BEST FOREX BROKERS In 2022

Best Forex Brokers in 2022

Through our thorough review process we chose the following brokers that stand out:

• OctaFX – Best for Education, Copy Trading, and Local Support
• Pepperstone – Best Overall and Most Trusted Forex Broker
• BlackBull Markets – Best Web Trading Platform and Instrument Collection
• Vantage – Great for Professional and New Traders
• Avatrade – Best for Beginner Traders, Great Mobile App

Best Forex Brokers for 2022 Comparison

What Is A Forex Broker?

When it comes to trading in foreign currency, traders will need to make use of a forex broker, also known as a currency trading broker, to place their trades. When a trader trades in forex, they will buy or sell in currency pairs, e.g. “EUR / USD” (Euro / U.S. Dollar). Traders will need to open an account, deposit funds, then use the broker’s trading platform to buy and sell currency using margin. In a way, forex brokers connect the investors to the market and make forex trading possible.

How Do Forex Brokers Make Money?

Forex brokers make money, mainly in three ways. They earn money through the difference of the bid and ask price(spread) or the commission they charge for using their service, clients losing their deposits, or their own trading activities. Considering that 70%-90% of investors lose their money trading we can safely say that smaller brokers who cannot conduct their own trading activity or lack liquidity resources earn the most when the market goes against their clients.

Offering High Leverage To Traders

Spreads that forex brokers earn on small portions are negligible and cannot sustain them. To counter this, forex brokers usually offer high leverage to traders. High leverage increases both profits and losses of the trader. Most brokers usually give traders a better deal just to encourage them to trade more money. High leverage also benefits the broker, especially in the event that the trader makes losses.

Trading Or Hedging Against Clients

This may come as a surprise, but that is how forex brokers make money. Some brokers trade against their own clients. Although this is unethical, it is one of the tactics that brokers use to make money and it is very profitable. If you notice that the broker is thriving when you lose, or if the spreads are too low then that is a red flag that indicates that the broker is trading against you.

Commissions Charged On Payment Processing

Some forex brokers charge a fee for payment processing. The fee is usually small and is deducted when the trader withdraws or deposits money into their account. Of course, the commission fee is too small to make any big impact on the broker’s profits but it is good enough to cover the broker’s expenses. However, most online brokers don’t charge payment processing commission.

Overnight Charges Or Swap Fees

Overnight swap spreads mean that the broker gets to pay the trader if the difference between interests in a particular currency pair is positive. On the other hand, if the difference between interest in a particular currency pair is negative, then the opposite happens meaning that the trader gets to pay the broker. In most cases, the overnight swap spread usually favors the broker.

For instance, if a particular trader is buying EUR/USD and another trader is selling, the same amount of that particular currency pair, the first trader will earn money on overnight swaps while the second trader will lose that amount. That alone is big enough to enable the broker to compensate the first trader and still remain with a good amount.

Proprietary Trading

Another brilliant technique that forex traders use to make profits is trading by themselves. This is usually referred to as proprietary trading. One advantage that forex brokers have is access to information.

They know traders who are very successful in forex trading and those who are not. If they notice that a trader is very successful, they can decide to follow the trading strategy of that particular trader but trade a higher amount. For instance, if a trader decides to trade one lot to earn a profit of $100, the broker can place 3 lots on the exact position, make $100 for the trader, and earn a profit of $200 for themselves.

This can be problematic for traders as the broker might be plotting against the trader in order to make profits. This is why traders should invest their money with a trusted and regulated broker

What are the top 10 forex brokers in the world?

Here are the top 10 brokers by forex and CFD trading volume according to data compiled by Finance Magnates during the first quarter of 2021 (data excludes Japan due to the abnormally high trading volumes known to come from Japanese brokers):

1. IG
2. Plus500
3. Saxo Bank
4. CMC Markets
5. GAIN Capital
6. FXCM
7. Pepperstone
8. Tickmill
9. Axi

Who is the biggest forex broker in the world?

Tokyo-based GMO Click Securities is considered the largest forex broker by trading volume, with over $1 trillion in forex trading volume in the second quarter of 2020 alone, according to data compiled by FinanceMagnates.

For non-Japanese brokers, Sydney-based IC Markets is another high-volume broker with nearly $595 billion in trading volumes during the same 2020 period.

Who the largest forex broker is may vary depending on what time period you measure. But common to the biggest brokers is that they have the most assets under management, the biggest number of clients, and the greatest market capitalization (valuation for public companies).

All are important factors to consider when gauging the size of a forex broker.

How did the team at Forexbrokerlisting.com pick the best forex brokers?

At ForexBrokerListing, we test online forex brokers based on more than 300 criteria, with real accounts and real money. We don’t want to overwhelm you, so we will list only the six top criteria. You can read more about our methodology here.

