Largest forex brokers

We have a separate section for australian brokers because they have their own regulation under the australian securities and investments commission (ASIC).

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Largest Forex Brokers in The World 2020, largest forex brokers.

Australian brokers are well represented outside australia's borders as well, because the jurisdiction is very solid and some of the brokers are offering top notch conditions and liquidity. The major forex brokers in australia are also very successful in other english speaking countries as well as in china and southeast asia. Choosing a forex broker can be a very daunting task because the number of available options is overwhelming. With so many brokers advertising themselves as being the best, people go to specialized websites to read reviews and see broker rankings hoping they will find which broker is their best choice. Read more

Largest forex brokers in the world 2020

A lot of traders think that a big broker is better than a smaller one because a larger company has many advantages such as economies of scale, a better liquidity position and is the subject of higher scrutiny from the public and the regulators. While this basic assumption has some merit and to some degree "bigger is better", it is not a total correlation between size and quality of forex brokers. This means that the largest broker is not necessary the best, although all good brokers are sufficiently large in order to be competitive.

If you want to find out which are the biggest forex companies in the world, you should continue reading this article. However, if you want to know which are the best forex brokers in the world when it comes to trading conditions and customer satisfaction, you should check our special forex brokers ranking.

How to measure the biggest forex companies

When it comes to measuring the size of a company, there are several criteria that are generally used. The most common criteria used in ranking companies by size are market capitalization, revenue and profits. Also, when it comes to financial companies such as banks or insurance companies, another way to measure size is by comparing the total assets under management. While these values can be relevant in some situations and industries, they are totally irrelevant when it comes to forex brokers. Here is why:

Market capitalization - the only companies that can be ranked by market capitalization are public companies (those listed on a stock exchange). This would leave most forex brokers out of the ranking. It is also important to note that market capitalization represents the value investors give to a specific company. A small but profitable company can have a higher market value than a large company unable to generate profits.

Revenue - while ranking forex brokers by revenue will render more accurate results, this criteria is still far from being relevant in this particular case. A broker's revenues will come from the commissions it charges and the spreads the traders have to pay. A broker with higher commissions and spreads will generate more revenue than a similar sized broker with lower spreads. There is also the problem of integrated products offered by the companies. A company offering stocks trading, options and futures along with forex trading will generate revenue from more sources as compared to a pure forex broker. If the stocks business generates most of the revenue, the company can be very large but the forex division can still be small compared to others.

Profits - ranking forex brokers by profits is totally irrelevant, as this criteria includes the same problems we identified when discussing about revenues, and many more. Just think about a large company with a bloated business that has huge operating costs. It can be a really big company but generate no profit.

Assets under management (AUM) - in the case of forex brokers, the closest thing to AUM are the client funds. While they are not managed by the brokers, they represent the total value of the client accounts. This measure is much more relevant than the previous ones, but it still lacks the differentiation between the forex business and the other services offered by the company. If you mix stocks trading with forex, it is very likely that the largest part of the client funds will be used in trading stocks, not forex. Another thing that makes clients funds less relevant is the different leverage used by brokers. Lower leverage needs more funds in the broker's custody for the same operations. Also, it is possible to have large forex accounts with very little trading activity.

Considering the above mentioned criteria are irrelevant when judging the size of forex brokers, we must come up with a measure that is more relevant to this specific business. In this case, we think that the most relevant criteria to rank forex brokers is by the average volume of daily transactions.

Average volume of daily transactions (AVDT) - the daily transactions of a forex broker can vary a lot, but the more active clients the broker has, the less volatile the value of daily transactions will be. In order to get a better idea about the real volume of a broker, it is better to calculate the average volume for a larger period of time, as daily and seasonal fluctuations will be less relevant. We think the AVDT becomes relevant when at least the last three months are being taken into consideration when calculating the average. In order for a forex broker to be considered large it must have an AVDT of at least one billion dollars (more than 10,000 standard lots traded daily).

We noticed that all the high quality forex brokers are also large ones and have their AVDT of at least three billion dollars. This is why, in this article we will list only brokers with daily transactions exceeding three billion US dollars.

Largest forex brokers by volume

Below you will see the biggest forex companies in the world by volume of daily transactions. We have separated the companies based on their location, as we have identified four major regions when it comes to forex brokers: united states of america, europe, australia and the rest of the world. The regions we identified have different regulation and the brokers in each region must abide by specific rules. The data presented on this article was compiled from different sources such as company presentations and other information found on the internet. The data is not audited and we cannot guarantee it is accurate. Please take the information about AVDT with a grain of salt as it may contain errors and inaccuracies.

