I’ve experienced many forex broker scams in the past, and they still exist. In addition, the internet is full of fake information. Therefore, it’s not always easy to find a forex broker you can trust. Also, you may seek certain broker features before you make any decision to trade.
I’ll share the knowledge with you and help beginners and traders looking for a new forex broker. In the list I’ll share, you’ll find several forex brokers’ best features and flaws.
This information will help you save time, money, and, more importantly— your nerves. Unfortunately, you may be dealing with a scam broker without knowing. The first step in trading is avoiding a bad broker who will frustrate you in the end.
That’s why I made this unbiased, rich page to get you going in the right direction. Also, if you’re looking for special features, you’ll know which broker has what you need.
It’s straightforward, and you’ll know if a forex broker fits you in less than a minute. But, first, read the broker’s short description and see the pros and cons in each category.
CFDs and Binary Options on Currency Pairs, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies.
Trade sizes are in dollars, rubles, or euros. The minimum investment per trade is $5. Leverage up to 1:5 for Crypto, 1:20 for stocks and commodities, 1:300 Currency Pairs.
Deposits and options available are Webmoney, Yandex, and Bank Wire. Document and Form submission is mandatory for live trading.
Max Capital holds a Certificate of Compliance from the International Financial Markets Relations Regulation Center – IFMRRC until April 2022.
This organization is not officially recognized. However, IFMRRC is open for complaints and allegedly has a Compensation Fund. FinmaxFX.com domain with CFDs only holds VFSC regulation.
Currency pairs, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto, ETF, Binary Options, and Digital Binary Options. Total of 278 CFD assets and options.
WebMoney, Skrill, Perfect Money, Netteller, Mpesa, AdvCash, VISA, and MasterCard are available. However, not all deposit and withdrawal channels may be available in your country. Therefore, IQ has customized some payment methods for different countries.
The platform has a minimum deposit of $10 and a minimum trading amount of $1. However, if you want to try out trading, you can always start with a free demo account.
CySEC registration: IQOption Europe Ltd, license number 247/14, IQoption.
CFD on currency pairs, Indices, Commodities, custom Portfolios.
Alpari offers leverage up to 1:1000 depending on the chosen account type. Leverage can be floating and fixed type. ECN type accounts have a commission of $3 per lot traded.
Generally accepted channels are FasaPay, TC Payment, Skrill, Neteller, Qiwi, Cryptocurrencies, TC Pay Wallet, WebMoney, Perfectmoney, Latin American solutions, Nganluong, GlobePay, Bank Wire, VISA, MasterCard, and Maestro.
Alpari International is an Exinity Limited brand holding a regulation license from the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius.
24option was initially a well-known broker dealing with Binary Options since 2008 and later the CFDs.
However, Rodeler Ltd and its brand 24Option faced a regulatory ban by the FCA and CySEC. Currently, this broker does not accept any new clients. In addition, poor ratings and many fines made this forex broker close down.
TD365 offers Forex, Precious Metals, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Bonds, Indexes, and Stocks.
Trading with TD365 doesn’t involve commissions, even for stocks. Spreads are fixed and competitive but only on the Cloudtrade platform. Leverage is up to 1:200.
TD365 doesn’t have any other options except bank transfers and bank cards. You can only deposit once you send your ID/residence documents to TD365.
If there’re any costs related to funding, they’re not yet published.
According to Trade Nation, TD365 is a broker related to them, but it’s another company. TD365 uses the Bahamas Securities Commission license of Trade Nation, so I am not sure there is any regulation.
Also, TD365 does not have many client ratings, and that points to a small client base. However, trade Nation is regulated and offers the same trading features as TD365.
AvaTrade has a lot to offer when choosing tradeable CFD assets. You can pick from Forex, Indices, Stocks, Bonds, Precious Metals, Commodities, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, and Forex Options.
AvaTrade does not charge commissions. The platform has allegedly fixed the spreads, but in some instances, AvaTrade states they can widen. The leverage is up to 1:400 for clients outside the EU and some other countries.
I’ve found out Bank Wire, VISA, MasterCard, Boleto, DinPay, FasaPay, GCard, Neteller, PaySec, SafeCharge, Skrill, Tranzila, UnionPay, VeriTrans, VoguePay, and WebMoney are available. The minimum deposit amount is $100.
AvaTrade is a popular broker with a large marketing budget and worldwide presence. Several authorities regulate it. However, you’ll have to check the company to agree to their terms.
The AvaTrade website publishes all the licenses. However, clients mostly complain about withdrawals, especially for profitable accounts.
The categories included are Currency pairs, Precious metals, Commodities, Indices, Stocks, ETFs, and Cryptocurrencies. The total tradeable asset count is over 250.
