IC Markets slippage occurs when a trade fills at a different price from the one you expected or requested. That difference can work for or against you, and the available evidence doesn’t establish a typical live slippage rate for IC Markets customers.
I would separate the broker’s published execution terms from speed tests and individual complaints. They answer different questions, and none guarantees what your next trade will receive.
Forex and CFDs carry substantial risks, especially when you use leverage. Understanding how an order reaches its fill price is a useful starting point.
Key Takeaways
- Slippage is the difference between an expected or requested price and the eventual fill; it can be favourable or unfavourable.
- IC Markets (EU) Ltd’s policy recognises slippage, particularly when prices move quickly or available liquidity falls.
- An independent demo speed test measures execution time, not the slippage a funded account will experience.
- Ordinary stop-loss orders don’t guarantee their exit price, while limit orders set a price condition but may remain unfilled.
- The relevant execution policy and protections depend on your contracting entity and account conditions.
IC Markets Slippage: What Traders Experience in Real Markets
Slippage can affect an entry or an exit. For a buy, a higher fill price is worse and a lower price is better. For a sell, those directions reverse.
A hypothetical example makes the difference clear. If you request a GBP/USD buy at 1.28000 and it fills at 1.28035, the execution is 3.5 pips worse. A fill at 1.27990 would be one pip better.
How market execution can change your fill price
IC Markets (EU) Ltd’s execution policy says market orders and certain stop orders execute at the best available price when execution takes place. That price may differ from the one shown when the order was placed.
A quote is available at a particular moment and for a particular amount. By the time an instruction reaches execution, the quote may have changed or there may not be enough liquidity at that price for the full order.
I treat the policy as a description of how the company says it handles orders. It doesn’t establish the fill that every customer receives, or prove how often favourable and unfavourable slippage occur.
Why news, market openings and thin liquidity can increase slippage
Economic announcements can cause prices to move sharply while liquidity providers adjust or withdraw quotes. Available prices can become less stable, and the difference between the buy and sell price can widen.
Market openings and weekend gaps can also leave the next available price some distance from an earlier quote. A stop-loss trigger doesn’t reserve an exit price, so a position may close beyond the intended level.
Our guide to forex slippage during major news releases explains how conditions around inflation data and central-bank decisions can affect execution. Those risks apply even when a spread looked narrow before the announcement.
What IC Markets’ execution evidence can, and cannot, tell you
A policy explains the broker’s stated approach. A speed test measures elapsed time under particular conditions. A customer complaint describes an individual concern.
Each can be useful, but they carry different weight. Without complete order records and a representative sample, complaints cannot establish how often slippage occurs across an account, platform or instrument.
Read the order policy for your account and legal entity
The European execution policy names IC Markets (EU) Ltd. Its wording should not be assumed to apply to every company using the IC Markets brand.
Your agreement identifies the company responsible for your account. Its execution terms matter alongside the products available to you, the rules in your country and your client classification. Protections that apply to one European account don’t automatically extend to another entity or jurisdiction.
The policy also describes positive and negative slippage. That is an important disclosure, but it doesn’t tell you their frequency or average size.
Treat speed claims and broker labels with care
CompareForexBrokers reported an independent MT4 demo-account test in which IC Markets averaged 134 milliseconds for limit orders and 153 milliseconds for market orders. The test covered 36 brokers and used Expert Advisors over two 30-hour periods.
Those figures concern demo execution speed, not live slippage or fill quality during volatile markets. They cannot show whether a funded order received a better or worse price than requested.
Other publications, including DayTrading.com, publish their own execution-speed tests. Their results depend on the methods used, so I wouldn’t treat a fast figure, an execution label or a statement about requotes as a promise of a particular live fill.
How to review your IC Markets fills and manage slippage risk
A useful review starts with your order history and the conditions around each trade. The aim is to identify what happened to a particular instruction, rather than judge execution from a single chart screenshot.
Smaller positions and avoiding the most disorderly moments around scheduled news may reduce exposure. Neither removes slippage or the possibility of losses.
Compare like with like in your trade records
Record the instrument, order type, size, submission time, expected price and actual fill. Where available, retain the bid and ask prices, spread and any platform messages. For a stop-loss, record both the trigger and the eventual closing price.
Review entries and exits separately. A good entry doesn’t cancel a poor stop fill when you’re assessing how each instruction behaved.
Also separate slippage from the spread, commission and overnight financing. They affect trading costs in different ways, as our guide to raw spreads and account charges explains.
Comparisons are strongest when the instrument, session, order type and account entity match. A gold trade during a news release doesn’t provide a fair comparison with a quiet-session EUR/USD trade.
Know the trade-off between market, stop and limit orders
A market order seeks execution at an available price. An ordinary stop order generally activates an execution instruction when its trigger is reached, so its fill may differ from that trigger.
A limit order sets an acceptable price condition. For example, a buy limit sets a maximum purchase price, but the order may not fill if sufficient liquidity isn’t available on those terms.
A stop-limit order adds a price condition after the trigger. That can restrict the execution price, but it can also leave a position open when prices move quickly.
Our guide to market, limit and stop orders covers these differences in more detail. I wouldn’t treat any order type as a guarantee of both immediate execution and a desired price.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is slippage always negative at IC Markets?
No. IC Markets (EU) Ltd’s policy recognises fills that are better or worse than the expected price. A better fill is positive slippage, but the policy doesn’t establish how often it happens. I wouldn’t assume favourable fills will offset adverse ones in a trading plan.
Does slippage prove that a broker acted unfairly?
Slippage alone doesn’t prove misconduct. Prices and available liquidity can change between submission and execution, including when a market moves quickly. If a fill concerns you, the order record and the execution policy for your legal entity provide a more useful basis for assessing it than the price gap alone.
Can a demo account show the slippage I will get live?
A demo account can help you learn the platform and practise placing orders. It cannot reliably reproduce live liquidity, connection delays or order handling in volatile conditions. A demo speed measurement is useful within its stated test conditions, but it isn’t evidence of the live fill quality your funded account will receive.
Are IC Markets’ slippage terms the same across Europe?
Account terms and protections can differ by country and contracting legal entity. The policy published by IC Markets (EU) Ltd describes that company’s arrangements, rather than establishing identical terms for every European client. The entity named in your agreement determines which company’s documentation applies to your account.
Can a stop-loss guarantee the price at which a trade closes?
An ordinary stop-loss generally triggers an exit instruction rather than guaranteeing its execution price. IC Markets’ general Help Centre says it doesn’t offer guaranteed stop-loss orders. Other providers may offer guaranteed stops with separate terms and charges, so their availability shouldn’t be assumed across brokers or products.
Judge Fills Against the Right Evidence
IC Markets’ published documentation recognises slippage as a possible outcome, particularly in fast or thin markets. The available evidence doesn’t establish a typical live slippage rate, and a demo speed test cannot supply one.
I would judge fills against the applicable entity’s policy and the conditions at the time of each order. Leverage can magnify losses, while an imperfect exit can increase them beyond the amount originally planned.
