FXCM still offers UK spread betting, and the company behind it was renamed. Those two facts together are what most people are looking for when they search this brand. This review covers where its spreads sit against the accounts we harvest, what the rename does and does not change, and what the account does not offer.
Updated 5 Sep 2026. A section inviting readers who have traded with FXCM to tell us what a new customer should know now sits before the FAQ: a rating, how long they have traded, the markets, one thing to know, and their consent. Submissions are read by the team, only reviews we can verify are ever published, and none are published yet; nothing entered there appears on this page. No figure changed. Earlier: Updated 3 Sep 2026. Three changes on the day. First, a cost band now opens the page: what a spread bet costs at your stake and bet count against the industry average, computed from the same harvest as the spread table further down. Second, the FCA register entry for the authorised firm was re-read and captured, and the capture sits under the section on who you contract with, beside the licence list; the rail’s section list was cut to the sections readers use. Third, the page moved onto the new review layout: a head-to-head against the two accounts either side of it in our ranking, a dated testing log built from the August datasets, a licence list, a per-bet cost tool on the spread table, and a section carrying the third-party ratings read from the platforms themselves, each with the date it was captured. No spread figure, score or rank changed. Earlier: Updated 1 Sep 2026. The entity section gains the firm’s regulatory history, rendered from the FCA register read of 31 Aug 2026: the 2014 Final Notice against the firm’s former name, and the register’s clone-firm warnings with a reminder to check the FRN before depositing. Neither fact was on the page before. No spread figure, score or rank changed.
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Minimum deposit£50
PlatformsMetaTrader 4, TradingView, Trading Station
Avg spread, 9 pairs1.59 pts industry 1.7
Spread data1 Aug 2026
What Does A FXCM Spread Bet Cost?
Our Verdict On FXCM
FXCM scores 74/100 and ranks 9 of 14 because its 1.59-point average across our nine harvested pairs is the fifth-cheapest of the thirteen accounts we harvest. It prices above that average on four of the nine, so what you trade decides the saving.
What Happened To The FXCM Name
A rename, not a closure. The brand is unchanged and the authorised company behind it is not the one older articles name.
FXCM: the brand is FXCM and the authorised name is Stratos Markets Limited, under FRN 217689. It was renamed from Forex Capital Markets Ltd in September 2023, so an older article citing the previous name is citing the same firm.
The practical consequence lands at the moment you check the firm yourself, which is the right instinct and the one that goes wrong here. Search the FCA register for the brand and you will not find it, because the brand is not the authorised name. Search the old company name and you will find a record that has been superseded. The firm you are contracting with is Stratos Markets Limited (FRN 217689), and your account documents will say so.
The plainest evidence that the firm is trading is not the register entry, it is our own. We opened a live funded account with FXCM on 13 August 2026, placed 15 orders through it between 18 and 27 August 2026, and took money back out on 27 August 2026, which arrived on 29 August 2026. An account that opens, fills orders and pays a withdrawal is not a closed business.
On 26 February 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority issued a Final Notice against Forex Capital Markets Limited (FXCM Ltd) and FXCM Securities Limited, the firm now trading as Stratos Markets Limited, FRN 217689, fining it £4,000,000 for breaches of PRIN 6, PRIN 11 and COBS. The regulator’s published summary describes it as: “This final notice refers to breaches of PRIN 6, PRIN 11, and COBS related to unfair treatment of customers, and failing to be open and co-operative in the trading firms sector. We imposed a fine and redress”. The action is closed and the firm remained authorised at the FCA register read on 31 August 2026; the register marks such action as historic or possibly current without stating which.
The FCA register lists six clone firms impersonating FXCM between 12 March 2014 and 5 October 2021; these are fraudsters copying the name, not findings about the firm. Check FRN 217689 on the register before depositing.
Nothing about that changes the protection behind the account. A renamed firm keeps its authorisation, its permissions and its obligations, and its clients keep client money segregation, negative balance protection and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Our guide to FCA regulation of spread betting publishes the authorised entity for every provider we track, including the other brands where a register search returns a name you were not looking for.
FXCM confirms on its own UK property that it offers spread betting to UK residents and to nobody else, which we checked on 25 Aug 2026. It is an unusually narrow product statement and it is the one that matters for this page.
