Scope Markets review: safe broker for beginners and experienced traders

Scope Markets is a safe, multi-regulated broker that was launched in 2014. The broker was acquired by Rostro Group, a financial services conglomerate, in 2020. Senior management and the owners have decades of combined experience working in the online trading industry.

Scope Markets offers access to thousands of markets, across FX, commodities, indices, stocks, futures, and more. Clients can also use the broker’s copy trading platform to access other traders’ strategies.

Clients can trade with Scope Markets using MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5. The company also offers advanced traders access to its services via the Iress trading platform. 

What we like about Scope Markets is its pricing and execution, as well as the team behind the company. Scope offers great trading conditions and it has a transparent, experienced group of executives running the business. We believe traders can trade at Scope Markets with confidence as a result.

Trust 

Traders can trust Scope Markets and feel safe keeping their money with the firm. We think there are a couple of important reasons that support this.

Regulation

Scope Markets holds licences in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The broker is well-regulated as a result and traders can feel confident that they’re trading with a firm that must adhere to high corporate governance standards.

The broker has key offices in London, Cyprus, and Dubai – all major hubs for the online trading industry. 

Country	Regulator	Legal entity
Belize	Financial Services Commission (FSC)	RS Global Ltd
Cyprus	Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)	SM Capital Markets Ltd
Seychelles	Financial Services Authority (FSA)	Scope Markets Global Ltd
South Africa	Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)	Scope Markets SA (PTY) Ltd
Kenya	Capital Markets Authority (CMA)	SCFM Ltd
Mauritius	Financial Services Commission (FSC Mauritius)	Scope Capital Markets Ltd

Transparency

Scope Markets is not a publicly-traded company, meaning it does not have to reveal that much information about its operations.

Consequently, we think it’s a real positive that the firm is clear and open about its ownership structure. Rostro employees make regular appearances at events and in the media. This is not the case for many brokers, who often hide their ownership structure and never allow senior management to make public appearances. 

A firm that is open and transparent doesn’t have anything to hide. This is why we think Rostro’s public-facing behaviour is a strong trust marker for traders that are thinking of signing up to the firm.

Experienced Ownership

Scope Markets is owned by Rostro Group, a financial services group that was founded by Roger Hambury. Prior to setting up Rostro Group, Hambury held senior roles at several leading financial institutions, including Finalto, City Index, and IG Group.

Other senior executives at the firm have all worked at tier-1 brokers and financial institutions. For example, the trading desk at Rostro Group is extremely experienced, with individuals in the team that have decades of experience working in financial markets.

Having those executives as part of the company you are trading with is a real plus. It shows they know what they are doing and you can feel comfortable that you are in capable hands.

Accounts

Scope Markets is a global business and, because of that, it has localised offerings for each of its entities. 

Traders in Kenya, South Africa, and the European Union should look at the account pages on the broker’s regional websites to see the offerings available to them.

For the rest of the world, we’ll look at the broker’s main accounts here.

One Account

This is the most popular account on Scope Markets. It can be used to access all the CFD markets that Scope Markets offers. Traders can access the account using MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

One Account Key Features
Maximum Leverage	1000:1
Minimum Deposit	$10
Average Spreads	From 0.9 pips
Stop-out level	20%

Islamic Account

Scope Markets lets Muslim traders access forex and CFD products without having to pay swap fees. This is in the broker’s Islamic account. The terms of the account are very similar to the One Account, with the obvious difference being there are no swap fees. However, traders must pay a fixed $5 commission per lot, per side in these accounts. 

Scope Invest

Scope Invest is one of the more unique features that Scope Markets offers. The account lets traders access fractional shares with no leverage by trading them as a CFD. This account is great for anyone that wants lower risk access to long-term investments.

Scope Elite

The Scope Elite account is for higher net worth clients, who want access to more personalised service. The minimum deposit for a Scope Elite account is $20,000. It gives the user access to extremely competitive pricing and high leverage. Clients with a Scope Elite account can also get personalised support, rebates, and access to VIP events.

