Top forex brokers compared

About Top forex brokers compared

Choosing a forex broker comes down to what you pay, where your money sits and how the account behaves day to day. This ranking covers 141 brokers and weighs those points in that order. The trade-off is familiar: brokers with the smallest deposit floors and the widest spreads often carry a narrow licence and a modest protection cap, while brands with a wider set of regulators charge a little more and add cover. Costs here mean the account fee, the minimum deposit, the inactivity charge, the spread on the main pair and the share fee, each written as the broker publishes it. Safety means the regulators on the licence and the scheme that covers client money, named only where a source states it. How the account works covers platforms, deposit and withdrawal charges and the support channels you can reach. Retail loss rates are carried across as published, because they show how much of the money on the platform is lost by the clients trading on it. The list runs from CFI at the head to Totality at the foot.

How we picked

Sources are the brokers' own cost and charges documents, their app store listings, their trading account and pricing pages, and the registers behind each licence, read alongside the retail loss warnings brokers publish. The weights come from the score behind this ranking: cost carries 35%, trust carries 40% and offer carries 25%. Trust takes the largest share, so a wider set of regulators and a stated protection scheme outweigh a cheaper spread; cost decides between brands that clear the same bar; offer settles what is left. Partners are listed first, in the order the score puts them, and the rest follow on the same measure. A fact is used only where a source states it, and a fact a brand does not publish is never held against it. Fees are quoted as published, with the account they apply to, and no fee is inferred from another account's terms. Regulators, licence names and protection schemes appear only where the licence lists them. Retail loss percentages are carried across as published rather than recalculated.

Our top picks

1. 1. ActivTrades

   ActivTrades appears in this ranking for a British base and the broadest support setup published among the members. Founded in 2001 and run as ActivTrades Corp, it covers stocks, ETFs, forex, CFDs, crypto and bonds, with ActivTrader, MT4, MT5 and TradingView as platforms. Support runs on chat, phone and email, so a client can reach email, chat, phone or the help centre. The figure to weigh is 84% of retail money lost, above the middle of the category, and the feature list runs to a demo account, a mobile app and crypto, demo account, mobile app and crypto, without copy trading listed. Totality, closing this ranking, charges $1 a share and $0.75 an option.

   • Minimum deposit: $0
   • Stock trade fee: $0
   • Account fee: $0

   Pros

   • Share dealing costs nothing with fees at $0, unlike DKB with fees of €10.
   • Entry stays accessible with minimum deposit at $0 alongside funding via card and bank.
   • Crypto derivatives are available with taker pricing at 0% for cost aware traders.
   • Cash balances earn interest at 3.3% while remaining available for trading.

   Cons

   • Coin choice stays narrow at 10 for traders seeking wide crypto coverage.
   • Currency conversion applies at 0.5% which adds cost for cross currency activity.
   • Retail loss share stands elevated at 84%, highlighting CFD risk.

2. 2. XTB

   XTB is in this ranking for the way it keeps a long list of costs low. The account fee is €0, the stock trade fee is €0 and the forex charge is 0.5%, on a model that mixes commission-free and low-fees. The minimum deposit is €0, deposit fees do not apply and withdrawals are free past a set threshold. It is regulated by CySEC, the FCA and the KNF, with client money under EU ICS up to EUR 20,000 and retail leverage of 1:30. Platforms are xStation 5 and xStation Mobile, and support covers email, chat and phone, email, chat and phone. The cost that runs regardless of trades is the inactivity charge of €10. LiteFinance, ranked next, keeps funding free but asks for a floor of $10.

   • Minimum deposit: €0
   • Stock trade fee: €0
   • Account fee: €0

   Pros

   • The account fee is €0 and the stock trade fee is €0, which places XTB at 1 of 166 brands on the share dealing charge.
   • The minimum deposit is €0, putting XTB at 1 of 218 brands on the amount needed to start.
   • Deposit protection is FSCS up to GBP 85,000 and investor protection is EU ICS up to EUR 20,000, both stated with figures rather than vague wording.
   • Interest is paid on uninvested funds, calculated daily and settled monthly, with no minimum or maximum balance.
   • Support covers email, chat and phone, so email, chat and phone are all open to you.

