Read full review. Saxo Bank is an exclusive multi-asset broker with brilliant research and a superb trading platform experience — as well as a stunning selection of over 40, securities. CMC Markets is well-trusted across the globe, and delivers a terrific trading experience thanks to its excellent pricing and selection of over 12, tradeable instruments.

Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted multi-asset broker with an extensive offering of tradeable global markets. It delivers competitive fees and high-quality research and education, as well as a modern, institutional-grade trading platform suite.

For traders in the U. com is a trusted brand that delivers an excellent trading experience for forex and CFDs traders across the globe. It offers a wide range of markets and provides an impressive suite of proprietary platforms — alongside limited access to MetaTrader. As a trusted multi-asset broker, XTB offers outstanding customer service, a wide variety of forex and CFDs, and an excellent overall trading experience.

Backed by StoneX Group, City Index is a trusted brand known for its versatile trading platforms, excellent mobile app, diverse market research, and extensive range of tradeable markets. eToro is a winner for its easy-to-use copy-trading platform, where traders can copy the trades of experienced investors — or receive exclusive perks for sharing their own trading strategies. For the ForexBrokers. com Annual Review , all online broker participants were assessed on variables across seven primary categories.

Here's how we tested. Alongside primary categories, ForexBrokers. com ranks brokers by the most popular investor categories. Finally, each year ForexBrokers. com honors the brokerages who go above and beyond in the areas that matter most to investors.

Regulated and trusted across the globe, IG offers traders the ultimate package of excellent trading and research tools, industry-leading education, comprehensive market research, and an extensive list of tradeable products. This fantastic all-round experience makes IG the best overall broker in CMC Markets is a globally-trusted broker that delivers a terrific offering for traders thanks to notably low pricing, nearly 10, tradeable instruments, and the Next Generation trading platform, which comes packed with quality research and innovative features such as its Dynamic Trading portfolio tool.

We've conducted thorough testing of the best trading platforms offered by dozens of the top forex brokers in the industry. A forex broker is a company that is licensed or considered exempt by a national regulator to grant you — as a retail or professional client — the ability to buy or sell foreign currencies, by way of an online trading platform or over the phone known in the industry as voice broking.

A forex broker may offer you the underlying currency, or a non-deliverable spot contract or derivative such as a contract for difference, or CFD, depending on any relevant country-specific regulatory restrictions.

It's important to only use brokers that are properly regulated to reduce your risk of being scammed. Yes, to trade forex you'll need to use a forex broker. You'll need to open an account and deposit enough collateral margin to enable you to place orders with your broker to buy or sell forex.

The forex broker's job is to execute your orders — either internally by acting as the principal to your trade market maker execution or by sending your orders to another market, thus acting as your agent agency execution. Your broker should be regulated and properly licensed in your country of residence or in a major financial center. We evaluate and track dozens international regulatory agencies; click here to learn more about Trust Score.

Check out our guide to trading forex for beginners here. The next step will be deciding on your trading budget. This is especially important given the risks involved in trading forex from a margin account. Forex brokers typically offer a range of contract sizes so you can fine-tune the size of your trade — which will determine how much risk you are taking for a given profit target.

In this case, your potential risk will be limited — but so will your potential rewards. For most beginners, trading forex with an amount of capital that you can afford to lose can be a great way to learn with less risk, and can be of value if you focus on the percentage returns rather than their dollar value. IG takes first place in our Annual Review as the best forex broker, with available currency pairs and the ability to trade CFDs and forex options, traders have plenty of choices.

IG is the only broker that is regulated in both Switzerland and the U. expand What does it mean to be the biggest forex broker? What can be considered the largest forex broker may vary depending on the time period used to measure size.

Important factors to consider when gauging the size of a forex broker are the assets under management, number of clients, and market capitalization valuation for public companies. Here are the top 10 brokers by forex and CFD trading volume according to data compiled by Finance Magnates during the third quarter of data excludes Japan due to the abnormally high trading volumes known to come from Japanese brokers :. CMC Market's Next Generation platform comes with a massive selection of nearly 10, tradeable instruments.

