CityIndex Broker Review

CityIndex Overall Rating

CityIndex demonstrates its strength through a combination of competitive trading conditions, a vast array of assets, and intuitive trading platforms. With spreads starting from as low as 0.50 pips on the EUR/USD without a minimum deposit requirement, its trading environment is both accessible and economical for traders. The broker’s commitment to reliability is reinforced by strict regulation from the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, and CIMA. Additionally, CityIndex’s in-depth educational content and insightful market analysis further enrich the trading experience. Despite minor issues like slower withdrawal processes and restricted demo account access, CityIndex’s complete set of services confirms its position as a top-level broker.

FxScouts rates CityIndex 4.38 out of 5.

Is City Index Safe?

Yes, CityIndex is a safe broker for South Africans to trade with. Founded in 1983 in London, CityIndex maintains regulation from multiple top-tier regulators, including the UK’s FCA, ASIC of Australia, and the MAS of Singapore. CityIndex is also owned by StoneX, a Fortune-100 NASDAQ-listed company, further burnishing its credentials as a safe broker. 

Additionally, in line with regulation, all client funds are segregated from CityIndex’s operating capital, it provides traders with negative balance protection, and client funds are insured by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), compensating traders with up to 85,000 EUR in the event of liquidation.  On this basis, we consider CityIndex a safe broker for South African clients to trade with. Click here for more details on CityIndex’s safety and regulation. 

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Trading Fees

CityIndex’s trading fees are lower than other similar brokers.

Like many other large market maker brokers, CityIndex offers one live commission-free CFD account and one demo account. The account is available on both MT4 and on CityIndex’s proprietary web trader platform.

CityIndex’s fee structure is transparent, and it publishes the live, minimum, and average spreads on its website.

CityIndex’s account was assessed to compare the costs to those of other forex brokers.  The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100 000 USD) on the EUR/USD, including the spreads.  

When making this calculation, we used one lot of EUR/USD as a benchmark as it is the most commonly traded currency pair and it usually has the tightest spread.

Trading Cost Formula: Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Cost in Secondary Currency (USD):

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As you can see from the table above, the trading costs on CityIndex’s live account are 5 USD, which is significantly lower than other brokers, but this is based on the minimum spread. The spread at CityIndex is variable and gets wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility. 

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

CityIndex

5/ 5

EUR, USD, GBP, AUD

0.50 pips

USD 5

0.50 pips

1.80 pips

0.60 pips

USD 0

CMC Markets

5/ 5

AUD, USD

0.70 pips

USD 7

0.70 pips

0.90 pips

0.70 pips

USD 0

Pepperstone

4.5/ 5

EUR, GBP, USD, AUD, NZD, JPY, CHF, SGD, HKD, CAD

1.00 pips

USD 10

0.10 pips

0.40 pips

0.30 pips

USD 0

Swap Fees

Financing is a fee that you pay to hold a trading position overnight on leveraged trades. Essentially it is an interest payment to cover the cost of the leverage that you use overnight.

Overnight financing charges are applied to positions that have no set expiry date, for example, trades for both spread bets and CFDs. You will not pay a finance charge on futures trades as they already have the overnight cost built into the price. 

The daily financing fee will be applied to your account each day that you hold an open position (including weekend days). Financing is applied at 17:45 each day for most markets. 

CityIndex’s swap fees are based on the Interest rate benchmark plus a fee of 2.5% on a long position, and the interest rate benchmark minus a fee of 2.5% on a short position.

Unfortunately, CityIndex does not publish the swap fees on its website. For details of the exact swap fees for each instrument, please view the market information sheet on the platform.

CityIndex’s Non-trading Fees

CityIndex’s non-trading fees are lower than other similar brokers.  

Some of the most overlooked trading costs are the non-trading fees that are charged by brokers.  These fees can significantly affect your profitability and so should be carefully scrutinised.

Unlike other brokers that charge fees for deposits, withdrawals, and on inactive accounts, CityIndex does not generally charge any non-trading fees. 

Overall, this is a welcome development in an industry where additional fees are charged on almost every transaction.

Opening an Account at CityIndex

The account opening process at CityIndex is fast, fully digital, and hassle-free.

