Types of Forex Trading Accounts
Review: EasyTradeWeb editorial team. Every tier name and every figure below was read from the broker’s own published terms for the entity named, with the date shown under the table. Where a broker publishes nothing, the cell reads Not disclosed.
A broker’s account tiers are its own product names, not an industry standard. Across twelve broker entities checked, the same word covers different pricing. Exness and IC Markets both sell a tier called Raw Spread, but the commission-bearing tier at FXTM is called Advantage and at Tickmill it is called Raw. Read what the tier does, not what it is named.
Notice: This content is educational, not financial advice. Forex trading carries high risk and you may lose your capital.
Key takeaways
- No two entities in the set publish the same tier menu. IC Markets publishes five live tiers; FBS publishes two and no third.
- The menu changes with the legal entity, not only the brand. XM Global Limited publishes Standard, Ultra Low and Shares, while Trading Point MENA Limited publishes Ultra Low and Professional.
- The published minimum deposit runs from zero on three of the five IC Markets tiers to 100,000 USD on Raw Pro +, so no minimum deposit describes a tier, not a broker.
- Leverage follows the licence, not the brand: XM Global Limited publishes up to 1:1000 against 1:30 at Trading Point MENA Limited.
- Swap-free is built at least four different ways: automatic by country at Exness, a per-tier property at FXTM where Edge does not carry it, a conversion with fees at Tickmill, and a separate tier at Equiti capped at 25,000 USD in deposits.
- One entity in the set publishes no swap-free account at all, and overnight fees still apply there on leveraged products.
- A tier name commits a broker to nothing about any individual currency pair. What a tier does commit to is a commission figure, and that is the only pricing number most of these brokers put in writing.
Table of Contents
- The account tiers twelve broker entities publish
- Why the same tier name means different things
- The menu changes with the entity, not the brand
- Why your entity caps your leverage
- Swap-free is built four different ways
- What a tier name does not tell you
- When choosing by account type is the wrong move
- Frequently asked questions
- How to check your own broker’s tier menu
- Risk warning
The account tiers twelve broker entities publish
Each row holds one legal entity and the tier names that entity publishes on its own site. Where two entities of the same brand publish different menus, both appear as separate rows, because that difference is the point. A cell the broker does not publish reads Not disclosed rather than an estimate taken from somewhere else.
What a tier costs to trade once you are in it is a separate question, and the spread and commission side of it sits in what brokers publish about spreads and commission; the money needed to open each one is in the published minimum deposit range.
| Broker entity | Live account tiers published | Lowest published minimum deposit | Which tiers carry a commission | How swap-free is provided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exness (SC) Ltd | Standard Cent · Standard · Pro · Zero · Raw Spread | Standard and Standard Cent: no fixed figure published, and it varies by payment method and location. Pro, Zero and Raw Spread: from 200 USD by region. | None on Standard Cent, Standard and Pro. Up to 3.50 USD per side per lot on Raw Spread. Zero: Not disclosed. | Automatic. Swap-free status is granted to accounts registered from Islamic countries and covers the whole account. |
| XM Global Limited | Standard · Ultra Low · Shares | Standard 5 USD · Ultra Low 5 USD · Shares 10,000 USD | Not disclosed. The client agreement refers to a commission schedule inside the platform. | Available as a standard option on all accounts. |
| Trading Point MENA Limited | Ultra Low · Professional | Ultra Low and Professional: 5 USD | Not disclosed. | Not disclosed for this entity. |
