The rating, decomposed
Skilling review
What produced Skilling's rating - every factor, shown separately.
Last checked
Skilling rates in the middle, and the average hides the shape of it: strong in one or two categories, clearly weak in others. Regulated by CySEC (357/18); Seychelles FSA (SD042), offering Skilling Trader, cTrader, MetaTrader 4, TradingView.
Our rating
- Regulation8.5
- Costs8.4
- Platforms9.0
- Markets8.0
- Support6.2
- Education4.9
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, Premium
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 0.5 pips, Premium
- Commission
- $3.50 per side / $7 round turn, Premium
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 0.9 pips
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight swaps apply; swap-free accounts available
- Inactivity fee
- €10/month after 12 months inactivity
- Deposit fee
- None internally
- Withdrawal fee
- None internally
- 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.
Skilling lists a minimum deposit of $100. 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, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies
- Currency pairs
- 73
- Total instruments
- 900+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:30
- Execution model
- Market maker / principal
- Execution speed
- Approx. 50ms
- Order types
- Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
- Servers
- London and global financial data-centre infrastructure
Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.
Skilling covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies. 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
- Skilling Trader, cTrader, MetaTrader 4, TradingView
- Own platform
- Yes, Skilling Trader
- Mobile app
- Both proprietary and third-party
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- Yes, MT4 Expert Advisors and cTrader algorithmic trading
- Copy trading
- Yes, cTrader Copy
- Indicators
- 100+ through TradingView; 30+ MT4; extensive cTrader indicators
- Third-party tools
- TradingView, cTrader, MetaTrader 4
- API access
- Yes, cTrader Open API/FIX API
MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.
cTrader shows depth of market and level II pricing, and is usually paired with raw-spread accounts rather than fixed-spread ones.
TradingView integration lets you trade from charts you may already use, removing the need to run a second platform for analysis.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- CySEC (357/18); Seychelles FSA (SD042)
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1
- Register entry
- CySEC CIF Register, licence 357/18
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Regulated credit institutions
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients
- Audited by
- Independent external auditors
- Not available to
- Belgium, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, North Korea, Iran and other jurisdictions where services are prohibited
Regulation carries the heaviest weight in the score, which is why it is scored first.
Skilling holds a tier-one authorisation from CySEC. 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.
It also operates an offshore entity (FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.
CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.
An FSA licence here is usually the Seychelles authorisation - an offshore entity, with lighter obligations than a tier-one regulator.
Check the licence yourself: the CySEC register of investment firms, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $100
- Account types
- Standard, Premium, MT4, MT4 Premium, Professional, Corporate, Islamic/Swap-Free, Unleveraged, Demo
- Account currencies
- EUR, USD, GBP, NOK, SEK
- 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, cards, Skrill, Neteller and supported original funding methods
- Deposit time
- Instant for most cards/e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-3 business days
- Withdrawal time
- Typically processed within 1 business day; settlement varies by method
- Minimum withdrawal
- €50
- Local payment methods
- Trustly and jurisdiction-specific local bank/electronic payment methods
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/5
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, phone, Help Centre
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- +357 22 276710
- support@skilling.com
- Live chat response
- Typically under 2 minutes
- Education
- Extensive: educational articles, trading guides, platform tutorials, webinars and trading education
- Research
- Market analysis, trading insights, technical/fundamental commentary and market news
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- Skilling Limited
- Company number
- HE373524
- Headquarters
- Nicosia, Cyprus
- Founded
- 2016
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- Independent
- Employees
- Approx. 50-200
- Also trades as
- Skilling
Questions people ask about Skilling
Why does Skilling score 7.5 out of ten?
Skilling scores highest on platforms at 90 out of a hundred and lowest on education at 49. 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.