Best brokers for forex trading And currency traders
These brokers combine reasonable costs with strong trading platforms and a large selection of currency pairs.
Commission: Both spread markup and commission ($50 per one million units)
Maximum leverage: 50:1
Account minimum: $0
Currency pairs: 70+
Minimum trade lot: None
Maximum leverage: 50:1
Account minimum: $0
Currency pairs: 70+
Minimum trade lot: None
Commission: Spread markup
Maximum leverage: 50:1
Account minimum: $50
Currency pairs: 80+
Minimum trade lot: 1,000
Maximum leverage: 50:1
Account minimum: $50
Currency pairs: 80+
Minimum trade lot: 1,000
The best currency traders combine value with selection and high-quality tools, and OandA and Forex.com hit all those notes. Each offers a wide range of currency pairs, low account minimum, the maximum legal leverage of 50:1 and low minimum trade lots. Both brokers offer spread markups, but OandA just recently moved to also offering commissions and at an attractive rate, $50 per million units. Each broker offers multiple trading platforms, including the popular MetaTrader 4. The brokers also offer Sunday-to-Friday customer support, with Forex.com opening a few hours earlier on Sunday and staying a few hours later on Friday than OandA.
In many respects OandA and Forex.com are evenly matched, but here are a few things that set them apart. Spreads are an important part of the cost equation for forex traders, so it’s important to keep those as narrow as possible. On this score, OandA consistently had the lowest spreads in our analysis, which compared forex brokers’ live spreads on the seven major currency pairs over the course of a week. Its recent addition of commission pricing should be more customer-friendly, too. Forex.com’s spreads were not too far behind in second place, but even small spread differences add up for active traders. On its side, Forex.com should appeal to active traders with its recently introduced cash rebate program, part of what has made the number one forex broker by client assets as of November 2017.
Best brokers for beginner currency traders
These brokers stand out for their educational resources and trader support.
If you’re just jumping into the forex market, you want a broker that can provide educational resources and customer support to get you started. Forex.com has broad customer support, along with a wealth of videos, webinars and guides to help you learn the basics. But even though Forex.com is listed as best for beginners, don’t think it’s not a high-calibre option for experts, too.
Most forex brokers offer 24-hour trader support five days a week, Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern time through Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern. But Forex.com gets started at Sunday 10 a.m. and runs through Friday midnight. Costs may be slightly higher here — Forex.com exclusively uses spread markups that came out a bit wider than the competition in some of our tests. The company also charges accounts with one year of no trading activity or open positions a $15 monthly data fee; customers can opt to temporarily disable the account to avoid that fee. One note: Forex.com is owned by GAIN Capital, which also provides services to Ally.
Ally also provides useful educational resources and support for beginners, and forex traders can piggyback on Ally’s reputation for customer service. Ally is a good pick if you’ve already got an account there and are looking to trade multiple products in a single place (stocks, options, currency and others), or would simply like to try your hand at currency trading. Ally uses a spread markup, and its spreads were consistently above those of Forex.com and OandA. Ally functions as an introducing broker to GAIN Capital, which acts as the account holder and trade counterparty at Ally Invest, and so Ally likely must pass on an additional layer of costs, via a wider spread, to its own traders.