Adding a contract for difference (CFD) to your portfolio could reduce your risk and increase your returns through diversification. A typical CFD trading platform lets you trade thousands of financial instruments and commodities, with no obligation to own the underlying asset.
CFDs let you speculate on a price movement of an asset, whether stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities or forex, giving you the ability to diversify your trading over a wide range of assets. Keep in mind that trading in CFD contracts cannot be traded by U.S. residents.
In the following article, we have reviewed the best CFD brokers and trading platforms currently available, taking into account key features like commissions, markets, payments and regulation.
Best CFD Platforms for Trading
Here are some of the best CFD trading platforms available.
Best Overall: Plus500
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- Plus500 offers CFDs on over 2,800 financial instruments, including futures, shares, forex, indices, commodities, ETFs and options.
Why We Picked It: Plus500 offers free deposits and withdrawals, with a low $100 minimum investment requirement. A 0.7% currency conversion fee applies per transaction if the account currency differs from the traded currency. However, the platform may not be suitable for beginners, as it earns revenue exclusively from spreads rather than commissions. Experienced traders can start immediately, utilizing the platform to grow their portfolios and maximize returns. With its intuitive interface and extensive resources, Plus500 empowers investors to build multi-asset portfolios designed for long-term savings, income generation, or a balanced strategy.
Best for Advanced Tools and Features: Vantage Markets
- Best For:Dedicated CFD TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Vantage Markets's website
- Vantage Markets offers more than 1,000 CFD products, including forex, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, and bonds.
Why We Picked It: Vantage Markets provides access to a diverse range of tradable assets, including forex pairs, global indices, precious metals such as gold and silver, energy commodities, soft commodities, shares, and ETFs. The platform supports advanced trading through MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), ProTrader powered by TradingView, and a user-friendly mobile app, all equipped with cutting-edge charting tools, one-click trading, and various technical indicators. Traders benefit from competitive spreads starting as low as 0.0 pips and fast execution speeds, enabling them to seize market opportunities with precision.
Best for All Around Offerings: City Index
- Best For:Spread Betting, CFD and Forex TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through City Index International's website
- City Index offers 13,500+ global financial markets including indices, shares and forex.
Why We Picked It: City Index is a well-established CFD and spread betting broker known for its reliability, competitive pricing, and wide range of tradable markets, including forex, indices, shares, and commodities. It offers advanced trading platforms like MetaTrader 4 and its proprietary Web Trader, featuring powerful tools for charting, analysis, and risk management. With strong regulatory oversight, responsive customer support, and additional features like educational resources and market insights.
Best for Beginners: Tickmill
- Best For:MT4 and MT5 TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Tickmill Forex's website
- Tickmill offers 620+ CFDs across currency pairs, commodities, stocks and ETFs, indices, cryptocurrencies and bonds.
Why We Picked It: In addition to offering multiple platforms, Tickmill supports traders of all experience levels with competitive pricing, leverage up to 1:500 (depending on entity and client classification), dedicated customer support, in-depth market analysis, and a comprehensive suite of trading tools and educational resources. Known for its low spreads and fast execution, Tickmill allows various payment methods and imposes no restrictions on strategies like hedging or scalping.
Best for Low Fees: Axi
- Axi offers over 220 CFD products, including forex, shares, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies.
Why We Picked It: Axi is a global online trading platform known for its competitive pricing, high liquidity, and powerful trading tools. It offers flexible leverage, raw spreads starting from 0.0 pips, and fast execution speeds, making it an attractive choice for traders. With a strong commitment to customer support, Axi provides a range of educational resources, a multilingual support team, and access to the industry-standard MT4 platform. Recognized for its transparency and reliability, Axi has built a reputation as a trusted broker, serving traders in over 100 countries.
Best for Ease-of-Use: FOREX.com
- Best For:Excellent Trading Conditions and Overall OfferingsVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Forex.com Europe's website
- FOREX.com provides 220 CFDs including forex, stocks, commodities and futures.
