Tickmill UK: An ongoing review

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
12

A few more observations.

My last broker would email me a transaction statement every month. Tickmill UK sends me a transaction statement within 24 hours of placing/closing a trade (not quite sure of the trigger, as my trades tend not to last more than a few hours). I already record everything in my trade journal, but this is a nice touch. Other brokers are often accused of deleting records, but that is clearly not going to be an issue with Tickmill UK.

I was a little surprised by today’s slippage, though. Tickmill UK is an ECN broker, putting orders through mechanically to their liquidity providers (hence the low spreads), so I knew that slippage would be something to look out for in a way that was not as necessary with a dealing-desk broker.

However, today’s slippage was 1.2 pips, on no news, and on a pending order! When trading 20ish pip movements on the H1, slippage on that scale seriously messes with your R:R ratio.

Fortunately, I noticed, adjusted my targets accordingly, and made my expected profit. But it was disappointing. I keep a closer eye on this going forward.

Edit:

In fairness, it does seem like there was some news, which I was unaware of at the time, and until now I had not felt slippage was a problem. I’ll continue to monitor my slippage over future trades, though, and update accordingly.

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13

What about bitcoin trading with them? Have you tried this so far?

14

I haven’t, although I am looking at both cryptos and precious metals. The trouble is, those move very differently from my usual currency pairs, and my current strategy is clearly inappropriate.

So I’m working on something specific to those instruments on a demo account. It’s still very early days, though, and unlikely to go live in the near future.

15

Hello! First of all I wanted to thank you for the great review. Not many people take their sweet time updating such a detailed description. Seems pretty fair to me until now, no major issues… Even though you stated more than once how their spreads are low… I was wondering if you could give some examples of it on an average of what you’ve been experimenting till now. I an manly interested in the London-NY session, but I’ll take any result.
Many thanks.

16

I’m glad this is useful; I know how hard it can be to find a decent broker.

To see typical spreads, look at their list of forex pairs here, and then select the pair you are interested in from the list.

Keep in mind, those are Pro account spreads; Classic accounts will have higher spreads than that. You can open either account type as a demo account - which is a nice touch - so you can try both and see which you prefer. In general, though, the Pro account will be better for smaller movements, where the spread really matters, while the Classic account will be better on larger movements, where you can easily get the markets to pay your transaction costs.

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17

So far, I am very, very happy with the performance of my Tickmill UK Pro account. There have been a number of very close situations where a stop loss or pending order was not triggered (and eventually went on to be a profitable trade) because of how low the spreads are. In that regards, the account is doing everything I wanted it to do.

As a final test, I have today requested the withdrawal of my trading funds from my account. Assuming everything goes smoothly - and I have no reason to think it won’t - then I will report back with a final post for the thread. If Tickmill UK is going to try and grab my money, this would be their last chance to do so.

Edit: For completeness, I will report one other non-issue.

I was messing around on the members section of their website, and I went to ‘create account’ to see what the options were. Then, not actually wanting to create a new account, I hit ‘cancel’. Despite not having inputed any information (account type, account currency, etc), the website created a USD Classic account for me automatically.

I contacted Tickmill UK and spoke to ‘Natalja’, and explained what happened. I asked if they could delete the account, as I didn’t actually want it or ask for it.

Natalja started by telling me that the website could not possibly have done that. As before, this - the customer support reaction to my enquiry - irritated me in a way the initial problem had not. I pointed out that she was either calling me a liar, or too dumb to know how to navigate a website. She backed off, and then told me that FCA regulation means that they cannot delete an account once created. Which, I appreciate, is outside of their control.

Not a big deal, but it really underscores how bad their customer service is. They actively create disgruntlement where originally there is none.

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18

Hey Drekieyja, just wondering if you have any update about your withdrawal… Did everything run smoothly in the end? How long did it take them? And if I’m not being too personal, was it a large amount? Again thank you for the review!

19

Tickmill UK sent me an email saying that had processed the withdrawal less than 30 min after the request. However, it can take up to 8 working days for the funds to hit my bank account - which is nothing to do with Tickmill, of course - and I need to wait for that to happen before I can confirm the sucessful transfer.

As for the amount, it was a four figure test sum, rather than my full trading balance.

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0.1-0.3 on EURUSD during London-NY dealing. Use pro account to get lower spreads and fixed commission.

21

I checked my bank account today and I can see that the balance transfer from my Tickmill UK trading account has been received. So, it took about 30 min for Tickmill to process the request, and two days for it to reach my bank. I have no problem with that.

Overall, I’m satisfied with Tickmill UK. Their customer support is terrible, but the brokerage service works as advertised. I have found the low spread, commission based ‘Pro’ account to be exactly what I am looking for, as the smaller spreads make it easier for me to use tight stops when trading H1 movements. Next week I will be moving my trading balance over to my Pro account, as I feel my ‘due dilligence’ of the broker is complete.

While I’m happy to answer any questions people may have, I consider the review finished. I won’t be updating the thread further unless something changes.

One final note for anyone who has read this review and is considering a Pro account with Tickmill. When you open your account, you will be asked if you have an Introducing Broker (IB). If you do, and you enter that broker’s IB number, you get a permanent 5% discount on your commission payments for that account.

Now, I looked high and low for an Introducing Broker so I could get that 5% discount, as anything that reduces transaction costs is a good thing. For whatever reason, I couldn’t find one, which sucks. Now that I’ve decided to stay with Tickmill UK, I’ve also registered as an Introducing Broker, so if anyone wants an IB number for the discounted commissions, feel free to message me.

Full disclosure: IBs are ‘incentivised’ to recommend Tickmill. You can read all the details here. They actually want IBs to push the Classic account - the rewards for the Pro account are far lower - but you should still be aware of the potential conflict of interest associated with my offer of an IB number.

Regardless, I hope anyone considering Tickmill UK - especially new traders - finds this review helpful.

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22

Are you going to stay with them further or proceed to next broker test?

23

I’ll probably stay with them unless and until I have a reason to leave.

Changing brokers costs time and energy, and usually involves a loss of productivity as you take a reduced-risk approach in the first month. I won’t do that lightly.

My next move will probably be internal - I’d be interested in their VIP account once my trading balance hits 25k GBP.

24

How refreshing to see a trader who carries out due diligence before depositing money with a broker, I hope Newbies take note.

Great thread, Drekieyja, lots of good information

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25

Sounds fair. What about your preffered trading sessions and instruments? Do you single out some favorite you keep your focus on or prefer diversify your bets?

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I’m a big believer in fitting your trading to your personal circumstances, so I trade the London session and GBP crosses simply because that is my timezone and local currency.

I only trade crosses where the second currency has some kind of personal connection. I don’t feel that is strictly necessary; I just needed some kind of secondary filter to get down to four currency pairs. I could see adding another cross or two if I felt my current set was too limiting, but that has not happened yet.

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i see, thanks. I feel your drive to simplicity in your trading and its really admiring.

28

Hello Drekieyja, Great post. I having been searching for a good broker - confused by all the different reviews out there. After reading your post, I have decided to go with Tickmill. Can you send me the referring broker code so I can get the 5% discount? Thanks.

29

Start from their no deposit bonus, a giveaway of 30$, though I don’t know maybe you are seasoned trader and know what you need from a broker…

30

Can we expect more insights on trading with this broker? Seems you’ve been to busy in trading, glad to hear what’s your progress with them.

31

You should try some honest brokers like IG, Avatrade, Triomarkets, or Pepperstone. All of them are Major league brokers, with HQ service.

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