In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. Pepperstone and Skilling are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between Pepperstone and Skilling across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated Pepperstone and Skilling, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, Pepperstone earned a higher trust rating than Skilling.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that Skilling has overall lower trading costs than Pepperstone.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both Pepperstone and Skilling offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Pepperstone offers a greater variety of instruments compared to Skilling:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, Skilling offers 57 cryptocurrencies, while Pepperstone offers 30 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, Skilling is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that neither Pepperstone nor Skilling charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, Skilling has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Pepperstone.
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.
Skilling has better educational support than Pepperstone. Both Pepperstone and Skilling offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that Pepperstone offers better research analysis than Skilling and that both Pepperstone and Skilling offer frequent webinars.
One of our highest rated brokers, Pepperstone was founded in Australia in 2010 and is globally renowned for its low trading costs and choice of trading platforms. Pepperstone keeps costs low with some of the tightest spreads we've seen, averaging 0.77 pips (EUR/USD) on its Standard Account. For those who prefer classic ECN trading, the Razor Account has low commissions and spreads averaging at just 0.17 pips on the EUR/USD. Neither account has a required minimum deposit.
Despite the low costs, we are disappointed with Pepperstone's complicated commission structure and lack of regulation. But more experienced traders will appreciate Pepperstone’s trading platform options, including MT4, MT5, and cTrader, which integrates seamlessly with the TradingView tool. All are available on desktop and mobile devices. Pepperstone’s education section is not the most extensive we’ve seen, but it is competent and well-structured, making it a good place to start for beginner traders.
With a wide range of tradable assets and good trading conditions on four live accounts, Skilling may appeal to traders familiar with the MetaTrader 4 or cTrader platforms.
Skilling's commission-free Standard accounts have a minimum deposit requirement of 100 EUR and spreads that start at 0.8 pips (EUR/USD), which is tighter than the spreads on other brokers' entry-level accounts. Spreads tighten to 0.1 pips (EUR/USD) with a commission of 6 USD (round turn), but this is in exchange for a minimum deposit requirement of 5000 USD on its Premium Accounts.
Skilling's financial instrument offering is impressive, with 73 forex pairs, 37 cryptocurrencies, over 700 share CFDs, 5 commodities, and 17 indices available for trading. MetaTrader 4, cTrader, and Skilling’s proprietary trading platform are all supported, with seamless integration provided between cTrader and Skilling’s own platform – an industry first. Beginner traders will be disappointed to know that Skilling’s Forex education and market analysis are almost completely absent.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of Pepperstone and Skilling.
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Broker | Countries Regulated | Minimum Spread EUR/USD | Minimum Deposit | Trading cost/lot EURUSD | Broker Score | Broker Website | Select and Compare |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.10 pips | USD 3 | USD 7 | |||||
0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||||
0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||||
0.60 pips | USD 0 | USD 6 | |||||
0.90 pips | USD 100 | USD 9 | |||||
0.40 pips | USD 100 | USD 14 | |||||
0.70 pips | USD 5 | USD 7 | |||||
0.60 pips | USD 5 | USD 6 | |||||
0.10 pips | USD 200 | USD 8 | |||||
0.70 pips | USD 10 | USD 17 |
Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
The FxScouts podcast helps beginner Forex traders get the best start to their trading careers.