Figure 1: major forex regulators around the world

In order to make it easier for you to identify the best forex brokers from the rest, we have also added our rating next to each broker. The ratings vary from A+ (best) to C- (worst). We have a dedicated page where you can read more information about our forex broker ratings.

Largest forex brokers in the united states

The united states is one of the largest forex markets in the world, but due to very restrictive regulation it has been declining in recent years. It is also the most isolated market since US traders are unable to open account with offshore forex brokers because the FATCA regulations imposed on foreign financial institutions has made it too expensive for anyone to accept US clients.

The strict rules and protection from outside competition had led to consolidation among local brokers, with the most important development being the acquisition of FXCM client base by gain capital (also known as forex.Com). Right now there are only three forex brokers in the united states, and one of them is mostly an institutional broker (interactive brokers), so retail clients have basically only two choices (forex.Com and oanda). Because the CFTC and NFA regulation greatly limits leverage and has the unpopular FIFO rule, the US based brokers have been unable to get traction in foreign markets and the vast majority of their clients are from the US.

Below is the ranking of the biggest US forex brokers by volume:

AVDT*	rating	broker
15.5	B-	forex.Com (GAIN capital holdings inc)
10.7	B+	oanda (oanda corporation)
3.9	C-	interactive brokers (interactive brokers LLC)

* average volume of daily transactions in billion USD

Largest forex brokers in europe

This is where most of the large forex companies are located. Because of europe's cultural and linguistic diversity, local brokers had to adapt early to very different markets and stiff competition, but this has proven to be a great asset when they expanded globally. European brokers are based in different countries and have multiple trading licenses, but the hot spots of forex trading in europe are cyprus (cysec) and the united kingdom (FCA). This is where most brokers are located thanks to the world leading regulation, and even brokers located in other countries such as denmark's saxo bank use a cysec license for their forex trading division. While european regulation varies from country to country, they are all compliant with the MIFID legislation of the european union which adds another layer of protection for traders.

Some of the european brokers have gone global, and their operations are spread on different continents. European brokers are used by many traders in asia, africa, the middle east and latin america, and their total volumes are greatly boosted by their international operations. Some brokers may have the bulk of their activity from non-european clients attracted by the safety of european regulations and the excellent trading conditions offered by some of the world's leading brokers.

Here you can see the largest forex brokers in europe:

AVDT*	rating	broker
13.4	A	XM group (trading point of financial instruments ltd, trading point of financial instruments pty ltd and XM global limited)
12.3	B	saxo bank (saxo bank A/S)
7.8	B+	ava trade (ava trade ltd)
6.8	B-	IG markets (IG group)
6.5	C	FX pro (fxpro financial services limited)
4.7	B+	swissquote (swissquote group holding SA)
4.4	B-	plus500 (plus500 ltd)
4.3	C-	etoro (etoro europe ltd)
4.2	C	markets.Com (safecap investments limited)
3.9	B-	CMC markets (CMC markets UK plc)
3.8	B-	FXCM (FXCM group)
3.6	C+	forex time (forextime limited)
3.5	B	dukascopy (dukascopy bank SA)
3.3	B-	FXDD (fxdirectdealer LLC)
3.2	C+	admiral markets (admiral markets group AS)

* average volume of daily transactions in billion USD

Figure 2: costas cleanthous, XM's CEO at the shanghai forex expo

Biggest forex brokers in australia by volume

We have a separate section for australian brokers because they have their own regulation under the australian securities and investments commission (ASIC). Australian brokers are well represented outside australia's borders as well, because the jurisdiction is very solid and some of the brokers are offering top notch conditions and liquidity. The major forex brokers in australia are also very successful in other english speaking countries as well as in china and southeast asia.

There are three major australian forex brokers that generate very high average daily volumes, and all of them are experiencing good growth rates. Below you can find the largest forex brokers in australia:

AVDT*	rating	broker
18.9	A+	IC markets (international capital markets pty ltd)
6.7	A-	pepperstone (pepperstone group limited)
5.3	A-	AXI trader (axitrader limited)

* average volume of daily transactions in billion USD

Largest forex brokers from other jurisdictions

There are several high volume forex brokers located in other jurisdictions than the ones presented above (australia, europe and united states). Since the remaining big brokers are spread around the world and are not concentrated in a smaller region, we have included them in the "rest of the world" category. The brokers listed here come from very different jurisdictions such as st. Vincent and the grenadines, belize, british virgin islands or cayman islands in the caribbean, seychelles or bermuda.

