2023 Pepperstone Review • Pros & Cons • Benzinga

Pepperstone group offers a number of unique benefits over other brokers, including:

• International access: If you live outside of the U.S. you might not have access to most of the brokers we review. Most international forex traders will have no trouble signing up for an account with Pepperstone.
• A great range of online educational tools: The forex market can be intimidating for new traders. Pepperstone’s free online forex trading course and webinars can make learning easier, especially for total beginners.
• Leverage trading for cryptocurrencies: Pepperstone offers traders access to 5 of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies, and you may qualify for up to 5:1 leverage. 

Like many forex brokers, Pepperstone doesn’t charge a flat-rate commission on all sales. Most traders pay a “spread” based on the amount of currency they’re buying or selling. When you buy or sell a currency, you’ll see 2 different prices listed: a “bid” price and an “ask” price. The bid price is the highest possible price that a buyer is willing to pay for a security, while the ask price represents the lowest possible price a seller is willing to accept for the currency. The difference between the bid and the ask price is called the “spread,” which goes to your forex broker in exchange for executing your trade.

Pepperstone offers 2 distinct pricing models: a Standard account and a lower-fee Razor account. On a Standard account, you won’t pay any commissions on each trade, but you’ll pay a higher spread. With a Razor account, you’ll enjoy significantly lower spreads but you’ll also pay a flat-rate commission when you reach a certain volume of trading. For example, if you’re using MetaTrader 5 with a Razor account, you’ll pay about 0.04 AUD for every $1,000 AUD you trade. Fees may vary slightly depending on your base currency and the platform you’re using.

Pepperstone charges a spread that varies depending on which currency you’re trading. For example, Pepperstone’s average spread between the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Canadian dollar (CAD) is 1.91, while the average spread between the AUD and the Singapore dollar is about 3.41 if you’re using a Standard account.  

Pepperstone offers up to 500:1 leverage when trading forex. The specific amount of leverage you’ll qualify for may vary depending on the currency pair you’re trading and the platform that you’re using. You must make a minimum deposit of $200 AUD to begin trading with Pepperstone. 

Unlike other brokers (like TD Ameritrade and Robinhood) Pepperstone doesn’t offer its own platform. Instead, you can integrate your brokerage account with your choice of 3 platforms: MetaTrader 5, MetaTrader 4, and cTrader. All of these platforms include pre-installed indicators and a wide range of order types. Plus, you have access to the financial markets that interest you: foreign exchange markets, derivative markets, futures markets, spot markets and more.

The specific user experience you’ll enjoy with each platform will vary, but Pepperstone does offer a few usability features that make it an appealing choice for international traders:

• Compatibility with every account type: No matter if you have a Standard account or a Razor account with Pepperstone, you won’t run into compatibility issues when you log into your trading platform of choice. This gives traders a more customizable experience when compared to brokers who only offer a native platform and a singular fee structure.
• Active Trader program: If you’re a frequent trader, you might benefit from Pepperstone’s Active Trader program. With this program, you can earn forex rebates that you can use to cover commissions or spreads. The more frequently you trade and the higher volume you trade, the more money you’ll earn in rebates. Unlike other forex rebate programs, Active Trader rebates from Pepperstone are paid in cash directly to your brokerage account so you can use them to close out of your positions as soon as they hit your account.
• Available around the world: Though Pepperstone is based in Australia, traders from dozens of countries can open an account and begin using the broker’s services with a quick, intuitive online application. The U.S. isn’t currently serviced by Pepperstone, but the broker is still an excellent choice for international traders looking for a more easily-customizable way to begin trading currencies and commodities. 

