Here are our findings for CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. IG offers the ultimate comprehensive trading package, featuring excellent trading and research tools, industry-leading education, and an extensive range of tradeable markets.

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. To join a Forex trading platform, open up free demo accounts from different brokers before selecting the one you like best.

Start out by trading small amounts of money until you gain experience. Random Article. How to Join Forex. Explore this Article parts.

Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Co-authored by wikiHow Staff Last Updated: January 30, References. Part 1. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U. and international copyright laws. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Compare brokers' fees and minimums, platform type, and trustworthiness.

The online broker gives you access to the trading platform. There are many different brokers to choose from, but they may not all be reliable. Do some research to find the most reputable ones that offer free demo accounts for you to use.

Some of the best brokers include Forex. com, TD Ameritrade, IG Group, OANDA, or optionsXpress. Open a demo account with a broker to test out their system. A demo account gives you access to virtual money, letting you complete trades to practice your Forex skills before creating a real account.

Fill in your information, such as contact information and trading experience, on the broker's website to start your demo account.

Demo accounts usually last between weeks. Install the trading software on your computer or phone to begin trading. The site will navigate you through the process of downloading the software. Practice trading using your demo account to help you gain experience. Now is the time to practice purchasing another currency and trading it back when you think the timing is best.

Your broker platform will guide you through the steps of how to use the demo account. Sign up for your account by filling in the online application. The application will only take a few minutes and will ask you for information like your name, birth date, tax identification number, and your address.

Part 2. Research the currency trend you plan on trading. Choose a currency that's stable and is used widely, such as the Euro, Mexican peso, or Japanese yen.

As if there wasn't already enough to learn when trading forex, the forex broker you choose is actually the biggest trade you'll ever make. You're giving all your trading capital to that company, with the expectation that you'll be able to trade with it and withdraw it when it's time to take your profits.

You may have great forex strategies , but if your broker runs off with your money, all your hard work and research was for nothing. Follow these five in-depth tips on how to find a great forex broker, so you end up with the right broker that meets your needs, without exposing you to any scams.

Before looking at brokers, assess your own needs. Here are some things to consider:. If you day trade a lot and capture small moves, consider an ECN broker. You'll pay a commission on trades but the spreads are much tighter, which matters when trading small moves.

Search only for "ECN Forex Brokers. If you don't think you'll need an ECN broker, then you still have a big pool of potential brokers left. If you're going to do " scalp " trading, you'll need an ECN broker. How much capital do you have? With a small amount of capital, you have to trade micro-lots. Choose a broker and account type lot size that matches your capital.

When it comes to depositing and withdrawing funds from your account, different brokers offer various methods. Choose a broker that aligns with your needs. Now that you know what you want, and have hopefully narrowed the list of potential brokers, look for the following in the brokers you're still considering. No "dealing desk. That takes too much time, and often results in "re-quotes. Because of the time delay, your trade opportunity is likely gone.

Make sure your broker is regulated in a country with a well established financial system. A forex broker regulated in Cyprus, for example, is better than no regulation, but you could still have problems. Pick brokers regulated by U. You're a day trader, so demand competitive spreads. Two pips are too high; eliminate that broker as an option.

With an ECN account, the spread should be half a pip or less during major sessions. Look for a broker that's available when you need them. Open a demo account with brokers you are interested in, then send them lots of emails with questions. Monitor how fast and how thoroughly they respond. If the customer service isn't good, eliminate that broker from the list of your potentials. Part of your research in choosing a broker should be looking at written reviews of the broker as well as discussion forums.

Be wary of these though. Unless the information comes from a credible source, and most forums are not credible sources, you're likely to find fake reviews, both positive and negative.

Most day traders will lose money, and since most traders can't admit that to themselves, they blame others when it happens to them. Just because someone complains about losing money doesn't make the broker they were using bad, even though the writer may blame the broker.

Look up what people are saying, but maintain objectivity. Lots of false information gets published with no credible reference. Your list of potential brokers should be smaller now. But with so much false information out there, don't make a decision yet. Instead, test out the brokers you are most interested in. When you open a live account avoid any and all "bonuses" the forex broker may offer.

Nothing really comes for free. If you accept a bonus it may interfere with withdrawals, because some of the money in your account is now the broker's money.

Send an email with your account application that explicitly states you don't want to take part in any bonuses that they have on offer. Consider Your Needs. What the Broker Should Offer Now that you know what you want, and have hopefully narrowed the list of potential brokers, look for the following in the brokers you're still considering. Be Wary of "Losing Trader" Reviews Part of your research in choosing a broker should be looking at written reviews of the broker as well as discussion forums.

Personally Test out the Broker Your list of potential brokers should be smaller now. First, open a demo account and take note of the trading conditions. Your orders should execute instantly. Spreads should be tight and the platform stable, not crashing all the time.

If the demo works well for several weeks, then open a live account, with a fraction of the capital you intend to deposit. Trade the live account with your partial deposit for at least two weeks. During this time, continue to test customer support, asking them questions and assessing how quickly they respond. Initiate a withdrawal for some of the funds in your account. Depending on your withdrawal method, this may cost you several dollars, but it's worth it to know whether withdrawals can be done easily.

If everything seems good after all this, you've done your due diligence. Deposit the rest of your capital and begin trading as usual. Avoid "Bonuses" When you open a live account avoid any and all "bonuses" the forex broker may offer.

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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. Best overall broker, most trusted Minimum Initial Deposit £ Two pips are too high; eliminate that broker as an option. 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. As if there wasn't already enough to learn when trading forex, the forex broker you choose is actually the biggest trade you'll ever make. Trading CMC Markets.

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