Best Forex Brokers 2023: Regulation, Fees, Spreads, Trading Instruments & More

Summary

One common question new forex traders ask when they want to start investing is, “What are the top forex brokers?” Ideally, people want to feel that their funds and personal information are safe when trading. They also want access to good features that brokers offer, like leverages, low fees, and quick transactions. 

Luckily for these traders, we have done all the important work. In this guide, we will present important information that will help you select the best online broker. We will go through the basics of forex trading, the meaning, and history of brokers, the factors a forex broker must have before you choose to trade and invest with them, the different types of forex platforms, and how to open an account with a forex broker.

After presenting all this information to you, we will go to social platforms like Quora and Reddit to see opinions from other traders on who the top forex brokers are and how to compare them. Finally, we have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section at the end where we will answer common questions traders ask about brokers.

What Are Forex Brokers and How Do They Operate?

To understand forex brokers, we need to understand forex trading and how it works. Forex is short for foreign exchange, which is the process of trading one currency for another. People exchange currencies for a couple of reasons. Some corporate entities need foreign currencies to carry out international business, while some retail traders exchange to get more stable currencies and hedge against inflation. These constant exchanges have made the forex market the biggest financial market in the world, worth over $6 trillion in transactions daily.

They are intermediaries that help facilitate currency exchange for traders. When a trader needs to exchange a currency, they give the broker the order to exchange that currency. The broker takes that order to the financial market and processes it for the trader. In return, the trader pays fees and commissions to the broker. 

The concept of using intermediaries to exchange currencies has existed throughout the history of currencies and trading. Money changers stayed around temples in ancient times to change money for people in temples. These people, called kollybistẻs, exchanged Greek, Roman, and Egyptian coins for a price outside the temple. In modern times, forex trading took shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1902, more than half of the world used the pound sterling for trading, but there were only two brokers that handled forex in Britain. 

After most of the world removed gold as the world’s reserve in the 20th century, forex trading grew exponentially. This means the number of brokers also grew, and their methods improved tremendously. In 1973, Reuters brought about computer monitors and replaced the old telephones and telex methods of trading quotes. Today, online brokers offer forex trading services to people with desktops, personal computers, and even smartphones. 

Types of Forex Brokers

Now that we have established that the job of a forex broker is to connect you with the forex market and help you place trades, it is important to understand that there are different methods a broker could use to offer you exposure to the market. We have three different types of brokers, depending on the method used to provide exposure to investors who trade with them. They are:

No Dealing Desk (STP Forex Brokers)

A No-Dealing-Desk (NDD) broker provides traders with direct interbank market rates for trading. The interbank market is a general trading network used by financial institutions for trading currencies between themselves. NDD brokers do not influence prices in the forex market, they act as a bridge that connects traders with the forex market directly. 

NDDs work with multiple liquidity providers to provide the most competitive bid and ask prices for their investors. They do this through a process known as Straight-Through Processing (STP). When you deal with the interbank market, you open yourself to a few concerns. For one, you have to trade with the spreads available to traders on the interbank market, meaning you may have to deal with variable and sometimes wider spreads. Also, the NDD could charge you an additional markup or commission for their services.

Market Makers

Market makers are the opposite of No Dealing Desk Brokers. Instead of working with multiple liquidity providers, these brokers provide liquidity for their investors. In other words, they ‘make the market’. They do this by taking the opposite side of your trade when they deal with you or find an order to match you with. This means, when you sell, they buy from you or find a trader who wants to buy the same amount you wish to sell and connect the trades.

Market makers often set their own bid and ask prices, which are a bit different from the interbank market rates. They add a little markup to profit from trades when investors buy and sell directly from and to them. 

Dealing Desk brokers aim to make forex trading easier for investors. To do this, they don’t expose traders to the interbank market, rather, they create a market for traders to buy and sell at a price close to the interbank market rates. They offer tighter and more stable spreads, so traders can save more.