You’ll have slightly different trading conditions with each platform. The commission isn’t fixed and can change from $0 to other amounts.
For example, Crypto has a 1% commission. Leverage is also variable from 1:20 to 1:999, depending on the asset. Spreads are variable, from 0 pips. Stop Out is at 20%.
Channels available are bank cards, Bitcoin, Tether USDT, Skrill, Neteller, Jeton Wallet, Webmoney, VLOAD, and wire transfers. In addition, there are some small fees with e-wallets.
The withdrawal channels are Bitcoin, USDT, and wire transfer. The minimum deposit amount is $10. Unfortunately, not all channels are compatible with certain countries, even if they are listed.
Forex Club has been fined several times to date. Also, the brokers’ group doesn’t operate in several countries. In addition, clients’ ratings from independent sources are negative.
Libertex has over 250 CFD products. It has categories ranging from Forex currency pairs, precious commodity metals, Commodities, Stocks, ETFs, Options CFD, and Cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, Crypto isn’t available to certain countries.
Trading commissions start from €0 to €7 (depending on assets) per lot traded in Metatrader platforms, while the Libertex platform may have a variable fee expressed in percentage.
Cryptocurrencies have 0.4% commission. Spread is a dynamic type. Stop Out is at a 50% margin level.
Bank transfer, Bank cards, Skrill (1,9% fee), Sofort ( for Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria), Ideal (Netherlands), GiroPay (Germany), Trustly, P24 (Poland), Rapid, Netteler, Multibanko. Withdrawal options are limited to Bank transfers.
Libertex is a large forex broker with some history. It’s relatively popular but does not have many client ratings.
The company was fined €160,000 for inappropriate margin stop out and leverage limits in 2020. In Addition, Libertex has some problems with clone websites that tarnish its reputation.
Overall, you can trade Forex, Crypto, Commodities, Precious Metals, Stocks, and Indices in MT4. Trader Pro platforms categories are Indices, Stocks, ETFs, Crypto (set to closing only currently), Precious Metals, Bonds, Commodities, and no-commission stocks.
ETX Capital doesn’t charge commission except for specific stocks. Spreads are variable and competitive, but you’ll not be impressed. Although the EU and UK regulate the ETX Capital, it doesn’t have high leverage until 1:30.
Traders will have Bank Transfer, bank cards, Neteller, Skrill, and UnionPay options available. The platform charges withdrawals below $100 $10. In addition, ETX Capital allows up to 5 withdrawals within a month for free.
ETX Capital is an established broker that offers a wide asset range but doesn’t need large deposits typical for large brokers.
Client opinion is mixed about this broker. Among the independent rating websites, ETX Capital is rated even worse. Most problems are withdrawals, technical trading issues, and inadequate customer support.
You’ll find almost every tradeable asset from Indices, Forex, Shares, ETFs, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Digital 100s (not available for retail traders), Options, Interest rates, Sectors (industry), and Bonds. Spread betting and CFDs.
Spreads are floating, and commissions are paid only for shares trading, from 0.08% to 0.18% per side. Trading sizes are standard – 0.01 lots Minimum but with increased stops levels. Leverage starts at 1:200. Stop Out is at 50% and Margin Call at 100% level.
The minimum deposit amount is $300 for bank cards and no minimum for wire transfers. Deposit and withdrawal channels are Bank Wire, VISA, MasterCard, and PayPal.
IG.com also has a minimum withdrawal amount of $150 for cards unless you have less on your account.
There is no potent regulator who regulates the IG.com domain. Instead, the Bermuda Monetary Authority has licensed IG International Limited.
Other domains for the specific country have different regulators. IG.com forex broker doesn’t have the best reputation from clients. Complains are various, from trading problems, support, and documentation.
You can trade Forex, Commodities, Stocks, Indices, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, Futures, and Bonds.
Trading sizes are standard from 0.01 lots without uncommon contract sizes. Micro account currency is cent value allowing small value trading.
The leverage of the Standard Account is up to 1:500. Spreads are dynamic for all accounts. For example, ECN, MT5, and Crypto accounts have spread from 0.4 pips, while Standard has one pip. Commissions exist for all accounts except for Micro.
You can choose BTC, ETH, and USDT from Crypto. Other funding channels are Bank Transfers, Astropay, FasaPay, Help2Pay, M-PESA, Neteller Ngan Luong, PayRetailers, PayTrust, Paylivre, Perfect Money, Skrill, Thunder X, Vload, and Webmoney.
Minimum deposit starts from $10 for Micro accounts up to $500 for ECN Prime.
Grand Capital doesn’t have a lot of positive feedback from the clients. However, I can’t be sure if the broker is at fault for every bad rating.
