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Is IC Markets cTrader Cheaper Than MT4? 15 Pairs, in Pips
IC charges MT4 Raw $3.50 a lot per side and cTrader $3 per USD 100k. Converted pair by pair: cTrader wins on most pairs and loses on every GBP-base pair.
Usually, but not on every pair. IC Markets charges MetaTrader Raw Spread a flat $3.50 per lot per side and cTrader $3 per side per USD 100,000 traded, so cTrader is cheaper when the base currency is worth less than $1.1667. At ECB rates of 2 October 2026, cheaper on USD-, euro-, AUD- and NZD-base pairs, dearer on sterling-base pairs.
That is the answer to “is IC Markets cTrader cheaper than MT4” on commission, which is the only part of the bill the two platforms price differently on paper. The rest of this post is the working. This desk read IC’s account overview and its spreads page, and downloaded the European Central Bank’s daily reference-rate file, on 3 October 2026. The broker now brands itself IC: the icmarkets.com overview address we requested redirected to ic.com. We then converted both commission lines into dollars and pips for one standard lot on 15 pairs, because a commission quoted in two different units cannot be compared until it is in one.
Is IC Markets cTrader cheaper than MT4? The short version
The two charges are written in different units, and that is the whole story.
The MetaTrader line is a fee per lot. One standard lot of anything costs $3.50 per side, whatever the pair and whatever the price.
The cTrader line is a fee per dollar of notional. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, and the dollar value of 100,000 units depends on what the base currency is worth. A lot of USD/JPY is exactly $100,000 of notional, so it costs exactly $3.00 per side. A lot of EUR/USD at 1.1225 is $112,250 of notional and costs $3.37. A lot of GBP/USD at 1.3201 is $132,010 and costs $3.96, which is more than the MetaTrader fee.
Divide $3.50 by $3.00 and you get the break-even: a base currency worth $1.1667. Below it, cTrader charges less per lot than MetaTrader Raw. Above it, cTrader charges more. Of the base currencies priced in this post, only sterling sat above that line on the ECB’s 2 October 2026 reference rates. The euro sat below it, by less than 4%.
So the honest one-word answer is “mostly”, and the honest one-sentence answer is “on everything except sterling-base pairs, at the exchange rates of the day you trade.”
What IC actually charges on each platform
IC publishes the account lines in a single comparison table on its account overview page. The rows this desk read on 3 October 2026, in the broker’s own units:
- Raw Spread, MetaTrader: $3.5 commission per lot per side, which the table restates as $7.0 per lot round turn, with a $0 minimum deposit.
- Raw Spread (cTrader), cTrader and TradingView: $3.0 commission per USD 100k, with a $0 minimum deposit.
- Raw Pro, MetaTrader: $1.5 per lot per side, $3.0 round turn, with a $5,000 minimum deposit.
- Raw Pro +, MetaTrader: $1.0 per lot per side, $2.0 round turn, with a $100,000 minimum deposit.
- Standard, MetaTrader: $0 commission.
The overview table read lists one cTrader commission line, $3.0 per USD 100k. It does not list a volume tier for cTrader in the text this desk read.
MetaTrader: a fixed fee per lot
The MetaTrader Raw fee is the simple one. The overview’s own description of the Raw Spread account puts it as a commission of $3.50 per lot payable per side, beside an average EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips. The fee does not care which pair you trade or what that pair costs. One lot of EUR/USD, one lot of GBP/JPY and one lot of AUD/NZD all pay $3.50 to open and $3.50 to close, $7.00 in total.
That makes the MetaTrader fee easy to convert into pips, but the pip figure still moves from pair to pair, because the value of a pip moves. On a pair quoted in US dollars a pip on one standard lot is worth $10, so $7.00 round turn is 0.70 pips. On USD/JPY a pip is 1,000 yen, worth about $6.34 at 157.67, so the same $7.00 is about 1.10 pips. The site’s guide to converting a commission per lot into pips walks through that division in full.
cTrader and TradingView: a fee per USD 100,000 traded
IC’s spreads page spells out the second model. It states that cTrader and TradingView commission is charged per side, per 100,000 USD traded, and that this is different to MetaTrader 4, which charges a fixed amount per lot. The rate it gives is $3 USD per 100,000 USD traded.
Two consequences follow from that wording. First, the fee scales with notional value in dollars, not with lot count. Second, TradingView rides on the same line as cTrader on the overview table, so everything in this post about cTrader cost applies equally to an IC account traded through TradingView.