The brokers in this category abide by different regulation and can vary a lot when it comes to reliability. However, this does not mean that such brokers cannot be good, as you will see that the ratings they received are very different, from very good to very bad.

Here is the list of the largest forex brokers from the rest of the world:

AVDT*	rating	broker
11.5	A	hot forex (HF markets ltd)
9.7	A	vantage FX (vantage international group limited)
9.1	A-	IFC markets (ifcmarkets corp)
8.4	A-	exness (exness limited)
5.8	B	instaforex (instaforex group)
4.3	B+	roboforex (roboforex ltd)
4.1	B	iron FX (notesco limited)
3.8	B-	X-trade brokers (xtrade international limited)
3.7	B	eagle FX (eaglefx ltd)
3.5	B	IQ option (iqoption ltd)
3.3	B-	FX open (fxopen markets limited)
3.2	C	easy markets (EF worldwide ltd)
3.1	B	olymp trade ( inlustris ltd. )
3.0	C-	alpari (alpari limited)

* average volume of daily transactions in billion USD

Which large forex brokers are truly global?

While US traders will have to settle with a US based broker since they are not allowed to open accounts with foreign companies, people from the rest of the world are free to trade using an offshore forex broker account. In most cases, europeans will settle for an european broker and australians will choose a local one as well, but what about people from the rest of the world? What about people in canada, central and south america, the caribbean, africa and asia? They make up more than 85% of the world population, and they must choose a foreign forex broker to trade with. What are their best options?

All forex brokers will accept people from most countries, but only a small number of brokers are truly able to handle a diverse client base. In order to better serve people from various countries and continents, a broker must be able to easily handle deposits and withdrawals with a vast number of internationally used payment methods. The brokers must also allow for accounts denominated in different currencies, have multilingual websites and dedicated customer support for many countries and languages. The brokers targeting a worldwide audience may hold multiple licenses and operate in different jurisdictions in order to provide the best trading conditions for people in different regions. While many of the big forex companies are specialized in serving more than one demographic, we have identified a set of brokers which have a truly global presence and are well suited to handle traders from any corner of the world.

Here are the largest truly global forex brokers:

AVDT*	rating	broker
18.9	A+	IC markets (australia, seychelles)
13.4	A	XM group (cyprus, australia and belize)
12.3	B	saxo bank (denmark)
11.5	A	hot forex (st. Vincent and the grenadines, cyprus, south africa, seychelles, mauritius)
9.1	A-	IFC markets (british virgin islands)
7.8	B+	ava trade (ireland)
6.5	C	FX pro (united kingdom)
5.8	B	instaforex (british virgin islands)

* average volume of daily transactions in billion USD

Disclaimer: the average trading volumes presented on this page are the result of out efforts to gather and compile information from different internet sources. We have no guarantee that the numbers are correct, and considering the volatility of the forex market and the seasonal dynamics, it is possible that such numbers will suffer significant changes from month to month. Please also note that the ratings we give to forex brokers are based on our own research and criteria, but do not represent an endorsement or a critique of any broker. We are not giving investment advice and we think anyone should do his/her personal due diligence before registering with a specific broker. Forex trading is a risky activity and you should never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.

List of the largest forex brokers

The global foreign exchange market (forex) is the most liquid and the most transparent market in the world. But while the forex trading market is very transparent, most forex brokers are not transparent. Only very few of the publish data about themselves. You will rarely find a FX broker that publishes the number of active forex traders or the number of new clients acquired during the past three months.

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So there is no easy way to find out which FX brokers are large and which ones are rather small. But this would be interesting to know. One could say that the larger a FX broker is, the better the services it provides. You can look at each customer being a “vote” for that FX broker. So the more traders a FX broker has, the better it must be. We cannot say that the largest forex broker is automatically the best FX broker. But size is a good indication for the quality of a broker. Furthermore, forex brokers with a huge client base must have been active in the market already for a long time – otherwise they would not have reached that size. So you can assume that their trading software is stable and advanced (the FX broker has had enough time for the development and improvement of the trading software). And you can also assume that this FX broker will remain active in the market for a long time. So choosing a big forex broker increases that chances of trading with an established and reputable broker where you will still be able to trade FX or CFD in two or three years.