It delivers a terrific user experience, as well as advanced tools, comprehensive market research, and an excellent mobile app. Hands down, the CMC Markets Next Generation trading platform is a market leader that will impress even the pickiest of traders. The new Dynamic Trading tool allows you to place multiple trades simultaneously, which was a nice innovation by CMC Markets this year.

If you're a fan of mobile platforms — or trading forex on the go — see our picks for best forex trading apps here. What do you value most in a forex broker? Maybe you want to trade forex on the go. You might be looking for the most cost-effective forex brokers. Or maybe you are a beginner forex trader who is just getting started. With a wide range of forex brokers comes a wide variety of features and specialties.

IG offers the most tradeable CFDs in the industry, 19, CFDs, or "contracts for difference," enable traders to speculate whether the price of a stock, forex pair, market index, or commodity will go up or down without taking ownership of the underlying asset. Alongside nearly 10, CFDs, CMC Markets offers the most tradeable currency pairs, with pairs that can be quoted both ways i.

As a highly-trusted and regulated global brand, Interactive Brokers IBKR provides everything professional traders might need, from advanced trading tools and platform features to competitive pricing across a wide variety of markets, as well as connectivity to over global exchanges.

In addition to competitive spreads and low commission-based pricing for forex, Interactive Brokers provides more third-party research than any other broker. Interactive Brokers continues to innovate its platform offering, such as with its new Impact app for environmental, social, and governance ESG investing, alongside the related Impact dashboard available in its Trader Workstation TWS desktop and WebTrader platforms. Professional client status : In today's highly regulated forex world, traders who want to maximize their margin leverage must apply and obtain ESMA's professional client status with their broker.

Traders designated as Professionals in the EU do not receive negative balance protection and other consumer safety mechanisms such as eligibility for compensation schemes in the event of a broker's insolvency. To determine the best forex brokers for professional traders, we broke down each broker's active trading program, and compared all available rebates, tiers, and all-in costs.

Trading platforms were then tested for the quality and availability of advanced trading tools frequently used by professionals. Here are three of the most important factors to keep in mind when choosing an online broker for forex trading. Not sure how to go about choosing a forex broker?

Check out our Forex Broker Compare Tool to compare dozens of the biggest forex brokers in the industry and analyze their top tools and features. Our Compare Tool is fed by data gathered by our expert researchers for our forex broker reviews , so you can feel confident you have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips. To see an intuitive, comprehensive list of highly regarded regulatory agencies, check out our Trust Score page.

Also, be sure to check out our in-depth reviews of forex brokers — we detail the regulatory status of each individual forex broker across the international forex landscape.

Here are the Overall rankings for the 39 online brokers who participated in our Annual Review, sorted by Overall ranking. Was this helpful?

Yes or No. At ForexBrokers. com, our evaluations of online brokers and their products and services are based on our collected quantitative data as well as the qualitative observations and qualified opinions of our expert researchers. Each year we publish tens of thousands of words of research on the online forex brokerage industry, and we evaluate dozens of international regulator agencies click here to learn about how we calculate Trust Score.

We test all available trading platforms for each broker — whether they are proprietary or come from third-party providers — and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables. All websites and web-based platforms are tested using the latest version of the Google Chrome browser. Our Desktop PCs run Windows 11, and we use MacBook Pro laptops running macOS Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than.

For a full explanation and accounting of our research and testing process, please click here to learn more about how we test. Invest globally in stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds from a single unified platform. IBKR's powerful suite of technology helps you optimize your trading speed and efficiency and perform sophisticated portfolio analysis.

Lifetime Achievement , Best Paper Trading Platform. Best Broker for Low-Cost Investing. Fund your account in multiple currencies and trade assets denominated in multiple currencies. Access market data 24 hours a day and six days a week. Graphic is for illustrative purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Research and News. Discover new investment opportunities with over free and premium research and news providers. Free Trading Tools. Spot market opportunities, analyze results, manage your account and make better decisions with our free trading tools.

