Best International Forex Brokers

If you’re looking for strong liquidity and low transaction costs, forex is one of the most accessible asset classes for large and small investors alike. The foreign exchange market is a truly international market where traders take advantage of global currency movements.

If you're looking to trade forex but are unsure of what platforms to use, keep reading. In this article, Benzinga reviews the top international forex brokers in the market that can meet your forex trading needs.

Quick Look: Best International Forex Brokers

• Best for All Around Offerings (US & Intl): FOREX.com
• Best for MT5 Users: Trading.com (US Only): Trading.com
• Best for Mobile and CFD Traders (US & Intl): Plus500
• Best for Beginners (Intl Only): Octa
• Best for CFD Trading (Intl Only): City Index
• Best for Advanced Traders (Intl Only): Saxo
• Best for Low Fees (Intl Only): Pepperstone

Best International Forex Brokers

It's important for forex traders to find a broker that is reliable, trustworthy and offers a wide range of currency pairs. Here are some of the top international FX brokers.

1. Best for All Around Offerings: FOREX.com

FOREX.com is a top-tier forex and CFD broker founded in 2001 and is a subsidiary of StoneX (NASDAQ: SNEX). The company is regulated by several financial regulatory authorities.

Why We Picked it: FOREX.com stands out as an excellent broker for dedicated forex traders. They even offer up to 5% cash back of the initial deposit for U.S. residents. The platform is easy to navigate, caters to beginner and advanced traders and offers excellent all around offerings.

2. Best for MT5 Users: Trading.com

Trading.com offers a user-friendly platform for forex trading, featuring low spreads, zero commissions, and seamless access to popular tools like MetaTrader 5 (MT5).

Why We Picked It: With strong regulatory backing from the CFTC and NFA, it ensures a secure environment for U.S. traders. Notable features include a $100 no-deposit bonus, transparent pricing, and extensive educational resources such as tutorials and research tools. Traders can also compete in a monthly paper trading competition for real prizes, making it ideal for beginners and experienced traders alike.

3. Best for Mobile and CFD Traders: Plus500

Plus500 is a derivatives broker offering forex futures and CFD trading, catering especially to beginner and advanced traders who prefer mobile trading.

Why We Picked It: Plus500 offers a user-friendly platform, diverse trading instruments, competitive fees, and excellent customer service. It’s ideal for both beginners and experienced traders, offering transparency, security, and a demo account for practice.

4. Best for Beginners: Octa

Octa is a multi-platform forex broker that is designed for traders across the globe, offering service for multiple countries. The company has facilitated the opening of over 40 million forex trading accounts in more than 180 countries.

Why We Picked It: Octa offers negative balance protection and funds security, they have Islamic accounts available among several other account styles. They're a low cost option and provide different pricing structures depending on the account type and have an easy to use trading platform.

5. Best for CFD Trading: City Index

City Index stands at the forefront of online trading services, specializing in Contracts for Difference (CFDs), forex, and spread betting (for UK residents). Boasting over 35 years of industry expertise, City Index offers a diverse range of tradable assets tailored to both individual and institutional traders.

Why We Picked It: City Index has facilitated over 1 million traders in accessing the forex, shares, and indices markets with a multi-award-winning platform and 40-year history of success. They offer personalized performance analytics and expert market analysis, giving you access to exclusive tools designed to maximize trading potential.

6. Best for Advanced Traders: Saxo

Saxo empowers traders with a high-performance platform offering access to a vast array of over 70,000 financial products, along with comprehensive resources to guide informed decision-making. Through Saxo, you can adeptly navigate market fluctuations with curated investment themes, expert market commentary, mobile alerts, advanced charting tools, and immersive webinars.

Why We Picked It: Saxo offers the sleek and responsive SaxoTraderGO app to enjoy the convenience of executing trades with the same efficiency and speed as on your desktop. SaxoTraderPro members have access a suite of high-performance tools designed for managing and executing orders seamlessly. You can benefit from comprehensive market analysis features, including the depth trader, time and sales data, algorithmic orders, advanced charting package and user-friendly trade tickets engineered for speed and productivity, ensuring swift order placement with just a click.

7. Best for Low Fees: Pepperstone

Pepperstone is a well-established and highly trusted forex broker, renowned for its competitive spreads and reliable trading platform. Operating since 2010, it boasts a strong regulatory framework and a wide range of trading instruments, delivering a comprehensive trading experience.

Why We Picked It: Pepperstone is user-friendly and offers advanced trading tools such as algorithmic trading, Autochartist, and API trading. Their customer support is efficient and responsive, and they provide extensive educational resources to help enhance your trading skills.

Forex Regulations and Leverage

The National Futures Association (NFA) is a self-regulatory organization that regulates U.S. derivatives, including the foreign exchange market. It imposed limits on the maximum leverage allowed on forex positions for U.S.-based forex traders, though the exact limits vary depending on the currency pair. As a result, many international forex brokers stopped accepting clients from the U.S. Also, because of the restrictions, international forex brokers increased in popularity relative to American brokers because they typically give traders better terms than U.S.-based forex brokers.

For example, forex brokers in the United States only allow a maximum leverage ratio of 50:1, while some international brokers offer client leverage up to 500:1 on major currencies. This high amount of leverage, while extremely profitable when you’re on the right side of the market, could be disastrous if you hold a losing position, especially if you have limited capital.

Another example is the FIFO regulation. FIFO stands for “first in, first out,” and this rule requires you to liquidate positions in the same currency pair in the order they were established instead of choosing which opposing transaction to liquidate.

New U.S. legislation also banned hedging a forex position by taking an opposing position in the same currency pair as one already established. Doing this means you effectively hedge the original position and can trade out of both sides individually, which is no longer allowed for U.S.-based forex traders.

Do International Forex Brokers Accept U.S. Clients?

If you’re U.S.-based and trade forex through an international broker licensed in the United States, your account will be subject to CFTC and NFA rules and restrictions. Regardless of the amount of leverage or other features offered by the international broker, you must adhere to the 50:1 U.S. leverage limit, the FIFO rule, the no-hedging rule and any other relevant U.S. forex account restrictions.  

But just because you live in the United States doesn’t mean you can’t trade forex. 

Although many international brokers don’t accept U.S. traders because of the additional regulations, several brokers still service the U.S. client base. Many top-tier forex brokers, such as FOREX.com or Trading.com, are based in the United States and also fully comply with the relevant regulations of the NFA and the CFTC.

Keep in mind that when a forex broker lacks oversight from a reputable financial regulatory agency, you run a considerable risk when you open an account with it. You could lose your entire deposit without even making a trade.

Frequently Asked Questions