FXCM On The FCA Register
Stratos Markets Limited is on the Financial Services Register under firm reference number 217689, and its status panel reads Authorised, since 27 May 2003. We read the entry on 3 Sep 2026, and the capture below is what the register showed that day.
Stratos Markets Limited, FRN 217689, on the FCA Financial Services Register: status Authorised, since 27 May 2003. Captured 3 Sep 2026. Source: the firm’s register entry, Financial Conduct Authority.
The capture is the firm details and firm status panels of the entry as the register served them on that date, and the link opens the live entry. The permissions panel is not in it, so this page makes no claim about which regulated activities the authorisation covers. Our regulation guide sets out how to verify a firm on the FCA register.
FXCM Licence And Terms
Regulator
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Authorised entity
Stratos Markets Limited (FRN 217689)
Register status
Authorised
Authorised since
27 May 2003
Register read
3 Sep 2026
Minimum deposit
£50
Guaranteed stops
Not offered
Every row is a value read off the FCA register or FXCM’s own UK site, with the date of the read held in our broker data. A term FXCM does not publish has no row.
How We Scored FXCM
Our overall score for FXCM is 74 out of 100. Below is the assessment behind it: FXCM marked on each of the criteria we score every account against, each one out of 10.
Criterion
FXCM
Trading Cost
5 / 10
Trading Experience
7 / 10
Trading Platform
6 / 10
Trust
6 / 10
Range Of Markets
9 / 10
Customer Service
7 / 10
These marks do not add up to the score above, and they are not meant to.The criteria are weighted rather than totalled. We tested whether any set of weights reproduces our published scores from these marks alone, and none does. The table tells you the shape of the assessment rather than its arithmetic. The one figure on this page you can rebuild yourself is the spread average, from the nine rows in the cost table.
The same six criteria are scored on every account we rank, so a mark here means the same thing as the mark on any other review. Our scoring methodology sets out what each criterion covers, where the data behind it comes from, and which parts of an account we assess rather than test.
For FXCM specifically, the strongest mark is Range Of Markets and the weakest is Trading Cost. That gap is the useful part of the table. Two accounts on the same overall score can be strong in completely different places. The one that suits you is the one scoring well on what you care about.
What The Marks Say About This Account
FXCM’s strongest mark is for the range of markets and its weakest is for cost, which is the shape of an account that gives you plenty to trade and charges you to trade it. The sections below take both in turn.
One thing about this row is worth stating rather than resolving out of sight. Our master scoring sheet carries an overall figure for FXCM that disagrees with the score published above. The published score is the authoritative one and the sheet figure is not published anywhere, here or elsewhere. Recording the disagreement is more useful than quietly picking one.
FXCM Spread Betting Costs
FXCM prices below the industry average on four of the nine pairs, level with it on one and above it on four. Its nine-pair average of 1.59 points sits under the 1.7-point industry row.
Reading That Table Against The Score
Cost is this account’s weakest criterion and its nine-pair average is not the worst of the accounts we harvest. Both of those are true, because our cost mark takes in more than the average spread across the pairs we harvest.
The average in that table is the one cost figure every provider states on the same basis, which is why it is published. It is not the whole of what an account costs you. Overnight funding, any inactivity charge and the pricing on whatever you actually trade all sit outside it, and our spread betting statistics page publishes the full collection if you want the field rather than this account alone.
Guaranteed Stops At FXCM
FXCM does not offer guaranteed stop-loss orders. An ordinary stop closes your trade at the next available price rather than at the price you set. A market that gaps overnight can therefore close you out below your stop, and the loss is yours.
FXCM runs its own platform alongside third-party software, all of which the summary table below lists. A trader who already works in one of those can bring their layouts and habits with them, and can take them away again.
FXCM recorded a median fill of 181ms in our timed testing, across 15 live orders placed between 18 and 27 August 2026. Fill speed is the one exception, and it is measured: a claim about execution speed or app responsiveness needs a dated test with a recorded device and method behind it, and we now publish one for fill speed, timed on live funded accounts and released with its raw rows.