Measuring the size of a forex broker

How to figure out how large a broker is if there is no publicly available data? Our team from broker reviews has made an indirect analysis and tried to measure the relative size of some of the forex brokers we have reviewed on our website. We have chosen three metrics and determined the ranking of brokers for each of these metrics. The sum of the rankings then led to our estimated size of the various FX brokers.

Criteria for determining size of a FX broker

Google searches: with the google adwords keyword tool we measured how often specific brokers were searched in google. If a FX broker is googled often, then it must be a large broker. Of course the results have certain limitations. For example, a broker might also be searched often because its website is down often. And some FX brokers have a generic brand name such as “easymarkets” (this broker was known as “easy-forex” until summer 2016). It is possible that someone searches for terms like “how to make easy profits with forex trading”, which would also count as a search for “easymarkets”. And a FX broker might also be small, but many people might search for it because it is running a large-scale advertising campaign.

Google results: here we have measured how many search results for the brand name of the FX broker can be found in the search engine google. We assume that if there are plenty of websites writing about a specific FX broker, then this broker must be a large broker. Of course, we have the same limitations here as with the google searches.

Alexa rank: alexa is a web service that attaches a toolbar to browsers. With the alexa toolbar it measures which websites are visited by the user. The tool is not very exact, but it gives at least an indication of whether a broker is large or small. One limitation is that the rank is measured per domain. When a broker like forex4you has specific domains for each country (forex4you.Com for the U.S., and fx4you.De for germany), the .Com domain is visited less often and that brokers seems to be smaller than if when that broker would use its international domain for visitors from all countries (eg forex4you.Com/de).

Despite all this uncertainty, we still believe that with the combination of these three factors we were able to draw a rough overview of the relative size of some of the brokers reviewed here. So etoro, instaforex and avatrade are among the world’s largest FX brokers.

2021 forex statistics

Key statistics explaining the worlds largest financial market, foreign exchange (forex), are discussed below. Read on to discover key facts about the forex industry as well as its risks, brokers, traders and software.

Forex trading statistics

Forex markets had a daily turnover of $6.6 trillion dollars in 2019, up from $5.1 trillion in 2016.

The total value of the forex industry increased from $1.934 quadrillion dollars in 2016 to $2.409 in 2019.

Forex is the only financial market in the world to operate 24 hours a day.

The forex market is comprised of 170 different currencies.

The united states dollar (USD) is on one side of 88% of all forex trades.

Seven currency pairs make up 68% of the forex markets trading volume.

Female forex traders tend to outperform male traders by 1.8%.

54% of retail traders use metatrader 4 or metatrader 5.

IC markets is the biggest australian retail forex broker.

Since 2009, over 6,000 different cryptocurrencies have been released.

How much is the forex market worth in 2021

The worldwide 2021 forex market is worth $2,409,000,000 ($2.409 quadrillion). $6.6 trillion on average every day is traded on foreign exchange markets. This is significantly higher than the previous analysis done by the bank for international settlements (BIS) in 2016 when it was valued at $1.934 quadrillion dollars.

The forex market is the largest financial market in the world in terms of trading volume, liquidity and value. Unlike other markets such as equities, the forex industry is the only financial market with 24/7 availability.

Not surprisingly, spot forex is the most popular asset class with $2 trillion worth of spot transactions traded daily in foreign exchange markets. After spot fx, the instruments with the largest daily turnover are:

Forwards $1 trillion

Foreign exchange swaps $3.2 trillion

Currency swaps $108 billion

Options and others $294 billion

As the largest financial market in the world, forex market participants are mainly financial institutions such as hedge funds, investment managers, multinational corporations, as well as commercial, investment and central banks. Retail forex trading only accounts for a mere 5.5% of the entire forex market globally.

The majority of forex trading is facilitated in five major financial hubs around the world, with 79% of forex trading occurring in the united kingdom, united states, hong kong, singapore and japan. The UK is by far the largest fx trading centre, contributing to 43.1% of the worlds foreign exchange turnover. With the recent rise in popularity of forex trading in asia, china has increased from the 13th to 8th largest forex trading centre in the world.

