US$7.00. That is what Global Prime's own spreads page charges on its Raw account to trade one standard lot of forex round turn on a US-dollar account, read on 27 September 2026. On its own, it is an ordinary number: IC Markets and Pepperstone publish the same figure for MetaTrader. What makes it worth a review is the broker it shares a licence with. Fusion Markets, run from the same Melbourne address by the same Australian licensee and onboarding offshore clients through the same Vanuatu company, charges US$4.50 on its Zero account. Global Prime's lot costs 56% more, booked through the same Vanuatu company, for access to the same counterparty. A Global Prime client does not pay that premium for a stronger licence or a different offshore entity. They pay it for a brand.
Here is what no comparison table we could find spells out. The price gap is the smaller of two mismatches. The bigger one is in the paperwork. Global Prime's website lists maximum leverage of 1:1000 on major and minor currency pairs and on gold. The Product Disclosure Statement it links to as the governing document for clients of its Vanuatu entity, dated 28 February 2023, says the default is 1:100 and that clients "can request to have the Leverage Rates increased up to 1:500." The site advertises double what the contract describes. That same PDS promises, at clause 1.3, a new or supplementary PDS whenever information changes in a way that is materially adverse to clients. Three and a half years on, the document has not been reissued.
Key facts
- Raw account commission is US$3.50 per side, US$7.00 round turn per standard lot on forex and precious metals; the Standard account charges no commission from 0.9 pips — Global Prime account types page, retrieved 27 September 2026
- Fusion Markets' Zero account charges US$2.25 per side, US$4.50 round turn, and its footer names the same Vanuatu company, Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited, company number 40256 — Fusion Markets Zero account page, retrieved 27 September 2026
- By currency, the Raw lot ranges from A$7.00 (about US$4.92) to S$9.50 (about US$7.44), a 51% spread between the cheapest and dearest base currency — Global Prime spreads page and ECB reference rates dated 25 September 2026
- Maximum leverage shown on the site is 1:1000 on major and minor FX and gold; the linked Vanuatu PDS of 28 February 2023 caps requests at 1:500 — Global Prime legal documentation, retrieved 27 September 2026
- AFSL 385620, held by FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd since 5 January 2011, appears in ASIC's current licensee dataset with no end date — ASIC AFS Licensee Dataset, file afs_lic_202609, updated 23 September 2026
- For the only contracting entity on its About Us page, Global Prime answers "Yes" to whether client money can be used for hedging and lists "No compensation scheme" — Global Prime About Us page, retrieved 27 September 2026
Who you actually sign with
Start with the corporate map, because it decides everything else in this review. Global Prime was founded in 2010, and until late 2023 it was owned and run by Jeremy Kinstlinger and Elan Bension. In November 2023, FX News Group reported that the pair had sold the business to Fusion Markets and its founders, Phil Horner and David Swinden, and that both brands were now operated under FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd, with offshore operations held by Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited in Vanuatu. We covered the Australian side of that structure in our Fusion Markets review. This piece looks at it from the other brand's door.
Two licences sit behind the Global Prime name. The Australian one is real and current. ASIC's published licensee dataset, updated 23 September 2026, lists AFSL 385620 for FMGP TRADING GROUP PTY LTD, ABN 74146086017, with a start date of 5 January 2011 and authorisations to deal in and make a market for derivatives and foreign exchange contracts for retail and wholesale clients. ASIC's own register search at connectonline.asic.gov.au timed out from our systems, so we rely on the dataset rather than the live register page. The offshore one is also current. The Vanuatu Financial Services Commission's financial dealers list shows Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited, company number 40256, holding class A, B and C licences with status Active and a licence date of 6 January 2023.
The question is which of those a new client actually gets. The website's answer leans heavily one way. The footer on every page names the Vanuatu company first. The legal documentation page is headed "Global Prime (Vanuatu)" and offers only VFSC-branded documents. The About Us page has a single contracting-entity table, labelled "GLOBAL", for Gleneagle Securities. And the Australian domain, globalprime.com.au, returned an HTTP 302 redirect to globalprime.com when we tested it on 27 September 2026.
The Australian licence still appears on the regulation page, and the FAQ says the firm offers "negative balance protection for Australian Retail clients." We could not establish from any public page which entity an Australian applicant is routed to, or whether an Australian PDS for the Global Prime brand is still issued. The site links none. That matters, because the two entities are not interchangeable.
Under ASIC's CFD product intervention order, an Australian retail client is capped at 30:1 on major currency pairs. When ASIC announced it, Cathie Armour, then a Commissioner at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, said: "Heavy losses sustained by retail clients trading in highly leveraged CFDs and ongoing market volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need for stronger CFD protections in the product intervention order." When ASIC extended the order in April 2022 to 23 May 2027, she added: "We have seen a substantial reduction in harm to retail clients resulting from CFDs as a result of ASIC's product intervention." ASIC measured a 91% fall in aggregate retail net losses per quarter. None of that reaches a Vanuatu client.
