Capital.com is a CFD broker founded in 2016 that has expanded its regulatory footprint across nine entities in nine jurisdictions. It holds two Tier-1 licences, from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Australia’s Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), with both entities onboarding clients in their respective markets.
Capital.com scores 8.91/10, ranking second in TradingCritique’s scored portfolio behind IG and ahead of XTB. It earns our TC Validated badge for strong regulation, transparent costs, real share and ETF ownership, and guaranteed stop-loss protection.
However, six adverse UK ombudsman determinations highlight client-facing failures, while significant FY2024 contraction raises concerns despite continued profitability, solvency and FCA capital compliance.
Advertiser disclosure: Capital.com is a commercial partner of TradingCritique. This commercial relationship does not influence our scoring methodology, assessment or final verdict. Our review reflects the evidence considered under our published rating criteria.
Risk warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Capital.com at a glance
Feature Details
Who should use Capital.com?
Capital.com may suit traders seeking strong regulation, transparent pricing and varied investment options. However, its execution model, service history, and payment fees may be drawbacks.
Capital.com may suit
Capital.com may be less suitable for
Capital.com suits traders who value regulatory strength, cost transparency, and real share ownership, provided they understand the broker’s counterparty role and complete the required verification checks.
Capital.com TC rating breakdown: 8.91/10
Capital.com scores 44.55 out of 50 under TradingCritique’s v1.2 methodology. It ranks second in our scored portfolio, behind IG and ahead of XTB, earning our TC validated badge.
Regulation (17.00/20): Regulation and licences
Security (6.05/7): Client fund protection and financial stability
Trading costs (7.45/8): Capital.com fees and spreads
Product range (6.00/6): CFDs, real shares and ETFs
Platform & execution (5.35/6): Platforms and order execution
Support & education (2.70/3): Customer service and education
Verdict: Capital.com offers strong regulatory coverage, detailed cost disclosures, a broad product range, and useful trading tools, held back mainly by its UK complaint record and a market-maker execution model.
Regulation
17.00 / 20
Why this score: Capital.com operates through nine entities across nine jurisdictions, including FCA-regulated UK operations, ASIC-regulated Australian operations, and authorisations from CySEC, the UAE’s SCA, the Bahamas’ SCB, South Africa’s FSCA, Kenya’s CMA, and Bermuda’s BMA.
Its regulatory disclosures and UK statutory filings support transparency. Its regulator-sanctions record is also relatively clean, with one €10,000 CySEC fine in March 2022 for a late regulatory filing. The fine did not involve client harm or a licence condition.
Anyone can copy a broker’s name and branding. A licence number is the one thing they can’t fake – check each one on the regulator’s own register before you deposit.
Regulator Check Table
8 verified entities · 1 pending| Region | Entity | Regulator | Licence | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Capital Com (UK) Limited | FCA | 793714 Tier-1 | FCA REGISTER |
| Australia | Capital Com Australia Pty Ltd | ASIC | AFSL 513393 Tier-1 | ASIC register |
| Cyprus | Capital Com SV Investments Ltd | CySEC | 319/17 | CySEC register |
| Cyprus | Capital Com Group Ltd | CySEC | 463/25 | CySEC register |
| UAE | Capital Com MENA Securities Trading LLC | SCA | 20200000176 | SCA register |
| Bahamas | Capital Com Online Investments Ltd | SCB | SIA-F245 | SCB register |
| South Africa | Capital Com South Africa (Pty) Ltd | FSCA | FSP 55488 + ODP New 2026 | FSCA register |
| Kenya | CC Kenya Securities Ltd (CCKE) | CMA | 244 New 2026 | CMA register |
| Bermuda | TBC | BMA | Licence number not yet published – pending Capital.com update | BMA register |
How to check: each link opens the regulator’s own public register. We don’t link to a pre-filled result, so search the licence number yourself and confirm the entity name matches the one you’re opening an account with. Licence details can change; verify before you deposit.
Capital.com regulation and licences
Capital.com’s regulatory coverage is a key strength, with two Tier-1 licences serving clients in their respective jurisdictions.
