In the ever-changing global financial markets, choosing a technically robust, cost-transparent trading platform that caters to investors of different capital sizes is a crucial starting point for every trader embarking on their CFD journey. ACE Markets, an international online trading platform built and served by traders, is committed to providing a compliant and transparent trading environment for global retail and professional investors through millisecond-level order execution, diversified asset coverage, and a strict fund segregation system. Whether you wish to hedge your physical positions using short selling, capture opportunities in both long and short positions with low spreads, or are new to the international market and want to test the waters with a smaller capital, ACE Markets offers account types and tools to match your needs, allowing trading decisions to truly focus on the market itself rather than the platform's hidden costs.
The platform supports MetaTrader 5 (MT5) and its self-developed trading terminal, directly connecting to over twenty top-tier banks and liquidity providers globally. With low-latency data centers deployed in London, New York, and Tokyo, the average order execution speed is less than 25 milliseconds, effectively reducing abnormal slippage even during high-volatility periods such as non-farm payroll data releases or central bank decisions. ACE Markets also maintains independent custody of client funds, completely separating them from the company's operating funds. It provides risk control features such as negative balance protection, forced liquidation alerts, and customizable stop-loss and take-profit orders to help users establish disciplined risk management habits in leveraged trading. For users who wish to familiarize themselves with the market before live trading, the platform also offers free demo accounts, allowing them to practice chart analysis and strategy validation in a risk-free environment.
Risk hedging tools: providing short-selling protection for real asset positions
For medium- to long-term investors already holding stocks, ETFs, or commodities in the secondary market, market corrections often erode unrealized gains. ACE Markets' CFD shorting feature can serve as a supplementary hedging tool for portfolios. When you anticipate short-term downward pressure on your holdings or related market indices, you can open a short (reverse) CFD position on the platform. If the market falls as expected, the floating profit on the short position can offset some of the unrealized losses on the spot position, helping you lock in some existing gains or reduce the overall portfolio drawdown. This two-way trading mechanism allows investors to move beyond simply relying on "bull market profits," providing tools to cope with volatile and bearish market conditions. However, it's important to note that hedging effectiveness is affected by product correlation, margin requirements, and spread costs, and cannot completely eliminate the uncertainties brought about by market volatility.
In practice, users can choose similar instruments to hedge their portfolios. For example, when holding a portfolio of large-cap tech stocks, they can consider shorting the corresponding country's major index CFDs. When holding physical gold, they can short gold CFD contracts on ACE Markets to hedge against the risk of a short-term decline in gold prices caused by a strengthening US dollar. The platform supports simultaneous monitoring of multiple instruments and one-click reverse opening of positions, allowing you to adjust hedging ratios or close positions at any time based on market changes. It is recommended that you calculate appropriate position sizes based on historical volatility and use stop-loss orders to control the risk of additional margin calls in extreme market conditions. Hedging should be considered an auxiliary strategy in portfolio management, not an absolute means of eliminating risk. A rational view of the two-way opportunities and potential losses associated with leveraged products is also important.
Low spreads: Transparent pricing helps optimize transaction costs
Transaction costs are a significant variable in frequent entry and exit strategies; excessively wide spreads can effectively compress the net profit margins for swing trading and intraday trading. ACE Markets employs an STP/ECN straight-through processing model, offering native spreads starting from 0.0 pips (depending on account type and market liquidity). For major currency pairs such as EUR/USD and commodities such as XAU/USD, ACE Markets offers industry-leading transparency in spreads, with no hidden markups or tiered commission fees. Standard accounts offer a floating low spread and commission-free option, while ECN accounts provide active traders with a structure of naked spreads plus a fixed commission per lot. Both pricing schemes are clearly stated in the pre-account opening product disclosure documents, ensuring you can clearly estimate the spread costs and overnight interest for each trade before placing an order.
Low and stable spreads are a key advantage for scalping, news-driven trading, and moving average-based traders, as narrower spreads mean that a smaller price movement in the favorable direction is needed to cover entry costs and enter a profitable trading range. ACE Markets' deep liquidity pools maintain relatively stable spreads under normal market conditions and display the current bid-ask spread in real-time on the MT5 quote window. Combined with built-in transaction cost analysis tools, you can review and analyze average spreads and total commission expenses over a certain period to optimize trading frequency and instrument selection. Please remember that spreads may widen temporarily during major data releases or periods of liquidity shortage; this is a normal market phenomenon. It is recommended to consider both pending order distances and the timing of market order usage to avoid ignoring spread changes and affecting expected returns.
Low barrier to entry: Start your global CFD trading journey with a small amount of capital
Traditional thinking often holds that participating in international forex, gold, or US stock index trading requires a large amount of capital. However, ACE Markets breaks this barrier—the platform supports low initial deposit requirements (specific details are subject to local regulations and the information published on the account opening page; some account types can have deposits as low as several hundred RMB equivalent in foreign currency), allowing students, working professionals, and novice investors to experience global markets with their spare funds. You only need to pay a certain percentage of the contract value as margin (leveraged trading) to obtain price volatility exposure equivalent to the full notional principal. The two-way trading mechanism supports going long or short, covering forex currency pairs, international spot gold and silver, major global stock indices, and energy commodities. You can build a cross-market observation and operation system within a one-stop account without leaving home.
To help beginners overcome the anxiety of "not knowing where to start," ACE Markets offers new registered users a free demo trading account. This account includes pricing and charting tools identical to live trading, and provides virtual capital for repeated practice of placing orders, setting stop-loss orders, calculating margin, and managing emotions. Users can then transfer to real trading once their strategy logic is mature. The platform also offers multilingual customer service, multiple deposit and withdrawal channels, and basic educational articles and video explanations to lower the learning curve. It is important to note that leverage can amplify potential floating profits and losses. If the price of the underlying asset moves against you, you may incur losses exceeding your initial margin. Please ensure you control your position size according to your individual risk tolerance, avoid excessive leverage, and prioritize risk management in every trading decision.