Scope Elite Key Features
Maximum Leverage	1000:1
Minimum Deposit	$20,000
Spreads	From 0.0 pips
Rebates	Up to $8 per million

Products

Scope Markets is a broker for trading. If you are looking for high leverage, low spreads, and a broad range of FX/CFD markets to trade, then the broker is going to appeal to you.

However, the broker does also offer a number of other products in certain regions. You can see what products the broker offers and where.

	FX/CFDs	Real stocks	Exchange-traded derivatives	1x stock CFDs
Global	✅	❌	❌	✅
EU	✅	✅	❌	✅
Kenya	✅	✅	✅	✅
South Africa	✅	❌	❌	✅

CFDs

CFD trading is the core product that Scope Markets offers across all of its global entities. The company currently offers thousands of CFDs on FX, metals, commodities, shares, futures markets, indices, and more.

CFD market	No. of assets to trade on Scope Markets	Popular Example
FX	79	EUR/USD
Indices	18	S&P 500
Oil and gas	4	Crude Oil
Metals	12	Gold
Shares	1,900+	Tesla
Futures	24	UK100
Commodities	8	Cocoa

Real stocks

Scope Markets offers cash equities trading in Kenya and the European Union. This means you are buying and holding the ‘real’ share, rather than just trading a CFD on it. This is a great product for anyone looking to just buy and hold an investment for the long-term.

Exchange-traded derivatives

Kenyan traders can access futures listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange via Scope Markets. The broker is one of the only firms to offer this product to Kenyan traders. Unlike CFD trading, this means you are trading the ‘real’ futures markets, something a segment of traders prefers to do.

1x stock CFDs

Across all regions globally, Scope Markets offers 1:1 trading in stock CFDs. That means you have no leverage when buying the product, allowing you to access the underlying stocks, without the same level of risk that buying a leveraged CFD would give you.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Depositing and withdrawing funds on Scope Markets is fast and easy. You can use payment cards, like Visa and Mastercard, as well as a range of local and alternative payment methods.

How long do deposits take?

The fastest way to deposit with Scope Markets is using Visa, Mastercard, Neteller, or Skrill. Using these methods will mean you get your money instantly.

Other local payment methods are also likely to be instant. However, processing times can vary and can take up to 8 hours.

The slowest process will be if you do an international bank transfer as this can take 3-5 days to process.

How long do withdrawals take?

Withdrawals on Scope Markets will often take longer. There is a good reason for this. For compliance reasons, brokers are almost never allowed to send clients back funds that exceeded their initial deposit, unless they used a bank transfer.

For example, if you deposit $1,000 with a Visa card and make a profit of $500, you will still only be able to withdraw $1,000 back onto your card. The rest has to be made via bank transfer.

Traders using local bank transfers can get same day access to their funds in most instances. However, if you are making an international transfer then it will likely take 3-5 days.

What are the minimum deposits?

The minimum deposit to Scope Markets is $10. However, that can rise to $210 for traders using Union Pay.

We’d also note that if you are depositing in a local currency, like Thai Baht or Malaysian Ringgit, then your minimum will be whatever the equivalent of $10 is in that currency.

Fees

Scope Markets charges three main fees – spreads, commissions, and swaps. These will vary depending on the instrument and account type that you have. 

Swaps

Swap fees are a fee you pay when holding CFD positions after market close. When you trade with leverage, you are borrowing money. Swap fees are a way of paying interest on that borrowing. You can check swap rates easily in the Scope Markets MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 platforms using the Market Watch panel.

Commissions

Scope Markets charges variable commissions on a per lot, per side basis. However, in many instances, you will not pay any commissions at all.

In simpler terms, a commission is a fee that is charged when you open and close a trade. The fee is based on the volume you trade. As with most brokers, Scope Markets’ commissions are based on per lot transactions, with one lot being $100,000-worth of whatever you are trading.

You can see how Scope Markets charges commissions for its global customers below.