South African traders are eligible to open an account at CityIndex but have to follow the four-step account opening process.  CityIndex offers individual, joint, and corporate accounts, but we will focus on opening an individual account.

How to open an account at CityIndex:

1. Traders should click on the ‘Create Account’ button.

2. Traders will be directed to fill in their personal details, including name, surname, email, physical address, and date of birth. They will also be required to choose a username and password.

3. Traders will then have to detail their address details and place of birth.

4. The third step requires filling in your employment status, financial details, and trading experience.

5. The last step requires agreeing to CityIndex’s terms and conditions and verifying your identity. CityIndex requires two documents to complete your online application:

   1. Proof of Address:
      • Bank statement
      • Credit card statement
      • Utility bill such as gas, water, electric, cable, or phone. If the utility bill is in the name of a landlord, also provide a rental or lease agreement.
        
        
   2. Proof of Identity:
      • Driver’s licence
      • Machine-readable passport
      • National ID

We suggest you read CityIndex’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading.

Once your documents have been verified by the customer support team, you can log in and fund your account.

Compared to other similar brokers, CityIndex’s account opening process is fast, generally hassle-free, and fully digital. 

CityIndex’s Accounts

CityIndex offers only one account type, whereas most brokers will provide at least two or three, but its account is suited to both beginners and more experienced traders.

With a single registration, CityIndex clients can open both a real and a demo account, and trading is offered on CityIndex’s proprietary web trader platform and MT4. 

CityIndex’s account is suited to both beginners and more experienced traders. We define beginner traders as inexperienced traders who have never traded before or have been trading for less than a year. Beginners often do not want to risk trading large sums of money, and will generally not be able to trade full-time during the workweek. CityIndex’s account has no minimum deposit requirements, putting it within the reach of beginner traders.

While experienced traders often prefer higher minimum deposits and tighter spreads, in exchange for a commission per lot, CityIndex offers a low-cost trading environment and a wide choice of tradable assets (click here for more on CityIndex’s available assets), making it appealing to more experienced traders.  CityIndex also offers professional accounts for more experienced traders who meet certain criteria.

Traders under the FCA regulation only have access to leverage of up to 30:1, but up to 400:1 as a professional trader. CityIndex allows hedging, scalping, and copy trading on its proprietary and MT4 platforms.  See below for more information on CityIndex’s accounts:

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Demo Account

Unfortunately, the demo account at City Index has a 12-week limit –  an unusual choice for a large broker –  and only comes with 20,000 AUD/10,000 GBP of virtual money, though we imagine the customer support team would increase this limit if it was requested. Traders can practice trading on both the MT4 and web trader platforms.

Otherwise, CityIndex’s demo account has all of the features and platform choices of the live account and is a good way to learn more about City Index as a broker.

Live Account

The live account has no minimum deposit and spreads are better than most market makers – from 0.50 pips, averaging at 0.8 pips on major pairs. 

Professional Account

Experienced traders who meet the criteria can qualify for access to higher leverage (up to 400:1) and other account features including:

• Reduced Margins: Trade with reduced margin rates and be exempt from product restrictions.
• Priority Service: Support for all your trading needs with a dedicated Client Relationship Manager.
• Loyalty Rewards: Receive exclusive hospitality invitations and rewards to recognise your loyalty.
• Account Protection: Remain eligible for protection from the FSCS and the Financial Ombudsman Service. (However, professional clients can incur losses that exceed deposits, because no negative balance protection is applied).

Overall, although CityIndex only offers a single live account, its trading costs, low deposit requirements, and wide range of assets make it appealing to both beginners and experienced traders alike.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

CityIndex charges low deposit and withdrawal fees compared to other brokers, but it offers a limited range of funding methods. 

A well-regulated CFD provider, CityIndex ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed. As such, all non-profit funds are returned to the original deposit source. No matter your deposit method, the withdrawal of all profits must be made by bank transfer to a bank account in your name.

Deposits and withdrawals can be made securely at CityIndex using major debit cards and credit cards (including Visa, Maestro, and MasterCard), bank wire transfer, and PayPal. CityIndex does not charge deposit or withdrawal fees, and while most deposits are processed instantly, withdrawals can take up to 48 hours. See below for details:

Overall, CityIndex provides a slightly limited range of payment methods, but traders will be pleased that no commissions are charged on deposits or withdrawals.  

