What is a good EUR/USD spread?

On a standard account 0.8–1.2 pips is typical. ECN or raw accounts quote 0.0–0.3 pips but charge commission, usually USD 3–7 per standard lot round turn. Add both together before comparing.

What leverage is allowed in the EU?

For retail clients ESMA caps leverage at 30:1 on major pairs, 20:1 on minors and gold, 10:1 on commodities and 5:1 on shares. Professional clients can access higher leverage but give up protections such as negative balance protection.

Are offshore brokers automatically untrustworthy?

No — but the risk profile is different. A licence from Seychelles, Belize or Vanuatu usually comes without any investor compensation scheme and with far lower capital requirements. If you trade there, only commit money you could afford to lose entirely.

Risk warning: CFDs and leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly. Investments can fall in value. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.

Ranking

Best forex brokers 2026

In currency trading the spread decides the return. Half a pip on EUR/USD costs roughly USD 500 a month at 100 standard lots — a full year of edge given away. So we weight cost and execution quality far above education or research. Regulation matters just as much: a broker under FCA or ASIC supervision faces capital requirements and must offer negative balance protection. An offshore entity often does not.

Investor's country

Shows only brokers that accept clients from the selected country.

brokers rated: 35
Data as of: 30 Aug 2026

Forex

The top 3 in detail

Why these three lead — derived from the criteria this category weights most heavily.

Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.

Interactive Brokers

The cheapest serious route to almost every market on earth — if you can live with the learning curve.

Ahead on Fees (4.9) and Safety & regulation (4.8) — together those two carry 55% of this category's weighting.

US stocks from USD 0.0035 per share on the Tiered plan, minimum USD 0.35 per order and capped at 1% of trade value
Currency conversion at 0.20 basis points (minimum USD 2) — an order of magnitude cheaper than most European brokers' 0.25%–1.5%
Roughly 160 market destinations in 36 countries from a single multi-currency account, with 28 settlement currencies
No inactivity fee since 2021, plus no custody fee and no platform fee

Group index 90/100Protection depends on your legal entity

SECFCACBIASIC+1

StocksETFsOptionsFuturesForexCFDsCryptoBonds+4

4,5

Category score

Overall score: 4.5 / 5

Strengths in this category

Fees35%

4,9

Trading platform20%

4,8

Safety & regulation20%

4,8

Deposit & withdrawal10%

4,0

Stocks (per order): 0.05 %
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 0.1 pips

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

Pepperstone

Raw spreads and five platforms for traders who care about execution cost, not about owning the asset.

4,5

Ahead on Fees (4.6) and Customer support (4.5) — together those two carry 45% of this category's weighting.

Razor all-in EUR/USD cost of about 0.8 pips - a 0.0 to 0.1 pip raw spread plus USD 3.50 per lot per side
No inactivity fee, no account-keeping fee and no account closure fee, confirmed on Pepperstone's own costs page
Five execution venues on one account: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and the in-house Pepperstone Platform

Group index 82/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAASIC+5

StocksETFsForexCFDsCrypto+4

Strengths in this category

Fees35%

4,6

Trading platform20%

4,6

Safety & regulation20%

4,4

Stocks (per order): 0.1 %
Minimum deposit: US$10
EUR/USD spread: 0.8 pips

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

IG

The most complete leveraged-trading operation in Europe — and it prices like it knows that.

4,4

Ahead on Safety & regulation (4.9) and Trading platform (4.7) — together those two carry 40% of this category's weighting.

Around 17,000 tradable markets in a single account — shares, indices, FX, commodities, bonds, ETFs, turbo warrants and crypto CFDs, subject to regional restrictions
Six top-tier licences — FCA (FRN 195355), BaFin, FINMA, ASIC (AFSL 515106), MAS and JFSA — plus a mid-tier DFSA licence in Dubai; the FINMA licence among those six is a full Swiss banking licence at IG Bank S.A., which puts Swiss cash under esisuisse protection
Zero commission on UK and international shares, and the GBP 24 quarterly custody fee was scrapped outright in January 2026 rather than merely waived for active traders

Group index 100/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCABaFin+5

StocksETFsOptionsFuturesForex+8

Strengths in this category

Fees35%

4,0

Trading platform20%

4,7

Safety & regulation20%

4,9

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 0.9 pips

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

Also worth a look

Rank 4 and below, ordered by category score.