What the Vanuatu entity offers instead is set out plainly on Global Prime's own About Us page. Client money is held in segregated trust accounts at National Australia Bank. Client money can be used for hedging: "Yes". Deposit compensation scheme: "No compensation scheme". The Vanuatu complaint handling policy dated 28 July 2025 sends unresolved disputes to The Financial Commission, a private external dispute body, and requires a filing within 45 days of the dispute arising. Retail clients of an Australian licensee use the Australian Financial Complaints Authority instead. Disclosure: The Traders Spread is affiliated with The Financial Commission. Its mention here describes Global Prime's own published policy and is not a recommendation. These are two different safety nets, and the website shows only one of them in any detail.
What the Raw account costs against five peers
We ranked on one comparable number: the round-turn commission per standard forex lot on each broker's raw-spread tier, in US dollars, as published by each broker on its own page on 27 September 2026. Spreads move and are reported inconsistently, so they sit in the prose rather than the chart.
| Broker, account and entity | Per side | Round turn (US$) | Source, retrieved 27 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Prime Raw, USD account (Gleneagle Securities, VFSC) | US$3.50 | 7.00 | globalprime.com |
| Fusion Markets Zero (Gleneagle Securities, VFSC, and FMGP for Australians) | US$2.25 | 4.50 | fusionmarkets.com |
| Tickmill Raw (Tickmill Europe Ltd, CySEC 278/15) | US$3.00 | 6.00 | tickmill.com/eu |
| BlackBull ECN Prime (BBG Limited, Seychelles FSA SD045) | US$3.00 | 6.00 | blackbull.com |
| IC Markets Raw Spread, MetaTrader (Raw Trading Ltd, Seychelles FSA SD018) | US$3.50 | 7.00 | ic.com |
| Pepperstone Razor, MT4/MT5 (Pepperstone Group Ltd, AFSL 414530) | from US$3.50 | 7.00 | pepperstone.com/en-au |
Each figure applies to one platform and one entity, and several brokers run more than one schedule. IC Markets charges US$3.00 per US$100,000 traded on cTrader and TradingView rather than per lot, and offers cheaper Raw Pro tiers behind a US$100,000 deposit. Pepperstone's same page prices cTrader at US$6.00 round turn and TradingView at US$7.00. Tickmill's figure is for the CySEC-regulated European entity, which is where our request was routed. BlackBull's page also shows a separate Standard, Raw and Pro table in which Raw carries the same US$3.00 per side. See our Tickmill review, IC Markets review and Pepperstone review for how those tiers break down.
Global Prime lands at the expensive end of the group, level with IC Markets and Pepperstone and US$1.00 above Tickmill and BlackBull. Against its sibling, the gap is US$2.50 a lot. For a trader turning over 50 standard lots a month, that is US$125 a month, or US$1,500 a year, paid to the same counterparty for the same instruments.
Spreads narrow the picture a little without closing it. Global Prime's table gives an average EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips, which on a US$10-per-pip lot adds about US$1.00, for an all-in cost near US$8.00 or 0.8 pips. IC Markets states the same 0.1-pip EUR/USD average on its Raw Spread page, so the two land together. Fusion's Zero account FAQ puts its total cost at "approximately 0.5 pips". Global Prime does not say what period its averages cover, or even which account they belong to: every column is headed "Spread Avg**" and the double asterisk is never defined anywhere on the page.
Fusion's founder has made cost the whole point of the business. "Fusion Markets was founded on a very simple principle – to stop traders from paying too much!" Phil Horner, CEO and Founder of Fusion Markets, told DayTrading.com. Owning both brands, the group now sells the same pipes at two prices. That is a commercial choice, and a legitimate one. It is also the clearest signal a buyer gets about where the value sits.
The currency you fund in changes the bill by half
Global Prime publishes a fixed commission per currency rather than converting one base figure, and the numbers do not line up. The same standard lot costs A$7.00 on an Australian-dollar account, US$7.00 on a US-dollar account, €6.20 in euros, £5.40 in sterling, C$9.00 in Canadian dollars and S$9.50 in Singapore dollars. Converted at the ECB reference rates dated 25 September 2026, the last published before this weekend, that gives:
- AUD account: about US$4.92 (A$7.00 at 1.4224 per US dollar)
- CAD account: about US$6.36
- USD account: US$7.00
- EUR account: about US$7.07
- GBP account: about US$7.16
- SGD account: about US$7.44
The Australian-dollar lot is the only one that undercuts the peer group, landing within 42 cents of Fusion's US-dollar price. Every other currency pays more than Tickmill or BlackBull. A Singapore-dollar account pays 51% more per lot than an Australian-dollar one. Those gaps are set by the schedule, not by the market: they will drift as exchange rates move, and a stronger Australian dollar would close part of the AUD discount.
Two costs sit on top. The PDS allows a conversion charge of "up to a maximum of 100 basis points (1.00%)" whenever a trade's profit or loss is converted into the account currency. And overnight financing is not published at all. The swaps and fees page explains the formula, says rates change "once to twice a week", and answers the question of historical rates with "Unfortunately, we do not provide historical data." A trader who holds positions for days cannot price that before opening an account.