Largest forex trading centres (2019)	country	share of global OTC forex turnover
1.	United kingdom	43.1%
2.	United states	16.5%
3.	Singapore	7.6%
4.	Hong kong	7.6%
5.	Japan	4.5%
6.	Switzerland	3.3%
7.	France	2%
8.	China	1.6%
9.	Germany	1.5%
10.	Australia	1.4%

The 7 major currency pairs

The global forex market is comprised of over 170 different major, minor and exotic currencies. Although traders’ have a diverse range of currency pair options to choose from, seven major fx pairs make up 68% of global foreign exchange transactions. In 2019, the 7 most frequently traded currency pairs and its share of the OTC forex turnover was the:

United states dollar vs euro 24%

United states dollar vs japanese yen 17.8%

United states dollar vs great british pound 9.3%

United states dollar vs australian dollar 5.2%

United states dollar vs canadian dollar 4.3%

United states dollar vs chinese yuan 3.8%

United states dollar vs swiss franc 3.6%

The worlds most popular currencies

The united states dollar plays a key role in financial markets and international economics due to pegged currencies, dollarization, as well as most central banks holding their reserves in USD. Although 43.1% of foreign exchange transactions take place in the UK, 88% of global forex transactions include the USD on one side of the transaction, showing the dominance of the USD currency in international forex trading.

The second most likely currency to be included in a forex transaction is the euro. A boost in turnover of the euro during the past 3 years can be linked to increased turnover of EUR/CHF and EUR/JPY currency pairs. While the third most likely currency to be included in forex transactions is the japanese yen, turnover has declined since 2016. Unlike the EUR and JPY, the volume of GBP, AUD, CAD and CHF being traded has remained unchanged over the last 3 years.

The average daily turnover for emerging currencies has increased recently. In 2016, 21% of total forex turnover could be attributed to emerging currencies, compared to 24.5% last year.

Forex risk

As a retail investor, speculating on forex involves a very high risk of losing money due to high leverage and volatile currency markets. When 35 foreign exchange brokers were assessed, compareforexbrokers found that on average 71% of retail fx traders lose money when trading forex.

Although 29% of retail investors achieve capital gains, 99% of fx traders fail to make profits for more than 4 continuous quarters.

Retail Investor Accounts That Lose Money

UK broker	jan-20	feb-20	mar-20	apr-20	may-20	jun-20	jul-20	aug-20	sep-20	oct-20	change
etoro (UK) ltd	75%	62%	62%	62%	75%	75%	75%	75%	75%	75%	0%
fxpro UK limited	70.25%	70.25%	70.25%	70.25%	79.78%	75.54%	75.54%	78.90%	78.90%	78.90%	0%
GKFX	73%	73%	73%	73%	81%	81%	81%	73%	73%	73%	0%
ICM capital limited	73.80%	71.31%	71.31%	71.31%	78.35%	78.35%	78.35%	78.03%	78.03%	78.03%	0%
activtrades plc	71%	69%	69%	69%	75.70%	75.70%	75.70%	76%	76%	76%	0%
thinkmarkets	72.81%	73.72%	73.72%	73.72%	78.94%	78.94%	78.94%	78.94%	78.94%	78.94%	0%
plus500 UK	76.40%	76.40%	76.40%	76.40%	80.50%	80.50%	80.50%	76.40%	76.40%	76.40%	0%
axitrader UK	65.60%	65.60%	65.60%	65.60%	69.60%	69.60%	72.60%	72.60%	72.60%	72.60%	0%
FXCM ltd	69.66%	69.66%	69.66%	69.66%	74.74%	74.74%	74.74%	73.38%	75.38%	75.38%	0%
FOREX.Com UK	69%	69%	69%	69%	72%	72%	72%	73%	73%	73%	0%
city index	72%	71%	71%	71%	74%	74%	74%	74%	74%	74%	0%
XTB limited	75%	77%	77%	77%	80%	80%	80%	79%	79%	79%	0%
swissquote ltd	79%	77%	77%	77%	79%	79%	79%	79%	79%	79%	0%
ETX capital	75.60%	75.10%	75.10%	75.10%	76%	76%	76%	77.40%	77.40%	77.40%	0%
fxopen UK	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	60%	0%
interactive brokers (UK) ltd	60.50%	60.50%	60.50%	66%	66%	66%	64%	64%	64%	64%	0%
hantec markets	66%	66%	67%	67%	67%	65%	65%	65%	68%	68%	0%
delta financial markets limited	67%	64%	58%	68%	68%	68%	67%	67%	67%	68%	1%
ADS securities london limited	70%	70%	69%	69%	69%	72%	72%	72%	77%	77%	0%
one financial markets	67%	68%	68%	71%	71%	71%	71%	70%	70%	70%	0%
key to markets limited	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	0%
avatrade	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	0%
fxgiants	66.22%	71.03%	71.03%	71.03%	71.03%	71.60%	71.60%	70.39%	70.39%	70.39%	0%
tickmill	72%	73%	70%	73%	73%	73%	73%	73%	73%	73%	0%
IG markets limited	68%	68%	68%	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	0%
london capital group (LCG)	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	79%	79%	79%	0%
admiral markets UK ltd	76%	76%	76%	76%	76%	79%	79%	81%	81%	81%	0%
pepperstone limited	73.60%	73.60%	73.60%	76.50%	76.50%	76.50%	78.60%	78.60%	78.60%	79.30%	0.70%
CMC markets UK plc	70.50%	70.50%	70.50%	78%	78%	78%	79%	79%	79%	79%	0%
intertrader limited	78%	78%	78%	78%	78%	78%	73.19%	73%	73%	73%	0%
terafx UK	78%	78%	78%	79%	79%	79%	76.70%	76.70%	76.70%	78.20%	2%
city credit capital (UK) ltd	79%	77%	77%	77%	76.70%	76.70%	76.70%	73.36%	73.36%	73.36%	0%
LMAX limited	70.40%	70.40%	70.40%	70.40%	69.60%	69.60%	75.97%	75.97%	75.97%	75.97%	0%
equiti capital	66.56%	75.33%	75.33%	75.33%	73.07%	73.07%	73.07%	73.07%	73.07%	73.07%	0%
HYCM ltd	67%	67%	74%	74%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	71%	0%
OANDA europe limited	73.50%	73.50%	76.80%	76.80%	73.50%	73.50%	73.50%	73.50%	76.80%	76.80%	0%