CMC Markets

The best charting package in retail CFD trading, wrapped around a narrower product range than the market count suggests.

4,4

Technical and chart-driven tradersUK and Irish spread bettingActive FX traders on FX Active

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 0.7 pips

Next Generation is the strongest charting suite bundled with a retail CFD account — 115+ indicators, 70 chart patterns, 12 chart types and pattern-recognition scanners, at no extra cost
0% commission on UK and European share CFDs (Greece the sole exception at 0.45%), against IG's spread-plus-conversion model
None of CMC's derivatives is exchange-traded: the options it quotes are OTC and cash-settled, and there are no cleared futures at all, so CMC is the counterparty on every derivative contract and no clearing house stands behind it

Group index 94/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAFCA+4

ForexStocksETFsOptionsCFDs+5

Visit broker Read review

Saxo

A Danish bank that trades like a professional platform — broad, polished, and no longer expensive.

4,4

Multi-asset portfoliosBond investorsOptions and futures traders

Tiered — Improved pricing at higher account tiers

Stocks (per order): 0.08 %
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 0.7 pips

Full Danish banking licence (Finanstilsynet licence 1149) and SIFI designation — a stronger structural safeguard than a broker-only permission
US stocks and ETFs at 0.08% with a USD 1 minimum on the entry-level Classic tier, and 0.05%/0.03% at higher tiers
Currency conversion costs 0.25% over mid-market for EU and Swiss clients, and up to 0.60% at the UK entity's Classic tier — the single largest hidden cost for cross-currency investors

Group index 96/100Protection depends on your legal entity

DFSAFCA+3

ForexStocksETFsOptionsFutures+6

Visit broker Read review

Capital.com

The best-executed retail CFD platform in Europe, provided you accept that CFDs are the whole product.

4,3

Active CFD tradersForex day tradingMobile-first traders

Stocks (per order): in the spread
Minimum deposit: US$20
EUR/USD spread: 0.7 pips

No commission on any CFD and no inactivity fee whatsoever — unusual in the CySEC/FCA CFD segment
EUR/USD averages roughly 0.7 pips all-in, with spreads advertised from 0.6 pips
0.7% currency conversion markup on every trade settled outside your base currency — the single largest hidden cost here

Group index 77/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAASIC+2

ForexStocksETFsCFDsCrypto+3

Visit broker Read review

XTB

The best trading platform in the commission-free bracket - xStation 5 is a professional workspace attached to a zero-commission share account.

4,3

Serious charting on a budgetCommission-free European stocksForex and index CFDs

0% — 0% commission on stocks and ETFs up to the monthly volume cap

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 0.9 pips

xStation 5 is the best platform in the commission-free bracket - a real screener, market heat map, sentiment data, economic calendar and news in one workspace, on web, desktop and mobile with near-identical features.
Commission-free real stocks and ETFs up to EUR 100,000 of turnover per calendar month; above that only the excess is charged at 0.2% with a EUR 10 minimum.
The 0.5% currency conversion charge (0.8% at weekends and on public holidays) applies whenever the instrument currency differs from your account currency. For a EUR investor buying US stocks it is charged on the way in and again on the way out, and it dwarfs the commission it replaces.

Group index 72/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAKNF+5

ForexStocksETFsOptionsCFDs+3

Visit broker Read review

IC Markets

One of the cheapest routes to raw institutional FX pricing - as long as you check which entity you are signing with.

4,2

Algorithmic and EA tradersScalping and high-frequency FXcTrader users

Stocks (per order): 0.1 %
Minimum deposit: €200
EUR/USD spread: 0.8 pips

All-in EUR/USD cost of roughly 0.6 to 0.8 pips on Raw Spread - a 0.0 to 0.1 pip raw spread plus USD 3.50 per lot per side
Raw Pro at USD 1.50 per lot from a USD 5,000 balance and Raw Pro+ at USD 1.00 per lot from USD 100,000 - a real volume ladder rather than a marketing tier
Most non-EU, non-Australian clients contract with Raw Trading Ltd under Seychelles licence SD018 - an offshore regulator with no investor compensation scheme behind it

Group index 70/100Protection depends on your legal entity

ASICCySEC+4

ForexStocksFuturesCFDsCrypto+4

Visit broker Read review

CapTrader

Interactive Brokers' market access wrapped in German regulation, German support and a German phone number.