CityIndex Base Currencies (Trading Account Currencies)

CityIndex has a very limited number of base currencies compared to other brokers.

At CityIndex, you can only choose from three base currencies: USD, GBP, and EUR. This is extremely limited compared to most other international brokers operating in South Africa.

However, CityIndex does not support accounts denominated in ZAR, which means that traders from South Africa will have to pay conversion fees on all deposits and withdrawals. Conversion fees can make trading expensive, and affect profitability.

In this case, it is better for traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month) to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with another currency account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Trading Platforms

CityIndex’s trading platform support is average compared to other similar brokers.

City Index offers two platforms – the downloadable MetaTrader 4 – and the browser-based Web Trader.  These platforms have different advantages:

• Web Trader:  This web platform offers great charting tools powered by TradingView and other trading features, but it is limited compared to the downloadable platforms.  The research portal is a nice touch, and something other platforms that are more execution-focused don’t offer. See below for more details on its features:
  • The Web trader offers 360 degree view – a brand new feature with a whole page dedicated to a single instrument. Market Information, charts, news and economic calendar can all be located in one place. 
  • Ten chart types to choose from including Point & Figure & Heikin Ashi
  • A trade ticket accessed from within the chart
  • Display multiple time frames in one chart window
  • Overlay and compare two instruments on one chart
  • 57 technical indicators and studies
  • A huge range of drawing tools and study tools
    
    
• MetaTrader 4:  This is the first choice of platform for CFD traders.  The interface looks dated and it does not offer as much customisation as some advanced traders might like. That said, it is an excellent all-rounder and offers fast trading and advanced charting tools, including Expert Advisors, automated trading support, strategy backtesting, customisable charting, indicators, and copy trading functionality. Other features of MT4 include:
  • The creation, modification, and utilisation of automated trading strategies.
  • Supports MQL4 programming language.
  • Algorithmic trading, which allows any trading strategy to be formalised and implemented as an Expert Advisor. 
  • Allows traders to develop their own custom indicators.
  • Superior charting tools in nine timeframes
  • 24 graphical objects
  • 30 built-in indicators
  • Four pending order types, including buy stop, sell stop, buy limit, and sell limit.

One benefit of brokers offering a third-party platform such as MT4 is that traders can take their own customised versions of these platforms with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

CityIndex

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

CMC Markets

4.5/ 5

No

MT4

CMCmarkets

Pepperstone

5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

cTrader

TradingView

CityIndex’s Mobile Trading Apps

CityIndex‘s mobile trading platforms are average when compared to other brokers

CityIndex offers support for one app for mobile trading on both  Android and IOS. The app allows traders to manage the accounts on the web trader platform and integrates with MT4. The mobile app features:

• Live TradingView charts, allowing you to plan your next trade with full-screen TradingView charts and 60+ technical indicators.
• Real-time price alerts, allowing traders to stay ahead of every market move with live notifications, updates, and more.
• The creation of personalised watchlists 
• Real-time news from Reuters

Trading Tools

CityIndex offers an average number of trading tools compared to other similar brokers.

CityIndex’s trading tools include technical and fundamental analysis by Trading Central, advanced charting powered by TradingView, Reuter’s News, and SMART Signals.

Trading Central

Trading Central is available to clients who register a live account.  A third-party tool, Trading Central’s professional analysts use the most advanced technical analysis tools in the industry to curate relevant information. This tool essentially supports traders without the technical know-how in making trading decisions.  Trading Central is one of the most popular trading tools available and provides excellent market analysis, and CityIndex does well to offer this service to its clients. 

TradingView

TradingView is free of charge for traders who open a live account.  It is an excellent tool for researching, charting, and screening any instrument.  Additional features of CityIndex’s TradingView tool include:

• 65+ technical indicators
• Over 100,000 custom user-built indicators and scripts
• Synchronised layout for multiple charts

SMART Signals

SMART Signals is an algorithm that automatically monitors 36 major global markets across thousands of price data points to highlight potential trading opportunities. Once it has identified a price pattern which has shown historical success in a given market, it will then show them through the SMART Signals dashboard. Each signal represents a short-term potential trade in 4-, 6-, 8- or 12-hour timeframes and comes complete with an auto-populated trade ticket with suggested take profit and stop-loss levels.  Traders should note that signal trades will not automatically close at the end of the signal period.

