Skilling review

Our rating

Skilling scores 7.5 out of 10 on our table. That figure is an average of six things we assess, and it hides the shape of the broker: its strongest area is platforms at 9.0, its weakest is education at 4.9. Whether that gap matters depends entirely on which of the six you were going to use.

Regulation and safety8.5/10

Skilling lists its authorisations as CySEC (357/18); Seychelles FSA (SD042). That is a mixed structure, and the mix is the point: it holds at least one tier-one licence alongside offshore entities, and which one takes your account depends on where you live rather than on which you would prefer.

The licence that matters to you is the one held by the entity that opens your account, and at a multi-entity broker that is decided by your country of residence. Its registration can be checked directly on the CySEC CIF Register, licence 357/18. It is a two-minute check and it is the only way to confirm that the firm taking your deposit is the firm named on the website.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own funds, with regulated credit institutions - so that if the business fails, client balances are not part of what its creditors can reach. Negative balance protection applies, so a gap through your stop cannot leave you owing the broker money.

On compensation: Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000 for eligible CySEC clients. That covers the broker failing, not your trades losing money - the two are frequently confused and only one of them is insured.

Skilling does not accept clients from Belgium, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, North Korea, Iran and other jurisdictions where services are prohibited. Restriction lists move, so confirm your own country before you spend time on an application.

What it costs to trade8.4/10

Skilling advertises spreads from 0.1 pips. Commission is $3.50 per side / $7 round turn, Premium, charged on top of the spread rather than instead of it - which is the normal arrangement on a raw account and the reason its quoted spread can be so low. Put the two together and a EUR/USD round turn works out at approx. 0.9 pips, which is the figure worth comparing against other brokers.

An advertised minimum is the best price a broker has ever quoted, not the price you will get. On our record its measured average on EUR/USD is approx. 0.2 pips, Premium, and approx. 0.5 pips, Premium on GBP/USD. Spreads are variable, so they move with liquidity and widen around releases and the daily rollover.

Positions held overnight accrue a swap, and swap-free accounts are available for clients who need them. Currency conversion applies where your account and the instrument use different currencies, which is a charge worth avoiding by funding in the currency you actually trade.

Leave the account dormant and it costs you: €10/month after 12 months inactivity. That is the charge most often missed when comparing brokers, and it matters disproportionately if you trade seasonally or infrequently.

Platforms and tools9.0/10

Skilling runs Skilling Trader, cTrader, MetaTrader 4, TradingView. MetaTrader 4 remains the platform with the deepest library of expert advisors and custom indicators, which is why brokers still offer it two versions later. cTrader adds depth of market and level II pricing, and usually accompanies raw-spread accounts rather than commission-free ones. TradingView integration means you can analyse and execute in the same window rather than charting in one tool and trading in another.

Automation is supported: Yes, MT4 Expert Advisors and cTrader algorithmic trading. There is API access (yes, cTrader Open API/FIX API) for anyone connecting their own software. Copy trading is available through yes, cTrader Copy, which is the alternative to writing rules yourself.

Charting runs to 100+ through TradingView. Additional tools include tradingView, cTrader, MetaTrader 4. On mobile: both proprietary and third-party.

Markets, leverage and execution8.0/10

Skilling covers Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies. That comes to 900+ instruments in total. On the currency side specifically it lists 73 pairs. Breadth is worth less than depth in the markets you actually trade - a hundred instruments priced well beats a thousand you will never open.

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation - a protection rather than a restriction. Our record for this broker reads "1:30 retail", and the difference between those figures is the entity you are onboarded to rather than anything you can choose. Whatever the headline, the number that governs your position is the margin requirement on the specific instrument - it is always lower on shares and crypto than on major currency pairs.

Execution is market maker / principal, meaning the broker is the counterparty to your trade rather than routing it to an external venue. It is a legitimate and very common model, and it is worth knowing which one you are dealing with. Measured speed is approx. 50ms. Its servers sit in london and global financial data-centre infrastructure, which is what determines latency more than any software choice.

Order types available: market, limit, stop, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop. Stops and limits are table stakes; what separates platforms is whether the ones you rely on are there and how quickly they can be modified once a position is open.

Accounts

Account types run to Standard, Premium, MT4, MT4 Premium, Professional, Corporate, Islamic/Swap-Free, Unleveraged, Demo. The minimum deposit is $100. The smallest position it will take is 0.01 lots, which is what actually governs how precisely you can size risk on a small account.

A demo account is available, which is the cheapest way to find out whether the platform suits you. Swap-free Islamic accounts are offered. Professional classification is available for clients who qualify, which lifts leverage caps and lowers the protections that come with retail status - a trade rather than an upgrade. Opening takes typically a few minutes.

Accounts can be denominated in EUR, USD, GBP, NOK, SEK. Funding in the currency you trade removes a conversion charge from every position, which is a small saving repeated indefinitely.

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposits can be made by Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and regional payment methods. They clear in instant for most cards/e-wallets.

Withdrawals go out by bank transfer, cards, Skrill, Neteller and supported original funding methods. Expect typically processed within 1 business day. The minimum withdrawal is €50. Check the withdrawal routes rather than the deposit ones. They are frequently not the same list, anti-money-laundering rules usually require funds to return the way they came, and the difference only becomes apparent at the point you want your money back.

Local payment methods include trustly and jurisdiction-specific local bank/electronic payment methods - which matters more than it looks if you are outside the broker's home market, since an international wire is slow and expensive compared with a domestic transfer.

Support and education6.2/10

Support runs 24/5, which covers the trading week but not the weekend - relevant if you hold positions through it, and particularly if you trade crypto. You can reach them by live chat, email, phone, Help Centre. Live chat typically answers in under 2 minutes. Support is offered in multilingual.

Its education is substantial - educational articles, trading guides, platform tutorials, webinars and trading education - which is the difference between a broker that will teach you and one that will simply take the deposit. Research output covers market analysis, trading insights, technical/fundamental commentary and market news.

The company behind the brand

The company behind the brand is Skilling Limited, registered as HE373524. It operates from Nicosia, Cyprus. It has been trading since 2016, so there is about 10 years of record to look at.

It is independently owned rather than part of a larger group. It is privately held, so its finances are not published the way a listed group's are. Headcount is in the Approx. 50-200 range.

You may also see it under Skilling. Brands and legal entities rarely map one to one in this industry, and the name on the website is not always the name on the client agreement.