Why the deduction: Six adverse UK Financial Ombudsman decisions involved platform failures, incorrect margin information and unsuitable CFD and spread-betting accounts. In one case, Capital.com had to refund the client’s loss, pay 8% interest and £300.
Further deductions reflect missing consolidated group accounts and disclosure gaps involving compensation schemes, outdated regulatory information and unclear inactivity-fee terms. These findings relate to the UK entity and do not establish a firm-wide enforcement pattern.
Security
6.05 / 7
Why this score: Capital.com’s UK entity follows FCA client-money segregation requirements under CASS. Its statutory filings name Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of New York Mellon and Santander as custody banks.
Retail clients also receive negative balance protection. Additional safeguards include Lloyd’s insurance covering its EU and Bahamas entities, two-factor authentication, transport encryption and published data-protection information.
Capital.com security measures
Why the deduction: Lloyd’s insurance is limited to insolvency resulting from misconduct such as theft, embezzlement, or fraud. It does not cover every form of insolvency. The UK entity also contracted significantly in FY2024. Revenue fell by 37% to £18.8 million, while staffing declined from 116 to 30 employees.
Despite this contraction, the entity remained profitable and solvent and continued to meet FCA capital requirements. Its custody banks are named in statutory filings but not on its client-facing pages, creating a smaller transparency gap.
Trading costs
7.45 / 8
Capital.com fees and spreads
Example spreads
| Instrument | Spread |
|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.6 pips |
| Gold | 0.30 points |
| UK 100 | 1 point |
| Apple shares CFD | 0.13 points |
| Bitcoin CFD | 50 points |
These are examples, not guaranteed spreads or averages across all trading conditions. Capital.com also publishes its overnight-funding formula, benchmark rates, and daily charges by asset class. Cost calculators, post-trade analytics, AI search, and Newsquawk market insights provide additional tools.
Why the deduction: Capital.com does not publish average spreads for every instrument. Payment charges also affect overall costs:
- Card and Apple Pay deposits: $10
- Card withdrawals: $20
- Bank wire and e-wallet routes: free
- Currency conversion: 0.7% on transactions outside the account’s base currency
- Inactivity fee: $/€10 per month in selected regions, although the applicable regions are not clearly identified
- Long cryptocurrency CFD positions: stated annual overnight-funding cost of 22.5%
The currency-conversion fee was the highest in our scored portfolio. Crypto CFD funding can also become expensive when positions remain open overnight. Our score rewards the quality of Capital.com’s cost disclosures, not a claim that it is always the cheapest broker.
Product range
6.00 / 6
Why this score: Capital.com receives full marks for its range of more than 5,500 instruments across shares, forex, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, bonds and interest rates.
Capital.com asset classes
Capital.com offers access to:
Forex
Shares and share CFDs
Real shares and ETFs
Stock indices
Commodities
Cryptocurrency CFDs
Bonds and interest rates
Its real share and ETF offering is provided under CySEC Directive DI87-01 and executed through Saxo Bank A/S. Unlike CFDs, real share ownership involves holding the underlying shares.
Other features include a genuine Guaranteed Stop Loss, UK spread betting, knock-out options with a published pricing formula, and a long-only account offering 1:1 exposure. A demo account is available without opening a live account. Minimum deposits are $20 by card or $50 by bank wire.
Why the deduction: No deductions were applied in this category. However, fractional shares are unavailable, and cryptocurrency CFDs provide price exposure rather than ownership of the underlying digital assets. Product availability also depends on the client’s region and entity.
Platform and execution
5.35 / 6
Why this score: Capital.com offers its own web and mobile platforms, MT4, MT5, TradingView integration, and a free API supporting REST and WebSocket connections. Its proprietary platform includes AI Search, pattern recognition, and post-trade analytics. Charting features include more than 100 technical indicators and six chart types.
Capital.com also publishes RTS27 and RTS28 reports and quarterly execution-quality data. It discloses order aggregation and reallocation rules and states that execution is fully automated without manual intervention.
