Leverage cuts both ways: CFD losses can exceed what you expected to risk.
FP Markets conditions for an Indian resident are set out below against primary regulatory registers and published broker documents. Indian clients are onboarded through the offshore arm, FP Markets LLC (SVG) and the Seychelles FSA entity. That single fact shapes everything else on the page.
When the serving entity sits outside India, the licence scope has to be checked directly: what it covers, what it does not, and where RBI/FEMA and SEBI exchange rules draw their own line. FP Markets holds no SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) registration and is served to Indian clients under offshore SVG and Seychelles entities.
Scoring Categories
Weights are fixed in advance and published on every broker page.
| Category | What we verify | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation and entity | Register lookup, licence scope, client fund handling | 30% |
| Costs | Spreads, commission, swap, non-trading fees | 25% |
| Execution | Platform latency, order types, slippage behaviour | 20% |
| Access | Instruments, base currencies, funding rails | 15% |
| Support and exits | Response time, withdrawal path, dispute handling | 10% |
FP Markets does not offer an INR-denominated account. Base currencies are USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and others, so a funded account carries an FX conversion step that a domestic exchange account does not.
Account Structures and Costs
Cost profiles differ between the two account structures.
| Account | Spread USD/CHF | Commission | Break-even cost per lot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | ~1.0-1.2 pips | None | ~USD 10-12 |
| Raw | 0.0-0.1 pips | ~USD 6 round turn | ~USD 6-7 |
The gap matters most for high-frequency styles. A scalper paying 1.2 pips on every entry and exit gives away roughly twice the cost of a Raw account user trading the same volume. For a swing trader holding two or three positions a week, the difference over a year is real but not decisive.
Platforms are MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView. IRESS is Australia-only and does not apply to the offshore onboarding path. Instruments cover more than 10,000 CFDs, 60+ FX pairs, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, bonds and crypto CFDs.
Local Rules for Indian Residents
Under RBI/FEMA rules, resident trading in spot forex or CFDs with offshore brokers is not permitted, and remitting funds abroad for margin forex trading is not a permitted LRS purpose. SEBI-recognised exchanges (NSE, BSE, MSE) handle INR-based currency derivatives instead, with margin of roughly 3-5% on notional.
- Cards
- Deposit arrives: instant · Withdrawal takes: 2-5 business days
- Bank wire
- Deposit arrives: 1-3 business days · Withdrawal takes: 3-5 business days
- E-wallets
- Deposit arrives: instant · Withdrawal takes: within 24 hours
If your objective is a strictly domestic, regulator-supervised route with INR settlement, an international offshore broker is not the right instrument for that objective. A domestic exchange intermediary settles in INR with no FX conversion step.
That distinction is a criterion for choosing the right tool, not a verdict on the category. A reader who has decided to trade with an international broker should judge that broker by the strength of its home-country supervision, not by whether a local desk exists. Licences from the FCA, CySEC or ASIC bring segregated client funds, capital requirements and a formal complaints process. Local registration status is one input; supervisory strength is the one that matters most.
Verification Checks Before Signing Up
Four checks, in this order:
- Confirm which legal entity appears on your client agreement, not which brand name is on the homepage.
- Verify the licence number directly on the regulator's own register, not on a broker badge.
- Read the full fee schedule, including inactivity fees and conversion costs on deposits and withdrawals.
- Fund a small amount, place one live order, then request a withdrawal before committing more.
The fourth step reveals the most: a withdrawal that arrives cleanly and quickly tells you more about operational health than any cost table. On FP Markets, funding runs through cards, bank wire and e-wallets, with a minimum deposit of USD 100 and no broker-side deposit fees. Local UPI and INR bank rails were not verified at review.
| Licence it holds | No SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) registration |
|---|---|
| What it covers here | Offshore/unregulated locally |
| What it does not cover | FP Markets sits below a fully top-tier broker because part of its offering is outside the highest-protection framework: some entities are only |
| Where to check | fpmarkets.com/regulation |
Islamic accounts are available on a swap-free basis. For Indian clients that option applies to the offshore CFD channel rather than to exchange-traded INR derivatives.
Structure by Trading Style
The account choice on FP Markets follows from order frequency.
| Your style | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Scalping, high frequency | Raw | ~USD 6 round turn beats 1.0-1.2 pips |
| Day trading, 2-5 trades | Raw | Cost edge compounds quickly |
| Swing, weekly holds | Standard | Simple pricing, no commission maths |
| Position, monthly holds | Standard | Spread built in, fewer moving parts |
A trader who cannot state their average trades per week cannot yet choose between Raw and Standard with confidence.
Verification Limits
Two items on FP Markets could not be traced to a source at the time of review.
The offshore arm appears on the Fintelegram orange list. No India-specific promotion was verified at review. Neither item is treated as a disqualifier, and neither is buried; both are stated next to the conditions they touch.
Suitability
Defensible for: traders who have already decided to work with an international broker and need breadth, low commission execution and a platform range covering MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView in one account. The Raw structure at around USD 6 per round-turn lot is competitive for anyone trading meaningful volume, and the USD 100 minimum keeps the test phase cheap.
- Suits
- Standard (commission-free) and Raw (0.0 pip + commission) on MT4/MT5/cTrader/TradingView
- Swap-free
- Yes
- Does not suit
- FP Markets sits below a fully top-tier broker because part of its offering is outside the highest-protection framework: some
- Currency note
- USD/USD/CHF/AUD and others
Questionable for: traders who want INR settlement, UPI funding and a route that sits squarely inside Indian rules, because none of those exist on the offshore onboarding path. It is also a stretch for anyone who cannot tolerate a USD or EUR-denominated account with a conversion step on every deposit and withdrawal. If either of those describes you, compare brokers on segregation of funds and complaints handling before cost.
Does FP Markets have a SEBI licence?
No. FP Markets holds no SEBI registration, and Indian residents are onboarded through the offshore arm under SVG and Seychelles entities. Verify any broker entity directly on the regulator's own register rather than on a website badge.
What does FP Markets charge on the Raw account?
The Raw structure prices USD/CHF from 0.0-0.1 pips plus roughly USD 6 per round-turn lot. The Standard account instead uses a spread of about 1.0-1.2 pips with no commission.
Can I fund an FP Markets account with UPI?
No broker-side UPI or local INR rail was verified at review. Available funding runs through cards, bank wire and e-wallets, with a minimum deposit of USD 100 and no broker-side deposit fees.
Are there withdrawal fees or delays?
Withdrawal timing and any intermediary bank charges were not verifiable at review, and they depend on the method used. Test a small withdrawal early; the behaviour of the exit path is more informative than any published processing promise.
Is FP Markets on the RBI Alert List?
FP Markets is not among the seven entities added in the RBI's 19 November 2025 update, which brought the published list to 95 names. RBI states the list is not exhaustive, so check the current version at rbi.org.in rather than relying on any single point-in-time snapshot.
The First Weeks After Account Opening
The first two weeks are where most of the friction appears, and almost none of it is about the platform itself.
Deposits in USD or EUR will show a conversion cost that a domestic INR account never charges. Record the effective rate you receive on the first deposit so you know your true funding cost before position sizing means anything. Run a handful of small live orders, log the fills against the quoted price at the moment you clicked, and compare what actually happened rather than what the marketing page implies. Then withdraw a modest sum and time the full cycle end to end.
By the end of the first month you should be able to answer three questions with numbers rather than impressions: what each round turn genuinely costs you, how your order types behaved under pressure, and how long money takes to come back out. If those three answers are acceptable, you have a working baseline. If one of them is not, you have found the constraint that matters more than any score on a review page, including ours.
