Plenty of brokers dress up one account as three. Change the spread a little, rename the tier, charge more for the privilege.
Focus Markets did something more useful. Its Standard, Raw and Access accounts are built around three genuinely different cost structures, and picking correctly can change what a month of trading costs you by a wide margin.
Get it right and this is one of the better-value brokers you will find at this level. This review is about that choice.
Key Takeaways: Standard trades commission-free from 1.0 pips, Raw trades from 0.0 pips with $3.50 per side, and Access reaches 1:1000 leverage with a 100% deposit bonus up to $200. All three carry 800+ instruments and a 30-day demo.
Standard: No Commission, No Arithmetic
The simplest of the three, and the right default for most people.
Spreads start at 1.0 pips and commission is zero. What you see on the chart is what the trade costs, which removes the mental overhead of tracking a separate per-lot charge against every position. Leverage reaches 1:500.
Base currency choice is the widest of the three tiers: Canadian and Singapore dollars sit alongside sterling, euro, US, Australian and New Zealand dollars. Both platforms come with it, so nothing about the entry tier limits your workspace.
For a swing trader holding positions for days, or anyone trading a handful of times a week, commission-free pricing is almost always the cheaper answer. The spread is the only variable and there is nothing else to model.
Raw: The Account for Volume
Where Standard removes complexity, Raw removes cost.
Spreads start at 0.0 pips with commission at $3.50 per side per standard lot. That is $7 round turn on a full lot, and against a raw spread it is the structure that active traders and scalpers actually want, because the pricing you trade against is the pricing the market is showing.
Everything else matches Standard exactly: leverage to 1:500, all seven funding currencies, both platforms, the same 800-plus instruments.
The maths is straightforward. High frequency and larger size favour Raw, because a tighter spread compounds across many trades and a fixed commission is predictable. Lower frequency favours Standard, because the commission has fewer trades to spread itself across.
Focus Markets does not gate anything else behind Raw, which is the important part. You are choosing a cost model, not buying access to features.
Access: Leverage and a Deposit Bonus
The third route is the most distinctive, and it is aimed squarely at traders starting smaller.
Leverage runs to 1:1000, double what the other two offer. Spreads sit at 2.0 pips with no commission, and there is a 100% deposit bonus up to $200, which is the only promotional credit on the account menu.
That combination has a clear logic: more buying power and a matched deposit for someone opening with a modest balance. It runs on MetaTrader 5 alone and drops to six funding currencies, the Canadian dollar being the one left out.
Higher leverage cuts both ways and any sensible trader knows it, but the option existing at all is a point in the broker’s favour, since plenty of competitors cap everyone at the same ceiling regardless of experience.
What Every Account Shares
This is where Focus Markets is unusually consistent, and it is worth listing because the answer is normally “it depends on your tier”.
- Instruments. Every account gets all 800-plus products: 40-plus currency CFDs, 500-plus global stock CFDs, 140-plus crypto derivatives, and the index, commodity and ETF range on top. No tier is short of anything.
- Position rules. No maximum on open positions. No maximum on pending orders. Trade sizes from 0.01 lots to 100. Expert Advisors permitted throughout.
- Risk settings. Margin call at 80% and stop out at 50%, identical everywhere, so moving between tiers never changes the rules of engagement.
- Support. 24/5 by phone, email and live chat on all three.
- Testing. A demo account on every tier with a 30-day period, which is long enough to run a real strategy rather than click around for an afternoon.
Pro Tip: Pick the account on how often you trade, not on how much you deposit. Frequency decides whether commission-free or raw-plus-commission wins, and nothing else about the tiers differs.
Working Out Which One
Three questions, answered honestly, and you will land on the right tier.
- How many trades a week? A handful, and Standard is almost certainly cheaper. Many, and Raw’s 0.0 pip starting spread will more than absorb the $3.50 per side.
- What size are you trading? Commission is charged per standard lot, so it scales with size. Small positions dilute the benefit of a raw spread; larger ones amplify it.
- Are you starting small? Access is built for that case, with 1:1000 leverage and a matched deposit up to $200 to get more out of a modest opening balance.
If you genuinely cannot tell, the 30-day demo settles it at no cost. Run the same strategy against Standard pricing and Raw pricing and the arithmetic answers itself.
Funding and Getting Paid
Worth covering here because it applies across all three tiers and it is well documented.
Deposits carry no transaction fee on credit card, Bitwallet, crypto, Neteller and Skrill, all processed instantly and available 24/7.
Card, Bitwallet and crypto carry a $5,000 limit per deposit, while Neteller and Skrill go to $10,000. Bank transfer has no limit at all and takes 24 to 72 hours, with only intermediary bank fees applying.
Crypto deposits accept USDT on both TRC20 and ERC20 plus Bitcoin, which is a practical touch for anyone funding from an exchange.
Withdrawals return through the same method used to deposit.
Every request passes a Finance team review taking one to two business days, and then processing is quick: one business day for Neteller and Skrill, one to two for Bitwallet and crypto, one to three for card and bank transfer.
Client money sits segregated, and the operating company, Focus Markets Global Limited, holds licence GB25205284 from the Mauritius Financial Services Commission.
The Verdict on the Tiers
The reason this broker deserves attention is that its account menu is honest.
There is no artificial feature gating, no instrument locked behind a premium tier, no worse risk settings on the cheap account. You are choosing a pricing model and nothing else changes.
That is rarer than it should be, and it means the only mistake available to you is picking the wrong cost structure for your trading frequency. Spend twenty minutes with the demo and even that is solved.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between Focus Markets Standard and Raw Accounts?
Standard has spreads from 1.0 pips and no commission.
Raw has spreads from 0.0 pips with $3.50 commission per side per standard lot. Everything else, including leverage, instruments, platforms and risk settings, is identical.
Which Focus Markets Account Has the Highest Leverage?
Access, at up to 1:1000. Standard and Raw both reach 1:500. Margin call is 80% and stop out is 50% on every tier.
Does Focus Markets Offer a Deposit Bonus?
Yes, on the Access account: 100% up to $200. It is the only promotional credit published on the account comparison.
Can You Use Expert Advisors on Any Account?
Yes. EAs are permitted on Standard, Raw and Access, with no cap on open positions or pending orders and trade sizes from 0.01 to 100 lots.
How Long Does a Focus Markets Withdrawal Take?
Every request is reviewed by the Finance team, taking one to two business days, then processing runs one business day for Neteller and Skrill, one to two for Bitwallet and crypto, and one to three for card and bank transfer.
Is There a Demo Account?
Yes, on all three tiers, with a 30-day demo period and the full 800+ instrument range available.