Get your hands on the list of the best Forex brokers here - Forex News Now

Retail FX trading has only started to develop in the late 90's. Until then, only large companies, banks, various funds, and similar companies were only privileged to buy and sell the currencies online. However, some 20 years ago the first brokers opened the doors for the regular traders.

Hence, it is possible to say that the industry is quite young. Even though there were some ups and downs (e.g. Swiss National Bank's decision to unpeg the Franc), the vast majority of the best Forex brokers have remained very profitable throughout the times. This has resulted in establishing the one of the most competitive industries with one of the largest profit margins. This is why there are now so many top FX brokers servicing the clients across the globe.

Below we will display the rating table of the top-notch companies and then follow up with a directory of brokers depending on your geographical, technical and other preferences.

Best Forex broker reviews and ratings

The table above showcases the most trusted FX brokers for you to start with. Simply navigate throughout the table to find the broker that matches you preference, read the reviews to get to know the broker better, or simply open an account (we suggest to start with a demo first) to get the hands on experience.

Now let us give you a quick guide about the locally regulated and top rated Forex brokers around the world.

Top Forex brokers in North America

Just when the retail FX sector has kicked off, the North America has been a primary market for the brokers. People from this region are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, high networth, and most importantly – the majority of the North American residents can be served in English.

US Forex Brokers (NFA)

However, during the mid 2000's, the game has changed quite a lot. Most of the US Forex Brokers had to seize their operations as the local regulators (National Futures Association and Commodity Futures Trading Commission) have placed quite heavy entry barriers for the brokers that want to keep on serving the US clients. This is why today we are seeing a way larger number of the NFA regulated Forex brokers than it was just about a decade ago.

Canadian FX Brokers

An even worse story goes in Canada. Currently, there are no Forex brokers that can legally serve the clients and are regulated locally. However, there are many offshore companies that will happily accept Canadian clients. Here we have prepared a Canadian Forex brokers list that will help you find a proper place for your currency trading activities.

Mexican Forex Brokers

Luckily, things are a bit brighter in Mexico. Forex trading has never been prohibited in the country, yet it has not been regulated properly too. This is why until now there has not been a single Mexican Forex broker company. Most of the Mexican clients are services by the European or Offshore brokers.

There are more countries in the region, yet they are considerably smaller. Hence, we have omitted those from our listing of the best Forex brokers list in the North America.

Trusted Forex brokers in Europe

Europe has been the home from the largest part of the FX brokerages. Even though many of those have either Israeli or Russian roots, these brokers have been headquartered in the EU for years. Two main European geographies for regulating and hosting FX companies are Cyprus and the United Kingdom.

Considering that European Union does require a company to obtain a local regulation in each of the member states and allows offering regulated FX trading in all of the countries as long as the company has obtained at least one EU Regulation and the passporting in the remaining countries, the popularity of the FX trading in Europe has been very high.

UK Forex Brokers (FCA)

Today we can see a great number of the UK Forex brokers. Even though many companies have been quite hesitant about establishing their operations in England after the Brexit, the country still provides a great level of staff expertise, powerful regulation and a clear set of requirements. Here you can find more information about the FCA regulated Forex brokers and their advantages.

Cypriot Forex Brokers (CySEC)

The vast majority of the FX brokers are regulated in this sunny Mediterranean iceland. Firstly, it was considered a tax haven, and this is why Cyprus attracted many financial companies. Secondly, the Cypriot Securities and Exchange Commission has made a licensing of the Forex brokerage quite easy and fast, so the brokers knew that getting an EU license in Cyprus would be advantageous. Finally, hosting so many FX companies on an island with a population just above 1 Million inhabitants resulted in having a very high density of the FX specialists.

Western European Forex brokers

It is clear that the Western part is a home of the richest Europeans. Still, the number of the locally regulated brokerage companies is rather small.

Throughout the history we have seen some brokers looking to get on the list of the BaFin regulated Forex brokers and, not so many of them have succeeded. Even though most of the Germans can be easily served by the UK and CySEC brokers, German Forex brokers also exist.

Quite a similar story goes on in France. It is a large market with high networth individuals. Still, the number of AMF regulated Forex brokers have remained drastically small. Next to this, during the last years the regulator have been fighting unauthorised brokers, binary scams, and other toxic financial products. Still there are quite some French FX brokers to choose from, especially the ones that operate a French desk but are regulated elsewhere.

