Full review
HF Markets review
A complete assessment of HF Markets - regulation, costs, platforms and who it suits.
Last checked
HF Markets reviews well on the evidence we hold, and the gaps that remain are ordinary ones rather than anything a broker would have reason to hide. Regulated by FCA (801701); CySEC (183/12); FSCA (46632); Seychelles FSA (SD015); CMA Kenya (155); DFSA (F004885); Mauritius FSC (C110008214), offering MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, HFM WebTrader, HFM Platform.
Our rating
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
What it costs to trade
- Spread from
- 0.0 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- Approx. 0.1 pips, Zero
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 0.3 pips, Zero
- Commission
- From $3 per side / $6 round turn, Zero
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.7 pips
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight swaps apply; swap-free trading available on eligible instruments
- Inactivity fee
- $5/month after 6 months inactivity, increasing over longer periods
- Currency conversion
- Currency conversion applies where currencies differ
Costs below are the broker's published figures, which is not the same as what you will pay.
A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.
Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.
HF Markets lists a minimum deposit of $0. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.
Markets and execution
- Markets
- Forex, Metals, Energies, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Bonds, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies
- Currency pairs
- 50+
- Total instruments
- 1,000+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:30
- Execution model
- Market execution
- Execution speed
- Approx. 120ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- London and other global financial data centres
Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.
HF Markets covers forex, metals, energies, indices, shares, commodities, bonds, etfs, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, skrill, neteller, crypto and regional/local payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.
Platforms and tools
- Platforms
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, HFM WebTrader, HFM Platform
- Own platform
- Yes, HFM Platform/WebTrader
- Mobile app
- Both proprietary and third-party
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- Yes; Expert Advisors and automated trading supported
- Copy trading
- Yes, HFM Copy Trading
- Indicators
- 100+ through TradingView integration; 30+ MT4; 38+ MT5
- Third-party tools
- TradingView, Autochartist, VPS, Premium Trader Tools
- API access
- Yes, institutional/API solutions
MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.
MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- FCA (801701); CySEC (183/12); FSCA (46632); Seychelles FSA (SD015); CMA Kenya (155); DFSA (F004885); Mauritius FSC (C110008214)
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 801701
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Major regulated banking institutions
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients
- Audited by
- Independent external auditors
- Not available to
- United States, Canada, Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea, UAE, Türkiye and other restricted jurisdictions
This is the one claim on the page that can be checked against a public register, so it is the one to check.
HF Markets holds tier-one authorisations from FCA and CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.
It also operates an offshore entity (FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.
The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.
The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.
Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, the CySEC register of investment firms, the FSCA list of regulated entities, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities, the DFSA public register, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $0
- Account types
- InfinityX, Cent, Zero, Pro, Premium, Copy Trading, Demo
- Account currencies
- USD, EUR, NGN, JPY, THB, IDR, GHS, USC for Cent
- Islamic account
- Yes
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes
- Minimum trade size
- 0.01 lots
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, crypto and regional/local payment methods
- Withdrawal methods
- Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, e-wallets, crypto and supported regional methods
- Deposit time
- Cards up to 10 minutes; e-wallets instant-10 minutes; bank transfer 2-7 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Instant-24 hours for many alternative methods; cards/bank transfer 2-10 business days
- Minimum withdrawal
- $5
- Local payment methods
- Multiple regional bank transfers, e-wallets, mobile payments and country-specific payment methods
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, phone
- Languages
- 27+ languages
- Telephone
- +44 203 097 8571
- support@hfm.com
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: webinars, educational videos, courses, tutorials, ebooks, podcasts and trading guides
- Research
- Extensive: market analysis, Autochartist, trading calculators, technical analysis and market news
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd
- Company number
- 8419176-1
- Headquarters
- Limassol, Cyprus
- Founded
- 2010
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- HF Markets Group
- Employees
- 500+
- Also trades as
- HFM; HF Markets; HotForex
Questions people ask about HF Markets
What can actually be verified about HF Markets?
We check the licence against the regulator's own register and the company registration against the register that issued it, last on 27 August 2026. Everything else on this page, including spreads and execution figures, is what HF Markets publishes about itself, and we say so rather than presenting it as independently confirmed.
When was this HF Markets review last checked?
The facts on this page were last checked on 27 August 2026. The date comes from our own record rather than from when the site was last rebuilt, so it does not move just because something else on the site changed.