Electronic Communication Network (ECN) Forex Brokers

An Electronics Communication Network (ECN) broker uses the ECN to connect traders to liquidity providers with the best bid/ask prices. The best ECN trading platforms consolidate price quotations from these liquidity providers so traders get the best deals possible. They are similar to NDD brokers, but they use efficient technology to make this process possible.

Pros and Cons of Using A Forex Broker

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Forex Broker

Even with the right trading experience and knowledge, it could be hard to choose the best forex broker if a trader doesn’t know what they want. Forex brokers have come a long way since the 20th century, and many of them have added new functionalities and features to their software to make them more appealing to investors. 

Yet, there are some things that matter more than well-designed applications and personal preference. These things guarantee a level of safety and ease when trading with brokers. You must take these things into consideration and use them as your yardstick for doing a forex brokers comparison. 

Some of the important factors you should look out for when selecting a forex broker are:

Regulation

Brokers deal in the financial industry, one of the most regulated industries in the world. For this reason, they need to be regulated to secure traders’ funds. If everyone who wanted to start a brokerage was allowed to do so without any regulation, there would be scammers everywhere. Regulations ensure that brokers can handle the funds they are entrusted with and that they can pay back traders if they go bankrupt. Regulations also ensure that brokers don’t sell users’ personal information to criminals and fraudsters.

There are regulatory bodies in every region of the world, so before you choose a broker, ensure that they are regulated by at least one trusted body in your region. These regulatory bodies take some strict precautions before they allow these brokers to offer their services in their region. For example, a forex broker has to save certain amounts of money as insurance in a Tier 1 bank in that region. Also, they must comply with some safety and legal regulations that protect traders’ funds and personal information from criminal activity. These strict laws make a regulated forex broker safer to trade with than unregulated ones.

Some common regulatory bodies are the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia, and so on. 

Spreads

A spread is the difference between the bid and asks the price of a certain security. When you trade with a forex broker, you need to buy currencies from them to enter the market and sell currencies to them when exiting the market. Brokers often buy and sell at prices that are slightly above and below the interbank market rates. The difference between the price they sell to you (bid price) and the price they buy from you (ask price) is known as the spread. 

Spreads are the most common fees a broker will charge you. Different brokers have different spreads, so try to find the one with the tightest spread, so that you save more when trading.

Leverage

Leverage is a trading method that involves borrowing funds to trade at a better position. By borrowing funds, you can trade the market with more exposure. However, this could backfire and increase your loss if you do it wrongly.

Check that a forex broker offers leverages and note the maximum leverage offered for different financial instruments. Ensure they are in accordance with the regulations in your region.

Trading Platforms

Trading platforms are pieces of computer software a broker uses to place orders on the forex market. Some widely used trading platforms are MetaTrader 4 and 5 (MT4 and MT5), and cTrader. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of proprietary trading platforms, with brokers like eToro using their own proprietary software for trading.

Check a forex broker to see the trading platform they use. All platforms have their mix of advantages and disadvantages, so check that the broker offers the platform that suits your trading style. Some brokers offer multiple platforms, so you could consider that too.

Trading Instruments

Trading instruments are financial markets on which you can make trades and exchange funds. Some common trading instruments are currencies, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, stocks, commodities, and so on. While your main focus should be forex trading, a broker that offers more trading instruments is often more robust and valuable than brokers with fewer financial instruments. 

Also, check that your broker offers multiple forex pairs for trading, other than the common GBP/USD, USD/JPY trading pairs. The more pairs a broker offers, the more options you have when trading with other currencies.

Fees and Commission

Apart from the spread, there are other fees and commissions a forex broker could charge. Some common fees are:

• Deposit and Withdrawal fees: Some brokers charge traders money when they deposit capital or withdraw money from their trading account
• Overnight fees: Brokers will charge you for holding a position overnight
• Inactivity fees: Some brokers will charge you for leaving your account dormant for months without any trading activity.
• Commissions: If you use a raw (or zero spreads) forex account, brokers will charge you commissions for their services.

