Is IC Markets legit and safe?

Who you actually contract with

• ▸Kenya: IC Markets (KE) Limited — CMA licence 199, on the CMA’s official licensee list (verified 12 July 2026; screenshot below).
• ▸Group licences include ASIC (International Capital Markets Pty Ltd, Australia), CySEC (IC Markets (EU) Ltd, CIF 362/18 — verified on the CySEC register 12 July 2026) and FSA Seychelles — most international clients are onboarded to the Seychelles entity.
• ▸No South African (FSCA) licence.

The register, not our word for it

Verified findings — with sources

• CySEC fine, July 2024: €200,000 against IC Markets (EU) Ltd for participating "knowingly and intentionally" in circumventing retail leverage limits — facilitating up to 1:1000 leverage through a third-country entity in the same group, which CySEC noted repeated a 2021 infringement despite prior assurances (CySEC announcement, 19 July 2024; Finance Magnates). A further €50,000 fine followed for best-execution and cost-disclosure failures. IC Markets categorically denies the basis of the decisions and has said it will appeal.
• No fraud findings or client-fund issues surfaced in our sweeps — these are conduct-of-business findings, not theft allegations.

We publish only findings we verified against regulators' own releases, registers, or the broker's own disclosures — and we name the source. Unverified claims circulating online are excluded.

What's genuinely good

• CMA Kenya licence verified by us on the official list
• Genuine top-tier ASIC licence at group level
• Popular raw-spread execution with a long operating history (since 2007)

Before any money moves

• The 2024 CySEC findings describe deliberately routing clients around investor protections via offshore entities — exactly the entity-routing risk we warn about on every multi-entity broker, here with a regulator finding attached
• Most international clients sit under the Seychelles entity with limited recourse — confirm yours before funding
• No South African licence

Frequently asked questions