IC Markets Philippines Demo Account: What It Shows and What It Doesn't
Test IC Markets on MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 with virtual funds - the one part of using this broker from the Philippines that never touches the peso-conversion question.
Open IC Markets Account →A demo account is the one part of using IC Markets from the Philippines that involves no peso conversion and no exposure to the SEC Philippines licensing question, because nothing real changes hands. IC Markets offers free demo accounts on every platform it supports - MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader - funded with virtual balances rather than a real deposit. The simulation runs on the same account types available live: Raw Spread, cTrader Raw Spread, and Standard, with the same 50% stop out level applied on every account type. What a demo will not show honestly is real-money friction - the USD 3.50-per-side commission on Raw Spread, the USD 3.00-per-100k charge on cTrader Raw Spread, or the overnight holding fees that replace swap on a Swap Free account, such as USD 62 per lot per night on gold. CFD trading carries a high risk of losing money; this page is independent of IC Markets.
Why a demo account is the one IC Markets feature untouched by PHP or by SEC Philippines
- Try MT4 or MT5 with simulated money, without any peso leaving the Philippines.
- Check spreads, order types and platform behaviour before any funding question applies.
- Rehearse a strategy before applying it to a funded account.
- See how tiered leverage and the 50% stop out consume free margin.
This page is produced by an independent, affiliate-supported site and is not IC Markets' own site. A demo account uses virtual funds only, so it involves no currency conversion and no exposure to the Philippines' regulatory position; CFD trading carries a high risk of losing money once real funds are involved.
Moving from demo to a live IC Markets account
Once a trader in the Philippines switches from a free demo to a funded IC Markets account, the counterparty becomes Raw Trading Ltd, a Seychelles company holding Securities Dealer's licence SD018 from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority - a company IC Markets has not registered for a secondary licence with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines. Funding also changes: a real deposit has to be converted from Philippine pesos into one of ten account base currencies (USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, CAD), none of which is PHP, using general international methods such as bank cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay or bank wire rather than any Philippine-specific rail. Costs that were simulated in demo become real, including per-lot commission and, on a Swap Free live account, flat overnight holding fees such as USD 62 per lot per night on gold.
Open a Demo or Live Account →What the demo account simulates - and what it leaves out
IC Markets offers free demo accounts on every platform it supports, including MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader, funded with virtual balances rather than real money. The demo mirrors the live account types - Raw Spread, cTrader Raw Spread, and Standard - and applies the same 50% stop out level used on live accounts.
What a demo will not honestly reproduce is real cost and execution: the USD 3.50-per-lot-per-side commission on Raw Spread (USD 7.00 round turn), the USD 3.00-per-100,000-traded charge on cTrader Raw Spread, or the flat overnight holding fees that apply to a live Swap Free account - for example USD 62 per lot per night on XAUUSD or USD 11 on EURUSD. A demo balance also still sits in one of the ten supported base currencies, never in PHP.
Demo to live: the Philippines-specific part only begins at funding
A demo account involves no real counterparty, so it sidesteps the regulatory question entirely. Going live changes that: the account is opened with Raw Trading Ltd, a Seychelles company under FSA Securities Dealer's licence SD018, and IC Markets carries no secondary licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, which separately publishes general advisories about unregistered offshore forex and CFD platforms.
Funding also stops being simulated: a real deposit has to convert from Philippine pesos into one of ten account currencies, since IC Markets has no GCash, Maya, GrabPay, InstaPay, or PESONet rail - only general international methods such as bank cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, or bank wire. CFD trading carries a high risk of losing money, and this page is independent of IC Markets.
Demo vs live: what changes for a trader in the Philippines
| Aspect | Demo account | Live account |
|---|---|---|
| Legal counterparty | No real counterparty - a simulation | Raw Trading Ltd, Seychelles, under FSA Securities Dealer's licence SD018 |
| Funding | Virtual balance; no deposit or currency conversion | Real deposit; PHP must convert into one of ten base currencies (USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, CAD) - PHP is not one of them |
| Regulatory position | Not applicable | No SEC Philippines secondary licence; SEC PH separately publishes advisories on unregistered offshore forex/CFD platforms |
| Costs simulated | Spread and commission structure can be viewed, but real slippage and overnight holding fees are not guaranteed identical | Real commission (e.g., USD 3.50/lot/side on Raw Spread) and, if Swap Free, flat holding fees such as USD 62/lot/night on XAUUSD |
| Stop out | 50%, same as live | 50%, on every account type |
Demo balances still sit in one of the ten supported base currencies; none of them is PHP.
IC Markets account types available in demo and live
| Account type | Min deposit (live) | Commission | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw Spread (MetaTrader) | USD 0 | USD 3.50 per lot per side (USD 7.00 round turn) | IC Markets states an average of 0.1 pips on EUR/USD, from 0.0 pips |
| cTrader Raw Spread | USD 0 | USD 3.00 per 100,000 USD traded | Same raw pricing structure as Raw Spread, per the broker |
| Standard (MetaTrader) | USD 0 | USD 0 (no commission) | From 0.8 pips - confirmed, commission-free |
| Raw Pro (early access) | USD 5,000 | USD 1.50 per lot per side | Not separately published |
| Raw Pro+ (early access) | USD 100,000 | USD 1.00 per lot per side | Not separately published |
Minimum deposit only applies once a demo trader opens a live account; the demo itself requires no funds.
Frequently asked questions
Does a demo account show what trading costs will really be for a Filipino trader?
What actually changes when a Filipino trader moves from a demo account to a live IC Markets account?
The four things a demo cannot rehearse
A demo account reproduces the platform faithfully and the account conditions only partly. Four of the parts it leaves out are precisely the ones that shape a live Philippine account.
- The two currency crossings. PHP is not one of the ten base currencies, so live money is converted on the way in and again on the way out, at a rate set by your bank rather than by the broker. A demo balance is created, not converted.
- The name-match rule on funding. Third-party payments are refused on a live account, and a joint account is accepted only when the client is one of the parties. A demo asks nobody's name.
- The withdrawal-to-source rule. Live withdrawals return to the method that funded the account, with card withdrawals capped at what the card paid in - a constraint that only appears at the end of a real account's life.
- The Swap Free holding fee. A live Swap Free position is charged a published flat fee per lot for every night it stays open, USD 62 of it on gold; a demo position carries no such line.