The Dutch market is also heavily regulated, but quite small in the same time. This is why many brokers have rarely expressed a desire to become locally regulated and get on the list of approved Forex brokers in the Netherlands. However, considering the Dutch-British historical relationship, the Dutchies can be easily served by the FCA brokers.

Nordic Forex Brokers

Nordics are, perhaps, the best markets in Europe for literally any online services. The weather is bad and the people are wealthy. Even though the population of the countries within the region is rather small, there are many brokers that can support the local languages. Also, throughout the history there have been locally regulated Swedish Forex brokers that were serving the local citizens.

As for the Norwegian Forex brokers, it seems like the service has been mostly provided by the banking sector. Same goes for the Danish Forex brokers list, it remains quite empty.

On the other hand, Forex brokers in Finland existed before, but now the traders from this country are more likely to be served from the neighbourhood countries like Estonia and Latvia.

African Forex brokers and partners

Arica is quite an interesting continent when it comes to various online services and online trading has not been an exception. Perhaps the most developed country in terms of the FX services is South Africa. The market started developing in early 2000's and there has been quite a few FSB regulated Forex brokers that are servicing the clients in South Africa and the other countries on the continent.

Another interesting country in terms of the FX trading is Nigeria. Even though there is no local regulation for currency trading, the list of Nigerian Forex brokers has been mostly made out of the Russian brokers that have opened up local branches.

While South Africa and Nigeria were the key countries for the FX business in Africa, there are more countries that are developing rather fast. Recently, there have been quite many Forex brokers operating in Kenya as the country keeps on getting more developed.

List of the Asian Forex companies

Asia has been a great EU-alternative for many FX brokers. The countries' populations are high, while the networth of the traders is rather small. However, the human resources tend to be rather inexpensive, so a brokerage can organise all of the supporting activities within a small budget. Indian Forex brokers are mostly unregulated, as trading any currency pair that does not contain INR (Indian Rupee) in it is outlawed.

Similar story goes with the surrounding countries. Best Forex brokers in Sri Lanka and top Forex brokers in Bangladesh have been operating without the local licenses, these companies are either completely unregulated or authorised by a certain offshore country like Believe or Seychelles. The lack of the regulation is the main reason why some of the trusted Forex brokers have not commenced any activities in this region. Perhaps in the very close future the regulative environment will change and Forex brokers in Pakistan and the bordering countries could operate legally under Dubai's license.

Conversely, Singaporean Forex brokers and FX brokerages in Philippines could be operated legally either by applying for a local regulation or if the brokerage servicing this countries is on the list of the ASIC regulated brokers and dealers. Unlike brokers from these countries, Thailand Forex brokers have remained in the grey area until now.

Australian FX & CFD brokerages

The country down there is actually one of the most developed FX markets in the world. Considering that the local regulation has been available for years and that most of the companies could hardly service the clients due to the time difference, there were many Australian Forex brokers started up locally. These brokers are aiming at servicing the local market and South-East Asian countries.

Forex brokerages per trading software

The key task of the broker is to supply a trader with the support and the convenient way to trade currencies and CFDs online. The latter mostly depends on the trading platform or platforms that a broker supplies to its clients. In this section we are going to focus on the majorly adopted trading software, so you can select the section that goes in line with your desires and trading experiences.

MT4 brokers

MetaQuotes was the pioneer in the 3rd party FX software development and this has allowed it to take the largest market share by fare. Today there are more MetaTrader 4 Forex brokers than any other type of brokers.

Even though the platform is dated and it has been officially announced that MetaQuotes has discontinued the support of this version, it is still a great piece of software for the starters. Why? Because it has the largest number of trading robots, supporting articles, custom indicators and so on.

MT5 FX brokers

The main reason why MT4 support has been stopped is because MetaQuotes wants to focus on its newer development. The list of MetaTrader 5 FX brokers has been rather slim, yet there are more brokers adopting this software every year.

While the platform has remained quite inferior when compared to its previous version, lately MetaQuotes has provided a set of important updates and this tells us that within the next couple of years MT5 will become the main retail FX trading platform. It still lacks all of the great community features that MT4 has created, but this is only the question of time until all of the best Forex brokers will adopt this platform.

cTrader brokers

If you are looking for a non-dealing desk platform that is slick, fast and great to use – you should then definitely browse our list of the cTrader FX brokers and pick up the best one. Even though the platform has been on the market for almost 10 years, there have not been too many brokers that have offered this software to their clients.

