Our comparison
Each broker is rated on 40 criteria grouped into 5 pillars: regulation, fees, platforms, instruments and customer service. Our public methodology is detailed on our methodology page.
We currently review 8 international forex and CFD brokers: AvaTrade, FOREX.com, FP Markets, XM, Eightcap, Axi, Vantage and BlackBull Markets. More brokers will be added as we complete our reviews.
Our ranking is based solely on our public methodology. When you open an account with a broker through a link marked with a star, we may receive a commission, but this does not change our ratings. Our affiliate disclosure lists the brokers we have a partnership with.
We only cover brokers that hold at least one licence from a recognized regulator. A broker missing from our list may only hold an offshore licence, or may be regulated but not yet reviewed by our editorial team.
Regulation and safety
Tier-1 regulators include the FCA (United Kingdom), ASIC (Australia), the CFTC and NFA (United States), MAS (Singapore), the JFSA (Japan) and CIRO (Canada). CySEC (Cyprus, EU), the DFSA (Dubai), the FSCA (South Africa) and the FMA (New Zealand) are also recognized. Offshore regulators, such as those in Seychelles, Vanuatu or the Bahamas, impose lighter requirements.
International brokers operate several legal entities, each supervised by a different regulator. The entity assigned to you depends on your country of residence and determines the maximum leverage, negative balance protection and access to a compensation scheme. Check the entity name in the account opening documents.
Find the licence number on the broker's website, then search for it on the regulator's official register (for example the FCA Register or the ASIC Professional Register). Our Scam Broker Shield lists the official registers of the main regulators and the warning signs of a scam.
It depends on the entity. UK clients of FCA-regulated firms can be covered by the FSCS up to GBP 85,000, and EU clients of CySEC-regulated firms by the Investor Compensation Fund up to EUR 20,000. Many offshore entities offer no compensation scheme. These schemes never cover trading losses.
Forex and CFD trading
It depends on the regulator: 30:1 on major currency pairs for retail clients under FCA, ESMA and ASIC rules, 50:1 in the United States. Offshore entities may offer 500:1 or more. Higher leverage means faster losses.
The minimum deposit varies by broker: none at Axi and BlackBull Markets, $5 at XM, around $50 at Vantage and $100 at AvaTrade, FOREX.com, FP Markets and Eightcap. Beyond the minimum, never trade with funds you cannot afford to lose.
US residents can only trade forex with brokers registered with the CFTC and members of the NFA. Among the brokers we review, FOREX.com serves US clients. CFDs are not available to US retail clients.
In most countries, yes. The tax treatment depends on your country of residence and on the frequency and volume of your trades. Consult a tax professional in your country.
Trading platforms
MT4 is a long-standing forex platform, with a vast choice of Expert Advisors and indicators. MT5 is newer, multi-asset, with more timeframes. TradingView focuses on charting and lets you trade directly with the brokers that integrate it. Our pages dedicated to each platform show which brokers offer them.
Yes. MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView are third-party platforms: you can use them with any broker that offers them. The interface stays the same; only the trading conditions (spreads, commissions, instruments) change.
Platforms generally come in several versions: web (browser), desktop (installed software) and mobile (iOS and Android app). The desktop version often offers the most features for an active trader.
Our tools
The comparison tool lets you select up to 3 brokers and see their features side by side: rating, minimum deposit, fees, leverage, platforms, regulation, instruments and customer service.
It is a 5-step questionnaire that recommends the brokers suited to your profile: trading experience, products you want, budget, preferred platform and main priority.
The calculator uses the average spreads and commissions published or observed for each broker. Its results are indicative estimates: actual spreads vary with market conditions and account types. For an exact figure, check each broker's official pricing.
Our business model
We receive affiliate commissions when a reader opens an account with a partner broker through our links marked with a star. These commissions are paid by the brokers, not by you. Our affiliate disclosure lists our active partnerships.
No. Access to all our content, comparisons, tools and reviews is free. Affiliate commissions are our main source of revenue.
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