The rating, decomposed
HYCM review
What produced HYCM's rating - every factor, shown separately.
Last checked
HYCM rates well without topping the table. The score is held up by two or three categories and held back by another, and the section scores below show which. Regulated by FCA (186171); DFSA (F000048), offering HYCM Trader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, WebTrader.
Our rating
- Regulation9.4
- Costs8.5
- Platforms8.8
- Markets8.2
- Support7.6
- Education6.7
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
What it costs to trade
- Spread from
- 0.1 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- Approx. 0.2 pips, Raw
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 0.5 pips, Raw
- Commission
- $2 per side / $4 round turn, Raw
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.6 pips
- Spread type
- Fixed and variable, account-dependent
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight swaps may be charged or credited
- Inactivity fee
- $10/month after 90 days inactivity
- Deposit fee
- None internally
- Withdrawal fee
- Generally none internally; payment-provider/bank fees may apply
- Currency conversion
- Currency conversion at applicable exchange rate
Cost is scored on what a trade actually costs all in, not on the headline spread.
A quoted spread from 0.1 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.
Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.
HYCM lists a minimum deposit of $20. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.
Markets and execution
- Markets
- Forex, Stocks, Indices, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities
- Currency pairs
- 60+
- Total instruments
- 300+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:500
- Execution model
- Market maker / principal
- Execution speed
- 12ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- London and global financial data-centre infrastructure
Leverage up to 1:500 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.
HYCM covers forex, stocks, indices, cryptocurrencies, commodities. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, skrill, neteller and regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.
Platforms and tools
- Platforms
- HYCM Trader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, WebTrader
- Own platform
- Yes, HYCM Trader
- Mobile app
- Both proprietary and third-party
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- Yes; MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors and automated trading
- Copy trading
- No
- Indicators
- 30+ MT4; 38+ MT5; additional proprietary-platform tools
- Third-party tools
- Seasonax, Financial Source, Trading Central
- API access
- Yes, institutional connectivity
MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.
MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- FCA (186171); DFSA (F000048)
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 186171
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Tier 1 banks
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients
- Audited by
- Independent external auditors
- Not available to
- Afghanistan, Belgium, Hong Kong, United States and other restricted/sanctioned jurisdictions
Regulation carries the heaviest weight in the score, which is why it is scored first.
HYCM holds a tier-one authorisation from FCA. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.
The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The DFSA regulates from the Dubai International Financial Centre, a separate legal jurisdiction from the wider UAE.
Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, the DFSA public register.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $20
- Account types
- Fixed, Classic, Raw, Islamic/Swap-Free, Professional, Demo
- Account currencies
- EUR, USD, GBP, AED, JPY
- Islamic account
- Yes
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes
- Minimum trade size
- 0.01 lots
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and regional payment methods
- Withdrawal methods
- Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller and supported original funding methods
- Deposit time
- Instant for most cards/e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-7 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Typically processed within 1 business day; receipt depends on payment method
- Minimum withdrawal
- $20
- Local payment methods
- Multiple jurisdiction-specific online banking and regional payment methods
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, phone
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- +44 20 3996 4943
- support@hycm.com
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: webinars, workshops, educational articles, trading courses, platform tutorials and demo trading
- Research
- Market analysis, Financial Source, Seasonax, technical/fundamental analysis and trading insights
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- HYCM Capital Markets (UK) Limited
- Company number
- 02878581
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1977
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- HYCM Capital Markets Group
- Employees
- 200+
- Also trades as
- HYCM; Henyep Capital Markets
Compare with brokers under the same regulator
Rated on the same scale and licensed by the same authority as HYCM, these are the brokers whose scores compare most directly.
Questions people ask about HYCM
Why does HYCM score 8.2 out of ten?
HYCM scores highest on regulation at 94 out of a hundred and lowest on education at 67. The overall figure is the tracker's own and the categories are what produced it, so the gap between those two is the more useful number.