Is FP Markets Safe Or Not?

FP Markets is a real broker, not a scam, but some traders have less protection from its multiple licenses. We gave it a safety score of 65 out of 100. This is based on our own real-money testing, a review of the client agreement, license checks, the broker’s 20+year track record, and feedback from over 10,000 user reviews.

Written By
Christian Harris

Fact Checked By
Tobias Robinson

Edited By
James Barra

Updated
October 8, 2026

FP Markets Safety Assessment

We used a data-driven approach to decide if FP Markets is safe. We rated each category from 0 to 5 and added the scores for a total out of 100.

« Make Full Width »

FP Markets Safety Assessment
Metric	Score (0-5)	FP Markets Details
1. Regulated	4.5/5	Yes – The group holds strong licences. First Prudential Markets Pty Ltd has held an Australian licence since May 2005 (AFSL 286354). CySEC’s register shows its EU arm licensed under 371/18 since 19 November 2018. FP Markets (Pty) Ltd (FSP 50936) has been authorized by South Africa’s FSCA since 2022. First Prudential Markets Limited is on the FSA Seychelles register (SD130) and the broker is licensed by Kenya’s CMA (licence 193). ASIC and CySEC are top-tier regulators in our regulator system. But if you sign up through FP’s UK site and in some other regions, your Client Agreement is with FP Markets Ltd, a Saint Lucia company that’s registered but not regulated.
2. Investor Compensation Schemes	4/5	Partly – Few of FP Markets’ regulators run a fund that pays out if a broker fails, so protection comes mostly from complaint bodies. Australia’s Compensation Scheme of Last Resort excludes forex and derivatives dealing, though FP Markets’ ASIC-licensed arm must answer retail complaints through AFCA. South Africa’s FAIS Ombud can order a provider to pay up to R3.5 million, but that’s a ruling, not a fund. Kenya’s Investor Compensation Fund covers failed stockbrokers and dealers, with payouts the CMA puts at up to KSh 200,000; we found nothing confirming it covers online forex clients. FP Markets is part of the Financial Commission, which has a fund that pays up to €20,000 if FP Markets ignores a ruling. None covers trading losses.
3. Age	4/5	Founded in 2005 in Sydney. FP’s 15th anniversary announcement from May 2020 dates the launch to May 2005. The Australian Business Register shows First Prudential Markets Pty Ltd active since 7 June 2005. One catch is the offshore contracting company: FP Markets Ltd carries Saint Lucia registration number 2025-00853, which points to a company set up in 2025. In contrast, scam trading brokerages often disappear within weeks or months.
4. Listed On Stock Exchange	0/5	No – FP Markets is privately owned. None of the company information we checked name its shareholders or publish group accounts, so you can’t check its finances the way you can with a listed broker.
5. Registered As A Bank	0/5	No – Brokers that also run as banks face much stricter capital rules. Clause 20 of FP Markets’ Client Agreement says client money can sit in pooled accounts at banks outside Saint Lucia, and FP Markets accepts no liability if one of those banks fails.
6. Third-Party User Reviews	4/5	Trustpilot shows over 4.5/5 from more than 10,300 reviews, with around 95% five-star and 3% one-star. FP Markets pays for a Trustpilot subscription and invites customers to post, often right after a live chat, so many five-star reviews praise a single support agent rather than trading or withdrawals. FP Markets’ own footer shows a Trustpilot badge.
7. Withdrawal Complaints	3.5/5	In unverified one-star reviews from Trustpilot September 2026, users describe a bank withdrawal still pending on day five, a USDT payout held two days after wallet approval, and a 10-day wait to switch withdrawal method after closing a card. Clause 19.8 of the Client Agreement promises payouts within five business days but lets ID checks stretch that. Our test withdrawals, documented in our full FP Markets review, usually arrived in one to two working days. The pattern points to slow compliance checks, not vanished funds.
8. Handling Of Complaints	3.5/5	Trustpilot says FP Markets replied to 22% of negative reviews, typically within a month, at the time of our last checks. FP Markets’ dispute page promises a written decision within 21 days, then lets you escalate to the Financial Commission within 45 days of the incident. UK clients can’t use the Financial Ombudsman Service, because their contract is with a firm the FCA doesn’t authorise.
9. Regulatory Fines & Infractions	3/5	Three records stand out. In December 2014, ASIC accepted an enforceable undertaking after finding FP Markets’ 2013 checks for spotting manipulative client trading may not have been adequate; there was no fine. In February 2026, CySEC announced a €100,000 settlement with FP’s EU arm over CFD restriction rules between March 2022 and August 2025. And the Bank of Russia has kept FP Markets on its warning list since June 2021 for signs of illegal securities activity, naming ‘fpmarkets.com’, though the entry hasn’t been updated since November 2021.
10. Accounts Audited By Big Four	2/5	FP Markets’ regulation page says external firms audit its accounts but doesn’t name them. We found no published accounts for FP Markets Ltd, the Saint Lucia company holding UK clients’ money. ASIC and CySEC make their licensed entities file audited accounts, but those entities don’t hold your money if you join through many other jurisdictions, including the UK site.