Order Types and Algos. Comprehensive Reporting. Real-time trade confirmations, margin details, transaction cost analysis, sophisticated portfolio analysis and more. When placing your money with a broker, you need to make sure your broker is secure and can endure through good and bad times.

Our strong capital position, conservative balance sheet and automated risk controls are designed to protect IBKR and our clients from large trading losses.

For additional information view our Investors Relations - Earnings Release section by clicking here. Individual Accounts. Joint or Trust Accounts. Retirement Accounts. Non-Professional Advisor. Institutional Accounts.

Open an Account. FINRA BrokerCheck reports for Interactive Brokers and its investment professionals are available at www. For Individuals Individual, Joint or IRA Non-Professional Advisors. Institutions Home Registered Investment Advisors Prop Traders Hedge Funds Introducing Brokers Family Offices Compliance Officers Small Businesses Money Managers Fund Administrators Hedge Fund Allocators Educators.

Information and History Awards News IBKR Press and Media Investor Relations Sustainability Regulatory Reports Refer a Friend. Fund Your Account For Individuals For Institutions Institutional Sales Contacts Browse Our FAQs.

English Español 中文简体 中文繁體. Interactive Brokers Home Open Account Log In Why IBKR Pricing Commissions Margin Rates Interest Rates Short Sale Cost Research and News Market Data Stock Yield Enhancement Program Other Fees. Platforms APIs Margin Products Order Types Reporting Securities Financing Features in Focus Probability Lab Exchange Listings Block Trading Desk Sustainable Investing. IBKR GlobalAnalyst PortfolioAnalyst Bonds Marketplace Mutual Funds Marketplace No Transaction Fee ETFs Investors' Marketplace Short Securities Availability Cash Management Third Party Integration Interactive Advisors.

IBKR Campus Traders' Academy Traders' Insight IBKR Podcasts IBKR Quant Blog Webinars Student Trading Lab Short Videos Traders' Glossary Traders' Calendar. Portal Login Download Trader Workstation Download IBKR Mobile Download IB Gateway. Start Application Finish an Application What You Need A Guide to Choosing the Right Account.

Interactive Brokers Home. Back OPEN ACCOUNT Start Application Finish an Application What You Need A Guide to Chosing the Right Account.

Back PRICING Commissions Margin Rates Interest Rates Short Sale Cost Research and News Market Data Stock Yield Enhancement Other Fees. Back TRADING Platforms APIs Margin Products Order Types Reporting Securities Financing Features in Focus Probability Lab Exchange Listings Block Trading Desk Sustainable Investing. Back SERVICES IBKR GlobalAnalyst PortfolioAnalyst Bonds Marketplace Mutual Funds Marketplace No Transaction Fee ETFs Investors' Marketplace Short Securities Availability Cash Management Third Party Integration Interactive Advisors.

Back EDUCATION IBKR Campus Traders' Academy Traders' Insight IBKR Podcasts IBKR Quant Blog Webinars Student Trading Lab Short Videos Traders' Glossary Traders' Calendar.

Written by Steven Hatzakis Edited by John Bringans Fact-checked by Blain Reinkensmeyer. Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted multi-asset broker with an extensive offering of tradeable global markets. It delivers competitive fees and high-quality research and education, as well as a modern, institutional-grade trading platform suite.

Professional traders will enjoy its advanced trading tools and sophisticated order type configurations — though these features may be overwhelming for beginners, and MetaTrader is not available as an alternative platform option.

The ForexBrokers. com annual forex broker review six years running is the most cited in the industry. With over 50, words of research across the site, we spend hundreds of hours testing forex brokers each year. Here's how we test. Interactive Brokers is considered low-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 99 out of Interactive Brokers is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by eight tier-1 regulators high trust , one tier-2 regulators average trust , and zero tier-3 regulators low trust.

Interactive Brokers is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Interactive Brokers is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada IIROC , Securities Futures Commission SFC , Japanese Financial Services Authority JFSA , Financial Conduct Authority FCA , Monetary Authority of Singapore MAS , Central Bank of Ireland CBI - Ireland, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission CFTC.

