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CMC Markets vs Saxo: Comparison and Analysis

Written by Filippo Ucchino

Fact-Checked by Luca Puddu Publication Date 28 September 2026 Last Updated 28 September 2026

Our verdict · CFD trading

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for CFD trading in India by a small margin, because it covers more tradable symbols (71,000 against 12,000), opens raw spread and managed accounts and allows expert advisors, high-frequency strategies, VPS hosting and API access. CMC Markets, on the other hand, has faster execution (9 ms against 12 ms), runs MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and TradingView next to the proprietary platform both brokers share, and adds copy and social trading. Saxo holds licences from Finanstilsynet, ASIC, the SFC, the DFSA, the FCA, FINMA, the FSA (Seychelles) and the MAS, and CMC Markets from BaFin, ASIC, the CSRC, the FCA, the FMA (New Zealand), CIRO and the MAS. Both brokers charge 7.00 USD per lot to trade EUR/USD, ask for no minimum deposit, cover CFDs on commodities, crypto, forex, indices and stocks, offer a demo account, allow scalping and settle deposits and withdrawals in 2 days.

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Our verdict · Real stock investing

CMC Markets and Saxo cannot be compared for real stock investing in India, because CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks to buy. If you want to invest in real stocks and you are choosing between the two, Saxo is the better option, because it lets you own bonds, ETFs, funds and stocks outright and adds options and futures trading. Saxo charges 2.00 USD on US stocks, among the highest fees on the market.

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Scores, winners and data below compare these brokers as CFD brokers: leveraged trading on forex, indices, commodities and crypto. Scores, winners and data below compare these brokers as stock brokers: real shares and ETFs you own outright.

CMC Markets

CFD

84CFD not offeredStocks

Open Account

78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Best overall Best overall

Saxo

CFD Stocks

87CFD 87Stocks

Open Account

65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Best for

1 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for day traders, long-term investors and futures traders. Both are a good fit for high-volume traders, scalpers and swing traders.

Best for
Overall score	CMC Markets 84 -3 not offered	Saxo 87 Best 87
Day trading i
Long-term investing i
Professional traders i
High-volume traders i
Scalpers i
Swing traders i
News traders i
Algo traders i
Stock traders i
Crypto traders i
Futures traders i
Options traders i

Regulation

2 / 12

CMC Markets and Saxo are both regulated by top-tier authorities, CMC Markets by BaFin, ASIC (Australia) and the FCA (United Kingdom) and Saxo by Finanstilsynet Denmark, ASIC (Australia) and the SFC (Hong Kong).

Regulation
Section score	CMC Markets 100 not offered	Saxo 100 100
Tier-1 regulators
ESMA (European Union) i	BaFin (Germany)	Finanstilsynet (Denmark)
FCA (United Kingdom) i
ASIC (Australia) i
CFTC (United States) i
NFA (United States) i
SEC (United States) i
CIRO (Canada) i
MAS (Singapore) i
SFC (Hong Kong) i
JFSA (Japan) i
FINMA (Switzerland) i
Tier-2 regulators
FMA (New Zealand) i
CBR (Russia) i
FSCA (South Africa) i
DFSA (Dubai) i
CSRC (China) i
ISA (Israel) i
LFSA (Malaysia) i
JSC (Jordan) i
CMA (Kenya) i
Tier-3 regulators
FSA (Seychelles) i
MMA (Maldives) i
SCB (Bahamas) i
FSC (Mauritius) i
VFSC (Vanuatu) i
FSC (Belize) i
CIMA (Cayman Islands) i
SV FSA (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) i
FSRC (St. Kitts & Nevis) i
BMA (Bermuda) i
BVI FSC (British Virgin Islands) i
EDR (External Dispute Resolution) i

Safety

3 / 12

Both CMC Markets and Saxo offer segregated client funds and additional money insurance. CMC Markets also offers an investor compensation scheme. Saxo is also a licensed bank.

Safety
Section score	CMC Markets 95 Best not offered	Saxo 80 -15 80
Company info
Is it publicly traded i
Is it a bank i
Year founded i	1989	1992
Parent company i	CMC Markets plc	Saxo Bank A/S
CEO i	Peter Cruddas	Kim Fournais
Money safety
Segregated client funds i
Two-factor authentication i
Investor compensation scheme i
Additional money insurance i
Partner bank i
Brand power
Number of customers worldwide i	1,000,000	1,200,000
Annual revenue i	USD 324,700,000	USD 727,595,340
Monthly website search traffic i	10.5M monthly visits	1.7M monthly visits

Costs

4 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for CFD costs, since Saxo does not charge forex commissions (against CMC Markets' 5 USD per lot), and does not charge inactivity fees, unlike CMC Markets. Neither CMC Markets nor Saxo charges account maintenance fees or deposit fees.

