Side-by-side regulation, cost, platforms, and score -- generated from the same disclosed data and methodology behind our rankings.
| Ultima Markets | HF Markets | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 3.56 / 5 | 3.73 / 5 |
| Regulation | CySEC No. 426/23 + FCA No. 470325 CySEC licence 426/23 is held by a separate group entity, Ultima Markets Cyprus Ltd, serving EU clients -- a different legal entity from the UK FCA firm reviewed here. Worth knowing: Ultima Markets UK Limited is not a freshly authorised company -- it's an existing FCA shell entity (authorised since 2007) that has changed names and ownership several times, most recently as Tiger Brokers (UK) Ltd before Ultima Markets acquired it in 2025 and renamed it. The FCA register shows one enforcement event on this firm's file, a 2015 supervisory notice over systems and controls, issued under one of the earlier names (predecessor management, about a decade before Ultima's ownership) -- this predates and is unrelated to Ultima Markets' own conduct. The UK entity was still in the process of onboarding UK retail clients as of this research (2026) -- confirm current live UK status before relying on it. Non-EU/global clients are onboarded via separate Mauritius FSC and St Vincent & Grenadines SVGFSA entities, neither of which is on this site's Tier-1 list. |
CySEC No. 183/12 + FCA No. 801701 + FSA Seychelles No. SD015 FCA held by HF Markets (UK) Ltd, DFSA by HF Markets (DIFC) Ltd, and FSCA by HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd -- separate group entities from the CySEC-licensed HF Markets (Europe) Ltd. |
| Entity | Ultima Markets UK Limited | HF Markets (Europe) Ltd |
| Founded | 2016 | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Not independently confirmed | Limassol, Cyprus |
| Minimum deposit | Not independently confirmed | $5 (Premium account); Pro account requires $100/€100 |
| Avg. spread (EUR/USD) | Not independently confirmed | 1.2 pips |
| Platforms | MT4, MT5, Proprietary (UM Terminal) | MT4, MT5, Proprietary (HFM App) |
| Other Tier-1 regulators | FSCA | DFSA, FSCA |
| Instruments | 250+ CFDs across forex, commodities, indices, shares, and metals. Cryptocurrency CFD availability is disputed -- one source lists it as tradable, another only as a deposit method. | 500+ CFDs across forex, metals, indices, stocks, bonds, energies, commodities and cryptocurrencies. |
| Visit | Visit Ultima Markets | Visit HF Markets |
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