Established in 2001, Admiral Markets is an international forex broker focusing on providing online trading services for currencies and contract for differences (CFD) on equities, precious metals, market indices and energy to retail traders from around the world.  Their brand “Admiral Markets” is owned by the holding company Admiral Markets Group AS which is based in Estonia. Nevertheless, Admiral Markets operates through its subsidiaries Admiral Markets UK Ltd and Admiral Markets Pty.

As a global operation, Admiral Markets is regulated by financial regulatory agencies such as the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) and UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Trading Platforms

In terms of trading platforms, Admiral Markets tries to ensure that their traders are given access to state of the art platforms such as the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) developed by MetaQuotes Software Corp. To accommodate the different types of devices and operating systems used by their traders, the MT4 and MT5 platforms are available in the following versions listed below:

In addition to cater for those who are managing several accounts, Admiral Markets have also made available the MT4 MultiTerminal platform that lets account managers log on to as many as 128 different accounts simultaneously.

Main Features

One of the main features of Admiral Markets that is truly outstanding, is their analytics. Committed to ensuring that their traders have at their disposal all the necessary information they need to make an informed trading decision, Admiral Markets have taken the initiative to invest in providing their traders with quality fundamental analysis, technical analysis, wave analysis, forex calendar and a unique heat map which gives a birds eye view about the market conditions.

As for trading education for beginner traders, Admiral Markets have made available a series of free webinars on the forex market. These webinars are covered by highly qualified experts on areas such as basic knowledge about the forex market, market analysis, technical tools and trading strategies. In fact, their educational package is by far the most comprehensive that is offered free by forex brokers in the industry.

Account Types

There are 3 types of trading accounts available for traders to choose from at Admiral Markets. They consist of Admiral Markets standard account (minimum deposit £150, €200, $250), Admiral Prime account (minimum deposit £1000, €1000, $1600) and Admiral MT5 account (minimum deposit £1000, €1000, $1600).

With the Admiral Markets standard account, traders can trade with 32 different forex pairs and 48 different types of assets for CFDs. The leverage for forex is at the ratio of 1:500. For Admiral Prime trading account, traders have access to 45 forex pairs and 3 spot metal CFDs. With the Admiral MT5 trading account, traders can only trade with 26 forex pairs and 2 spot metal CFDs. The leverage for the Admiral Prime and Admiral MT5 trading accounts is at 1:200 and 1:100 respectively.

Account Comparison

Below is a table showing the all main differences between the 3 types of account offered by Admiral Markets:

Finally, a demo account with a virtual balance of $10,000 is also available should prospective traders want to test out Admiral Markets’ services first without having to risk any real money.

Economic Calendar

To assist traders in planning their trades properly, Admiral Markets has also provided them with a comprehensive economic calendar detailing all the key events and announcements that could affect the financial markets. This is tool which all financial traders should not do without.

Commission & Spreads

As can be seen from the specification of the different types of trading accounts offered by Admiral Markets, the minimum spreads start from 0.2 pips (Admiral MT5) and 0.8 pips (Admiral Markets standard). There is also a small commission charge levied on trades made thorough the Admiral Prime ($35 per million notional value) and Admiral MT5 (0.003% of trading volume) trading accounts.

Customer Support

Customer support at Admiral Markets is done via email, web contact form, live chat and the telephone. The support services are provided on a 24 hours basis (limited to business days) through live chat and are in English and Russian.

Licenses & Regulations

As for regulatory oversight, Admiral Markets UK comes under the jurisdiction of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Firm reference number (FRN): #595450. Its sister company, Admiral Markets AS (Estonia), on the other hand is regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) and complies with the rules and regulations under the European Union (EU) Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

Pros

• Comprehensive Education and Analytics
• Flexible Trading accounts
• International presence
• Licensed Broker
• Multi-lingual Customer Support
• State-of-the-art Trading Platforms

Cons

• No Web based Trading Platform

Conclusion

From our observations, what makes Admiral Markets really stand out from their competitors is the effort which this broker has made in developing a top notch online trading education package. In fact, it comes as no surprise that Admiral Markets managed to bag 2 awards for their efforts from the financial magazine Financial Review Smart Investor under the category of “Best of Forex for Novice Traders” and “Best of Forex for Experienced Traders” for 2013.