6 most important criteria for the best online forex brokers in 2022:

1. Regulation – Make sure that the broker is regulated by at least 1 major regulator, to ensure the highest standards when it comes to the safety of your funds
2. Trading Fees – The trading fees of a typical US equity trade can be 50 times higher at one online broker compared to another. It’s definitely worth checking these fees.
3. Account Opening Process – Some online brokers require a minimum deposit to start investing while others don’t ask for a fixed first-time deposit. Check these requirements at the best online brokers.
4. Deposit and Withdrawal Methods – At some online brokers, funding and withdrawing funds can take 5 times longer and be much more expensive than at others.
5. Trading platforms – A user-friendly and well-equipped trading platform can significantly increase your trading comfort.
6. Instruments – Want to invest in Amazon or trade Bitcoin? They might not be available. Check the product lineup before opening an account.

First, make sure your broker is properly regulated. The safety of your deposit is always the top priority. Next, compare the trading platforms, tools, and investment research provided by each broker. Finally, read forex broker reviews to compare pricing and product offerings (e.g., number of forex pairs and CFDs available to trade).

How do I know if my forex broker is regulated?

It is crucial to use a reputable, properly regulated broker to avoid complications or being scammed. To check if your forex broker is regulated, first identify the registration number from the disclosure text at the bottom of the broker’s homepage. Next, look up the firm on the regulator’s website to validate the registered number. If the broker is not regulated in your country, do more research. To help traders, we track, rate, and rank forex brokers across over 20 international regulators.

What’s the difference between a dealing desk and an agency broker?

If a forex broker is operating as a dealer, also known as a dealing desk, they will be on the other side of their client’s trades.

If a forex broker is not on the other side of their client’s trades, they will be acting as an agent (agency broker) by routing the trade to another dealer. There are also hybrid desks, which may operate as a dealing desk and agency. Lastly, matched principals are dealers who immediately hedge their trades to remove any potential conflict of interest.

So a dealing desk can operate as both a principal and agent in a transaction, creating some strange conflicts:

• As a principal, the dealing desk trades for its own account, meaning that it may take trade from a client in which it has a vested interest in the outcome. In other words, the dealing desk could profit at the client’s expense, perhaps unloading inventory to the client just before the market falls or buying it just before the market rises.
• As an agent, the dealing desk can execute trades for a client and will pass along the trade price.

How do I calculate forex trading costs?

For forex and CFDs trading, the all-in cost to complete (open or close) each trade consists of the spread, plus any round-turn commissions. There may also be overnight financing charges, known as carrying costs, which can be either a net debit (loss) or a net credit (refund).

To keep trading costs low, focus on trading the major forex pairs such as the EURUSD, which offer the most liquidity, and thus the tightest spreads.

Which forex broker charges the lowest fees?

When it comes to competitive pricing and trading costs, Pepperstone offers the most competitive all-in cost to trade. Pepperstone offers two accounts, and no question, Pepperstone is best for active and VIP traders, who have access to pricing that competes among the lowest brokers in the industry. Using typical spread data listed by Pepperstone for its Razor account offering of 0.0-0.3 pips for the EURUSD.

Which forex broker offers the most CFDs?

IG offers the most tradeable CFDs in the industry, at an astonishing number of 19,537 CFDs, or “contracts for difference,” which enable traders to speculate whether the price of a stock, forex pair, market index or commodity will go up or down without taking ownership of the underlying asset.

Which forex broker offers the most currency pairs?

While offering more than 9,000 CFDs, Saxo Bank offers the most tradeable currency pairs, at a total of 170. The only downside to Saxo Bank is the broker’s high minimum deposit requirement.

Which forex broker has the best customer service?

After placing 500 phone calls to assess customer service from locations across the world, Pepperstone offered the best phone service. Connection times were consistently less than one minute and across 13 total calls, Pepperstone received an average Net Promoter Score of 9.0 out of 10.

Which forex broker is best for professionals?

CMC Markets offers active traders liquidity rebates starting at $5 per million when you surpass at least $25 million in notional trading volumes per month, to as much as $10 per million for those that trade over $300 million monthly.

This program in the UK is available only to Professional Clients. Using the average spread data of 0.74 pips on the EURUSD for August 2020, the all-in cost on the highest tier would be 0.64 pips and is comparable to similar programs offered by IG (0.59 pips) and Saxo Bank (0.6 pips).

Professional client status: In today’s highly regulated forex world, traders who want to maximize their margin leverage must apply and obtain ESMA’s professional client status with their broker.

Traders identified as Professionals in the EU do not receive negative balance protection and other consumer safety mechanisms such as eligibility for compensation schemes in the event of their broker’s insolvency.

