |
|---|---|
| Live chat | Market hours |
| Phone | Market hours |
| Market hours, response times not verified by us |
We have not run timed response tests on the UK desk, so we describe support here from published information rather than scoring it from our own contact.
Research and education
In my view, 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, which you can use to narrow your search.
| If you value… | Consider |
|---|---|
| Matching low commission with more platform choice | Vantage |
| cTrader or native TradingView on the UK entity | Pepperstone |
| A wider market range than a pure cost play | IG Markets |
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, I recommend it for commission-led MetaTrader traders. Tickmill is a London-based FCA firm authorised under FRN 717270. The Raw account’s per-side commission is the lowest in the set. The advertised spread on EUR/USD starts from 0.0 pips. The minimum deposit is GBP 100. The top FCA-regulated brokers are ranked together.
I would not recommend it 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).
FAQs
Is Tickmill FCA regulated?
Does Tickmill UK offer TradingView?
Is Tickmill the cheapest broker?
What is Tickmill's minimum deposit?
Can I trade futures with Tickmill in the UK?
Is there negative balance protection at Tickmill?
Can I trade crypto CFDs with Tickmill in the UK?
Related pages
About the author
Justin Grossbard is the co-founder and CEO at CompareForexBrokers. He has traded forex since 1998, leads UK broker research and has personally reviewed every FCA-regulated broker on this site. His work has appeared in Forbes, Kiplinger and Finance Magnates, and he holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and a Master of Marketing.