Capital.com trading platforms
Available options include:
Why the deduction: Capital.com acts as principal and serves as the execution venue for its CFD and knock-out orders. These products trade over the counter rather than through an external exchange. As the counterparty to every CFD trade, Capital.com sets its own spreads at its discretion, including its own margin.
This creates a structural conflict of interest that clients should consider. Published execution-quality data improves transparency but does not make the model equivalent to exchange execution. Other limitations include regional restrictions on MT5, the unavailability of GSL in Hedge mode, and Stop Limit orders being available only through MT5.
Support and education
2.70/ 3
Why this score: Capital.com provides live chat, WhatsApp, email, and telephone support. Live chat and WhatsApp are available 24/7, with support offered in ten languages. Its educational resources include the Investmate app, a learning hub covering trading strategies, technical analysis, and trading psychology, and Newsquawk market insights.
Capital.com customer support
Available resources include:
Capital.com also provides a client vulnerability page and a separate complaints procedure for its Bahamas entity.
Why the deduction: Live chat starts with an AI-led process, with escalation to a human representative for more complex queries. This may delay assistance when a question requires direct human support.
The absence of live webinars also limits its interactive educational offering. The six adverse Financial Ombudsman determinations are scored under regulation and are not deducted again in this category.
Known issues: What is our rating deducted for?
Our rating reflects both positive features and documented weaknesses. The main deductions are summarised below.
Regulation: Six adverse Financial Ombudsman determinations against the UK entity within five years, including a suitability failure, alongside the absence of group-level consolidated accounts and three disclosure gaps.
Security: Lloyd’s insurance is limited to insolvency caused by specified misconduct. The UK entity also experienced a significant reduction in revenue and staffing in FY2024.
Trading costs: Card and Apple Pay deposits cost $10, card withdrawals cost $20, and a 0.7% currency-conversion fee applies to transactions outside the account’s base currency. Average spreads for individual instruments are not published.
Product range: No scoring deductions.
Platform and execution: Capital.com is the counterparty to every CFD trade and sets spreads at its discretion. Its execution-quality reporting offsets some of this concern, but regional platform limitations remain.
Support and education: AI-first live chat and the absence of live webinars.
These findings explain why Capital.com earns a high overall rating without receiving full marks across every category.
How to open a Capital.com account?
Opening a Capital.com account involves choosing the right entity, verifying your identity, and funding your account.
Step 1: Choose your entity and account type
Check which Capital.com entity serves your country, as protections and products vary by region.
Retail, professional, and elective-professional accounts are available, subject to eligibility. A 1X unleveraged, long-only account is also offered.
Step 2: Verify your identity
Submit the required identity documents. Capital.com may also ask for proof of your funds’ source.
Requirements vary by account and verification checks.
Step 3: Fund your account
The minimum deposit is $20 by card or $50 by bank transfer.
Bank transfers and e-wallet deposits are free, while card and Apple Pay deposits incur a $10 fee.
Check your entity’s current terms before paying.
Step 4: Explore the platform
Capital.com offers its own platform, MT4 and MT5, in supported regions, and TradingView integration.
You can try the free demo account without opening a live account.
However, demo trading cannot fully replicate live execution or the pressure of trading with real money.
Capital.com deposits and withdrawals
Capital.com’s payment costs depend on the method used.
| Capital.com payment fees | ||
|---|---|---|
| Payment method | Deposit fee | Withdrawal fee |
| Bank wire | Free | Free |
| Bank card / Apple Pay | $10 | $20 for card withdrawals |
| E-wallet | Free | Free |
The minimum deposit is $20 by card or $50 by bank wire.
Currency-conversion fee
- Capital.com charges a 0.7% currency-conversion fee on transactions that are not in the account’s base currency.
- This can affect deposits, withdrawals, or trading-related transactions when a currency conversion is required.
- The impact depends on the currencies involved and the account’s base currency.
Inactivity fee
- An inactivity fee of $/€10 per month applies in selected regions.