Our app test counts rather than times. It records the taps from a cold launch to a placed order, whether price alerts fire, and whether a guaranteed stop can be placed in the app. We drove both store builds on 22 and 23 August 2026, using an iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.6 and a Google Pixel 8 running Android 15. It measures no speed, so no app here carries a responsiveness verdict.
On FXCM it took five taps to get from a cold launch to a placed order. Price alerts did not work on either build, and a guaranteed stop has to be placed away from the app. We logged one issue across the two builds: Android: price alerts screen not present in this build.
FXCM publishes a demo account, and we read its terms off FXCM’s own demo page rather than inferring them: £50,000 of virtual money, no deposit to open, checked 26 August 2026.
FXCM took 386 minutes to respond to our email query on 26 August 2026. We opened a live funded account on 13 August 2026 and approval took 26 hours. We requested a withdrawal on 27 August 2026, the fee was £0, and the money arrived on 29 August 2026.
FXCM resolved the question on that contact. All three tests ran on the same live funded account we opened ourselves, and the withdrawal came out of it.
FXCM Versus Trade Nation And CMC Markets
The two accounts either side of FXCM in our ranking, on figures every review on this site renders from the same data. FXCM takes the first column. Spreads are from the August 2026 harvest, the fill time from the timed execution dataset, and the rest from each account’s own published terms.
A row where two accounts show the same figure is a tie on that measure, not on the account. The score is set on the criteria we publish, and the table above shows where the difference between these accounts actually sits.
FXCM Testing Log
Every dated test we ran on this account and every dated read behind the figures on this page, oldest first, from the datasets those figures are rendered from. The log is the evidence trail rather than a summary of it.
Date
What we did and what we found
Published spreads on the nine pairs read from FXCM's own site for the monthly harvest. Nine-pair average 1.59 points against the 1.7-point industry row.
Account opened. Approved in 26 hours.
Both store builds driven on an iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.6 and a Google Pixel 8 running Android 15: five taps from a cold launch to a placed order, and price alerts did not work on either build.
Support contacted by email. Resolved in 386 minutes.
Criterion scores read from our master scoring sheet.
Demo account terms read from FXCM's own demo page.
Withdrawal requested. Fee £0; the money arrived on 29 August 2026.
15 live orders timed between 18 and 27 August 2026. Median fill 181ms, twelfth-fastest of the fourteen accounts we timed.
FXCM sits in the lower half for search interest, 13th of 14 on 1,390 branded searches in July 2026. Search interest measures attention, not quality; the score above is the review verdict.
13of 14Search interest rank
1,390
Brand searches, July 2026
-16.3%
vs June 2026
280
Login searches
1.1%
Share of all searches
Source: Google search volume, the UK, July 2026.
How this is measured
Google Ads reports how many times a month people in the UK searched each platform’s brand terms, and the platforms are ranked on that figure alone.
A term counts for a platform only when that platform’s own website holds the first organic Google result for it in the UK; bare brand words that any company could own are left out.
A month-on-month change prints only where the previous month reached 1,000 searches, because Google rounds smaller volumes.
The figures refresh on the 15th of each month with the newest month Google has published, and the first-result check repeats every quarter.
These are FXCM’s ratings on the platforms below, each read on the date shown and stated in that platform’s own scale. They are other people’s ratings, gathered on those sites’ own terms, and we publish them so you can weigh them against ours.
FXCM’s Trustpilot profile, captured 3 Sep 2026. We recapture these monthly, so the figure in the table is the one the platform showed on that date rather than a number typed in once and left to age.FXCM’s Apple App Store listing, captured 3 Sep 2026. We recapture these monthly, so the figure in the table is the one the platform showed on that date rather than a number typed in once and left to age.FXCM’s Google Play listing, captured 3 Sep 2026. We recapture these monthly, so the figure in the table is the one the platform showed on that date rather than a number typed in once and left to age.FXCM’s TradingView profile, captured 3 Sep 2026. We recapture these monthly, so the figure in the table is the one the platform showed on that date rather than a number typed in once and left to age.
Our own score is set on the six criteria we publish and is not influenced by any third-party rating. A high rating on a review platform and a low mark here can both be true of the same account, because they measure different things.
FXCM At A Glance
Every row below is a value we read on FXCM’s own UK site or hold in our broker data with a source and a date beside it. An attribute FXCM does not publish has no row here, because the alternative is a number we would be guessing.