Forex trader demographics

The majority of retail fx investors’ are men, with only 10% of traders being female. Although far fewer women trade forex than men, a study carried out by warwick business school found females outperform men by 1.8% when investing in financial markets, as men are more likely to take risks and break trading rules, while women follow long-term strategies.

In regards to age, 43.5% of traders are aged between 34-45 years, 5% of forex traders are millennials aged between 25-34 while 15% of forex traders are over the age of 45.

The worlds top forex brokers

Australian broker IC markets is the largest australian-based forex broker in the world as mentioned in our forex broker reviews. Retail forex traders gravitate to IC markets as they are regulated by top-tier financial authorities ASIC (australian securities and investments commission), the FSA (the seychelles financial services authority) and cysec (cyprus securities exchange commission). Pepperstone is the second-largest and overseen by ASIC, the FCA (financial conduct authority, UK) and the DFSA (dubai financial services authority).

The largest US forex broker is XM, regulated by a range of financial authorities including cysec in cyprus while the largest forex brokers in europe are XM and saxo bank (often called saxo capital markets).

Largest global forex brokers by daily trading volume

largest global forex brokers	broker	average trading vol. Per day
1.	IC markets	USD 18.9 billion
2.	XM group	USD 13.4 billion
3.	Saxo bank	USD 12.3 billion
4.	Hot forex	USD 11.5 billion
5.	IFC markets	USD 9.1 billion
6.	Avatrade	USD 7.8 billion
7.	FX pro	USD 6.5 billion
8.	Instaforex	USD 5.8 billion

Forex trading software

Trading platforms

Metatrader 4 is the most popular trading platform currently available to retail investors. In 2018, it was found that 54% of all retail cfds were traded using metaquotes software (metatrader 4 and metatrader 5). Forex traders tend to prefer windows over other computer software, with 85% of traders using windows compatible trading platforms.

A key reason metatrader 4 (MT4) and metatrader (MT5) are so popular is due to the software’s advanced tools designed to assist those executing trading strategies such as day trading or expert advisers. If you want to explore the platforms before you sign up to a live account, most forex brokers offer demo accounts that provide real-time trading conditions.

Mobile trading

As continuous technical and fundamental analysis can increase the chances of successful forex trading by 10%-30%, today’s forex traders want constant access to their forex brokers and trading platforms. When looking for a new broker to trade forex with 35% of traders use their mobile to research account types and trading features. In regards to traders’ software preferences, android is 3% more popular than iphones using ios software, while samsung is more popular than other devices.

History of forex markets

Prior to the 1970s, forex trading as its known today was prohibited due to the gold standard and bretton woods systems. Exchange rates were controlled, therefore traders could not speculate on foreign currency movements. After the collapse of the bretton woods system in 1973, floating exchange rates opened the door for modern-day forex trading.