Every cTrader brokerage will also go into our list of the ECN Forex brokers as a unique feature of this software is the transparency.

Forex cryptocurrency brokers

Many currency and best CFD brokers have recently added various coins and tokens into their armory of the trading assets. This has let them separate from pure FX and start becoming cryptocurrency brokers, which is certainly a hot niche on the market.

Most of the FX brokers that have gone crypto will offer some sort of the leverage, and this will be a major advantage when compared to regular cryptocurrency exchanges.

Cannabis FX Brokers

As the cannabis industry booms, more investors become interested in the stocks. Popularized by legalization in several countries and celebrities who keep making huge investments in different types of cannabis businesses, it is surely becoming a very hot sector on the market.

Though cannabis stocks have been on penny shares for some time, many companies have been joining the general market lately. It is surely a rising business with a lot of promise. Hence, it is very important to pick the right broker for the best profit, but there are also a lot of things to consider.

Different Kinds of Online Forex Brokers

While most traders won't give it much thought, the type of online forex broker that you deal with can have a big impact on your trading. The system they run and how they execute trades has a significant impact on their quality of service, including the speed of trades and how stop loss orders are dealt with, transaction fees, and the size of the spread. There are three main types of online forex brokers that have significantly different ways of dealing with their transactions. Read and compare the types carefully to find the best forex broker for you.

Market Maker

The biggest kind of online forex brokers that you can deal with is the market maker. Market makers have their own trading desk and, as the name implies, make the market by taking the other side of open trades. If you lose money, the broker gains money, but if you gain money the online forex broker still gains some money to offset the loss. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the broker does this through the bid and sell spreads. The aim is to do sufficient volume and have enough bets on both sides of the transaction that they can make money off the spread with little risk on either side. If the bets are too big, they can always be offset with a third party as well.

Market makers generally offer the best spreads and best execution times for the average trader because you are dealing with the source with no middle men to pass the order through.

No Dealing Desk Brokers

No dealing desk brokers are, as the name implies, brokers that don't have a dealing desk. Instead, their system operates by finding the best quotes from several different providers. These providers are the market makers and can include other online forex brokers, banks, and other financial institutions. The no dealing desk broker will execute your trade through the different channels that it has available to it. This is what allows it to be a broker and what gives the no dealing desk brokers their liquidity to trade.

These brokers will usually charge a commission per trade or they may widen the spread that they get from the other market makers. Both are done sometimes, so make sure you research to find which of the top forex brokers will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Electronic Communication Network Brokers

Electronic communication desk brokers also don't have their own dealing desks. They instead provide software that helps connect buyers to sellers. The electronic platform they provide allows market makers to enter bids and connect with each other. These types of platforms are usually reserved for institutions or large personal traders. You'll generally get the tightest spreads and quickest execution. The platform also offers a degree of anonymity so you can enter your trades without people knowing what side of the trade you are on.

Which of these is the best forex broker for you? It depends on your trading needs and on the size of the trades that you are making. Market makers will be best for the majority of traders, but you may be able to find no trading desk brokers that offer very competitive spreads and service. For the largest traders, electronic communication network brokers may be the best option.

Top Forex Brokers Commissions and Spreads

If you're looking to trade forex with an online forex broker, it's probably safe to say you're seeking a way to earn money and that's why you've turned to forex. If that is the case, you're going to want to trade with a foreign exchange broker that will help you achieve that goal – seems logical right?

In order to profitably trade forex, it helps to trade with an online forex broker that charges low commissions (or none at all) and offers low spreads on the currency pairs you plan to trade so you can maximize your return on your forex investments.

In this installment of "Top Forex Brokers," we will discuss forex trading brokers' commissions and spreads and what you should know and look for when selecting a potential foreign exchange broker.

Top Forex Brokers Commissions

Most online forex brokers earn their revenue via three different trading commission models: fixed spreads, variable spreads, and a commission based on a percentage of the spread.

If your forex trading broker is charging a fixed spread, it means that the spread will be set for each currency pair and will not fluctuate. So, for EUR/USD for example, a fixed spread broker receives the rate from its liquidity providers and adds 2 pips, for example, to the buy and sell rates that it offers to its traders. That means that if the broker buys the currency at 1.4320, they would charge you 1.4322 (+2 pips) to buy and take the 2 pips difference as their commission.

One example of a fixed spread broker is FXCM, which typically marks up the rates it receives by 1 pip.