Who is the Most Trusted Forex broker?

While there are several good companies from our broker review, there still is a fine margin that separates the good from the great. Here are our top 5 recommendations based on the forex brokers’ reviews provided above:

• OctaFX – Other than having no deposit fee requirement this company offers splendid customer service to their clients.
• Pepperstone – With an almost 5-star rating, this company offers great tools for beginners and also has a sleek app to trade from.
• Black Bull – Offers zero commissions and higher leverage than most companies.
• Vantage – Despite not having welcome bonuses, this broker has several indicators right from their platform.
• Avatrade – Provides live analysis and beginner education, both on their amazing AvatradeGo App.

Best Forex Trading Platforms in 2022

When choosing one of the leading forex brokers, you should also consider the trading platform they offer. Here are some of the very best forex platform choices in the industry, and what they have to offer:

• MT4 – Best client experience
• MT5 – Upgraded platform features and tools
• cTrader – Trusted platform, great for beginners
• TradingView – The best desktop platform for technical analysis
• Zulutrade – Best copy trading platform
• Ninjatrader – Well-rounded platform offering

Metatrader 4 – MT4

All forex brokers in the world offer the MT4 trading platform. It is one of the most common but also most trusted platforms you will find. Also, one of the very first in the industry actually enabled retail traders to trade the markets.

What makes this one of the best elections among traders is the fact that it is light, efficient, and can run on almost any machine. It is also extremely robust and offers the deepest selection of charts and indicators that you will find anywhere.

Added to that, MT4 allows you to engage in algorithmic trading through their expert advisors’ feature. This means you can follow forex trading signals from the huge support community, implement trading robots, develop your own strategies, and much more.

This depth, combined with a trusted reputation, and ease of use, are just some of the reasons why MT4 is offered by the majority of legitimate trading brokers everywhere.

Metatrader 5 – MT5

When it comes to trading platforms, MT5 is also top of the list with many referring to it as an improved version of MT4. It is actually the upgraded version of MT4 that will slowly replace the MT4.

With MT5, you can expect more pending order types, an increase in the number of charting tools, and more markets to be available. All while keeping most of the same great features, including your ability to follow forex trading signals.

MT5 can typically cater to both the average retail traders and leading forex brokers who offer real stock trading, and other specific types of assets that are not always possible to trade through MT4.

The most successful forex traders though, when trading just forex pairs, typically tend to stick with MT4. Another reason behind this loyalty is that although most online brokers will offer both MT4, and MT5, the latter tends to be incompatible with many of the additional plugins, and features developed by the huge community of support behind MT4.

So which one is best, MT4 or MT5? Read more about it here.

cTrader

The next platform you will typically find with a trusted broker is cTrader, which is again a very well-respected choice. It is visually appealing and light yet it still offers much of the same excellent technical capability in charting.

Forex trading brokers with a very fast order execution service tend to provide a cTrader platform option to facilitate this. This is one of the reasons why cTrader is a very popular choice for day trading or if you are a scalper since both can really benefit from the very fast execution speeds.

Just like the MT4, and MT5, cTrader also facilitates you in following forex trading signals with Algo robots if that is something you are interested in doing.

Tradingview

Getting into some of the best forex trading platform choices for most technical traders, we take a look at Tradingview. Tradingview was designed with both advanced and novice traders in mind, as a place with excellent charts and technical analysis support.

You can use this as a standalone trading platform, or it can be directly connected with some of the best-regulated brokers from our listing. These brokers will allow you to directly connect your account to the platform so you can trade directly from the Tradingview website.

With this platform, you can choose to use the free service they offer, or you can add additional services and features for a price that starts from $14.95 per month.

ZuluTrade

Zulutrade is one of the best third-party services for copy trading, so should be on your radar if you’re interested in forex signals or automated trading strategies.

Most of the best brokers can connect to a ZuluTrade account. Once you have checked that this is possible through the broker’s website, then you can copy some of the best forex traders in the world at the click of a button through their very user-friendly platform.

As a successful trader, you can also be copied, and earn yourself a commission when others copy your trades. This allows you a great degree of flexibility when it comes to trading forex. Using ZuluTrade is very accessible too. You can open your account and connect it with your currency trading broker with just a $100 minimum deposit.

Read more about Zulutrade here.

Ninjatrader

Another popular choice offered by many fx trading brokers is Ninjatrader. Again this is preferred by those who have a strong focus on technical analysis.

When it comes to your online fx broker, some will allow you to connect your account to NinjaTrader so you can trade directly from the platform website. In terms of pricing, you will have access to a free limited trial period. After this time, subscriptions are available for $400.