Safety Measures

Ensure that an online forex broker has taken certain measures with respect to the safety of your funds and personal information before trading with them. Check that they have highly secure technology like SSL protection and two-factor authentication to verify your identity before you can log in. Some brokers also keep their company’s balance sheets segregated from the customers funds. Also, check that they have strict withdrawal rules to identify your identity.

Payment Methods

Find a forex broker with a payment method that works for you. Many brokers accept credit/debit cards, bank transfers, wire transfers and payment from digital wallets like PayPal, Skill, Wise and Payoneer. If possible, find a forex broker that allows payments in your local currency for ease of payment. 

How to Get Started With Forex Brokers

After you have selected a good forex broker, the next thing to do is to create an account with them and start trading. The account creation process may differ, but there are some standard steps every broker takes. 

In this guide, we will be using the eToro broker forex trading platform, one of the biggest and fastest-growing brokers to demonstrate how to open an account. Here are some steps involved in creating an account:

Step 1: Choose a Forex Broker and Create an Account

After comparing brokers and selecting one that meets all your requirements, go to their website and click on “Open Account”. Enter simple details like the username and password you wish to use. 

The broker will then send you a confirmation email to your email address. Click on this link to confirm your account. 

Step 2: Verify Your Account

Clicking on the confirmation link means that you have successfully created your account. However, you need to go one step further before you can start trading with your account – to verify your identity. Identity verification is a requirement by brokers as mandated by regulatory bodies around the world. To properly verify your identity, you need two types of documents – proof of identity and proof of address. 

• Proof of Identity: Proof of identity is a document that proves that you are who you say you are. Government issued IDs like drivers license and international passports are good proofs of identity.
• Proof of Address: Proof of address is a document that states where you live. This document should contain your current address and must be dated within the last three months. Bank statements and utility bills are good proofs of address.

You’ll be asked to scan these documents, along with a selfie picture. You’ll also need to input personal details like your full name, date of birth, address, occupation, etc. 

Your broker might also require that you answer some basic forex trading questions before you can successfully create the account.

Step 3: Make a Deposit

After verifying your account, you’ll need to choose an account to trade with. The basic types of accounts are demo and real. A demo account is an account that uses virtual funds to trade, while a real account uses real money. If you select a real account, you need to make a deposit before you can trade.

Depending on the broker, there are different payment options you can use. Try to read the payment conditions of different methods before you use them. Some options take time and have deposit limits. Some others attract charges. After reading through them, click on “Deposit” and select the payment method that suits you. Follow the required steps and deposit the money into your account. 

Step 4: Pick a Forex Pair and Trade

Now, it’s time to trade. Pick a forex pair and click on buy or sell, depending on your prior analysis. A forex pair is a price quote between two currencies, where one currency is quoted against another. For example, in the GBP/USD pair, the GBP is the base currency, while USD is the quote currency. The forex pair shows how much of the quote currency is required to buy one unit of the base currency. So if you see the value of the GBP/USD pair as $1.14, it means you need $1.14 to buy £1.

When you’ve selected the pair you wish to trade with, choose the leverage you want to use, enter the amount, and confirm the trade.

Trading Platforms Available on Forex Brokers

There are different examples of trading platforms offered by different brokers. However, there are two major classes of trading platforms depending on the device used for trading. The two major classes of trading platforms are:

Desktop Trading Platform

Desktop trading platforms are trading platforms that allow for forex trading and trading of other financial instruments on a desktop or personal computer. Some brokers have their own proprietary platforms that work just as well or even better than the three popular widely-used platforms – MT4, MT5, and cTrader. In fact, the use of proprietary trading platforms has increased recently, with most brokers looking to produce their own software that takes most of the benefits of these three platforms without their downsides. eToro, for example, has a great proprietary social trading platform that lets traders mimic the trading patterns of expert traders and see similar results.