| FXTM (Exinity Limited) | Edge · Micro · Advantage · Advantage Plus · Advantage Stocks | Edge 50 USD · Micro 3,000 in the cent currency · Advantage 500 USD · Advantage Plus 100 USD · Advantage Stocks 200 USD | 3.50 USD per side per lot on Advantage forex, 7 USD round turn. None on Edge, Micro and Advantage Plus. | Per tier. Advantage and Advantage Plus carry it. Edge does not. |
| Tickmill Ltd | Classic · Raw · TradingView Raw | 100 units of the account currency on all three tiers. | None on Classic. 3 USD per side per lot on Raw, 6 USD round turn. 3.50 USD per side on TradingView Raw. | Conversion. Any Classic or Raw account can be converted, with handling fees on selected instruments after a grace period and a 10% annual fee on long crypto positions held past 5 days. |
| IC Markets (Raw Trading Ltd) | Standard · Raw Spread (MetaTrader) · Raw Spread (cTrader) · Raw Pro · Raw Pro + | Zero on Standard, Raw Spread and cTrader Raw · Raw Pro 5,000 USD · Raw Pro + 100,000 USD | Zero on Standard. 3.50 USD per side per lot on Raw Spread for MT4 and MT5, 7 USD round turn. 3 USD per 100,000 USD traded on cTrader Raw Spread. 1.50 USD per side on Raw Pro and 1 USD on Raw Pro +. | On Raw Spread and Standard, across MT4, MT5 and cTrader on more than 90 instruments, with holding fees on overnight positions after a 5-day grace period. |
| FBS Markets Inc. | Standard · Cent. No third live tier is published. | From 5 USD, and the figure follows the payment method: Neteller 10 USD, Skrill 12 USD. | No trading commission on either tier. | Available as a swap-free option on all live accounts, with a fixed weekly commission on exotic pairs from the second Sunday. |
| Equiti Securities Currencies Brokers LLC | Classic · Standard · Premier · Micro · Swap Free Mini | Classic: none · Standard 100 USD · Premier from 3,000 USD | Zero on Classic, Standard and Micro. 3.50 USD per side per lot on Premier. | A separate tier. Swap Free Mini carries no swap and no administration fee provided deposits stay at or below 25,000 USD, and is available to Standard and Premier holders on MetaTrader 5. |
| Equiti Brokerage (Seychelles) Limited | Standard · Premier | Standard 30 USD · Premier from 100 USD | Not disclosed. | Not disclosed on this entity’s pages. |
| Amana | Leverage levels Core (default) · Plus · Max, over MT4 Hedged, MT5 Hedged and MT5 Netting | Not disclosed. | Zero on standard pricing. A commission may apply on Raw pricing and no per-lot figure is published. | None published. The app tags sharia-compliant assets, and overnight fees still apply on leveraged products. |
| Admirals Europe Ltd | Trade.MT4 · Trade.MT5 · Zero.MT4 · Zero.MT5 · Invest.MT5 · Islamic | Not disclosed. | On Zero.MT4 and Zero.MT5, forex and metals run from 1.80 to 3 USD per lot by monthly volume: 3 USD to 10 million, 2.40 to 50 million, 1.80 above that. | On Trade.MT5 only, with a fixed administration fee on positions held more than 3 days, or 1 day for crypto, exotic pairs, metals and energy. Not available to anyone already holding a non-Islamic account. |
| CIF Markets (ACLIVE WEALTH ADVISORY (PTY) LTD) | Silver · Gold · Platinum | Not disclosed. | Not disclosed. The tiers differ by spread discount off Silver instead: up to 50% on Gold and 75% on Platinum. | Not disclosed. Swap is discounted by tier instead: up to 40% on Gold and 60% on Platinum. |
Figures verified against each broker’s own published terms on 2026-07-26, with the IC Markets Raw Spread commission re-verified on 2026-08-18 and every minimum deposit and leverage figure on this page re-read from the same record on 2026-09-12. CIF Markets was read from its own trading accounts page on 2026-09-16, and the FXTM Advantage Plus minimum re-read on 2026-09-14. FirstECN could not be checked: firstecn.com did not resolve on 2026-09-16.
The same entities are compared on a different axis in our guide to the app each broker ships, which sets each branded app against the platform apps the same account also runs on.