The reason is scam traders that pretend as affiliates of Grand Capital. Grand Capital isn’t fully regulated, but it doesn’t mean this broker is problematic. For example, you can test small withdrawals before significant investments.
The Trademark of the Trade.com broker is the vast number of tradeable assets. You can trade Forex, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Crypto, Bonds, Commodities, and Precious Metals. Choose another area if you want to sell on the DMA market (with over 100,000 assets), IPO, Spread Betting, or customized Asset Management.
Spreads are dynamic officially but behave like fixed on my MT4. Commissions are only applied to stocks, up to 0.20% per lot for Silver Account. There’s also a minimum fee of $10 per trade for stocks. Stop Out is at 50%.
Available channels are Bank Cards, Skrill, Paypal, and Neteller. In addition, you might also have EPS, Giropay, iDEAL, Multibanco, Neteller, Przelewy24, SafeCharge, Trustly, and SafetyPay.
Markets.com brand was fined multiple times until the brand change to Trade.com. Then, trade Capital Markets took it over.
Trade.com retained the assets range market.com had, but the trading conditions are different. TCM holds licenses from CySEC, FSCA, and FCA for UK clients.
Cryptocurrencies are only available on the Forex.com and MT5 platform. All combined, Forex.com offers over 4500 assets in Forex, Indices, Commodities, Precious Metals, and Cryptocurrencies.
Depending on the account type, you may be charged commissions. For example, the commission Account charges $5 per lot traded on forex CFD and Shares. Leverage can be up to 1:200. Trade sizes are not standard.
You can pick Skrill, Neteller, Wire Transfer, and bank cards to deposit. For withdrawals, you can only select bank cards or Wire Transfers. The minimum deposit is 100$. The minimum withdrawal amount is $100 unless you want to close your trading account.
Forex.com is an old broker with a robust global presence and regulation. Forex brokers with that asset range are few.
If you’re an average trader and do not belong to this group, Forex.com can only offer a wide range of assets. Trading conditions are also not the best.
Many authorities have flagged this forex broker as a scam. Furthermore, every website warns people about the severe risk to their capital.
The company group of brands under domains such as UFXBank.com, UBinary.com, and others is down. Reliantco Investments Ltd, the company behind UFX, used to be under CySEC regulation until 2010.
Currently, this forex broker has a limited operation under no regulation or actual address. The company even employed bogus SEO to get fake Google rankings, fake reviews, and manipulators over the phone.
The ufx.com website is full of fake information. There are numerous reports that UFX has scammed clients have in various ways. There is no doubt that you should avoid this broker.
If you register under the BVI FSC regulator, you will have a full range of assets and leverage.
Easy Markets have Forex, Precious Metals, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies markets. Easy Markets platform also features options trading.
Easy Market only has fixed spreads and no commissions. Spreads start from 0.9 pips on VIP Accounts to 2 pips for Standard Account on EUR/USD pair.
Leverage is up to 1:200 on the Easy Markets platform and 1:400 for MT4.
Depending on your country, withdrawal and deposit channels may differ. However, the broker will charge no withdrawal fees.
Available channels are Bank Wire, bank cards, AstroPay, BPAY, FasaPay, Giropay, iDEAL, JCB, SOFORTNeteller, Skrill, UnionPay, WebMoney, WeChatPay, Sticpay, Bitwallet, and Perfect Money.
The minimum deposit for the Standard tier is $25, $2000 for Premium, and $10,000 for VIP.
Easy Markets holds multiple regulation licenses that you can check. Advanced traders may like fixed spreads and many markets to trade.
In terms of reputation, Easy Markets has good ratings on some websites, although I welcome client reviews.
Unfortunately, independent ratings are not that good. Clients mostly complain about profit withdrawals, high trading costs, and conflict of interest.
You can trade in either currency pairs, Commodities, Precious Metals, Stocks, Indexes, Futures, or Cryptocurrencies.
Also, you might be interested in Spot Gold and Silver mini contracts that allow trading smaller amounts.
From my testing, the spread was more than one pip on average. For example, the bitcoin spread is $25 per lot. ThinkMarkets also has mini contracts for Gold and Silver, meaning one lot is 10 ounces of gold, not 100.
For other assets, it starts from 0.01 lots. Low-value Crypto are do not have increased contracts, and this way, you can trade more small amounts. Leverage is up to 1:500. Stop Out is at 50%.
ThinkMarkets supports only two deposit and withdrawal options for Australian regulated clients -POLi and Bank Wire.
Unregulated broker business allows Bank Cards, Bank Wire, Neteller, Skrill, and Cryptocurrencies.
