Best Forex Brokers in the UK

Want to skip to the answer? Benzinga readers love eToro or FOREX.com as the best forex brokers in the UK!

The stock market is big, but the forex market is much bigger. In fact, with a daily trading volume of over $5 trillion USD, forex is the largest financial market in the world and that can mean a massive opportunity for traders - whether you're in London, Birmingham, or Manchester. Many of the leading forex brokers in the U.K. are based overseas.

This isn’t a bad thing. It means that in addition to being regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), overseas brokers may also be subject to local regulation, adding an extra layer of oversight.

12 Best Forex Brokers in the UK

Take a look at our favorite brokers in the UK.

• Best for Beginners: eToro
• Best for Ease-of-Use: FXCC
• Best for Non US Forex Trading: AvaTrade
• Best for Execution: IG Markets
• Best for Experienced Forex and CFD Traders: Admirals
• Best for Multiple Trading Platforms: FOREX.com
• Best for Active Traders: Interactive Brokers
• Best for All Levels of Traders: Moneta Markets
• Best All-in-One Platform: Swissquote
• Best for CFD Traders: Axi
• Best for MT4 and MT5: Eightcap
• Best for Easy-to-Use Forex Platform: Trade Nation

1. Best for Beginners: eToro

eToro is a multi-asset, global forex broker that has established itself as one of the leaders in the industry. Based in Cyprus and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom, eToro offers traders in the UK an impressive range of products and services to choose from.

The company’s philosophy is to make trading accessible to everyone, regardless of experience or financial background. It offers a range of trading services, including a comprehensive selection of forex pairs and CFDs, as well as an excellent social trading platform. In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the services that eToro has to offer and what makes it stand out from other brokers.

2. Best for Ease-of-Use: FXCC

FXCC offers support for forex and CFD investors, allowing up to 70 currency pairs. In addition, 8 popular cryptocurrencies are available, spot palladium, gold and silver. You can even invest in Brent and WTI oil.

FXCC sits at number 1 on our list with a wide range of features, including:

• MT4 trading platform
• Extremely low pips
• 24/5 customer service via live chat, phone, email or fax
• Multilingual support

In addition to the expansive list of trading options, you also have analytical and charting tools that will point you in the right direction. Regulated, secure and diverse, FXCC will help you get started or simply grow as a forex investor.

3. Best for Non US Forex Trading: AvaTrade

AvaTrade is a broker with a large reach from Europe and South Africa to the Middle East, Australia, the Caribbean, Japan and much more. You can easily trade CFDs based on several assets like stocks, forex, indices, crypto, and much more. 

AvaTrade is unique in that it works best for both beginners and advanced traders who want to volume trade. You can get service in 20 languages, and you will have more than enough variety to keep your portfolio both up-to-date and profitable.

British traders will have more options to build their portfolios, and this could turn into a wonderful place where you can experiment with unique asset classes before allocating more funds to the cause. 

4. Best for Execution: IG Markets

IG Markets has quite a few trading options and powerful platforms. Use MT4 or the proprietary platform IG Group created for its customers. You get low spreads on your investments, and the minimum deposit is only $250. Try a demo account if you want to learn more about forex investing, or reach out to the customer service team 24/5.

You can also partake in:

• Autochartist
• Technical analysis tools
• Several indicators

When you place orders, you can set your bracket and limit orders any way you like. In short, the site makes it easy for you to protect yourself, especially when investing in volatile assets. Plus, IG Markets is truly a global brand, offering multilingual support.

5. Best for Experienced CFD and Forex Traders: Admirals

Admirals is a place where you can invest in a host of assets like forex, stocks, indices, commodities, ETFs, crypto and bonds, along with the option to use their PC, MAC, mobile app or the web trader. You can even use MT4 or MT5 to access the markets and also try:

• Demo Trading
• Copy Trading
• Fractional Investing
• Islamic Accounts
• Asset Management Tools and More

Investors can avail themselves of leverage up to 1:500, very competitive spreads, charting/data and over 8,000 assets that allow you to focus on diversity within your portfolio.

6. Best for Multiple Trading Platforms: FOREX.com

FOREX.com is regulated by several jurisdictions, including the U.K., U.S., and Japan, which ensures that the company’s business activities are well-monitored, a plus for traders of any level.

With more than just forex trades on tap, Forex.com also offers traders opportunities to trade key indexes or even cryptocurrencies.

An expansive learning center, packed with educational information, coupled with three trading platforms ranging from advanced to mobile, makes FOREX.com a solid choice for traders of any level of expertise.

Tight spreads help reduce trading costs while 24-hour live support ensures that questions or issues can be quickly resolved.

7. Best for Active Traders: Interactive Brokers

IBKR offers 100+ currency pairs on 23 currencies: USD, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNH, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RUB, SEK, SGD, TRY, ZAR and KRW (with special conversion functionality).

The FXTrader provides an optimized trading interface with tools built for the currency markets, including real-time streaming quotes, up and down indicators, trading volumes, pending trades, executions, positions, and average price plus P&L.

Large-Sized Order quotes are specific to the order quantity entered are generated based upon an aggregation of quotes provided by interbank dealers to help get the best execution possible and minimize market impact.

8. Best for All Levels of Traders: Moneta Markets

Moneta Markets is designed for all traders from beginners to experts. Using MT4, MT5, WebTrader and AppTrader, you can use this platform for either its access to the markets, its analytical tools or both.