Only Saxo can be assessed for real stock costs, since CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks.

Costs
Section score	CMC Markets 73 -8 not offered	Saxo 81 Best 71
Broker fees
Deposit fees i
Withdrawal fees i
Overnight fees i
Inactivity fees i
Currency conversion fees i
Discounts on volume i
Real time market data fee i
Dividend withholding i
Account opening fees i
Account maintenance fee i
Portfolio management fee i
Fees on CFDs
Forex commission per lot i	USD 5	Free
EUR/USD average standard spread i	0.7 pips	1 pips
EUR/USD average raw spread i		0.4 pips
EUR/USD average fixed spread i
EUR/USD total cost per lot i	USD 7	USD 7
S&P 500 fees (CFD) i	0.5 points	0.7 points
Gold fees (CFD) i	0.2 points	0.34 points
Bitcoin fees (CFD) i	USD 15	USD 308
US stocks fees (CFD) i	USD 0.02	USD 0.08
Fees on stocks
Stock fee type i
US stocks fees (real) i		USD 2
ETF fees (real) i
Management costs i
Connection costs i
Fees on futures
Futures fees per contract i		USD 3
Platform fees i
Fees on options
Options fees per contract i	Free	USD 2
Event fees i
Fees on savings plans
IRA opening fee i
IRA maintenance fee i
401k opening fee i
401k maintenance fee i

Available markets

5 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for CFD markets, given that Saxo gives access to 71,000 tradable symbols (against CMC Markets' 12,000), offers futures on commodities, forex and indices, which CMC Markets does not, and offers options on commodities, forex and indices, which CMC Markets does not. Both CMC Markets and Saxo offer CFDs on commodities, crypto, forex, indices and stocks.

Saxo and CMC Markets cannot be compared for real stock markets, because Saxo is a broker offering both CFDs and stocks while CMC Markets is a CFD broker.

Available markets
Section score	CMC Markets 75 -25 not offered	Saxo 100 Best 100
Total tradable symbols i	12,000	71,000
Currency pairs i
Indices i
Commodities i
Stocks i
ETF i
Cryptocurrencies i
Bonds i
Interest rates i
Portfolios i
CFDs i	Commodities, Crypto, Forex, Indices, Stocks	Commodities, Crypto, Forex, Indices, Stocks
Futures i		Commodities, Forex, Indices
Options i		Commodities, Forex, Indices
Assets you can own i		Bonds, ETF, Funds, Stocks

Platform

6 / 12

CMC Markets is better than Saxo for platforms, given that CMC Markets offers MetaTrader 5, MetaTrader 4 and copy trading, which Saxo does not. CMC Markets and Saxo both offer a proprietary platform and social trading.

CMC Markets does not offer real stocks, being a CFD broker, so Saxo and CMC Markets cannot be compared for platforms.

Platform
Section score	CMC Markets 97 Best not offered	Saxo 86 -11 86
Proprietary platform i
MetaTrader 4 i
MetaTrader 5 i
cTrader i
Social trading platform i
Copy trading platform i
ZuluTrade i
TradingView i
Duplitrade i
Mirror Trader i
NinjaTrader i
AutoChartist i
Real time pricing i
5 digit pricing i
One-click trading i

Mobile

7 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for mobile trading, as Saxo offers mobile trading signals, mobile charting tools and mobile drawing tools, which CMC Markets does not. CMC Markets and Saxo both offer a proprietary mobile app and mobile price alerts.

Saxo and CMC Markets cannot be compared for mobile trading, because Saxo is a broker offering both CFDs and stocks while CMC Markets is a CFD broker.

Mobile
Section score	CMC Markets 73 -14 not offered	Saxo 87 Best 87
Proprietary app i
Social trading app i
Copy trading app i
MetaTrader 4 app i
MetaTrader 5 app i
cTrader app i
Mobile trading signals i
Mobile alerts i
Mobile charting tools i
Mobile drawing tools i
Mobile watchlist i
Smartwatch app i

Trading features

8 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for CFD trading features, as Saxo offers negative balance protection, tier-1 liquidity providers and VPS hosting, which CMC Markets does not. Both CMC Markets and Saxo offer trailing stops.

CMC Markets does not offer real stocks, being a CFD broker, so Saxo and CMC Markets cannot be compared for real stock trading features.