The same page also says that the USD commission amount is converted to the base currency of an account at the current spot rate. That is about the currency your statement shows, and it gets its own section below.
The Raw Pro tiers sit on MetaTrader only
The overview’s two cheaper Raw lines, Raw Pro and Raw Pro +, both name MetaTrader as their platform. Nothing in the table read attaches either tier to cTrader or TradingView. If you are comparing the cheapest line IC prints for each platform, the comparison is $1.00 or $1.50 per lot per side on MetaTrader against $3 per USD 100,000 on cTrader, and the deposit requirement is the price of entry to the lower MetaTrader lines.
Why does the cTrader commission depend on the pair?
Because a standard lot is measured in the base currency, and the cTrader fee is measured in dollars.
IC’s spreads page works one example in its own table: a euro trade sized at €100,000. The opening line reads €100,000 × 1.3000 = USD $130,000 × (3 / 100,000). Finish the sum and the opening side costs $3.90. The closing line on the same table uses a different price, €100,000 × 1.3100 = USD $131,000 × (3 / 100,000), which comes to $3.93. Add the two sides and the illustrated trade pays $7.83 in commission.
Three things in that example matter for anyone pricing the platform:
- Each side is priced at its own fill. The opening and closing commissions differ by three cents because EUR/USD moved a full cent between them. A cTrader round turn is not simply twice the opening fee.
- The example rate is illustrative. EUR/USD at 1.3000 is the broker’s worked number, not the market. At the ECB’s 2 October 2026 reference rate of 1.1225, the same sum gives $3.37 per side.
- At 1.3000, the euro trade costs more than MetaTrader. $3.90 per side is above $3.50. IC’s own example is a case where cTrader is the dearer platform, which is worth knowing before anyone repeats “cTrader is cheaper” as a rule.
For the platform debate in general, the site’s piece on whether commission is charged per side or per round turn covers why a per-side figure has to be doubled before it is compared with anything quoted round turn.
The break-even: a base currency worth $1.1667
Set the two per-side fees equal and solve.
MetaTrader Raw: $3.50 per lot per side. cTrader: 100,000 × (base currency value in USD) × 3 / 100,000 = 3 × (base value in USD) per side.
They are equal when the base currency is worth 3.50 / 3 = $1.1667.
That single number sorts every pair:
- Base currency is USD. Worth exactly $1.00. cTrader costs $3.00 per side, $0.50 less than MetaTrader, on every USD-base pair, at every exchange rate.
- Base currency worth less than $1.1667. cTrader is cheaper. On the ECB’s 2 October 2026 figures that included the euro at $1.1225, the Australian dollar at $0.6939 and the New Zealand dollar at $0.5612.
- Base currency worth more than $1.1667. cTrader is dearer. On the same figures that included sterling at $1.3201.
The margins are not equal. The euro needs to rise about 3.9% from 1.1225 to reach break-even. Sterling would need to fall about 11.6% from 1.3201 before the GBP verdict flips. The USD-base verdict cannot flip at all, because the dollar’s value in dollars does not change.
How far does the exchange rate move the cTrader fee?
Because the cTrader fee is three cents per side for every cent the base currency is worth, its sensitivity to the exchange rate is easy to tabulate. The table below applies IC’s $3 per USD 100,000 line to one standard lot at a range of base-currency values. The values are hypothetical inputs chosen to bracket the break-even, not forecasts, apart from the two rows marked with the ECB reference rates of 2 October 2026.
| Base currency worth (USD) | cTrader per side | cTrader round turn | Against MT Raw $7.00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0000 (any USD-base pair) | $3.00 | $6.00 | $1.00 cheaper |
| 1.0500 | $3.15 | $6.30 | $0.70 cheaper |
| 1.1000 | $3.30 | $6.60 | $0.40 cheaper |
| 1.1225 (EUR, ECB 2 Oct 2026) | $3.37 | $6.74 | $0.26 cheaper |
| 1.1667 (break-even) | $3.50 | $7.00 | level |
| 1.2000 | $3.60 | $7.20 | $0.20 dearer |
| 1.2500 | $3.75 | $7.50 | $0.50 dearer |
| 1.3000 (IC’s own example) | $3.90 | $7.80 | $0.80 dearer |
| 1.3201 (GBP, ECB 2 Oct 2026) | $3.96 | $7.92 | $0.92 dearer |
Read down the right-hand column and the platform question turns into a currency question. A trader whose book is mostly USD-base pairs gets a fixed $1.00 per lot round turn in cTrader’s favour. A book heavy in euro pairs gets a saving that shrinks as the euro rises and disappears at $1.1667. A book heavy in sterling-base pairs pays more on cTrader at any sterling rate above that line. The round-turn column assumes the same rate on both sides; IC’s example of 1.3000 in and 1.3100 out comes to $7.83 rather than $7.80 for exactly that reason.