Why the same tier name means different things
Tier names are marketing, and the pricing structure underneath them is not. There are only two structures in the table. Either the cost is inside the quote and no commission is charged, or the quote is narrower and a commission is charged per lot.
The trouble is that the word attached to each structure moves from broker to broker. Exness puts commission on Raw Spread and none on Pro, so a tier that sounds more advanced is the one without a commission. FXTM puts commission on Advantage and none on Advantage Plus, so the tier with the longer name is the cheaper one to enter and the plainer one carries the per-lot charge.
Tickmill charges 3 USD per side on Raw and 3.50 USD per side on TradingView Raw, two tiers that differ by platform rather than by pricing model.
IC Markets shows the same effect at the top of its range, where the commission falls as the tier rises: 3.50 USD per side on Raw Spread, 1.50 USD on Raw Pro and 1 USD on Raw Pro +. Reading across brokers by tier name compares labels; reading down the commission column compares prices.
The menu changes with the entity, not the brand
A broker is a brand over several licensed companies, and the account menu belongs to the company, not the brand.
XM Global Limited publishes Standard, Ultra Low and Shares. Trading Point MENA Limited publishes Ultra Low and Professional. Standard and Shares do not appear on the MENA entity at all, and Professional does not appear on the Global one.
Equiti splits the same way: the UAE entity publishes Classic, Standard, Premier, Micro and Swap Free Mini, while the Seychelles entity publishes Standard and Premier, and its pages disclose neither commission figures nor a swap-free arrangement.
So a tier name on a comparison page is not enough to act on. The entity you sign up to depends on where you registered, and a review naming a tier without naming the company behind it has not told you whether that tier is open to you. The entity is printed in the footer of the account-opening page and in the client agreement.
Why your entity caps your leverage
Leverage is quoted as though it belonged to the brand. It does not. It is set by the company that holds the account, and inside that company it moves again with the tier, the position size or the instrument. XM is the clearest case below: XM Global Limited publishes up to 1:1000, and Trading Point MENA Limited publishes up to 1:30.
FBS splits the same way: FBS Markets Inc. publishes up to 1:3000 and Tradestone Limited, its European company, publishes 1:30. The binding figure is the one in the client agreement signed at onboarding.
| Broker entity | Published maximum leverage | What the figure is tied to |
|---|---|---|
| Exness (SC) Ltd | 1:Unlimited, conditional | Account equity below 5,000 USD, and at least 10 positions of 5 lots or more already closed. |
| XM Global Limited | Up to 1:1000 | Not disclosed. |
| Trading Point MENA Limited | Up to 1:30 | The instrument. XM states the cap for this entity depends on what is traded. |
| FXTM (Exinity Limited) | Up to 1:3000 on Advantage and Advantage Plus | The tier. Micro up to 1:1000, Edge up to 1:500, Advantage Stocks 1:1, and limits also follow the instrument. |
| Tickmill Ltd | 1:1000, dynamic | Position size. 0 to 2 lots 1:1000 · 2.01 to 200 lots 1:500 · 200.01 to 400 lots 1:100 · above 400 lots 1:10. |
| IC Markets (Raw Trading Ltd) | Up to 1:5000 on major and minor forex | Position size and asset class. 0 to 25 lots 1:5000, 25 to 50 lots 1:3000; cTrader Raw Spread 1:1000. Metals 1:2000 · energy and crypto 1:500 · indices, bonds and futures 1:200 · shares 1:20. |
| FBS Markets Inc. | Up to 1:3000 | Account equity, then instrument. 0 to 199 USD 1:3000 · 200 to 4,999 USD 1:2000 · 5,000 to 29,999 USD 1:1000 · 30,000 to 149,999 USD 1:500 · 150,000 USD and above 1:400 or lower. Metals 1:500 · energy and indices 1:200 · shares 1:100. |
| Tradestone Limited (the FBS European entity) | 1:30 | The entity alone: same brand, same tier names, a hundredfold lower cap. |
| Equiti Securities Currencies Brokers LLC | Up to 1:500 | The instrument, at a fixed rate per symbol. 1:500 on EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY and gold · 1:100 on USDCHF · 1:50 on exotics. |
| Equiti Brokerage (Seychelles) Limited | Up to 1:2000 | The product. Up to 1:2000 on selected products including precious metals, gold, oil and commodities; 1:500 on Micro. |
| Amana | 25x on Core, 100x on Plus, 200x on Max for major forex | The leverage level, then the asset. Gold 20x, 100x and 200x across the same three levels · crypto derivatives up to 25x · spot trading 1x. |
| Admirals Europe Ltd | Not disclosed. | Not disclosed. |
| CIF Markets (ACLIVE WEALTH ADVISORY (PTY) LTD) | Up to 1:200 | Nothing that varies. Silver, Gold and Platinum share the cap and a 5% stop-out. |
Figures verified against each broker’s own published terms on 2026-07-26 and re-read on 2026-09-12. Caps change without notice.