Reuter‘s News

Real-time financial news, data, and market reports provided by Reuters are delivered directly into all our trading platforms and apps to keep you up to date with the latest news stories. Reuter’s provides some of the best market analysis materials around, and CityIndex does well to offer this service to its clients. 

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

CityIndex

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

CMC Markets

Yes

No

No

No

No

Pepperstone

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Trading Instruments

CityIndex offers a much broader range of tradable instruments than other similar brokers, including over 84 Forex pairs and 4500 share CFDs.

CityIndex offers over 4700 CFD trading instruments including Forex pairs, metals, indices, share CFDs, commodities, bonds, and interest rates.

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• Forex pairs: CityIndex offers 84 Forex pairs to trade, a much broader range than is typically found at other brokers, including majors, minors, and exotics such as USD/ZAR and ZAR/JPY. 

• Metals: CityIndex offers silver, gold, copper, palladium and platinum futures. This is an average selection of metals compared to other brokers. 

• Commodities: CityIndex offers trading on over 25 commodities, including energies such oil and soft such as wheat, coffee, sugar, and cotton. This is a much broader range of commodities compared to other brokers. 

• Indices: CityIndex offers spot and futures contracts on over 21 international indices, including the NASDAQ, S&P500, UK100, and the Nikkei. This is a broad range of indices compared to other brokers. 

• Share CFDs: CityIndex offers over 4500 share CFDs to trade, including popular US tech companies, and multinational energy companies. This is an impressive range of share CFDs compared to other similar brokers.

• Bonds: CityIndex offers CFD trading on the 11 of the most popular Bonds in the world – UK Gilts, Euro Bunds, and the US T-Bond. This is a much larger range than is typically seen at other brokers. 

• Interest rates: CityIndex offers trading on three interest rates, including the Euribor 3mth Quarterly Future, the EuroDollar Quarterly Future, and the Short Stg 3mth Quarterly Future. This is an average range compared to other similar brokers. 

While some traders will be disappointed that CityIndex does not offer crypto CFDs in South Africa, the range and depth of assets available to trade are impressive and much more than is normally seen at other similar brokers. 

City Index for Beginners

City Index has a large, dedicated training section for new traders, but as it is a multi-asset broker, the focus isn’t always on Forex trading. Similarly, the Market News & Analysis area is comprehensive and useful, but again, the focus is distributed across all the asset classes available at City Index. Additionally, CityIndex’s customer support is responsive and knowledgeable, and available to help with any technical or account queries.

Education Material

With sections for beginners and more advanced traders, CityIndex’s educational materials are excellent compared to other similar brokers.

The educational material offered at City Index is good for a broker of its size and type. It provides a wide range of learning materials in both written and video formats. Under the Training tab on the website, you will find three sections:

• Enhance your trading skills: This section links to short, detailed courses for both beginners and more experienced traders on Technical Analysis, Fundamental Analysis, Trading Strategy and Risk Management – there is also a decent video library covering common Forex topics.
• Trading strategies: This section covers Trading strategies, Optimizing Your Trade Entry, Planning Your Trade Exit, Running Profits, and Options Trading Strategies. It also offers a more in-depth multimedia course called Introduction to Trading, which is useful for beginners who want to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
• Introduction to Trading: This section covers how to trade on CFDs, how to place your first trade, and managing your risk. 
• Webinars: City Index also hosts webinars, though not frequently and you will need to be an active customer in order to register for them. An archive of previous webinars is available on the site. 

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

CityIndex

Yes

Yes

Yes

Medium

Yes

CMC Markets

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

Pepperstone

Yes

Yes

Yes

Medium

Yes

Analytical Material

CityIndex’s market analysis materials are detailed and well-structured, and much better than what is usually available at other brokers. 