Trading platforms

In 1996, the introduction of forex trading platforms allowed retail investors to participate in foreign exchange markets for the first time. Following the introduction of retail traders to forex markets, metaquotes began releasing trading platforms designed for retail traders. In 2005 metatrader 4 (MT4) was launched, which continues to be the gold standard and most popular retail forex trading platform to date. Although metaquotes released metatrader 5 in 2010, MT4 still remains the most popular retail trading platform in the world.

Cryptocurrency

The release of the first decentralised cryptocurrency in 2009 was a pivotal moment in the history of CFD trading and financial markets. Since bitcoins release, over 6,000 other cryptocurrencies have been created that are usually traded against the USD (US dollar), EUR (euro), GBP (great british pound) or AUD (australian dollar). The total value of cryptocurrency markets is now estimated at $201 billion dollars.

Disclaimer: cryptos carry even higher risk than forex and other cfds because of the historically high volatility in crypto markets. Due to this, the UK’s financial authority (the FCA) banned cryptocurrency trading for retail traders in 2020.

Forex faqs

How do I find a forex broker?

When searching for a new forex and CFD broker, it is important to establish the trading platform you want to use, the trading tools you require, along with the CFD products you are looking to trade. To compare top forex brokers offerings, you can find more info here.

How do I choose a forex trading platform?

The trading platform best-suited to you heavily depends on the trading strategies you wish to execute as well as your trading experience. To find out which brokers are the best for beginner traders, click here. Metatrader 4, metatrader 5 and ctrader are ideal for experienced traders looking for advanced trading tools.

How do you start trading forex and cfds?

To get started, you will need to choose a forex broker and trading platform. Once signed up to a trading account, you will be required to choose your account’s base currency and make an initial minimum deposit that varies between brokers. If you want to explore brokers’ features prior to committing to a live account, most brokers offer demo accounts to practise trading in a risk-free environment. To find out more, read our forex trading guide.

Sources

Bank for international settlements (BIS)

The majority of the statistics referenced in this article are sourced from the bank of international settlements (BIS) triennial central bank survey 2019. The survey conducted by BIS is the largest global analysis of financial markets focusing on forex and over the counter (OTC) derivatives.

Justin grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded compare forex brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of fintech and digital startups including innovate online and SMS comparison. Justin holds a masters degree and an honours in commerce from monash university. He and his wife paula live in melbourne, australia with his son and siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches australian rules football and invests on global markets.

Statistic categories

The leading forex broker comparison site, compare forex brokers pty ltd is an authorised representative of guildfords funds management pty ltd australian financial services licence no. 471379 (A/R no. 001274082). Copyright 2021 and all rights reserved. Trading forex and cfds with leverage poses significant risk of loss to your capital.

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Best worldwide forex brokers in 2021

The top 10 forex brokers in the world were determined based on global forex regulation, spreads and the best forex trading platforms. The companies that made the top 10 list were outstanding at a unique forex trading category.

Compare the top forex brokers in the world based on their size, spreads, trading platform and more.

Top 10 forex brokers in the world 2021

By regulator and features here is the list of the largest forex brokers

Pepperstone – best global forex broker overall

IC markets– top ASIC broker with lowest spreads

CMC markets – FCA broker with range of currency pairs

TD ameritrade – best forex broker for U.S traders

Forex.Com – IIROC broker for canadian traders

IG– best broker for beginners with DFSA licence

FP markets – top CYSEC broker with metatrader 4

Interactive brokers – MAS fx broker and stockbroker

FXTM – top FSC broker with highest leverage

Thinkmarkets – best FSCA regulated broker

Pepperstone is the best global broker

Pepperstone is considered the best global broker overall, as it’s a great option for all styles of CFD and forex trading. All the tools and features required to develop successful currency trading strategies are offered by pepperstone, including low spreads, the best trading platforms, a great product range and award-winning customer services.

Spreads and account types

Regardless of the subsidiary you register with, pepperstone offers two account types that are suited to different strategies and levels of trading experience. You can choose between either commission-free standard spreads or razor spreads where you pay a flat rate commission fee.