- The regional application is not clearly disclosed in the reviewed material, so clients should check the terms applicable to their account.
How does Capital.com compare with IG and XTB?
Capital.com sits between IG and XTB in TradingCritique’s scored portfolio.
| Capital.com vs IG vs XTB | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Feature | IG | Capital.com | XTB |
| TC rating | 9.00/10 | 8.91/10 | 8.85/10 |
| Assessment basis | UK/EU CFD | UK/EU CFD | UK/EU CFD |
| Regulatory sanctions record | Clean in assessment window | One procedural CySEC fine | PLN 20 million KNF fine (April 2026), upheld 28 August 2026 |
| RTS27/28 execution data | Published | Published | Not published |
| Real share ownership | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Guaranteed Stop Loss | Yes | Yes | No |
| Minimum deposit | Varies | $20 | $0 |
Where Capital.com leads
Where Capital.com Trails
Capital.com pros and cons
The Capital.com pros and cons are as follows:
PROS
CONS
Editor-in-chief’s note – Sasitharan Kumar
Capital.com holds the cleanest regulator-sanctions record in our portfolio, with just one procedural CySEC fine in five years. However, six adverse UK ombudsman decisions involving platform failures, margin information and suitability raise concerns. Its CFD execution model creates a conflict of interest, although detailed execution reports improve transparency. The UK entity’s FY2024 revenue fell 37%, and staffing declined 74%, despite continued profitability and FCA compliance. Capital.com scores well for regulation, pricing and product range, but its UK complaint record, execution model and financial contraction justify deductions.
Conclusion
Capital.com scores 8.91/10 and earns a TC-validated badge, ranking second behind IG and ahead of XTB. Its strengths include broad regulatory coverage, transparent pricing, real shares and ETFs, Guaranteed Stop Loss, and retail negative balance protection. However, six adverse UK ombudsman decisions highlight client-facing failures. Its CFD execution model also creates a conflict of interest.
The UK entity’s revenue fell 37% in FY2024, although it remained profitable, solvent, and compliant with FCA capital requirements. Before opening an account, check which entity serves you, review its fees and protections, and complete verification early.
Overall, Capital.com suits traders seeking transparent pricing and varied products. It may be less suitable for those who prefer exchange-routed CFD execution, fractional shares, or fee-free payment options.
Risk warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Pro tip
Capital.com publishes its overnight-funding formula and daily charges by asset class. Check these before holding positions overnight. Long cryptocurrency CFD positions have a stated annual funding cost of 22.5%.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Capital.com regulated?
Yes, it operates across nine jurisdictions, including the UK (FCA), Australia (ASIC), and Cyprus (CySEC). Your entity depends on your location.
2. Is Capital.com safe?
Yes, it offers regulatory safeguards, negative balance protection for retail clients, and two-factor authentication. However, six adverse UK ombudsman decisions raise concerns.
3. What is Capital.com’s TC Rating?
Capital.com scores 8.91/10 under TradingCritique’s methodology and ranks second in our scored portfolio.
4. Does Capital.com charge commission?
No trading commission applies, but spreads, overnight funding, currency conversion, and Guaranteed Stop Loss charges may apply.
5. Are there deposit or withdrawal fees?
Bank transfers and e-wallets are free. Card and Apple Pay deposits cost $10, while card withdrawals cost $20. Currency conversion costs 0.7%.
6. What is the minimum deposit?
$20 by card or $50 by bank transfer, excluding applicable fees.
7. Can I own real shares with Capital.com?
Yes, real shares and ETFs are available alongside CFDs. Fractional shares are not offered.
8. Does Capital.com offer Guaranteed Stop Loss?
Yes, it is designed to close positions at the specified price, even during market gaps. Restrictions and charges apply.
9. Which platforms does Capital.com support?
Its own web and mobile platforms, MT4, MT5 in supported regions, TradingView integration, and a free API.
10. Is there a demo account?
Yes, you can practise with simulated funds without opening a live account. Demo results do not guarantee live performance.
