ActivTrades features its innovative proprietary trading platform, offering manual traders market sentiment, hedging, and quality trading charts. Algorithmic and copy traders get the core MT4/MT5 trading platforms upgraded through seven quality plugins. ActivTrades also allows API trading, granting advanced traders with proprietary solutions access to its superb technology infrastructure.
Pepperstone provides Autochartist and the Smart Trader Tools upgrade package for MT4/MT5, consisting of 28 plugins. It creates one of the most competitive environments. It added Capitalise AI, a code-free environment to automate trading strategies, and cTrader is also available. Besides the embedded copy trading services available in all its trading platforms, Pepperstone offers Myfxbook Autotrade and DupliTrade.
We have conducted an in-depth review of ActivTrades and Pepperstone to determine which presents the better overall choice and which traders will benefit the most at either broker.
- Features and Platforms
- Available Markets
- Typical Spreads and Fees
- Security and Trust
- eToro versus ActivTrades - Verdict
 |  | |
Headquarters | United Kingdom | Australia |
Regulators | CNMV, CONSOB, FCA, FSC Mauritius, SCB | ASIC, BaFin, CMA, CySEC, DFSA, FCA, SCB |
Tier 1 Regulator(s)? | ||
Owned by Public Company? | ||
Year Established | 2001 | 2010 |
Execution Type(s) | Market Maker | No Dealing Desk, NDD |
Minimum Deposit | $0 | $0 |
Negative Balance Protection | N/A | |
Trading Platform(s) | Other, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Proprietary platform, Trading View+ | Other, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, Proprietary platform, Trading View+ |
Average Trading Cost EUR/USD | $10.00 | 1.1 pips |
Average Trading Cost GBP/USD | $14.00 | 1.4 pips |
Average Trading Cost WTI Crude Oil | $0.06 | $2.50 |
Average Trading Cost Gold | $42.00 | $0.15 |
Retail Loss Rate | 83.00% | 74-89% |
Minimum Raw Spreads | Not applicable | 0.0 pips |
Minimum Standard Spreads | 0.5 pips | 1.0 pips |
Minimum Commission for Forex | Commission-free | 6.00 per round lot (cTrader) / $7.00 per round lot (MT4/MT5) |
Islamic Account | ||
Signals | ||
US Persons Accepted? | ||
Managed Accounts | ||
| Visit Website | Visit Website 75-95% of traders on margin lose |
Features and Platforms
| | |
MT4 | ||
MT5 | ||
cTrader | ||
Proprietary Platform | ||
Automated Trading | ||
DOM? | ||
Guaranteed Stop Loss | ||
Scalping | ||
Hedging | ||
One-Click Trading | ||
OCO Orders | ||
Interest on Margin | ||
| Visit Website | Visit Website 75-95% of traders on margin lose |
ActivTrades provides one-on-one training sessions, and a dedicated institutional division confirms deep liquidity pools. Pepperstone added the active TradingView community, featuring 30M+ traders.
Available Markets
| | |
Currency Pairs | N/A | |
Commodities | ||
Crude Oil | ||
Gold | ||
Metals | ||
Equity Indices | ||
ETFs | ||
Options | N/A | |
Futures | ||
Synthetics | ||
| Visit Website | Visit Website 75-95% of traders on margin lose |
The asset selection at ActivTrades and Pepperstone is similar, but Pepperstone maintains an edge with 1,200+ trading instruments versus 1,000+ at ActivTrades. Forex traders get a broader choice of currency pairs with 60+, three currency indices, and notably more cryptocurrency pairs. Both brokers allow cross-asset diversification, but Pepperstone adds more quantity and therefore opportunities.
Typical Spreads and Fees
| | |
Average Trading Cost EUR/USD | $10.00 | 1.1 pips |
Average Trading Cost GBP/USD | $14.00 | 1.4 pips |
Average Trading Cost WTI Crude Oil | $0.06 | $2.50 |
Average Trading Cost Gold | $42.00 | $0.15 |
Average Trading Cost Bitcoin | $101.00 | 25 |
Minimum Raw Spreads | Not applicable | 0.0 pips |
Minimum Standard Spreads | 0.5 pips | 1.0 pips |
Minimum Commission for Forex | Commission-free | 6.00 per round lot (cTrader) / $7.00 per round lot (MT4/MT5) |
Deposit Fee | N/A | |
Withdrawal Fee | N/A | |
Inactivity Fee | N/A | $0 |
| Visit Website | Visit Website 75-95% of traders on margin lose |
Both brokers offer competitive trading costs. ActivTrades has lower minimum fees, while Pepperstone maintains cheaper average trading costs. Commission rebates exist at ActivTrades and Pepperstone, where minimum Forex costs at Pepperstone drop to as low as $3.00 per lot. Equity commissions are also lower at Pepperstone than at ActivTrades.
Security and Trust
| | |
Country of the Regulator | Brazil, The Bahamas, Italy, Mauritius, Portugal, United Kingdom | United Arab Emirates, Australia, The Bahamas, Cyprus, Germany, Kenya, United Kingdom |
Name of the Regulator | CNMV, CONSOB, FCA, FSC Mauritius, SCB | ASIC, BaFin, CMA, CySEC, DFSA, FCA, SCB |
Regulatory License Number | 434413, 199667 B, 43.050.917/0001-03, 433, 198, GB24203277 | 414530, 91279, 128, 388/20, F004356, 684312, F217 |
Regulatory Tier | 4, 1, 1, 1, 4, 2 | N/A |
| Visit Website | Visit Website 75-95% of traders on margin lose |
Pepperstone vs ActivTrades – Verdict
ActivTrades
| Pros | Cons |
| Upgraded MT4/MT5 trading platforms and a cutting-edge proprietary alternative | Limited choice of cryptocurrencies |
| Excellent order execution due to superior technology infrastructure | |
| Outstanding educational resources for beginners | |
| Interest payments on free margin and volume-based cash rebate program |
Pepperstone
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent choice of trading platforms consisting of MT4/MT5, and cTrader | Minimum deposits are slightly higher but within a reasonable range |
| Market-leading MT4/MT5 upgrade package, Autochartist, and API trading | |
| Social trading support via Myfxbook, MetaTrader Signals, and DupliTrade | |
| Leverage of up to 1:500 and superb trade execution |
Both brokers maintain upgraded trading platforms, low trading costs, deep liquidity, and extensive support for algorithmic traders. ActivTrades offers an excellent feature with its one-on-one training sessions for beginners, but Pepperstone remains the more competitive multi-asset broker overall. It has superior trading platform upgrades, a broader asset selection, lower trading costs for high-volume traders, and more copy trading solutions.
You might also be interested in reviewing the below broker comparisons:
- ActivTrades vs eToro
- ActivTrades vs XTB
- ActivTrades vs IG Markets
- Pepperstone vs Tickmill
- Pepperstone vs CMC Markets
- Pepperstone vs Oanda