11. Hands-On Testing Experience	4/5	For our FP Markets review, we traded on a live account. Sign-up and funding were quick, withdrawals usually landed in one to two working days, and cTrader had the cleanest interface of its platforms. In March 2026, FP Markets emailed us that its offshore arm was moving from FP Markets LLC to FP Trading LLC. By October 2026, the UK client agreement named a different company again: FP Markets Ltd in Saint Lucia.
12. Reliable Support	4/5	Live chat, email and phone. In our tests, live chat answered within about a minute, with occasional language slips. FP Markets’ about page and its Trustpilot profile advertise 24/7 support in 40+ languages. Formal complaints go to a separate compliance email.
13. Security	3.5/5	FP Markets doesn’t offer two-factor login, and clauses 3.5 to 3.9 of the Client Agreement make you responsible for anything done with your login details. We found no guarantee to refund unauthorised losses. Scammers clone FP Markets’ name, so only log in via ‘fpmarkets.com’.
14. Realistic Marketing	2/5	Risk warnings run site-wide, but some claims don’t match the contract. The UK regulation page tells search engines that ASIC fully licenses FP Markets, yet UK accounts sit with the Saint Lucia company. The same page says FP Markets “caters for the use of Expert Advisors (EAs) along with scalping and hedging”, while the Client Agreement treats scalping and unapproved robots as abusive trading that can void profits. Award counts vary too: 40+ on the regulation page, 60+ on the about page, 80+ on Trustpilot. The 40+ figure matches FP Markets’ own May 2020 announcement, which suggests the regulation page may not have been refreshed in years.
15. Industry Reputation	4/5	Well known among forex and CFD traders, with thousands of Trustpilot reviews. Its about page lists charity work in Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya and Cyprus.
16. Segregated Client Accounts	4/5	Yes, with caveats – Clause 20 of the Client Agreement keeps client money apart from FP Markets’ own funds. But that money can sit in pooled accounts abroad, FP Markets keeps any interest it earns, and no financial regulator named by FP Markets checks the Saint Lucia company’s reconciliations the way ASIC or CySEC would.
17. Negative Balance Protection (NBP)	4.5/5	Yes – Clause 18.3 of the Client Agreement protects you from a negative balance, so you can’t lose more than you deposit. It’s a contract promise, not a regulatory rule, and FP Markets’ definition of abusive trading includes exploiting this protection, which leaves room for disputes after extreme market gaps.
18. Number Of Clients	2.5/5	FP Markets doesn’t publish client numbers or the money it holds. The best proxy we found is Trustpilot: over 10,300 reviews.
19. Transparent Fees	4.5/5	FP Markets says it generally covers deposit fees, but the Client Agreement adds some costs that can be easy to miss. Clause 18.12 charges $10 a month once an account goes 90 days without trading, deposits, withdrawals or logins. Clause 19.4 lets FP Markets pass payment-provider fees back to you if your deposits and withdrawals don’t match your trading activity.
20. Company Transparency	3.5/5	FP Markets’ footer names its Saint Lucia, Seychelles, Australian and South African companies with licence numbers. Gaps remain: a Cyprus company, Tominus Ltd, appears on every page with no explanation of its role. The Client Agreement gives the ASIC entity’s ABN as 16 112 600 291, but the Australian Business Register confirms the correct number is 16 112 600 281. The regulation page still promotes the Iress platform, which is missing from the site’s own platform menu in certain jurisdictions including the UK.
Total	65/100

Show Full Table

Professional Opinion

From my safety review, I don’t think FP Markets is a trading scam. Its Australian branch has had an ASIC license since 2005, and when we tested withdrawals, the money usually arrived within two working days.

The catch for traders in some regions is the contract. Sign up and you may be dealing with FP Markets Ltd in Saint Lucia, a registered company, not a regulated one.

The contract details are also stricter than the marketing suggests. The website says scalping and EAs are allowed, but the contract lets FP Markets cancel profits from scalping or unapproved EAs.

I would use FP Markets for active CFD trading with money I can afford to set aside, but not for savings. Before you deposit, check which company is named in your client agreement, get written approval for any scalping or EA strategy, and try a small withdrawal first.

FSCA license

Safest Alternatives To FP Markets

FP Markets is a legitimate broker. However, traders in many jurisdictions have more reliable choices. You can look at our list of the safest brokers for trading and investing.

Before you switch brokers, make sure to check these four things:

The exact company your account will be with (this will largely determine your regulatory protections)
A license you can verify on the regulator’s register (like ASIC’s Professional Registers Search)
Membership in a compensation scheme such as the FSCS in the UK
Whether negative balance protection is a regulatory rule or just a term in the client agreement