Does the same answer apply to MT5?
On the overview table read, apparently yes. The Raw Spread commission line names its platform as MetaTrader rather than MetaTrader 4 alone, and the account description beside it refers to IC’s MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms. The $3.50 fee therefore appears to sit against both, and the MT4 figures above should apply to MT5 on the same account line, though this desk read no page stating an MT5 fee separately. The spreads page’s own contrast is worded against MetaTrader 4, which is why this post’s headline names it.
Pair by pair: 15 pairs converted to dollars and pips
The table below prices one standard lot on IC’s two Raw lines. Exchange rates are the ECB euro reference rates dated 2 October 2026, with crosses derived by division (GBP/USD = 1.1225 / 0.85033, for example). They are central-bank reference rates, not IC’s dealing prices, and the table holds the rate constant across both sides of the trade, so it is a dated illustration rather than a quote. “Pips” is round-turn commission divided by the value of one pip on one lot, converted to dollars at the same rates.
| Pair | Rate used | cTrader per side | cTrader round turn | MT Raw round turn | cTrader, pips | MT Raw, pips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 1.1225 | $3.37 | $6.74 | $7.00 | 0.67 | 0.70 |
| GBP/USD | 1.3201 | $3.96 | $7.92 | $7.00 | 0.79 | 0.70 |
| AUD/USD | 0.6939 | $2.08 | $4.16 | $7.00 | 0.42 | 0.70 |
| NZD/USD | 0.5612 | $1.68 | $3.37 | $7.00 | 0.34 | 0.70 |
| USD/JPY | 157.67 | $3.00 | $6.00 | $7.00 | 0.95 | 1.10 |
| USD/CHF | 0.8266 | $3.00 | $6.00 | $7.00 | 0.50 | 0.58 |
| USD/CAD | 1.4240 | $3.00 | $6.00 | $7.00 | 0.85 | 1.00 |
| EUR/GBP | 0.8503 | $3.37 | $6.74 | $7.00 | 0.51 | 0.53 |
| EUR/JPY | 176.99 | $3.37 | $6.74 | $7.00 | 1.06 | 1.10 |
| EUR/CHF | 0.9279 | $3.37 | $6.74 | $7.00 | 0.56 | 0.58 |
| EUR/AUD | 1.6176 | $3.37 | $6.74 | $7.00 | 0.97 | 1.01 |
| GBP/JPY | 208.14 | $3.96 | $7.92 | $7.00 | 1.25 | 1.10 |
| GBP/AUD | 1.9023 | $3.96 | $7.92 | $7.00 | 1.14 | 1.01 |
| AUD/JPY | 109.42 | $2.08 | $4.16 | $7.00 | 0.66 | 1.10 |
| AUD/NZD | 1.2365 | $2.08 | $4.16 | $7.00 | 0.74 | 1.25 |
Twelve of the fifteen rows favour cTrader. The three that do not are the three with sterling as the base currency. Note that the cTrader per-side column depends only on the base currency: every euro-base pair costs the same $3.37, whether it is quoted in dollars, yen or Swiss francs. The pips columns change with the quote currency, because the quote currency sets the value of a pip.
The USD-base pairs: USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD
These are the cleanest rows in the table. A standard lot of any USD-base pair is $100,000 of notional by definition, so cTrader charges exactly $3.00 per side and $6.00 round turn, against $7.00 on MetaTrader Raw. That is $1.00 less per lot round turn, and the gap does not depend on the exchange rate.
In pips the saving looks different on each pair, because the pip is worth a different amount. On USD/JPY at 157.67 a pip on one lot is about $6.34, so $6.00 is 0.95 pips and $7.00 is 1.10 pips. On USD/CHF at 0.8266 a pip is about $12.10, so the two fees are 0.50 and 0.58 pips. On USD/CAD at 1.4240 a pip is about $7.02, giving 0.85 and 1.00 pips. Same dollar saving, three different pip savings.