The headline number is rarely the number a first position gets: seven of the thirteen entities here cut it by position size, equity or asset class before a trade opens, a mechanism set out in our guide to how leverage tiers change with position size. Establish the entity before reading any tier menu.
Swap-free is built four different ways
Swap-free is not one feature that brokers either have or do not have. In this set it is built as four different mechanisms, and the mechanism decides whether it reaches you.
Exness grants it automatically to accounts registered from Islamic countries, and it covers the whole account. FXTM makes it a property of the tier: Advantage and Advantage Plus carry it and Edge does not, so the choice of tier decides the outcome before any application is made.
Tickmill converts an existing Classic or Raw account, then applies handling fees on selected instruments after a grace period and a 10% annual fee on long crypto positions held past five days. Equiti creates a separate tier for it, Swap Free Mini, and holds the exemption only while deposits stay at or below 25,000 USD.
Admirals adds a restriction the others do not: swap-free runs on Trade.MT5 only and is not available to anyone already holding a non-Islamic account. Amana publishes no swap-free account at all, and tags sharia-compliant assets inside its app while overnight fees continue to apply on leveraged products. What the exemption removes, what it charges instead, and who qualifies are covered in the guide to swap-free accounts.
What a tier name does not tell you
A tier commits a broker to a commission and to very little else. It does not commit it to a spread on any particular pair. Most account-type comparisons print a pair-level spread figure for each tier as though it came from the broker. For the entities above it did not: what they publish is an account-level floor phrased as “from” a value, and several publish no pair-level figure at all.
Platform is the other thing the name hides. IC Markets sells Raw Spread twice, once for MetaTrader and once for cTrader, and the two are priced on different units: 3.50 USD per side per lot on MetaTrader against 3 USD per 100,000 USD traded on cTrader. Same tier name, same broker, two different bills.
Charges that fall due when nothing is traded sit outside the tier as well. The tier sets what a trade costs; the entity sets what a dormant account is charged, and that differs between the entities of one brand.
When choosing by account type is the wrong move
Sorting brokers by tier is the wrong first step in three situations, each for a specific reason.
If you trade a few lots a month, the commission saving on a commission-bearing tier is small in absolute terms and the tier may carry a deposit requirement many times your intended balance. IC Markets Raw Pro asks 5,000 USD and Raw Pro + asks 100,000 USD, so the cheaper per-lot rate is unreachable at a balance that cannot fund it.
If you need a swap-free account, the tier decision is made for you and the ordering reverses. At FXTM the exemption rules Edge out entirely; at Admirals it rules out everything except Trade.MT5. Picking a tier on cost first and then discovering the exemption does not attach to it means opening a second account.
And if you registered under an entity whose pages disclose no commission figure, no tier comparison is possible at all, because the number the comparison turns on is not published. Two entities in the table are in that position. Establishing which company holds your account comes before any of this.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main forex account types?