Most brokers offer their proprietary platforms along with MT4, MT5 and cTrader platforms to traders.

Mobile Apps

While desktop platforms are better for having a clearer view of your position and market moves, they are not always great for getting real-time notifications everywhere. We go everywhere with our phones, so it makes sense to have a mobile trading app that you can use everywhere you go. Mobile apps also offer the same trading platforms as desktop web trading, i.e., MT4, MT5, cTrader, and other brokers’ proprietary platforms. Proprietary platforms are personalized software created by a broker to serve as the trading platform of that broker. Most brokers offer their proprietary platforms, along with MT4, MT5, and cTrader on their mobile apps. 

For mobile apps, trading platforms provide real-time market news notifications and real-time order performance notifications. This means you can get an instant notification on your phone whenever there is a piece of important news related to you. You can get mobile apps on app stores like the Apple Store or Google Play Store. 

What Type of Accounts does a Forex Broker Offer?

After registration and account verification, you must choose an account to start trading. Here are some of the most common accounts you will most likely see:

Standard Forex Account

A standard forex account is a regular account most beginner and professional forex traders use in trading currencies. Traders usually don’t pay a commission to use the account but pay trading fees like spreads. Apart from spreads, you may also pay withdrawals, deposits, and overnight fees.   

Raw Forex Account

Raw forex accounts offer spreads that start from zero but charge commission on trades. Many expert day traders prefer this kind of account because they can benefit from small asset price changes without dealing with the loss incurred by the extra pips of spread added by the broker. These accounts are also known as ECN accounts because the prices on instruments are the same as interbank market prices without any markup.

MT4 Forex Account

For brokers that offer multiple trading platforms, traders have the option of choosing the trading platform they want when they create an account. MT4 Forex brokers have the MT4 trading platform. The MT4 trading platform is the most popular trading platform in the world because it is less complex than others, like the MT5 platform.

MT5 Forex Account

Like MT4 accounts, MT5 accounts exist in brokers that offer multiple trading platforms. Some people prefer MT5 forex accounts to MT4 because they are more robust and compliant with many rules, like the First In, First Out (FIFO) rule in the United States. This makes it more suited for US forex traders.

Demo Forex Account

Demo accounts are virtual accounts where you can trade without using real money. Beginner forex traders use demo accounts to get a feel of the forex market before committing funds to trade. Most forex brokers offer demo accounts without requiring identity verification. Depending on the broker, the account deposit ranges from $5,000 to $100,000. Some brokers are flexible and allow you to choose the amount of virtual funds you wish to trade with.

Payment Methods Available on Forex Brokers

Here are some of the common payment methods you can use to deposit funds:

Debit Cards and Credit Cards

With a Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro card, you can transfer money from your bank account to your forex trading account. Usually, payments using this method are instant and reflect almost immediately in your trading account balance.

Digital Wallets

Digital wallets (or e-wallets) are mobile and web applications that can be used to store money and facilitate rapid transactions. Examples include PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer, etc. Forex brokers allow some digital wallets for deposits, but some of them may have limits and charges, depending on the wallet. Some brokers like eToro have their own digital wallets.

Local Bank Transfer

Some brokers allow local bank transfers in selected countries. You can read the terms, conditions, charges, and other information related to this method on the broker’s website.

Bank Wire Transfers

Some brokers allow wire transfers from specific banks. This lengthy process could take 3-5 days to confirm before your trading account reflects the amount transferred. The minimum and maximum deposits allowed depend on the broker, so endeavour to read the broker’s website for more information before you use this method.