The euro pairs: cheaper, by a margin that moves
At 1.1225, a euro is worth less than the $1.1667 break-even, so every euro-base pair costs $3.37 per side on cTrader. The exact figure is $3.3675; the round turn is $6.735, about 26.5 cents less than MetaTrader’s $7.00.
That is the thinnest margin in the table, and it is the one most exposed to the exchange rate. Each cent on EUR/USD moves the cTrader per-side fee by three cents. At 1.1667 the two platforms charge the same. Above it, as in IC’s own 1.3000 example, MetaTrader Raw is the cheaper line for euro pairs.
In pips, EUR/USD comes out at 0.67 on cTrader against 0.70 on MetaTrader. On EUR/GBP, where a pip is worth about $13.20, the figures are 0.51 and 0.53. On EUR/JPY they are 1.06 and 1.10. A reader comparing the two platforms on euro pairs alone is comparing differences of two to four hundredths of a pip.
Is cTrader more expensive for GBP pairs?
Yes, at IC, wherever sterling is the base currency. A lot of GBP/USD at the ECB-derived 1.3201 is $132,010 of notional. Multiply by 3 / 100,000 and the cTrader commission is $3.96 per side, $7.92 round turn. MetaTrader Raw charges $3.50 and $7.00. The cTrader line costs 92 cents more per lot round turn.
The same 92 cents applies to GBP/JPY and GBP/AUD, because the per-side fee follows the base currency. In pips the gap is 0.79 against 0.70 on GBP/USD, 1.25 against 1.10 on GBP/JPY, and 1.14 against 1.01 on GBP/AUD.
Pairs where sterling is the quote currency are a different case. EUR/GBP is priced off the euro, so it costs $3.37 per side on cTrader and comes out slightly cheaper than MetaTrader. What makes a pair expensive on cTrader is the base currency, not the presence of the pound.
The commodity-currency pairs: AUD and NZD
These rows show the largest gap in cTrader’s favour. A lot of AUD/USD at 0.6939 is $69,390 of notional, which costs $2.08 per side and $4.16 round turn, against $7.00 on MetaTrader Raw. That is $2.84 less per lot, or 0.42 pips against 0.70.
NZD/USD is cheaper still. At 0.5612 a lot is $56,120 of notional, costing $1.68 per side and $3.37 round turn, which is 0.34 pips against 0.70.
AUD crosses carry the same $2.08 per side. On AUD/JPY that is 0.66 pips against 1.10, and on AUD/NZD, where a pip is worth about $5.61, it is 0.74 against 1.25. The flat MetaTrader fee is at its least efficient on these pairs, because it charges a lot of Australian dollars the same as a lot of sterling worth almost twice as much.
What about Raw Pro and Raw Pro +?
This is the part of the comparison that the platform question tends to leave out. IC’s overview table lists two cheaper MetaTrader lines: Raw Pro at $1.5 per lot per side ($3.0 round turn) with a $5,000 minimum deposit, and Raw Pro + at $1.0 per lot per side ($2.0 round turn) with a $100,000 minimum deposit.
Both undercut cTrader on every pair in the table above. The cheapest cTrader row, NZD/USD, is $1.68 per side, which is still above Raw Pro’s $1.50 and Raw Pro +‘s $1.00. On EUR/USD, cTrader’s $6.74 round turn compares with $3.00 on Raw Pro and $2.00 on Raw Pro +.
So the answer to “is cTrader cheaper than MT4 at IC” depends on which MetaTrader line you mean. Against the $0-minimum Raw Spread account it usually is. Against the two deposit-gated MetaTrader tiers it is not, on any of the 15 pairs priced here. Whether a deposit of $5,000 or $100,000 is a sensible thing to hold with any broker is not a question a commission table can answer, and this one does not try.
What changes if your account is not in US dollars?
IC’s spreads page states that the USD commission amount is converted to the base currency of an account at the current spot rate. The fee is computed in dollars and then shown in your account currency.
That conversion does not change which platform is cheaper. Both fees are dollar figures on the overview table, and converting both at the same rate preserves the comparison. What it changes is the number on the statement. A euro-denominated account trading one lot of EUR/USD would see a charge computed as $3.3675 and then converted back into euros at the spot rate, which at a rate of 1.1225 comes back to €3.00. The algebra works the same way for any account whose currency is the pair’s base currency: the dollar step cancels out, at whatever spot rate IC applies at the time.