4,2

German-speaking options and futures tradersActive traders who want IBKR pricing with German supportMulti-currency and global stock investors

Stocks (per order): 0.1 %
Minimum deposit: €2,000
FX conversion: 0 %

BaFin-supervised German investment firm (institution number 10156708) with a Düsseldorf address, German contract law and a free German hotline until 20:00
Eurex options and futures at EUR 2.00 per contract, Mini-DAX futures at EUR 1.00 and CME Micro E-minis at USD 1.25 — competitive with anything available to German retail traders
No Abgeltungsteuer is withheld. German investors gain a compounding advantage but must declare everything themselves via Anlage KAP, and a Freistellungsauftrag is not possible — for many people that alone rules CapTrader out

Group index 81/100Protection depends on your legal entity

BaFinCBI+1

ForexStocksETFsOptionsFutures+6

Visit broker Read review

Questrade

Canada's biggest independent broker, now genuinely commission-free — with a 1.5% currency spread as the sting in the tail.

4,2

Canadian self-directed investorsRegistered account investing (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP)US options traders

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 1.9 pips

CAD 0 commission on every Canadian and US stock and ETF trade, on both the buy and the sell side, with no ECN fees at all on Canadian orders
CAD 0 contract fee on US-listed equity options and free assignment — one of only two Canadian brokers offering this
The 1.5% CAD/USD conversion charge is high and unavoidable unless you deliberately manage currency; on a CAD 20,000 US-stock purchase it costs CAD 300, dwarfing any commission saving

Group index 76/100Protection depends on your legal entity

CIROOSC

ForexStocksETFsOptionsCFDs+5

Visit broker Read review

ThinkMarkets

Raw-spread pricing, six licences and the best mobile app in the CFD category - held back by its withdrawal record.

4,1

Active FX tradersMobile-first tradersRaw-spread scalping

Stocks (per order): in the spread
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 1.1 pips

ThinkZero all-in EUR/USD cost of about 0.8 pips - raw spreads from 0.0 pips plus USD 3.50 per lot per side on forex and metals
Three top-tier licences - FCA 629628, ASIC AFSL 424700 and JFSA registration 0250 - alongside CySEC 215/13 and FSCA FSP 49835
75 percent of ThinkMarkets UK retail accounts lose money trading CFDs, and disclosures across the group's entities have ranged from roughly 68 percent to 89 percent

Group index 79/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAASIC+4

ForexStocksETFsCFDsCrypto+3

Visit broker Read review

Trading 212

The cheapest mainstream way to buy stocks and ETFs in Europe - 0% commission, 0.15% FX, and almost nothing else to pay.

4,1

Low-cost ETF investingMonthly savings plansFractional share investing

EUR 8–100 reward — Reward via promo link or promo code

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: €1
FX conversion: 0.15 %

The lowest all-in cost of any mainstream European broker for buy-and-hold investors: no commission, no custody fee, no inactivity fee, free withdrawals with no minimum, and a 0.15% FX conversion fee.
Over 13,000 global stocks and ETFs across LSE, Xetra, Gettex, NYSE, Nasdaq and Euronext Amsterdam, all available fractionally from as little as EUR 1.
Research is the weakest of any broker at this size. There is no meaningful screener, no analyst consensus, no fundamental data worth the name and no export tooling - you will make every decision using data from somewhere else.

Group index 75/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCABaFin+3

ForexStocksETFsCFDsCrypto+2

Visit broker Read review

Admirals (Admiral Markets)

The rare CFD broker that also settles real shares — broad, well-priced and unusually forgiving about dormant accounts.

4,1

Real share investingMetaTrader usersLow-commission FX

Stocks (per order): US$0.02/share
Minimum deposit: €100
EUR/USD spread: 0.9 pips

Real share and ETF ownership through Invest.MT5 — roughly 4,800 listed companies and 200-plus ETFs from USD 0.02 per share with a USD 1.00 minimum, with no custody or platform fee.
Zero.MT5 prices FX from 0.0 pips plus commission starting at USD 3.00 per lot per side (USD 6.00 round turn), falling towards USD 1.80 per side at high volume.
Support is weekday office hours only, with no weekend desk — a genuine gap for anyone holding crypto CFDs over a Saturday.