Learn more about Trust Score. Interactive Brokers offers a significant range of tradeable global markets. However, the availability of those markets will depend on where you reside and which Interactive Brokers entity holds your account.

For example, retail spot forex trading is not available to U. For U. forex trading, see our U. forex brokers guide. Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is not available at Interactive Brokers through CFDs, but is available through trading the underlying asset e. buying Bitcoin through Interactive Brokers partnership with Paxos. Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U. entity, nor to U.

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Interactive Brokers clients. Interactive Brokers does appear to offer competitive pricing; however, it is difficult to make a precise comparison as Interactive Brokers does not publish its average spreads for forex. Forex pricing summary: For forex trading, commissions per side start at 0. Overall, that is a low commission rate for forex trading note: IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro accounts do support forex trading but are not commission-free.

Commissions and execution method: For forex traders, Interactive Brokers aggregates prices from 17 of the world's largest interbank forex dealers. This pricing is comparable to brokers that offer commission-based forex trading with agency execution.

Active traders: For active traders, there are discounts that become available when certain monthly trading volume minimums are met. Also, Interactive Brokers can handle large order sizes on a Request For Quote RFQ basis to minimize market impact and deliver the best possible execution to clients.

Other thoughts: I would like to see Interactive Brokers publish its average forex spreads, especially since it competes so well in other asset classes — like U. equities trading stock trading. Additionally, joining the FX Global Code would further demonstrate its status as a global leader.

Customizing IBKR Mobile for forex trading can be an involved process, but the app offers a robust trading experience that competes among the industry's best multi-asset brokers. Apps overview: Interactive Brokers provides its IMPACT app for stocks and crypto, while its primary mobile app for forex and CFD trading is known as IBKR, and is available for iOS on the Apple App Store and for Android devices on Google Play.

One such rich feature is its latest Impact dashboard, where you can assess portfolio metrics in relation to Environmental Social Governance ESG factors. There is also an extensive list of predefined watchlists including two specifically for forex , and an economic calendar that features the ability to add alerts, and can be configured to only show forex-specific economic events. Charting: The IBKR mobile app features rich charting, and the ability to execute trades from within the charts themselves.

There are available indicators, and though there is a lack of drawing tools, I was pleased to find that indicators automatically sync with the TWS desktop platform. Ease of use: When viewing a given chart, related news headlines display in an adjacent field — a truly helpful feature for comparing the impact of news on market prices. I was pleased to see videos and streaming TV available in the IBKR Mobile app, another feature that mirrors the desktop experience.

However, the IBKR app can be generally tricky to use, especially when compared to the best mobile trading apps from category leaders. Innovation: The IBot tool also available in TWS lets you chat with an AI-powered bot either by typing or via voice command. Interactive Brokers stands out for its trading platforms, which include its flagship desktop software and web trading app — both of which provide access to advanced trading tools and global financial markets including forex and CFDs.

Platforms overview: Trader Workstation TWS , Interactive Brokers' flagship desktop trading platform, can be best described as knotty. This platform is far more approachable for casual investors, and I found it enjoyable to use in my own testing. FXTrader is the main terminal within TWS for trading forex, and provides access to 91 forex CFDs or cash forex pairs offered by Interactive Brokers.

When adding forex pairs to a watch list, users can choose from both spot forex cash rates and forex CFDs from either the IDEALPRO or SMART venue. Charting: TWS charts offer available studies, which is far above the industry average but less than, say, thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade — which offers over Ease of use: While the number of customizations available in the TWS desktop platform is impressive, the inherent complexity and the long lists of possible configurations can be intimidating for unseasoned investors.