Account Type	Commission
One Account	$5 per lot on futures and commodities only. Commissions on certain stock CFDs are also charged.
Islamic Account	$5 per side per lot
Scope Elite	$3.50 per side per lot
Scope Invest	Zero commissions

Spreads

Spreads are the main fee that traders pay when trading CFDs. The spread is the difference between the buy and sell price that you see when making a trade. The tighter the spread, the better the price you are getting.

Scope Markets offers attractive spreads, particularly for clients trading in larger size, with Scope Elite account holders getting access to zero spread accounts.

Forex spreads 

Forex tends to be one of the most popular asset classes that traders want access to. Scope Markets most popular account tends to offer spreads that are on par with other market leaders. 

We would also note that there are no commissions for trading forex with the broker. A common tactic other firms use is to quote zero or extremely low spreads, but then charge commissions that mean you are effectively paying the same fee anyway.

You can see Scope’s spreads for some popular instruments at the time we were writing this review below.

FX Pair	Scope Markets Spread
EUR/USD Spread	0.9
USD/JPY Spread	0.7
CHF/USD Spread	1

Commodities spreads

Gold and oil tend to be among the most-traded instruments with all CFD brokers. Gold in particular has proven to be extremely popular over the last few years.

Again, Scope Markets offers very competitive pricing for these instruments, with spreads that can be close to parity or even better than the underlying market.

Asset	Scope Markets Spread
Gold spread	0.3
Oil spread	2.7
Silver spread	0.2

Index spreads

Index products are also a popular way for traders to speculate on the financial markets, with popular markets including the US, UK, and Germany.

As you can see in the table below, the spreads that Scope Markets offers on these products are very tight.

Asset	Scope Markets Spread
S&P 500	0.7
UK 100	0.7
DAX	1.4

Platforms

Scope Markets gives traders access to the financial markets via a number of methods. 

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is one of the oldest and most popular trading platforms in the trading industry. Traders can use MetaTrader 4 to trade Scope Markets.

We think the platform is still most likely to appeal to traders using ‘Expert Advisors’, which are automated trading systems.

MetaTrader 5

MetaTrader 5 is the newer and more up-to-date version of the MetaTrader platforms. Most traders signing up to Scope Markets will use this platform, which offers a range of useful tools, analytical features, and lets users engage in automated trading strategies.

Scope Copy

Scope Markets offers clients access to copy trading via its Scope Copy platform. This lets you copy top traders on the Scope Markets platform. To access this, you simply have to connect your Scope Markets account to your Scope Copy account. From there you can begin copying top-performing traders with the broker.

Iress

Scope Markets also offers access to financial markets via Iress’s systems. This is designed for sophisticated traders that want a more customised set-up. For example they might want to be able to do things like trade via FIX API and get direct market access.

In practice, most traders won’t need this system as it’s designed for professional traders and financial institutions. Having said that, we think it’s testament to the infrastructure that Scope Markets has built that the firm is able to offer the platform.

Final thoughts

Scope Markets is ultimately a safe, secure broker to trade with. If you are looking for high leverage, good trading conditions, and low costs, then the broker is going to be a good option for you. We also like the other offerings that the firm has, like 1x stock CFDs, as it can also be a way for you to make long-term investments with the broker.

At the same time, we like the fact that you can trust the firm, that it’s transparent, and that the team behind the firm has a lot of experience and expertise, as you feel that you are in safe hands with the broker.

FAQ

Is Scope Markets legit in Kenya?

Yes, Scope Markets is one of the biggest forex brokers in Kenya. Scope Markets is regulated in Kenya by the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority.

Is Scope Markets legit?

Yes, Scope Markets is a well-regulated broker, with offices and regulatory licences in major financial hubs globally.

Is Scope Markets regulated?

Yes, Scope Markets holds regulatory licences in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Does Scope Markets have micro accounts?

Scope Markets lets you trade micro lots in all of its accounts.

Who owns Scope Markets?

Scope Markets is owned by Rostro Group, a financial services group that was set up in 2020 by Roger Hambury.