In order to open a live trading account with ICM Capital you must qualify as an Elective Professional trader.
You will need to satisfy at least two of the following criteria to open a professional account. You may be asked to provide a supporting documentation.
- You must have carried out significantly large transactions, on the relevant market, at an average frequency of 10 per quarter over the previous four quarters;
- The size of your financial instrument portfolio, including cash deposits and financial assets, must exceed 500,000 EUR;
- You currently work or have worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position, which requires knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged.

With our award-winning Electronic Communications Networks (ECN) technology institutional clients can meet their trading requirements and business needs while gaining direct market access with no conflict of interest. ICM Direct accumulates liquidity from major Tier 1 banks and top liquidity providers within one platform, allowing fast and robust execution of trading orders without additional slippage, ensuring you can optimise your daily trading activities.

ICM Direct - Institutional Trading Platform


ICM Capital uses an in-house tool called 'Electronic Communication Network (ECN)' which is an automated system that matches buy and sell orders, taking into account the best possible prices and the speed of the execution. The ECN allows ICM Capital to ensure that, when executing orders, that it is achieving the best possible outcome for its clients.

8. Trading Models
ICM currently operates a hybrid model which consists of a No Dealing Desk, and a Dealing Desk acting as the market maker. To ensure that ICM is meeting its best execution obligations at all times, it will at its own discretion make decisions to either pass on to its clients the best spread prices provided by its liquidity providers (No Dealing Desk), or act as the market maker (Dealing Desk) by entering into the trade directly with the client and make its own prices.

Every market quoted by ICM Capital is derived directly from an underlying financial instrument sourced from an exchange or from a wholesale quoting counterparty (i.e. FX quoting banks). ICM Capital determines which markets to quote, the times at which those markets are quoted; ICM Capital publishes via its trading platforms those quotes (we show the aggregated price between our Liquidity Provider) at a tight spread or with a mark-up on which clients may be able to trade.

All Quotes are based upon an Underlying Market that is sourced from either a recognised global exchange (LSE, NYSE, LIFFE etc) or from a wholesale counterparty (a quoting bank or market maker).

5.12 In cases of any indiscretion in trading, overleveraging, misuse of orders where "scalping" or “sniping” or “hedging” or “arbitraging” may be involved, such transactions will not be taken into consideration and will be treated as prohibited activity and may even be removed from participants accounts.

ICM Capital switched in 2024 to catering to Professional Clients only. Operating as Hybrid Market Maker, ICM Capital brings in-house order matching system - ICM Direct - to enhance Clients' trading experience, where client orders are matched against a pool of global liquidity providers (such as Tier-1 banks, Non-banks) or other market participants within a centralized exchange-like environment.