For example, the watchlist alone can be configured with over different available columns. Saxo Bank, CMC Markets, and IG all also offer robust trading platforms, but they are more streamlined and far easier to use. This deep level of complexity can be an advantage for traders who are looking to use advanced strategies. Out of all brokers reviewed on ForexBrokers.

com, Interactive Brokers still offers the widest array of third-party research for IBKR offers services from 86 news and research providers some of which require a paid monthly subscription and 21 directly cover forex news and research. Much of the third-party research is available in Trader Workstation TWS and on the Client Portal. Content from in-house and guest authors featuring articles published throughout the trading week can be found on the Traders' Insight blog. Interactive Brokers also streams market headlines and news from sources like Reuters, Dow Jones, and Market News International MNI , and its economic calendar is powered by providers like Econoday.

Finally, institutional investors gain access to UBS Live Desk market analysis. Market news and analysis: Interactive Brokers provides forex research that is produced in-house, as well as from dozens of third-party providers, including free and premium paid subscriptions.

There is also a growing selection of forex-specific articles and related written content on the Traders Insights blog. Video content includes Bloomberg Television U. and Asia , daily market updates from IBKR Traders' Insight, and The Fly Squawkbox Live podcast. Though forex is not its main focus, the Traders' Insight daily video update is produced by IBKR's Chief Strategist, which I found to be a great quality.

Learning center: Interactive Brokers offers several dedicated resources for education, including its Traders' Academy portal, IBKR Quant blog, and IBKR Campus. Created by in-house staff and third-party educators, I found the content to be plentiful, diverse, and of high quality. The Traders' Academy portal effectively covers broader financial market sectors, with lessons and accompanying videos that are organized by experience level.

There is also a small but growing selection of forex courses two newly added in which include quizzes and progress tracking, as well as a Coursera course that Interactive Brokers has developed with a University-style syllabus. For institutional clients, IBKR is No. However, low-volume or beginner forex and CFD traders should take note; miscellaneous fees — such as market data subscriptions — as well as the complexity of its proprietary platforms should be taken into consideration when deciding whether Interactive Brokers will be a good fit for your trading style.

When it comes to forex trading, Interactive Brokers passes the prices that it aggregates from interbank liquidity providers LPs directly to its clients with no markup to the low underlying spreads, simply adding a per-trade commission. Likewise, for its currency conversion — which allows you to convert your account balance from one currency to another — the same process applies. You are shown the underlying forex rates, and a small commission is charged when you convert your balance.

Interactive Brokers caters to forex traders through its desktop, web, and mobile trading apps. There is an entire section on the Trader Workstation TWS desktop dedicated to FX Trading, where you can prepare and place orders for IBKR to execute. Likewise, the web and mobile app enable you to trade forex, and are much easier to use than the TWS desktop version.

That being said, many of the advanced features available on TWS for forex trading are not available on the web and mobile apps. Forex trading is available globally to IBKR clients — except in the U. In other words, if you are a retail or professional client in the U. Founded in , Interactive Brokers is one of the oldest online brokerages in the U. and has been listed publicly NASDAQ: IBKR since Interactive Brokers has 1.

Interactive Brokers was one of the first brokers to offer a multi-asset solution that now includes equities, options, forex, futures, and bonds across market centers in 33 countries, and 23 currencies, and from a single trading account.

While retail forex is not available to U. Read more on Wikipedia. Each broker was graded on different variables, including our proprietary Trust Score algorithm. This innovative scoring system ranks the level of trustworthiness for each broker based on factors such as licenses, regulation and corporate structure.

Read about Trust Score here. As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy.

Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than. Learn more about how we test. There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument.

It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Read more on forex trading risks. Was this helpful? Yes or No. Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.

A forex industry expert and an active fintech and crypto researcher, Steven advises blockchain companies at the board level and holds a Series III license in the U. Feature Interactive Brokers Year Founded Publicly Traded Listed Yes Bank No Tier-1 Licenses 8 Tier-2 Licenses 1 Tier-3 Licenses 0 View More. com Online Broker Survey Read the full article Online Broker Reviews, January 11, Here's our findings. English Español 中文简体 中文繁體. Founded in , Interactive Brokers is one of the oldest online brokerages in the U.

Categories:

• Binary Options online
• Binary Options
• Forex Bitcoin
• Forex Brokers
• Forex