Trading features
Section score	CMC Markets 59 -26 not offered	Saxo 85 Best 77
Trade execution
Broker type i	Agency	NDD
Average execution time i	9 ms	12 ms
Slippage occurrence i		20.7%
Requotes occurrence i	0.08%
Tier-1 liquidity providers i
PFOF i
Leverage
Major FX pairs leverage i	30:1	30:1
Minor/Exotic FX pairs leverage i	20:1	20:1
Major indices leverage i	10:1	20:1
Minor indices leverage i	10:1	10:1
Gold leverage i	20:1	20:1
Commodities leverage i	10:1	10:1
Equities leverage i	3:1	5:1
Cryptocurrency leverage i	2:1	2:1
Risk management
Stop losses i
Take profits i
Limit orders i
Trailing stop i
Margin call i
OCO orders i
Guaranteed stop loss i
Negative balance protection i
Minimum trade size (FX) i	0.01 lots	0.01 lots
Minimum trade size (stocks) i	USD 0	USD 0
Fractional stocks i
Trading compliance
Scalping strategies allowed i
Hedging strategies allowed i
Automated trading strategy allowed i
EAs use allowed i
HFT strategy allowed i
VPS use allowed i
API use allowed i
Price scraping allowed i
FIFO rule applies i

Account types

9 / 12

CMC Markets and Saxo are equally good for CFD account types, since CMC Markets offers a professional traders account and an unlimited demo account while Saxo offers a managed account and a raw spread account. Both CMC Markets and Saxo offer a demo account and a corporate account.

Only Saxo can be assessed for real stock account types, since CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks.

Account types
Section score	CMC Markets 48 not offered	Saxo 46 -2 83
Demo account i
Unlimited demo account i
Standard account i
Micro account i
Cent account i
Nano account i
Raw spread account i
ECN account i
Swap-free account i
Islamic account i
Professional traders account i
Fixed spread account i
Spread betting account i
Copy trading account i
Corporate account i
Managed account i
Stock investing account i
Margin investing account i
Savings account i
Retirement account i

Account opening

10 / 12

CMC Markets and Saxo are equally good for account opening, as both offer credit cards and debit cards. Neither CMC Markets nor Saxo requires a minimum deposit.

Only Saxo can be assessed for account opening, since CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks.

Account opening
Section score	CMC Markets 65 not offered	Saxo 65 65
Minimum deposit i	USD 0	USD 0
Minimum withdrawal i	USD 0	USD 0
Wire transfers i
Credit cards i
Debit cards i
eWallets i
Local payment methods i
Account base currencies i	EUR, USD	EUR, USD
Deposit waiting time i	up to 2 business days	up to 2 business days
Withdrawal waiting time i	up to 2 business days	up to 2 business days
Bonus program i

Customer care

11 / 12

Saxo is better than CMC Markets for customer care, as Saxo offers customer support in 15 languages (against CMC Markets' 9), and has a website in 12 languages (against CMC Markets' 9). CMC Markets and Saxo both offer a dedicated account manager and phone support.

Saxo and CMC Markets cannot be set side by side for customer care, as CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks, unlike Saxo.

Customer care
Section score	CMC Markets 73 -14 not offered	Saxo 87 Best 87
Number of languages supported i	9	15
Website languages i	German, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese	Arabic, Danish, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Chinese
Website available in English i
Customer support languages i	German, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese	Arabic, Czech, German, English, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Chinese
Customer support in English i
Call back request i
Email support i
Phone support i
Live chat i
Priority customer support i
Dedicated account manager i
Cash sweep i
Stock lending i
Distributes proceeds i
Tax withholding agent i
Tax assistance i

Learning

12 / 12

CMC Markets and Saxo are equally good for learning, as both offer education for advanced traders and webinars.

There is no like-for-like comparison for learning, as CMC Markets is a CFD broker and does not offer real stocks.

Learning
Section score	CMC Markets 100 not offered	Saxo 100 100
Education
Education center i
Education for beginners i
Education for advanced traders i
Webinars i
Tutorials i
Glossary i
Research
Economic calendar i
Traders' sentiment i
Daily market commentary i
Daily trading ideas i
News via social media i
Professional reports i
Watchlist i

CMC Markets

Open Account 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Saxo

Open Account 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Our verdict

CMC Markets vs Saxo: which one should you choose?

CMC Markets

CFD Choose CMC Markets, regulated by BaFin and ASIC, if you want a CFD and forex broker with copy and social trading, fast execution and the MetaTrader platforms.

Open Account 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Saxo

CFD Choose Saxo, regulated by the FCA and FINMA, if you want an online CFD broker with a wide choice of markets, managed accounts and room for automated strategies.

Stocks Choose Saxo, regulated by the FCA and FINMA, if you want a share dealing service for long-term investing, with a wide choice of markets.

Open Account 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.