Across the twelve entities checked there are two pricing structures, not a fixed list of types. Either the cost sits inside the quoted spread with no commission, or the quote is narrower and a commission is charged per lot. Cent accounts and swap-free accounts are variations layered on top of those two, and the names differ at every broker.
Is a raw or ECN account better than a standard account?
Neither is better as a category. The commission-bearing tier replaces part of the spread with a stated per-lot charge, so which costs less depends on the size and frequency of your trades and on the figures your own broker publishes. That tier often carries a higher minimum deposit, which settles the question before cost does.
Do all brokers offer a swap-free account?
No. Of the entities checked here, one publishes no swap-free account at all and offers sharia-compliant asset tagging instead, with overnight fees still applying on leveraged products. Among those that do offer it, the mechanism varies: automatic by country of registration, a property of specific tiers, a conversion carrying its own fees, or a separate account tier with a deposit ceiling.
Can an account type be changed later?
It depends on the broker and the mechanism. Tickmill converts an existing Classic or Raw account rather than requiring a new one, while Admirals refuses one to anyone already holding a non-Islamic account. Where the tier difference is a pricing difference rather than a status, brokers commonly ask you to open an additional account instead.
Why do the same account type names mean different things at different brokers?
Because each broker sets its own product labels and no standard defines them. Exness charges commission on Raw Spread and none on Pro; FXTM charges it on Advantage and not on Advantage Plus; Tickmill prices Raw and TradingView Raw differently from each other. Comparing by name compares labels, so compare the commission figure and the entity that publishes it.
Disclosure: EasyTradeWeb may be compensated if you open an account through a link on this page. It costs you nothing and does not change what is written above.
Want to explore the Exness platform?
You can open a demo account to test the platform before risking real capital. Trading carries risk, and this is informational content, not a recommendation.
How to check your own broker’s tier menu
Five steps settle what is on offer to you, all of them using the broker’s own pages.
- Find the legal entity in the footer of the account-opening page or in the client agreement, and confirm it is the one that accepts registrations from your country.
- Open that entity’s own account-types page. A tier listed on the brand’s global site is not evidence that your entity offers it.
- Read the commission figure per tier and note the unit, which may be per lot per side, per round turn, or per 100,000 USD traded. Different units are not comparable until converted.
- If you need swap-free, check which tiers it attaches to and what it charges instead, before choosing a tier on price.
- Check the date on the page, and where no figure is published treat it as not disclosed rather than assuming an industry norm.
Where a broker publishes none of this, the absence is itself an answer. The broker reviews here record what each one discloses.
Risk warning
Leveraged forex and CFD positions expose committed capital to loss, and the whole account balance can go. Account type does not reduce market risk; it changes how trading costs are charged. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to open an account with any broker, and figures published by brokers can change at any time.
Sources checked 26 July 2026, with one figure re-checked 18 August 2026
- Exness account types pages and the help centre article on swap-free status. Checked 26 July 2026.
- XM account types pages for XM Global Limited and for Trading Point MENA Limited. Checked 26 July 2026.
- FXTM trading accounts pages for Edge, Micro, Advantage and Advantage Plus, and the fees page. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Tickmill accounts page and Tickmill Islamic account page. Checked 26 July 2026.
- CIF Markets trading accounts page (ACLIVE WEALTH ADVISORY (PTY) LTD). Checked 16 September 2026.
- IC Markets trading accounts overview and Raw Spread account page. Checked 26 July 2026, commission re-checked 18 August 2026.
- FBS accounts page and Tradestone Limited terms. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Equiti account types pages for the UAE and Seychelles entities, and the Swap Free Mini page. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Amana account and pricing pages. Checked 26 July 2026.
- Admirals account types page and Islamic account page. Checked 26 July 2026.
Related articles
- The published minimum deposit range at each broker
- What brokers publish about spreads and commission
- Swap-free account guide