Best Market Maker Forex Brokers

Market maker forex brokers act as dealers who create a market for their clients, providing liquidity by offering buy and sell prices at all times. The market marker mechanism contrasts with Electronic Communication Network (ECN) brokers, who connect traders directly with liquidity providers.

Here, we have reviewed the best market maker brokers and why you should consider using them.

Quick Look: Best Market Maker Forex Brokers

• Best for Trading Platform: Plus500
• Best for Research and Education: FOREX.com
• Best for Fast Execution: IG Markets
• Best for Beginners: eToro
• Best for Competitive Spread: XM

Get Started

Earn Cashback on Your FX Trades

Open an account in as little as 5 minutes. Spreads as low as 0.0, trade and manage your positions from a full suite of mobile and tablet apps.

Get Started

Disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Show More

5 Best Market Maker Forex Brokers

Here are the best forex market maker brokers worth considering.

1. Best for Trading Platform: Plus500

Plus500 is a well-regulated market maker broker offering a user-friendly, proprietary trading platform with advanced features, making it suitable for beginners and experienced traders. The platform is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.

Plus500 offers low minimum spreads, which start at just 0.8 pips. It also features low minimum deposit requirements at $100 for most account types, making the broker accessible to traders at all levels.

Plus500 helps traders amplify their profits with leverage of up to 1:30.

2. Best for Research and Education: FOREX.com

FOREX.com is a well-regulated forex broker that excels in research and education, providing an extensive library of educational resources, including articles, webinars and video tutorials. 

FOREX.com offers tight spreads on over 80 currency pairs, as low as 0.2 pips for commission accounts. In standard accounts, the minimum spread tends to hover around 1.0 pips, depending on the specific currency pairs. It helps traders boost their profits with up to 50:1 leverage on major forex pairs and up to 20:1 on minor pairs. You can open a FOREX.com account with as little as $100 or equivalent in your local currency.

3. Best for Fast Execution: IG Markets

IG is a leading global market maker forex broker that provides a wide range of excellent trading tools, competitive spreads and an extensive range of educational resources. It supports the MetaTrader 4 platform and its proprietary web-based trading platform. IG’s desktop forex trading platform is intuitive and easy to use, allowing first-timers to quickly open an account and start trading.

IG offers spreads starting as low as 0.8 pips on some currency pairs and leverage up to 400:1, making it an attractive option for traders looking to maximize their trading potential. The minimum deposit for a standard account is $250.

4. Best for Beginners: eToro

eToro is known for its social trading features, allowing traders to follow and copy the trades of other successful traders. The platform provides an easy-to-use trading platform, strong customer support and a wide range of educational resources, making it an excellent choice for beginner traders, although it may not be the best choice for advanced traders.

Traders can get leverage of up to 1:50 for forex and low spreads starting from 0.75 pips. The minimum deposit requirement is also relatively low, at just $50.

5. Best for Competitive Spread: XM

XM is a market maker forex broker known for its competitive spreads, making it an attractive choice for cost-conscious traders. The platform supports MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, providing traders with a range of powerful trading tools and features. XM also offers extensive educational resources, including webinars, video tutorials and market analysis.

Starting at 0.6 pips, XM has one of the lowest minimum spreads of the brokers on this list. The minimum deposit amount required to start trading forex is $5 with leverage of up to 30:1

What are Market Makers?

A market maker is a financial institution or individual that actively buys and sells securities, currencies or other financial assets to provide liquidity to a market. In the foreign exchange market, market makers facilitate trading by providing buy and sell quotes for currency pairs and profit from the spread between the bid price and ask price. They play an important role in ensuring that there is always a buyer or seller for a currency pair, even during times of low trading activity.

What's the Difference Between Market Makers and ECN Brokers?

Market makers act as a counterparty to their clients' trades, meaning they take the opposite position of their clients. When a client buys a currency pair, the market maker sells that same currency pair and vice versa. Market makers typically offer fixed spreads and can provide liquidity even during low trading volumes.

On the other hand, ECN brokers connect traders directly to the interbank market, where they can trade directly with other market participants. ECN brokers typically offer variable spreads and charge a commission on trades. They provide traders with direct market access (DMA) to deeper liquidity and potentially tighter spreads, especially during high trading volumes.

Forex traders might choose a market maker if they prefer fixed spreads, want to avoid paying commissions or if they are trading during low trading volumes. Conversely, traders might prefer an ECN broker if they want deeper liquidity, more pricing transparency, potentially tighter spreads and are willing to pay a commission on trades.

Advantages of Market Makers

Market makers offer several advantages to forex traders, including:

• Fixed spreads: This means traders know exactly what they will pay as spread when they enter a trade. This can be beneficial if you want to know your costs upfront.
• Liquidity provision: Market makers provide liquidity to the market, allowing you to buy and sell currencies even during low trading volumes, which makes it ideal for when you need to execute trades quickly.
• Price stability: Market makers stabilize prices by supplying liquidity and taking the opposite side of their client trades, which helps clients avoid sudden price movements.
• Risk management tools: Market makers help traders manage risks and limit losses with risk management tools, such as stop-loss orders and guaranteed stop-loss orders.

Disadvantages of Market Makers

Market makers also have some disadvantages that traders should be aware of, including:

• Conflict of interest: Market makers act as a counterparty to their clients' trades, which means that they can profit when their clients lose money. This creates a conflict of interest which could impair trust.
• Requotes: Market makers may require requotes when there is a significant change in market conditions or when there is a large order size. This can be frustrating for traders who are trying to execute trades quickly.
• Limited transparency: Market makers do not always provide transparent pricing information, making it difficult for you to know if you are getting a fair price.

Your Forex Success: Choosing the Right Market Maker Broker

The brokers mentioned in this post are some of the best in the industry, offering competitive spreads, reliable execution and a range of trading platforms to suit different needs. It's important to do your own research and consider your individual trading goals and preferences before selecting a broker. 

Frequently Asked Questions