Why We Picked It: FOREX.com is known for its competitive pricing, deep liquidity, and advanced trading platforms. The broker provides traders with fast execution, flexible leverage, and robust analytical tools. FOREX.com trading platforms include their Advanced Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, a web-based platform and a mobile app. The accessibility options guarantee no missed experiences.
Best for Professional Traders: Interactive Brokers
- Best For:Professional TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:Securely through Interactive Brokers’ website
- Interactive Brokers lets you trade over 8,500 Share CFDs available to trade globally.
Why We Picked It: Interactive Brokers offers some of the lowest commissions and fees for retail traders, as well as some of the highest quality features, research and services available for traders. Interactive Brokers is also one of the most professional and versatile online brokers currently available to retail traders who can afford its substantial initial deposit of $10,000 or the equivalent. Operating in 150 markets in 33 countries. Interactive Brokers is represented on all major world markets and exchanges, plus most regional stock, options and commodities exchanges.
Features to Look for in CFD Trading Platforms
Keep these things in mind when looking for a suitable CFD trading platform:
Trading Costs
The less you pay out to your CFD broker in trading costs, the more money you will have in your trading account. Trading costs include trading commissions and fees, dealing spreads and account management fees.
Tradable Assets
You will want to select a CFD trading partner that offers CFDs on all the underlying assets you wish to trade. Assets that can be traded as CFDs include stocks, indices, commodities, currencies (forex), and cryptocurrencies. CFDs allow traders to speculate on the price movements of these underlying assets without actually owning them, offering potential profits from both rising and falling markets.
Customer Support
How easily and quickly you can access your broker in case a problem arises and how well they respond to queries and resolve issues can make a substantial difference to your success as a CFD trader. Also, novice traders may require more customer support and educational materials while they learn the ropes of CFD trading.
Mobile App
Many CFD traders want to be able to watch asset markets, check their CFD trade executions, enter trades and perform market analysis using their smartphones or tablets while away from their desktop computers. A CFD broker having a mobile app suitable for your device can therefore become a priority feature.
Trading from Charts
If you plan on doing technical analysis and then quickly entering a trade when you spot an opportunity, you will probably want to trade directly from price charts. Most decent CFD trading platforms will offer this important feature.
Fast Execution
Since CFD trading opportunities are often fleeting, transactions need to be executed quickly. Make sure a broker you are considering has quick transaction times for clients based in your locale and that issues like order slippage and requotes are minimal. You can test execution speeds by making small transactions in a live account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are CFDs good for trading?
Those traders who wish to use leverage tend to find CFDs attractive, and CFDs are typically simpler to trade than the underlying asset. Still, trading CFDs involves special risks that include minimal broker regulation, possible low liquidity and the need to maintain enough margin to cover possible leveraged losses.
Is CFD trading profitable?
If you have a sound trading plan, then CFD trading might be profitable for you, and some people have reported making substantial sums of money trading CFDs. You can also profit from both upwards and downwards trending markets when trading CFDs.
Is CFD trading high risk?
CFD trading can be considered high risk due to factors such as leverage, volatility in the market, and the potential for significant financial losses. There is always a chance of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment when engaging in CFD trading. It requires thorough research, proper risk management, and a deep understanding of the market to minimize the risks involved.
Get a Forex Pro on Your Side
FOREX.com, registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), lets you trade a wide range of forex markets with low pricing and spreads, fast, quality execution on every trade.
You can also tap into:
- EUR/USD as low as 0.0 with fixed $7 commissions per $100k USD traded
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Learn more about FOREX.com powerful trading platform and how you can get started today.
About Jay and Julie Hawk
Jay and Julie Hawk are the married co-founders of TheFXperts, a provider of financial writing services particularly renowned for its coverage of forex-related topics. With over 40 years of collective trading expertise and more than 15 years of collaborative writing experience, the Hawks specialize in crafting insightful financial content on trading strategies, market analysis and online trading for a broad audience. While their prolific writing career includes seven books and contributions to numerous financial websites and newswires, much of their recent work was published at Benzinga.