If this is your first foray into the forex market, you might be overwhelmed by the amount of technical lingo and order options you see when you execute your first trade. Pepperstone has taken multiple steps and created a number of useful features to make trading forex a little less intimidating for beginners. Some of the broker’s most unique educational offerings include:

• Mirror Trader: Pepperstone’s Mirror Trader feature allows you to authorize automatic trading using predefined trading algorithms. When a specific algorithm criteria is triggered, Pepperstone will automatically execute your trade. Pepperstone offers more than 3,000 globally tested algorithms to choose from, and you maintain full control over your account by enabling and disabling them at any time. You can also further customize your selected algorithms by setting profit and loss targets to automatically close out of each algorithm when you hit a set number of sales or your losses exceed a certain threshold.
• Learn to Trade Forex guide: Pepperstone’s website includes a free, comprehensive course on how to trade currencies. Articles are organized based on skill level, with offerings available for both complete beginners who are still learning the most common trading terms to advanced traders who need assistance defining and developing their trading plan. Each article in the series is completely free to read, and you don’t need a Pepperstone account to start learning.
• Webinars: Prefer to take a more classroom-oriented approach to your trading education? Pepperstone also offers a series of live trading demonstrations and webinars. Webinars are broadcast for free and archived later for viewing on YouTube, so if you can’t make a webinar live as it’s happening, you can go back and watch it later. Some previous webinar topics include forex scalping demonstrations, lectures of how to use volatility to your advantage when trading and how to define market entry points. Central banks are going to teach you these tips for managing foreign currency trades.

In addition to free educational resources, Pepperstone also offers both in-house and 3rd-party market commentary and analysis to account holders for foreign exchange trading.

Pepperstone offers account holders multiple routes to contact customer service:

• By phone: To get in contact with Pepperstone by phone, Australian account holders can call 1-300-033-375. Account holders who aren’t in Australia can get in touch with Pepperstone by calling +613 9020 0155. Phone service is available 24 hours a day and 5 days a week.
• By email: To contact Pepperstone by email, send a message to support@pepperstone.com.
• By onsite message: If you prefer to have Pepperstone reach out to you, you can fill out a request for support form on the broker’s website here.

Pepperstone also offers priority customer support for Razor account holders. Currently, there are no defined options for men and women with hearing limitations. 

Pepperstone’s primary trading offering is currencies. You can trade over 61 unique currency pairs with Pepperstone, and you may be able to access leverage of up to 500:1. If you aren’t sure if Pepperstone is right for you, you can open a free demo trading account before you commit to test out the broker’s tools and learn more about pricing. You can see if your trading strategies align with the current exchange rates. Plus, using Pepperstone makes the whole process more user friendly than accounts opened at commercial banks.

In addition to forex trading, Pepperstone also offers both index and share contract for differences (CFDs). CFDs are a financial instrument unique to the international market that allow non-U.S. traders to profit from the volatility of a certain market or index without actually owning shares of the base stock or fund. Pepperstone offers traders CFDs for over 60 most popular U.S. corporate stocks as well as total market index funds from 14 stock markets around the globe. You cannot purchase shares of stocks or funds directly through Pepperstone — only CFDs are available.

Pepperstone has also recently introduced cryptocurrency trading to its repertoire of assets. Traders can currently invest in 5 of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies through the broker: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin. Pepperstone is 1 of the only brokers we’ve seen offering margin trading for cryptocurrencies — You may be able to trade with up to 5:1 leverage when buying and selling cryptocurrencies.

Finally, Pepperstone offers commodity trading. Pepperstone currently supports the purchase and sale of both hard commodities (like gold and silver) and soft commodities (like cotton, coffee and sugar). 

Pepperstone doesn’t offer a proprietary mobile app. However, all of its integrated platforms offer mobile options for both Android and Apple devices. Your specific user experience may vary depending on whether you choose MetaTrader or cTrader, but all apps offer real-time data updates, strategy backtesting, customizable formatting options and mirror trading functionality.

Overall, Pepperstone is a solid choice for international traders. The broker offers variable commission and fee schedules, access to over 61 currency pairs and integration with some of the world’s largest trading platforms. Pepperstone might be an exceptionally good choice for new traders, as its education center is comprehensive and focused on providing beginning traders with an easy and inviting way to learn more about trading.

There are a few steps that Pepperstone can take to help it compete with other international brokers like IG. In the future, we’d love to see Pepperstone open forex trading to U.S. traders or potentially allow traders to directly purchase shares of stocks or funds without the use of a CFD. However, despite these limitations, Pepperstone is an easy-to-use broker with a focus on reasonable pricing and responsive customer service.