   Cons

   • The inactivity fee is €10, and at 39 of 56 brands on that measure XTB sits well outside the free group.
   • A currency conversion fee of 0.5% applies even though the stock trade fee is €0, which bites on any US share held in a euro or sterling account.
   • Retail leverage runs to 1:30 and 77% of retail accounts lose money, so free dealing does not mean free from risk.
   • Fiat deposits run through bank transfer, and the deposit and withdrawal fee terms leave a charge on withdrawals below a set threshold in EUR or USD.

3. 4. eToro

   eToro earns its place in this ranking on cost and on holding a small balance. The account fee is $0 and the stock trade fee is $0, on a commission-free model, with a minimum deposit of $1 to $10,000, near the bottom of the set. It lists an ISA account, isa, alongside copy trading, fractional shares, crypto and a demo account, and it is aimed at beginners. The regulators named are CySEC and SIPC, and client money sits under EU ICS up to EUR 20,000. Support runs through a help centre, help centre, and no other channel is listed. Vantage, ranked next, also publishes an account fee of $0 but sets its floor lower still at $5 and runs a low-fee model rather than commission-free.

   • Minimum deposit: $1 to $10,000
   • Stock trade fee: $0
   • Account fee: $0

   Pros

   • Interest on the USD cash balance pays 3.8% on a variable basis, calculated daily and paid monthly, and withdrawals are allowed at any time.
   • Regulated by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and SIPC, with client asset protection of EU ICS up to EUR 20,000 and deposit protection of EU DGS up to EUR 100,000.
   • Minimum deposit $1 to $10,000 and minimum portfolio investment $500 keep the starting point low, and fractional shares are among the listed features.
   • A tax-sheltered ISA is available, listed among the isa on offer, alongside portfolio types covering etf, esg and cash.
   • Markets reach stocks, etfs and forex and derivatives are available, so shares, forex, crypto and futures sit in a single account.

   Cons

   • Withdrawal costs $5 flat fee each time, which makes small, regular transfers expensive next to the $0 stock trade fee.
   • Client asset protection of EU ICS up to EUR 20,000 sits well below deposit protection of EU DGS up to EUR 100,000, so a large share portfolio can outrun the cover.
   • Taker fee 1% sits above the 0.25% median, which matters for anyone trading crypto often rather than holding.
   • Support runs through help centre, so phone and chat are not part of the offering.

What to look for

Account and inactivity charges

Most brokers in this category charge no account fee, with the median at €0. Inactivity is where balances leak: the median charge is €4.38 and the highest is €43.85. Check what triggers that charge before funding a small account.

The deposit floor

The median minimum deposit is €22.58, the lower quartile is €0 and the upper quartile is €87.70. A low floor only helps alongside a narrow spread and no share commission, so read it alongside trading costs.

Cost on the main pair

The median headline rate in this category is 3.7%, with the lower quartile at 2.97% and the upper quartile at 4%. 69.2% of the set prices variably, so one published spread rarely settles the question.

Retail losses

The median retail loss figure is 72.13%, with the lowest at 40.3% and the highest at 88%. A high figure means most of the money held on the platform is lost by the clients trading it, the clearest published signal of how an account behaves under pressure.

Support channels

A help centre is the most common channel, present for 74% of the set, with phone on 50.7% and email on 45.2%. Live chat is the least common at 37%. On a leveraged account, a reachable person matters on a bad day.

Licences and the scheme behind them

Licences decide what happens to client money if a firm fails. 81 of 141 brands in the category are licensed, and the scheme named on the licence is the cover that applies. Where a broker states a scheme, the stated ceiling is the only figure worth carrying.

Frequently asked questions

Top forex brokers compared by country

• Austria
• France
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV