Contents:
These low spreads are considered similar to what ECN brokers offer and are determined by market conditions like volatility and liquidity. If you are outside of these regions, many traders will choose the USD as most forex pairs and crypto pairings are against the USD.
There are no hidden fees such as deposit or withdrawal fees including payment methods including credit cards, PayPal and even Bitcoin wallet. Individual broker reviews reflect the positive sentiment of the straightforward fee model. Note that financing fees apply for overnight positions held on CFD markets. This allows you to trade forex, cryptocurrency, futures, commodities, bonds and indices. Maximum leverage, competitive spreads and commissions range by the CFD traded and the subsidiary you are signed up to.
As of April , the average MetaTrader 5 execution speed was This speed is the average order execution time from the moment the trade is executed to the moment the trade is confirmed.
This applies to the largest VPS providers of nearby data centres dedicated lines or through the NY4 data centre itself. This social trading feature is used by over , traders in countries and has two unique features. The first is Zulu Rank which ranks the individuals to consider copying. Factors considered when ranking range from performance, stability and exposure. The second is Zulu Guard, which provides account protection that can step in to protect your capital. IC Markets was found to be the lowest spread forex broker on the major currency pairs combined and also charges low commissions and funding fees.
The broker offers the CFD trading software with a ZuluTrade extension with a plethora of tradable instruments, including crypto and shares. Created by Spotware, cTrader is the third most popular forex software and is offered by a wide number of retail foreign exchange brokers. While no exact market share statistics have been published, below shows the popularity of the websites and app downloads of the three most popular platforms.
It highlights that many consider cTrader the top forex trading platform with superior analytical and graphic objects of 65 and level II pricing.
For automated trading , cTrader offers cAlgo which has. The smaller market share of cTrader vs MetaTrader means that the online community is more niche, limiting the sharing of bots and copy trading environment. The server for Spotware is located in the UK, compared to MetaTrader, which is based in the USA and can be an issue for accessing liquidity and trade execution speeds.
The main benefit of NDD interference is fast trade execution speeds with the majority of orders executed in The result is that the quotes shown by FxPro in almost all cases are the price the order is filled with a low percentage of slippage having almost an equal positive and negative impact. The resulting spreads for FxPro are not competitive for MT4 1. This makes them offer the best trading costs for cTrader only. With 7, orders executed per second and co-location servers, traders benefit from the FxPro infrastructure. With so many regulated bodies, traders can choose the entity that matches where they are located or what conditions they wish to start trading under eg balance protection, leverage.
FxPro offers instruments to be traded through the cTrader platform this includes over 70 forex pairs, the futures market, spot indices across the world, over stocks and global shares, spot metals and energies such from oil to gas. FxPro has the best infrastructure with co-location servers for cTrader. The results are fast execution speeds on average Developed by Markets. The main advantage of MarketsX is the wide variety of smart trading tools including technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis tools. Our top picks for the most useful trading tools include the advance charting package, the Hedge Funds investment confidence, Insider trades which shows the smart money buying and selling activity and a stock report powered by Thomson Reuters.
The platform is equipped with 88 technical indicators and 9 different chart types, drawing tools and customizable interface. There are favourable trading conditions, with spreads starting from 0. In , MarketsX is an award-winning trading platform equipped with all the tools needed to trade the market effectively. From technical analysis, fundamental and risk management tools to sentiment tools can be used to assess the current market trends across a range of financial instruments.
View Markets. Hundreds of trading indicators are pre-configured with drawing tools available. Alerts can be configured for currency market movements and automated strategy programs are pre-configured. NinjaTrader is only offered by six foreign exchange brokers. The community using the software is small with only 60, traders in NinjaTrader has no mobile app with only a Windows desktop version available. For both types of trading, the broker offers a risk-free demo account which includes full historical market data, access to third-party apps and indicators, and the ability to develop and test automated trading strategies.
It should be noted that a live account involves a high level of risk, as it involves real funds and leverage. In April , Unlike most other forex trading software, the is web-based with no downloads required. There are customisable currency market scanners and advanced charting facilities.
For automated trading, the platform uses ProRealCode coding language.
As outlined above, the technical analysis functionality of ProRealTime is the key strength of the trading software. The interface has a wide variety of charts and unlimited timeframes, with the ability to place trades based on trend-lines across asset classes. The platform was not designed for mobile trading with no trading apps available.
Australian traders can only use the software in demo mode.
The other issue is the fees some brokers charge from an interactive fee to real-time data access fees. There are two types of trading accounts. Our analysis found that IC Markets has the lowest spreads in this category.
It is not easy to compare CFD broker fees, but we are here to for stock index and stock CFDs and a $20, forex position. Saxo Capital Markets: Best for Advanced Traders​​ Saxo Capital Markets is for the advanced trader. The company is ranked as the winner for Investopedia's Best Forex Broker for Advanced Traders in
The second category is called a standard account and has no commissions. Our analysis shown below compares the average spreads of standard accounts and determined IG offered the lowest spreads overall. Please note that other fees apply when trading, including financing fees for overnight positions. These financing fees will depend on the software platform chosen with IG. The online broker was recommended for social traders based on the platform functionality, number of copy traders online, and depth of CFD trading options.
The most obvious advantage of the eToro trading platform is that the platform is specifically designed for social trading. Unlike other platforms which require you to integrate third-party software or an add-on extension, eToro provides all the social tools you need for social trading. In this sense, eToro could be described as the Facebook of social trading , where traders can discuss all things trading with each other and get valuable feedback. The other notable advantage of the platform is the copy trading feature.
This comes in two flavours, CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio. This is exceptionally useful for beginner traders or traders with little free time, as they can profit off the trades of other traders. Traders should understand how it works as it can help you make better copy and trading decisions however it is complex to understand. The other disadvantage is eToro is a specialist social trader platform does not as many technical indicators and graphical tools compared to specialist CFD platforms such as Next Generation by CMC Markets. When opening an eToro trading account, a demo account is automatically created.
The demo account includes the research feature from eToro investors and industry experts sourced from financial institutions.
There are a variety of trading platform options from the web platform to mobile iOS app for iPad and iPhone devices. There is also an app for Android devices. Below shows how this works with traders rewarded based on the size and the number of other traders copying their positions.
Other key social trading features include live newsfeeds, allowing traders to discuss strategies and share strategies. In , 47 currency pairs can be traded with eToro. Other key financial markets include 17 cryptocurrencies including bitcoin , EFTs, 13 commodities and 13 indices. The biggest financial market unique to eToro is their share trading ability to trade more stocks in most global markets as a contract for difference.
The specialist social trading platform offers most financial markets, including cryptocurrencies. Plus is a CFD provider that offers a large range of financial instruments for trading. The company offers its own proprietary trading platform, designed specifically to make monitoring and trading multiple instruments at one time as easy as possible.
Plus trading platform is well known for its ease of use when trading its large range of financial products. The main screen is designed to display multiple CFDs with real-time quotes and only the most necessary information through an exceptionally easy to view and organised layout. This helps users as it keeps things simple when trading, there is no need to switch screens to implement strategies or perform orders.
Our top picks for novice traders include several other brokers, but Plus has the best risk management tools available through the platform. This includes guaranteed stops, which are not available with most brokers. The Plus trading platform has several limitations.
The software does not offer algorithmic trading, meaning traders looking for trading automation may find the platform does not suit their needs. Traders looking for advanced analysis tools may also feel restricted as Plus trading platform offers just 15 indicators and 10 timeframes and the level of platform customisation is limited. The other main issue with Plus trading platform is that it is proprietary with a closed ecosystem. This limits the level of customisation one can do either through creating their own custom signals with their own code, adding extensions or plug-in from 3rd part providers to increase the number of technical indicator or graphical tools available and switching platforms should you wish to change brokers in the future.
Plus offers the following features for novice traders:.