A trader new to forex often starts with a very practical question: “I only have a small amount of capital — which broker accepts a small deposit while still holding a proper license?” That’s exactly the gap JustMarkets targets — an international forex/CFD broker that lets you open an account from just $10, while holding a license from CySEC (Cyprus), one of the most widely recognized financial regulators in Europe. This article breaks down the full legal structure, account types, and what to consider before trading at JustMarkets.
What is JustMarkets, and who regulates it?
JustMarkets is an international forex/CFD brokerage brand operating through several separately licensed entities depending on the customer’s region: CySEC (the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, license no. 401/21) for European clients, the Seychelles FSA (license SD088), South Africa’s FSCA (license FSP 51114), and FSC Mauritius (license GB22200881) for other international regions. This multi-entity model is common in the international forex industry, similar to the structure of many other large brokers — it’s not an unusual red flag, but it does require traders to understand exactly which entity is serving their own account.
Differences in investor protection between entities
Clients registered under the CySEC entity are protected by Cyprus’s Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), with compensation capped at EUR 20,000 if the broker faces serious financial trouble and can’t return client funds. This is the standard European protection level — lower than the UK’s FSCS (GBP 85,000) but still a genuine layer of legal protection.
Clients under the Seychelles FSA entity don’t have an equivalent compensation fund, but do benefit from “negative balance protection” — meaning that in the event of extreme market volatility pushing the account into negative territory, the trader isn’t left owing the broker additional money beyond what they deposited. This is a fundamentally different kind of protection from the ICF compensation fund: it protects you from owing more money, but not from losing all of your deposited capital if the broker itself becomes insolvent.
Four account types: Standard Cent, Standard, Pro, Raw Spread
Standard Cent is built for beginners, with a minimum deposit of just $10, trading in cent-denominated units to reduce the psychological pressure of getting used to leverage. This is the recommended starting point for anyone without real trading experience yet.
Standard also requires only a $10 minimum deposit, charges no commission, and has spreads starting from around 0.3 pips — a simple, easy-to-understand fee structure suited to traders moving from demo to a real account for the first time.
Pro requires a $200 minimum deposit, charges no commission but offers significantly tighter spreads, around 0.1-0.15 pips — aimed at more experienced traders trading moderate volume who don’t want to manage a separate commission.
Raw Spread also requires a $200 minimum deposit, offering raw spreads near 0.0 pips on major pairs, offset by a fixed per-lot commission. This account is positioned strongly by JustMarkets for gold scalpers and high-frequency traders, where small spread savings accumulate into meaningful savings over time.
Leverage: from 1:30 to 1:3000 depending on entity
This deserves special attention. Clients under the CySEC (EU/EEA) entity are capped at a maximum leverage of 1:30 on major pairs under ESMA rules — a mandatory cap applied to every broker licensed in Europe, not something specific to JustMarkets. Clients under the offshore entities (Seychelles FSA, FSCA, FSC Mauritius) can access leverage up to 1:3000 — one of the highest leverage levels still openly advertised in the industry. Leverage of 1:3000 means an extremely small adverse price movement can wipe out an entire margin deposit — this is a genuine, not theoretical, risk, and new traders should absolutely avoid using this maximum leverage level.
To put the risk in concrete terms: at 1:3000 leverage, the market only needs to move about 0.03% against a position to wipe out the entire margin committed to that trade — a completely normal price swing that can happen within seconds around unexpected news. By comparison, at the more common 1:100 leverage, the same 0.03% move only costs about 3% of margin — the risk gap between these two leverage levels is far larger than the “30x” figure intuitively suggests.
Deposit methods and customer support
JustMarkets supports a wide range of deposit methods including bank cards (Visa/Mastercard), bank transfer, popular e-wallets, and some crypto channels depending on your registration region. Most deposit methods are processed instantly or within minutes, except traditional bank transfer, which can take 1-3 business days depending on the intermediary bank.
For customer support, JustMarkets offers round-the-clock live chat, email support, and a multilingual advisory team serving different customer regions. Users can open several different account types (e.g., both Standard and Raw Spread) under one already-verified KYC profile without repeating identity verification from scratch — convenient for traders who want to test multiple cost structures in parallel before committing to one specific account type.
Quick comparison of the 4 account types by use case
- Complete beginner, small capital: Standard Cent — $10 deposit, trading in cents, minimal financial risk while practicing.
- Beginner moving to real trading, small capital: Standard — $10 deposit, no commission, simple spreads that are easy to calculate.
- Intermediate trader, moderate volume: Pro — $200 deposit, tighter spreads, no separate commission to manage.
- High-frequency trader, gold scalper: Raw Spread — $200 deposit, spreads near 0.0 pips, fixed per-lot commission, optimized for high volume.
Trading platforms and swap-free convenience
JustMarkets fully supports MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 on desktop, web, and mobile, along with its own JustMarkets App for a simpler account-management experience. One heavily promoted feature is a swap-free option for gold trading (XAU/USD) on certain account types — well suited to strategies that hold gold positions overnight without accumulating interest charges, though traders should confirm the exact conditions directly on their own account, since swap-free policies typically come with their own specific conditions attached.
Strengths and things to watch out for
Strengths of JustMarkets: an extremely low entry threshold ($10), CySEC licensing for eligible clients, a flexible account lineup from Cent to Raw Spread suited to many experience levels, and a swap-free option for gold. Things to watch out for: maximum leverage of 1:3000 on offshore accounts carries high risk, the multi-entity structure means investor protection is inconsistent, and traders always need to verify exactly which entity is serving their account before assessing how genuinely safe it is.
What do independent reviews say about JustMarkets?
On independent broker-review platforms, JustMarkets tends to score fairly well in specific categories: gold spreads and execution quality are typically rated positively based on months of real live-account test data, which matches the broker’s actual positioning as strong for gold trading and high-frequency pairs. Its regulation score is also rated relatively well thanks to CySEC licensing, though still lower than brokers operating entirely under top-tier European entities. Keep in mind that aggregated scores on third-party sites reflect an average experience at a single point in time, and can’t substitute for testing a demo account yourself before depositing real money.
Frequently asked questions about JustMarkets
Is JustMarkets suitable for complete beginners? Yes, especially the Standard Cent account with its $10 minimum deposit — one of the lowest entry thresholds in the industry, well suited to practicing real strategies with limited financial risk.
Should you choose Standard or Pro? If you trade small volume infrequently, Standard with its $10 deposit is a reasonable starting point. As your trading volume grows and you need tighter spreads to optimize cost, Pro ($200 deposit) becomes the more sensible choice.
Is 1:3000 leverage mandatory to use? No — this is the MAXIMUM allowed leverage, not a required level. Traders can fully adjust the actual leverage they use down to a much lower level (e.g., 1:100 or 1:50) directly in their account settings for better risk control.
Looking for a forex broker with a low entry threshold but still a credible license? JustMarkets lets you start from just $10 with full MT4/MT5 support.
JustMarkets currently has a welcome offer for new accounts for a limited time — terms may change, check directly when you register.
Forex and CFD trading involves leverage and carries a high risk of capital loss, and may not be suitable for all investors. This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Learn more foundational knowledge at FXM680’s Forex Academy.