Group index 72/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAASIC+5

ForexStocksETFsCFDsCrypto+3

Visit broker Read review

ActivTrades

A twenty-five-year-old London CFD house that buys extra insurance for your money and charges nothing to hold it.

4,0

Safety-conscious CFD tradersMetaTrader and TradingView usersSmall starting balances

Stocks (per order): in the spread
Minimum deposit: None
EUR/USD spread: 1.0 pips

FCA licence 434413 held since 2005, plus a CMVM-regulated EU entity, an SCB entity and a Brazilian brokerage - one of the longest continuous track records in retail CFDs
Excess-of-loss cover at Lloyd's of London pays up to USD 1,000,000 per claimant on an insolvency - and it covers the offshore entities, which is where clients have no compensation scheme at all; UK clients have FSCS cover of GBP 85,000 instead
82 percent of ActivTrades retail accounts lose money on CFDs - the highest disclosed rate among the fourteen FCA-regulated CFD brokers surveyed by The Investors Centre in 2026, against a 69.9 percent mean

Group index 68/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCACMVM+3

ForexStocksETFsCFDsCrypto+4

Visit broker Read review

FP Markets

Twenty years of ASIC-regulated plumbing behind the widest platform choice in the CFD market.

4,0

DMA equity and futures CFD tradersTraders who want platform choiceActive forex traders

Stocks (per order): US$0.02/share
Minimum deposit: A$100
EUR/USD spread: 0.1 pips

Raw account at USD 3 per lot per side with EUR/USD measured at 0.1 pips and GBP/USD at 0.1 — competitive across the majors
The widest platform lineup in its peer group: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, Iress Trader/ViewPoint, Iress Investor and WebTrader on one account
No options of any kind — exchange-traded, OTC or CFD — so options traders need a second broker

Group index 68/100Protection depends on your legal entity

ASICCySEC+4

ForexStocksETFsFuturesCFDs+5

Visit broker Read review

Quick comparison

The numbers that decide this category, side by side. Scroll right on narrow screens for every column.

Best forex brokers — Quick comparison
Broker	Category	Overall	Fees35 %	Trading platform20 %	Safety & regulation20 %	EUR/USD spread	Minimum deposit	Regulation	Action
1Interactive Brokers	4,5	4.5	4.9	4.8	4.8	0.1 pips	None	SECFCA+3	Visit broker
2Pepperstone	4,5	4.4	4.6	4.6	4.4	0.8 pips	US$10	FCAASIC+5	Visit broker
3IG	4,4	4.5	4.0	4.7	4.9	0.9 pips	None	FCABaFin+5	Visit broker
4CMC Markets	4,4	4.4	4.3	4.8	4.6	0.7 pips	None	FCAFCA+4	Visit broker
5Saxo	4,4	4.4	4.2	4.7	4.7	0.7 pips	None	DFSAFCA+3	Visit broker
6Capital.com	4,3	4.3	4.4	4.3	4.3	0.7 pips	US$20	FCAASIC+2	Visit broker
7XTB	4,3	4.3	4.2	4.6	4.2	0.9 pips	None	FCAKNF+5	Visit broker
8IC Markets	4,3	4.2	4.7	4.5	3.9	0.8 pips	€200	ASICCySEC+4	Visit broker

Our methodology

How we build this ranking

No editorial gut feeling — a published calculation. This category shifts the weights of our rating model towards what its audience actually needs.

Weighting in this category

35 brokers rated

The pale tick marks the weight in the general Brokaro model.

Category weight
Base model

The formula

The category score is 70% the category-specific weighting and 30% the general overall score. A strong all-rounder therefore does not drop out simply because it fails to lead one single criterion.

Category score = 0.7 × Σ(w_i × s_i) + 0.3 × Overall score

Full methodology

Requirements to be listed

A broker that misses these never appears in this list, no matter how it scores.

The broker has to actually offer Forex — not merely advertise it.

Frequently asked questions about this category

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Availability, regulation and tax treatment differ with your residency.

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Best forex brokers 2026

Investor's country

Shows only brokers that accept clients from the selected country.

brokers rated: 35
Data as of: 30 Aug 2026

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