🗺️ FCA regulated
Stratos Markets Limited (FRN 217689)
💰 Minimum deposit
£50
📊 Spread bet platforms
MetaTrader 4, TradingView, Trading Station
🛡️ Guaranteed stops
Not offered
What You Can Bet On
Every figure in this list is our own count rather than a total FXCM publishes, because FXCM publishes no total for these. The note under the list says how and when we made them.
Forex pairs: 41 †
† Our own count, made on 25 Aug 2026 from the instrument list FXCM publishes on its own site. FXCM states no total for these markets, so the figure moves whenever it adds an instrument and we have not counted again. We re-count these on the monthly refresh; the date above is the last count, not today.
The currency count in that breakdown is our own count rather than a total FXCM publishes, and it is the least solid of the counts we make. The provider’s instrument table footnotes a currency pair as available on a single platform, so the figure depends on reading that footnote as an exclusion. We have counted it that way and said so, which lets you disagree with the method rather than only with the number.
Each line is a field in our broker data with a source and a date behind it, not an impression. Where FXCM does not publish an attribute, that absence is listed as a cost rather than left blank.
Your Experience With FXCM
If you have traded with FXCM, tell us what a new customer should know. Submissions are read by the team. Only reviews we can verify are ever published, and none are published yet. Nothing you enter here appears on this page.
We are paid when a reader visits a partner site. Reviews are never paid for and never edited for a broker.
FXCM Spread Betting: FAQs
What happened to FXCM in the UK?
Its authorised company changed name, and the brand did not. UK spread bets at FXCM are placed with Stratos Markets Limited (FRN 217689), which was renamed from Forex Capital Markets Ltd in September 2023 under the same firm reference number. Nothing closed and nothing was sold to a different firm. An older article naming the previous company is naming the same one.
Does FXCM still offer spread betting to UK clients?
Yes, and only to them. FXCM's own UK page states that it offers spread betting exclusively to UK residents and that residents of other countries are not eligible. We checked that page on 25 Aug 2026. The account sits 9 of 14 in our ranking.
Is FXCM legitimate?
It is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under Stratos Markets Limited (FRN 217689), which is the question that matters for a UK spread betting account. That brings client money segregation, negative balance protection on retail accounts, and access to the FSCS and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Authorisation is a floor rather than a recommendation, and every account we rank clears it.
Does FXCM offer guaranteed stop-loss orders?
No. Its own help pages state that stop orders guarantee execution rather than a particular price, which is the ordinary stop rather than a guaranteed one. A market that gaps past your level can therefore close you out below it, and the difference is yours to absorb.
Who An Account Like This Suits
FXCM suits a trader who wants a wide currency range and already works in third-party charting software, and who is willing to pay a mid-table spread for it. The account is FCA-authorised, the product statement is unusually explicit, and the range is the criterion it scores highest on.
It suits you less if cost is the thing you are optimising, or if you want a guaranteed stop. Neither of those is a matter of opinion: the cost table on this page shows where the spreads sit, and the provider states plainly that its stops guarantee execution rather than price.
Spread betting is leveraged, and losing more than you intended to risk is the ordinary outcome for most people who try it. Spread betting and tax covers where the UK exemption stops.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Your capital is at risk. Spread betting is leveraged, so losses can exceed the amount you set out to risk on a bet. This page is not financial or tax advice.
Three Accounts That Score Higher Than FXCM
These are the three highest-scoring accounts in our ranking, all of them above FXCM at 9, in score order. The order is the ranking’s own and does not change from page to page. Our scores are set on the criteria we publish and are never influenced by what a broker pays us. The list below is therefore the same list you will find on our ranked spread betting platforms.
1. Pepperstone - Review score 98/100
Nine-pair average: 1.34 points, EUR/USD at 0.6 points
Justin Grossbard co-founded Spread-Bet.co.uk with Noam Korbl in 2024, and co-founded the broker comparison network CompareForexBrokers with him in 2014. He has been investing since 1998 and actively trading since 2014, and has written on forex and CFD trading for Kiplinger, Entrepreneur, Finance Magnates and MoneyShow since 2019.
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FXCM65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