With a variable spread, the spread will fluctuate based on liquidity, market volatility and other factors. Typically, the online forex broker will list a range of spreads that will be offered for a specific currency pair – for example: 3 – 5 pips. In this case, the broker may buy USD/JPY, for example, for 88.30 and offer it to traders to buy for 88.33 (+3 pips) during certain times and 88.35 (+5 pips) at others.

Some foreign exchange brokers charge a small commission of 1/5^th  of a pip, for example, and then pass the currency order to a larger market maker or another liquidity provider that they have a close relationship with to complete the order.

Other forex trading brokers charge a small commission per trading lot ($100,000), which may be anywhere from $3 to $5 per lot. ForexYard, for example, charges a commission of $4 per lot.

Top Forex Brokers Trading Software

Every online forex broker offers its own suite of trading software platforms with its own set of advantages and disadvantages so it's important to know what to look for in a forex trading application before deciding to invest with this forex trading broker or that one.

Thankfully, almost all foreign exchange brokers offer free demo accounts so you can test drive the car before buying it.

In this article, we will review forex broker trading software and discuss what to look for in a trading platform.

Download vs. Web-based

Most forex trading brokers offer a set of platforms designed to cater to an audience that would like to access their trading accounts via different channels: a PC, a Mac, an iPhone, a tablet, etc.

In order to do this, almost all foreign exchange brokers offer both a downloadable trading platform and a no-download web-based trading interface.

The most popular downloadable forex trading platform is most likely MetaTrader, which is one of the most widely used trading applications. The advantages to the downloadable trading platform is that it's typically more stable, offers more complex and in-depth charts and graphs, features more indicators and, in general, is a more robust platform that provides a broader variety of financial data. If you think about it, in order to be able to support a heavy stream of data, it's almost necessary to download and install a trading application; providing all of this information via an Internet-based platform is not easy.

However, there are many advantages to an online forex trading platform as well. Firstly, web-based forex trading applications enable Mac users to trade forex and since we are Mac users, that point must be underlined. A Web-based platform also allows traders who are traveling or at work (though we don't recommend trading forex at work!) to have easy access to their forex trading brokers' services at anytime via the Internet. Some may also feel that there is also something to be said about "keeping it simple" in your forex trading and, in that case, a web-based forex trading platform does help achieve this goal by just providing the necessities needed to trade: charts, instrument index, rates and order execution windows.

Of course, each downloadable and Web-based forex trading platform differs from one another: Markets.com's MetaTrader4 is different than FXCM's Trading Station; ForexYard's online Web Trader (powered by Leverate) is different than Plus500's Web Trader, etc. But, as mentioned above, the great thing is that a trader is free to test each one out first before deciding which to go with by creating a free demo account.

Automated Trading

One thing to look for in your prospective forex trading broker is whether or not the brokerage offers automated trading. Many online forex brokers, such as ForexYard for example, offer a trading platform that is designed to enable traders to trade in an automated fashion by either employing predetermined trading strategies or mirroring other traders' decisions. One such platform which is widely used is Tradency's MirrorTrader platform, which one can access by trading with ForexYard. This automated trading platform allows traders to view, analyze and evaluate signals from experienced forex traders and execute the signals in their account. MirrorTrader offers users flexibility by giving them the choice of either automatically mirroring all the trades of the selected strategies or viewing the strategies' signals and mirroring only selected trades.

Automated trading can be attractive for newbie traders who would like to borrow strategies and tactics from more experienced traders; however, one must exercise caution when using automated trading to make sure one is employing the right strategy and mirroring the right people.

Alerts and Signals

One thing that can really help increase your trading profits is knowing when to enter and exit a forex trade. In an effort to help traders obtain this information, many forex trading platforms offer forex signals and mobile alert services that will notify you of a potential upcoming forex setup.

Some foreign exchange brokers only offer these alerts to "VIP" users or may require that traders subscribe to these services. In any case, it may be worth inquiring with your potential forex trading broker to check whether or not this service is offered.

If the signals are accurate, this can make a huge difference in your trading bottom line.

The final point

While you are here to find the best Forex broker for your trading, you should note that this is not a very simple process. This is why we invite you to read Forex broker reviews and the methodologies used to assess these companies, as this is vital for finding the best place for your trading.

In addition to this, we have prepared a great Forex broker comparison chart that lets you preview the advantages, weak points, and features of the FX trading brokerages at one single page.

Finally, we are always keeping our list of Forex scams updated, so you can quickly verify if the company that just called you and claimed to be a top Forex broker is actually not a fraud.

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