Research and analysis materials at CItyIndex are detailed and well-structured. Financial commentary is split into five sections: Latest Research, Market Insights, Trade Ideas, Week Ahead Report, and an Economic Calendar. Webinars are also conducted frequently.

Under the Market News & Analysis tab, you will find a section devoted to daily research and fundamental analysis of news events. This is updated frequently by a small team of City Index analysts and covers all the asset classes tradeable at City Index. Articles can be filtered by topic, author, and asset class so finding relevant Forex news and analysis is not difficult. 

CityIndex’s market analysis is curated by a team of renowned markets analysts and professional traders that provide 24/5 market news coverage and actionable financial commentary.  Recognised by the global industry community, its Research Team is frequently featured in world-leading publications.

Customer Support

Customer support is open 24/5, via live chat, email, or phone. For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support responsive and polite. They were able to answer our questions without hesitation and provided extra reading material where appropriate. 

Customer support is complemented by an extensive FAQ section covering account management, platform tutorials, funding and withdrawals, financial terms, and the costs of trading. 

Safety and Regulation

CityIndex is a safe broker for South Africans to trade with. It maintains regulation from multiple top-tier authorities, including the FCA of the UK, ASIC of Australia, and the MAS of Singapore. 

City Index was founded in 1983 in London and started offering CFD trading in 2001. In 2014 City Index was purchased by GAIN Capital, a large US multinational which has been listed on the NYSE since 2010 and posted revenues of 328 million USD in 2018. In 2021 City Index was purchased by StoneX, a 100-year old Fortune-100 company listed on the NASDAQ. It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. See below for more details:

• City Index is a trading name of StoneX Financial Pte. Ltd. (“SFP”) for the offering of dealing services in Contracts for Differences (“CFD”). SFP holds a Capital Markets Services Licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for Dealing in Exchange-Traded Derivatives Contracts, Over-the-Counter Derivatives Contracts, and Spot Foreign Exchange Contracts for the Purposes of Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading.
• City Index is a trading name of StoneX Financial Ltd. Head and Registered Office: 1st Floor, Moor House, 120 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5ET. StoneX Financial Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales, number: 05616586. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA Register Number: 446717. 
• CityIndex is a trading name of StoneX Australia, authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, AFSL 345646.

South African traders have the choice to trade under the CityIndex subsidiary, regulated by the FCA (UK) or to trade through its sister company, Forex.com which maintains regulation from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), which offers traders higher leverage. 

Considered one of the world’s best regulators, the FCA ensures that CityIndex customer funds are fully segregated from its operating capital and are held in secure tier 1 banks. It also ensures that CityIndex provides its traders with negative balance protection, and insures all client funds up to 85,000 EUR per trader through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Under FCA regulations, leverage is limited to 30:1, CityIndex is prevented from offering trading on cryptocurrencies, and it cannot offer bonuses and promotions.  Additionally, City Index is a co-founder of the Australian CFD and FX Forum, which works to continuously raise industry standards to fully protect all clients’ funds.

Awards

City Index has certainly received its share of industry recognition, with recent highlights being the Best Trading Platform and Best Mobile Application Awards (OPWA Awards 2019) and the Best CFD Provider Award at the 2019 ADVFN Awards.

Overall, because of its long history of responsible behaviour, the fact that StoneX is listed on the NASDAQ, the strong international regulation from top-tier authorities, and its provision of negative balance protection, we consider CityIndex a safe broker for South Africans to trade with. 

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the City Index offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

City Index Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. City Index would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with City Index. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Conclusion

Large, established, and well-regulated – City Index is not dissimilar to their market maker peers, CMC Markets and Plus500. Tight spreads (for a market maker), great platform choice, and excellent educational and market analysis materials help City Index stand out in the crowd. We would like to see one or two more account options, but overall City Index is a good choice if you are looking for a large, well-regulated, and established market maker.

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She is the Senior Editor for FXScouts.  She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers. She has a passion for Forex trading and over a decade of editorial experience researching Forex and the financial services industry, producing high-quality content. She hosts a weekly podcast, “Let’s Talk Forex,” alongside her colleague, Chris, and has produced over 100 Forex educational videos for the FXScouts YouTube channel. She also writes weekly technical analyses and has tested and reviewed over 100 Forex brokers.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.