The overview table read gives the MetaTrader fees in dollars. It does not, in the text this desk read, set out separate MetaTrader commission figures for other account currencies, so this post compares the two lines in dollars, as published.
What this comparison leaves out
A commission comparison is not an all-in cost comparison, and Pip Bulletin does not let one pass for the other.
- Spreads. The overview text read gives an average EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips for the Raw Spread account. This desk read no spread figure specific to cTrader, so this post makes no claim that spreads on the two platforms are the same or different. Any spread difference would add to or subtract from the commission gap.
- Swaps and financing. Not read, not priced.
- Non-FX instruments. The spreads page’s per-USD-100k wording was read in the context of currency pairs. This post prices currency pairs only.
- Your real fills. The table holds the ECB reference rate on both sides. Real trades fill at IC’s prices, which differ from a central-bank reference rate, and the opening and closing sides each use their own price, as IC’s 1.3000 and 1.3100 example shows.
For how commission and spread combine into a single figure, the site’s review of whether a Raw Spread account is cheaper than a Standard account runs that sum for the account type both IC platforms share.
How the numbers were worked
Every figure in the table comes from three inputs read on 3 October 2026:
- IC’s account overview, for the $3.5 per lot per side MetaTrader line, the $3.0 per USD 100k cTrader and TradingView line, and the Raw Pro and Raw Pro + lines.
- IC’s spreads page, for the per-side rule, the USD-to-account-currency conversion and the worked €100,000 example.
- The ECB’s euro foreign exchange reference rates, dated 2 October 2026: USD 1.1225, JPY 176.99, GBP 0.85033, AUD 1.6176, NZD 2.0002, CAD 1.5984 and CHF 0.9279 per euro.
From those, three steps. The dollar value of a lot is 100,000 × the base currency’s value in dollars. The cTrader fee per side is that value × 3 / 100,000. The pip value of one lot is 100,000 × the pip size (0.0001, or 0.01 for yen pairs) × the quote currency’s value in dollars. Commission in pips is the round-turn fee divided by the pip value. Figures are rounded to two decimals for the table; the break-even is 3.50 / 3, rounded to four.
None of this is a measurement of a live account. Nothing was traded and no platform was tested. The table is IC’s published schedule, read on a date, multiplied by a published reference rate, on a date. Anyone who wants to update it needs only the latest ECB file and the same three steps. The site’s IC Markets review covers the broker beyond its commission lines.
Questions readers ask
Is cTrader cheaper than MT4?
At IC, on commission alone, usually yes. MetaTrader Raw Spread costs a flat $3.50 per lot per side. cTrader costs $3 per side per USD 100,000 traded, so it is cheaper whenever the base currency is worth less than about $1.1667. At ECB reference rates dated 2 October 2026 that covers USD-base, euro, AUD and NZD pairs, but not GBP-base pairs.
What is IC Markets’ commission on cTrader?
IC’s account overview lists the cTrader Raw Spread account, which also covers TradingView, at $3.0 commission per USD 100,000, with a $0 minimum deposit. Its spreads page adds that the charge is made per side, so a position pays it once on the way in and once on the way out, each time on the notional value at that fill.
Is IC Markets cTrader commission per side?
Yes. IC’s spreads page states that cTrader and TradingView commission is charged per side, per 100,000 USD traded. A round turn therefore costs twice the per-side figure, adjusted for any price move between the opening and closing fills. On USD/JPY, where the notional is fixed at $100,000 a lot, that is $3.00 per side and $6.00 round turn.
Is cTrader more expensive for GBP pairs?
At IC, yes, for pairs where sterling is the base currency. A lot of GBP/USD at the ECB-derived 1.3201 is $132,010 of notional, which costs $3.96 per side on cTrader against $3.50 on MetaTrader Raw. GBP/JPY and GBP/AUD carry the same $3.96. Sterling would have to fall below about $1.1667 for cTrader to come out level.
The bottom line, priced
The verdict is arithmetic, not preference. On IC’s two $0-minimum Raw lines, cTrader costs less than MetaTrader on USD-base, euro, Australian-dollar and New Zealand-dollar pairs at the 2 October 2026 reference rates, and more on sterling-base pairs, with the euro margin thin enough to vanish if the currency rises about 4%. The deposit-gated MetaTrader tiers cost less than cTrader on all 15 pairs. A commission line is one input to a cost, not a reason to trade, and this table prices the input only. Trading involves substantial risk of loss, and nothing on Pip Bulletin, this sum included, is financial advice.