Forex Brokers Regulation

Regulatory bodies in different regions regulate brokers to ensure the safety of traders’ funds and personal information and protect investors’ faith in financial markets. Different regulatory bodies have different regulations for brokers in their regions, but there are some common international regulations that are recognized globally. Here are some of them:

Limits on Leverages: Most regulatory bodies limit leverage to protect inexperienced traders from taking wild risks. The leverage limit depends on the type and volatility of the currency and security. For extremely volatile securities like cryptocurrencies, the maximum leverage in most places is 1:2 (i.e., the trader must present at least 50% of the trade value). Major currency pairs have higher leverage allowance than minor currency pairs.

Security of Funds: Forex brokers must provide insurance for investors’ funds. This requires them to have a minimum amount of money (usually $1 million and above) stored in a tier 1 bank in the region. This money can be used to pay back investors in the event of bankruptcy.

Negative Balance Protection: If you make a loss when using leverage, you can fall into debt. Negative balance protection means that you can’t lose more money than what is in your trading account, even if the market moves against you. Some regions require brokers to have this safety measure in place.

Data Protection: Brokers must keep traders’ personal information confidential and never divulge their information to anyone else required by the regulatory body.

There are tons of other regulations for different regions, but these are the most common ones. Common regulatory bodies include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia, and others.

Onshore and Offshore Forex Brokers

Onshore brokers are brokers that are regulated by known financial regulatory bodies regionally and internationally and can only function within specific regions where they are regulated. On the other hand, offshore forex brokers are regulated by unrecognized regulatory bodies and can function in regions that aren’t regulated.

Onshore brokers are often safer than offshore brokers because reputable bodies actively regulate them. Some people prefer offshore brokers because they offer them higher leverage and other features onshore brokers can’t offer due to regulations.

High Leverage Forex Brokers

As mentioned, offshore brokers are often known as high-leverage brokers. Some brokers get offshore licenses from loosely regulated regions to operate in many places worldwide. They do this to escape leverage and client limits and other limitations onshore regulations place on them. 

While some traders might prefer trading with them, they are relatively unsafe compared to onshore brokers. This is because many of them don’t comply with rules to keep traders’ funds and personal information secure. Amateur traders should avoid offshore brokers as much completely, and professional traders should be wary of using them.

Fixed Spreads and Variable Spreads Forex Brokers

Fixed spreads remain unchanged no matter what happens in the market, while variable spreads will change depending on market conditions. The ask and bid prices of fixed spreads could fluctuate, but the difference between them always remains the same. On the other hand, variable spreads could be tighter, wider, or zero, depending on market conditions. Brokers that offer fixed spreads are known as fixed spread forex brokers while brokers that offer variable spreads are known as variable spread forex brokers.

Generally, standard forex accounts have fixed spreads most of the time, while raw or ECN forex accounts have variable spreads because their prices are not regulated by one liquidity provider.

Is Forex Trading Profitable?

Forex trading can be profitable with the right training, trading strategy, and money and risk management. The reason why most forex traders will never make profits is that they lack one or all of the above requirements. Contrary to the idea peddled by “make money quick” schemers, forex trading is not as easy as investing some amount of money and waiting for it to appreciate and make you millions. It involves careful study, training, practice, discipline, and emotional intelligence. 

Even with all these requirements, all forex traders will lose money at one point or another. This is because no one can accurately predict the market 100% of the time. Still, with the right mindset, dedication, learning, expert advice, and practice, you can profit more from the market than you lose.   

Why Do Most Retail Forex Traders Lose?

Forex trading is not all sunshine and rainbows. Most retail traders lose more than they gain, and even traders that make a profit also have difficult times of loss. It is estimated that 70-80% of retail traders will be unsuccessful for different reasons. Here are some reasons why retail traders fail in forex trading:

Not Having good Education and Strategy: Many people who claim to be forex coaches are scammers. Unfortunately, most retail traders will fall for these scams and learn poor forex trading fundamentals and strategies. The ultimate result of this is loss of money when these training and strategies are tested in the forex market.

On the other hand, some forex traders have access to good trading resources but don’t learn enough to help them succeed.   