The minimum deposit for ThinkZero Account is $500, while the Standard Account has no minimum. In addition, Bank Wire withdrawal has a fee of $25 and a $100 minimum amount.
ThinkMarkets has several entities, each with a different registration location. The broker is marketing three regulations FCA, FSCA, and ASIC.
Paxforex offers an average range of tradeable assets. VIP and Standard Accounts are the only accounts that offer Stocks. All asset categories shown are Forex, Precious metals, Indices, Crypto, and Stocks.
Cent accounts offer minimum treading sizes from 0.0001 lots. However, pay attention to contract specifics since sizes may not be standard for every asset.
Spreads are variable and are more excellent for Cent and Standard accounts. Leverage is up to 1:500.
Paxforex has mostly e-wallets as funding options. You can deposit via Bank Wire, Bitcoin, Ether/Ethereum, FasaPay, Neteller, PerfectMoney, Qiwi, Skrill, Uphold, and WebMoney.
With FasaPay, it depends on whether your country allows it. Card deposits aren’t possible. Cent Account minimum deposit is $10, Mini $100, Standard $2000, and VIP $10000.
Clients mostly complain about trading conditions and withdrawals. In addition, the FBI seized the broker website in 2020, yet it does not mean you’re dealing with a scam broker.
Paxforex remains only as a broker for small accounts without enough reputation or regulation for serious investors.
If we focus only on CFD instruments, Saxo bank offers over 9000 assets. For CFD trading, you will have Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Forex, Bonds, Commodities, Index Options, and Precious Metals. In addition, cryptocurrencies are traded over ETPs and under the Forex category.
Saxo bank charges commissions and has variable spreads. Dividends also apply to stocks. Contract sizes are not standard, but for the CFD category are smaller. For example, Oil has 25 units per contract, Gold only 1 ounce. Bitcoin has a 0.01 unit minimum trade size.
Saxo Bank offers only Bank Transfers and Card deposits. Some investors might also be interested in Portfolio transfers (Stocks, Bonds and ETPs). Withdrawals are made via platform or by filling out a form. Only a bank transfer is available.
Saxo Bank is a heavily regulated and known retail broker. Yet, similarly to other substantial brokers with a long history, it doesn’t pay attention to client support.
Based on the client feeds, I’ve concluded that the most problems traders face are: lousy support, unwanted phone calls, conflict of interest, and connection problems.
Swissquote offers the ultimate product range. But, if you’re interested in CFDs, you’ll find 200 instruments.
Categories covered are Forex, Forex Options, Stocks, Commodities, Bonds, Precious Metals, and Indices. In addition, Crypto is available but only through the eTrading platform, without any leverage or shorting.
The minimum trading size is 0.01 lots, and Swissquote has standard contract sizes. Prime Account offers about 60% better spreads than the Standard Account. The leverage is up to 1:100, but Swissquotes can adjust this. All accounts have a 30% Stop Out level.
Swissquote only funding options are bank transfers and bank cards. The broker will not work with banks lower than AA grade.
The good news is they don’t charge any fees for withdrawals/deposits.
Swissquite is regulated and one of the most secure banks. It’s also long in the retail forex business. However, weak customer support could be a significant concern for ordinary traders.
Among independent rating websites, Swissquote holds poor ratings. If you’re not interested in putting significant capital for investment or trading, consider other brokers.
Liteforex offers CFDs on Precious Metals, Currency pairs, Indices, Stocks, and Oil. Overall, the broker has an average product range compared to other brokers but is better in some categories.
Liteforex charges commissions for the ECN type account. Leverage is at 1:500 level; for Crypto, it’s 1:10.
Liteforex puts low Stop Out and Margin Call levels at 100% and 20%, respectively. Minimal trading sizes are standard 0.01 lots.
Deposit channels are Bank Cards, AdvCash, WebMoney, Perfect Money, QIWI, and several cryptocurrencies.
The minimum deposit for Account opening is $50. Withdrawal options are AdvCash, Alipay, Bank Transfer, bank cards, China UnionPay, QIWI, Perfect Money, WebMoney, and several cryptocurrencies.
Liteforex.com is not regulated. Libertex.EU domain is only for EU countries and regulated by CySEC.
Interestingly, both domains have similar ratings and similar problems reports. Clients mostly complain about withdrawals and trading.
Still, Liteforex has a medium rating overall because it has a long history and solid presence worldwide.
*General Risk Warning: Your capital might be at risk
You’ll face a scam broker if you blindly search the internet. To spot them, I’ll give you a few general guiding points.
In addition, you should ask the brokers about regulation and their actual location.
Then check the location and check whether the license is published.
Again check the ratings. You’ll notice that most scammers can’t cover their tracks completely.
If you take the above precautions before trading with any platform, your capital will be safe.