Where the documents and the website part company
The leverage mismatch is the sharpest example, but it is not alone. Four gaps stood out after reading the live site against the Vanuatu PDS and Financial Product Service Terms, both dated 28 February 2023.
First, leverage. The spreads page shows 1:1000 on major and minor FX and gold, 1:100 on indices and commodities, 1:20 on US shares and 1:5 on crypto. The PDS says the default is 1:100, with increases "up to 1:500" subject to approval. We did not open an account, so we cannot say which figure the platform applies.
Second, dormancy. Clause 24.5 of the terms lets the firm withdraw an inactive client's funds from the trust account to their bank, and clause 24.6 says that once withdrawn the client becomes "an unsecured creditor of Global Prime". We found no fee attached to inactivity, which is to the firm's credit. The trigger, "a reasonably long period", is not defined.
Third, the published data has holes. The crypto rows on the spreads page print names and symbols for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and several others with no spread figure beside them.
Fourth, costs that do favour the client. Deposits carry no Global Prime fee across 15 listed methods, and the funding page says the firm absorbs card and e-wallet merchant fees of "up to 4% of the deposit amount". There is no minimum deposit. Wire withdrawals start at US$30; the firm lists no withdrawal fee of its own, though it warns that international wires into its Australian trust account "will likely be USD $20-$30" in bank charges.
Verdict: a sound offshore desk sold at an onshore price
Global Prime has real strengths. The licensee behind it has held an Australian licence since January 2011, with no end date in ASIC's current dataset. Its funding terms are generous, it publishes its commission schedule openly in six currencies, and client money sits with a major Australian bank. Nothing in this review suggests a firm in trouble.
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The problem is value and clarity. The default route on the website leads to a Vanuatu contract with no compensation scheme, client money usable for hedging, and a PDS that is three and a half years old and contradicts the live leverage table. On price, the US-dollar Raw lot matches IC Markets and Pepperstone and costs 56% more than Fusion Markets, which puts a client with the same group and the same Vanuatu company. Swap rates are unpublished, and the spread averages come with an undefined footnote.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5. We deducted for the documentation gaps and for a price that the group's own second brand undercuts, and credited the licence history and the fee-free funding.
Who it suits: a trader funding in Australian dollars, where the A$7.00 lot is about US$4.92 and genuinely competitive, who values Global Prime's support model and is comfortable with, or specifically wants, the Vanuatu entity's terms. For a trader funding in US dollars, sterling, euros or Singapore dollars, the same counterparty is available more cheaply under the Fusion brand, and Tickmill and BlackBull both price below it on their own published schedules.
What would change this view: a refreshed Vanuatu PDS that matches the website; a clear statement of which entity Australian residents contract with and a link to its current PDS; published swap tables; and a Raw commission brought into line with the group's sibling. Any of the first three would lift the score. A condition or suspension on AFSL 385620, or a change in the VFSC listing, would lower it. All of those are checkable on the public registers cited above.
Frequently asked questions
Is Global Prime regulated?
Yes, through two entities. FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd holds Australian Financial Services Licence 385620, current in ASIC's September 2026 dataset. Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited, company 40256, is listed as Active on the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission's dealer list. The website's legal documents, footer and contracting-entity table all point to the Vanuatu company, which offers no compensation scheme.
Are Global Prime and Fusion Markets the same company?
They share the same Australian licensee, FMGP Trading Group Pty Ltd, the same Vanuatu entity, Gleneagle Securities Pty Limited, and the same office address on Chapel Street in Melbourne, according to both websites' footers. Fusion Markets' founders bought Global Prime in 2023. The brands run separate websites and separate price schedules.
How much does Global Prime charge per lot?
The Raw account charges US$3.50 per side, US$7.00 round turn, per standard lot of forex or precious metals on a US-dollar account. Other base currencies carry fixed amounts: A$7.00, €6.20, £5.40, C$9.00 and S$9.50. The Standard account charges no commission and quotes spreads from 0.9 pips. Figures were read from Global Prime's site on 27 September 2026.
What leverage does Global Prime offer?
The website lists up to 1:1000 on major and minor forex pairs and gold. The Vanuatu Product Disclosure Statement, dated 28 February 2023, gives a default of 1:100 and allows requests up to 1:500. Australian retail clients fall under ASIC's product intervention order, which caps major currency pairs at 30:1 until at least 23 May 2027.
Does Global Prime charge deposit or withdrawal fees?
Its funding page lists no Global Prime fee for deposits or withdrawals and says the firm absorbs card and e-wallet merchant fees of up to 4%. There is no minimum deposit. Wire withdrawals have a US$30 minimum, and international wires may attract US$20 to US$30 in third-party bank charges, which the firm says it does not control.
Disclaimer
This review is analysis for information only and is not financial advice or a recommendation to open an account with any broker named. Contracts for difference are leveraged products and can result in losses exceeding your deposit; your capital is at risk. All figures were taken from the named sources on 27 September 2026 and may have changed since. The Traders Spread did not open a live account with Global Prime for this review.