Little Practice: Even after learning forex basics, it is important to practice with demo accounts before facing the market head-on. Most traders don’t practice enough.

Emotional/Sentimental trading: Some traders ignore good trading strategies and analysis and trade forex in ways that satisfy them. They trade currencies they like and allow emotions like the fear of missing out (FOMO) and greed to drive their decisions. The result is always a massive loss.

Slow Market Adaptation: Many traders react slowly to market conditions, and as a result, miss out on good opportunities or lose lots of money. 

Is Forex Trading Legal?

Forex trading is legal in most countries of the world, but it is heavily restricted in some countries, like China, Ukraine, and South Africa. It is legal in Europe, and most countries have their own regulators. However, the European Union has its own overhead forex regulatory body which regulates all the countries under it. 

Forex trading is also legal in the United States, Canada, and other countries in South America and Africa, with each region having their own regulatory bodies and regulations.

Are Forex Brokers Safe?

Regulated forex brokers take many safety measures to ensure the safety of traders’ funds and personal information. Some safety measures taken by some brokers are:

• Keeping funds in a tier 1 bank as insurance for traders
• Using technology like two-factor authentication and SSL to secure traders’ funds and personal information
• Using negative balance protection to prevent debt caused by leveraged trading

Many regulated brokers are relatively safe, however, they are not completely immune to errors and may suffer data leaks or hacking. When this happens, good brokers have protocols to protect traders’ information. This may require you to reset your password or verify your identity

What Reddit and Quora Say About Forex Trading

Reddit

Redditors expressed their opinions on which brokers they thought were best for trading forex. Many of them mentioned characteristics they thought every forex broker should have before a trader should consider trading with them. One Redditor said regulations, low spreads, low commissions, good leverage and easy deposit and withdrawal were among the features he looked for when selecting brokers. For this reason, he preferred the IC Markets forex broker.

Some other Redditors said that Cedar FX was a good offshore forex broker if you are looking for higher leverages while trading in the United States.

Other Redditors talked about brokers like FP Markets and praised them for having low spreads and quick execution. They also said the broker was regulated by ASIC and CySEC, so there’s no cause for worry about scams when trading. 

Quora

On Quora, different traders gave their opinions on criteria they usually look at when selecting a good forex broker. A common characteristic was the price of trading with the broker, i.e., the tightness of the spread. They also agreed, however, that this was not the only important criterion to consider when choosing a good forex broker.

Other traders talked about how other traders should consider brokers with quality educational resources and good market research and analysis. Names like eToro, IC Markets, FXTM, Plus 500, and IG came up.

Bottom Line

Forex trading is not as easy as many fake gurus make it out to be, but with the right education, mindset and strategy, you can become an expert trader. To do this, you need to use the right broker. The right broker is well-regulated with a good trading platform and safety measures in place. 

There are three major types of brokers that offer forex trading, the no-dealing desk (NDD), Market Makers, and ECN brokers. Both ECN and NDD brokers offer traders access to interbank rates, while Market Makers provide their own prices with a little markup. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on your trading needs.

You can open an account with a forex broker by providing documents that verify your identity. After opening an account, you can choose to use a raw, standard, MT4 or MT5 account, depending on your trading needs. To start trading, you need to deposit money into your account using any of the payment methods you find favourable. 

When selecting a broker, ensure you check if it is an onshore or offshore broker. Onshore brokers are regulated by known regulatory bodies, while offshore brokers are regulated by unknown and sometimes shady regulatory bodies. Offshore brokers offer high leverages that often surpass regulatory limits, so some traders prefer them. However, onshore brokers are more regulated, and therefore safer than offshore brokers.

Forex trading is legal in most parts of the world and can be profitable with the right mindset, strategies, and education. Unfortunately, only 2-3 out of 10 traders will make a profit from trading forex due to poor risk management, poor education, sentimental trading and lack of guidance.