As you get to work on Moneta Markets, you also enjoy:

• No deposit fees
• Low spreads
• Islamic accounts
• A wide range of financial tools

There are over 45 FX pairs, 15 indices, 15 commodities markets, over 135 CFD options and a wide range of research tools. You can easily learn about these investments as you search the site, and you can continue to expand or diversify your portfolio on the go.

With 24/5 customer support via email or over the phone, you can manage your account with ease. Plus, you can get up to a 50% deposit bonus on a maximum $500 deposit. Scalpers, swingers and long-term traders will find this platform to be more than helpful.

9. Best All-in-One Platform: Swissquote

When you want to invest in the foreign currency markets, you can turn to Swissquote, a firm that went public in 2000 and offers a massive range of tradable assets. Using Robo advisors and quantitative management techniques, you get quality results from the platform.

Designed for financial professionals, active day traders, CFD traders, derivatives traders and anyone who wants powerful trading options and elaborate tools, it works for anyone who is serious about building their portfolio and growing wealth. You can set up private and business accounts, and you will benefit from several features like:

• MetaTrader 4
• MetaTrader 5
• Autochartist
• Plugins
• Advanced Trader
• FIX API

With 3 account types and reasonable minimum balances, you can also trade stocks, ETFs, OTC Swiss derivatives, structured products, bonds and even themed products.

10. Best for CFD Traders: Axi

Formerly known as AxiTrader, Axi allows you to trade CFDs in a safe environment, even going so far as offering a demo account that allows you to work with $50,000 in virtual currency. The platform works off Meta 4, and it also offers:

• Copy trading to make your life a little easier
• Educational tools
• AI and Machine Learning tools that learn from you and help you make better trades

Plus, you can trade a number of different assets, including:

• More than 70 forex pairs
• 50 stocks from the U.S., UK. and EU markets
• Leverage trading
• More than 30 indices
• Precious metals
• Oil
• Commodities
• Over 30 leading cryptocurrencies

Fee are competitive with low trading fees, $10 monthly maintenance fee for inactive accounts and no deposit or withdrawal fees.

11. Best for MT4 and MT5: Eightcap

Eightcap Forex was founded in 2009 in Australia and it appears serious about providing its customers with the best service possible. In fact, the company's stated mission is, “to deliver an unrivaled trading experience to our clients and provide you with one of the best trading environments in the financial world”. The platform offers traders the following:

• Users can use MT4 and MT5 trading platforms
• An easy-to-use interface that new users can learn easily
• An award-winning platform (Global Forex Award's 2020 winner of Best Global Forex MT4 Broker)
• Educational resources for both new and experienced traders

You can trade the following assets on Eightcap:

• 200 financial instruments such as forex, commodities, indices, and shares
• virtual money with a demo account to familiarize yourself with the platform
• zinc
• Nichol
• NASDAQ Share CFDs
• German Share CFDs
• LSE Share CFDs
• ASX Share CFDs

Eightcap charges a $3.50 charge per trade on top of the dealer spread.

12. Best for Easy-to-Use Forex Platform

When you get started with Trade Nation, you can invest from anywhere in the UK, access data that helps you make wise decisions, get competitive spreads and excellent customer support. With access to over 1000 markets, there’s something for everyone.

The site itself is easy to use and manage, and you can even start a demo account when you first join. Using this site, you can diversify your portfolio with. range of CFDs based on stocks, indices, crypto and much more, along with the forex pairings that you have come to love and appreciate.

How we Made our Selections for Best Forex Brokers in the UK

Here is the methodology behind our top picks for forex brokers in the UK.

Spreads

Unlike stock trading, forex trading isn’t usually burdened by commissions or similar fees. Instead, brokers are compensated by using a spread, a gap between the bid and ask prices, that allows them a profit on each trade.

While not the only consideration, spreads matter because they affect the profitability of trades. Wider spreads can have the effect of higher trading costs. Rollover fees or swap rates, which represent the difference in interest rates between the two currencies in a pair held overnight aren’t considered as a cost because a rollover fee can be either a fee or a payment to the trader. They work both ways.

FCA Regulation

While the trades themselves aren’t monitored, brokers that are FCA-regulated provide an extra margin of safety because their business practices are monitored.

There are examples of forex brokers that have become insolvent due to rapid changes in currency prices and exposure through leverage granted to traders and margin calls that haven’t been covered. FCA regulation assures that funds for trading accounts are kept separate from the broker’s own funds.

Cash Management

The ease of funding trading accounts and getting your money back out are important considerations. Forex trading benefits from the ability to manage balances nimbly and to fund your account in a number of ways. When it’s time to take profits out, that process should be equally simple.

Trading Tools

Forex traders come in all forms, from beginner to expert, and everywhere in between. Trading tools that help traders to understand price movements or the mechanics of a trade are expected. Brokers or trading platforms should have charting, historical data, news, and other tools available for traders.

Customer Support

When a problem or question arises for traders, it’s important that there’s a way — or several ways — that traders can get support. The forex trading market has evolved, making the platforms or brokers with better trading tools more appealing.

Final Thoughts on Forex Brokers in the UK

Massive swings aren’t unusual in forex trading. Fortunately, many platforms offer demo accounts that allow traders to learn at their own pace or to test trading strategies without the risk of using their own capital.

Whether you’re new to trading or a seasoned pro, whether you’re a high-leverage risk taker or a more conservative trader, there’s a forex broker that’s the best fit — and in many cases, the broker you choose will continue to meet your needs as your account grows.

Frequently Asked Questions