Razor account – great for active traders

If you want to execute day trading, scalping or automated trading strategies, pepperstone’s razor account provides an ECN-style trading environment with ultra-tight spreads. As shown below, pepperstone offers low spreads that most of the world’s best brokers fail to match. For commonly traded forex pairs like the USD/JPY spreads average 0.13 pips with pepperstone, much less than what brokers such as tradersway and XTB offer, which average 0.50 pips.

Because you gain access to institutional grade spreads that can be as low as 0.0 pips, you pay a flat rate commission fee on top of the spread. Metatrader users incur a fee of AUD $3.50 per side per 100k traded, while ctrader has a 7 unit charge per lot. With ECN-like spreads and low commission fees, overall trading costs are low for razor account holders.

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

Standard account – great for new traders

Standard accounts are great for beginners as you can trade commission-free spreads, avoiding the need to calculate trading costs when you’re starting out and building confidence. Compared to other top brokers, pepperstone offers the tightest no commission spreads. For instance, the standard account holders can access spreads averaging 1.33 pips for the AUD/JPY, significantly lower than 4.90 pips at tradersway or 3.36 pips at fxpro.

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

Trading platforms and market access

To access the broker’s diverse range of forex and cfds pepperstone clients can use choose either metatrader 4 (MT4), metatrader 5 (MT5) or ctrader as their trading platform. All are available as desktop trading platforms for PC and mac computers, mobile apps for ios and android devices as well as webtrader platforms for online trading.

Five different asset classes are available to trade being forex, commodities, shares, indices and cryptocurrencies. As well as major, minor and exotic currency pairs you can also trade currency indices such as the US dollar index (USDX), a weighted basket of six major currencies including the GBP, JPY and EUR.

Although the online broker offers access to over 150 financial markets, access depends on the trading platform you are using. For example, share trading only available on MT5 as it is a multi-asset platform, while ctrader and MT4 are predominately forex trading platforms.

Pepperstone is ideal if you want to focus on trading cryptocurrency. Spreads are competitive and commission-free for when trading crypto with pepperstone. Five CFD products are available (bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin and dash), with bitcoin spreads starting from $10.00.

Note: clients in the UK will not be able to trade cryptocurrencies as the UK regulator, the FCA, no longer allows crypto trading.

Whether you are trading forex, cryptocurrencies or share cfds, pepperstone trading platforms offer a great range of analysis and automation features to help you develop trading strategies and save time.

Trading tools:

Algorithmic trading with expert advisors (eas) on metatrader platform or cbots when using ctrader.

Social-copy trading via metatrader’s trading signals or third-party social trading services such as myfxbook, mirror trader and duplitrade.

Charting tools to perform technical analysis and fundamental tools such as an economic calendar.

Autochartist and add-on expert advisors and indicators (pepperstone’s smart trader tools) are free to download

Tier-1 regulators

As well as an excellent trading environment and product range, pepperstone is seen as safe and trustworthy as it’s overseen by top-tier financial authorities. The level of investor protection you receive as a pepperstone client depends on where you reside and the subsidiary you register with:

Pepperstone, UK: regulated by the financial conduct authority, maximum leverage of 30:1 when trading forex and negative balance protection (NBP) is provided.

Pepperstone, australia: regulated by the australian securities and investments commission (ASIC), no NBP or leverage caps, with a maximum leverage of 500:1 for forex instruments.

Pepperstone, dubai: regulated by the dubai financial services authority (DFSA), maximum forex leverage 50:1.

Pepperstone, EU (mainland europe): regulated by cyprus securities exchange (cysec), maximum leverage 30:1

Pepperstone gmbh (germany and austria): regulated by the federal financial supervisory authority (bafin), maximum leverage 30:1

Pepperstone, international: regulated by the securities commission of the bahamas, no investor protections such as NBP or leverage caps.

Note: clients in the UK should sign with pepperstone UK, clients in germany and austria should sign with pepperstone gmbh, clients in other mainland europe countries should sign with pepperstone EU.

Customer support

Pepperstone is known for its reliable and efficient customer service. Live chat, phone or email can be used to get in touch with the customer support team, with all contact methods available 24/6. The online broker has been recognised for its customer services for many years now, winning awards for the quality of trading support and relationship management provided by pepperstone.

Education

Pepperstone provides a range of free educational resources (such as webinars) to help you develop trading strategies and conduct market analysis.

Education	research
webinars and videos	market news
trading platform tutorials	market analysis and commentary
educational articles	economic calendar
glossary	trading guides
demo accounts	trading ideas

Another key educational resource is the broker’s demo account. As cfds and forex are complex instruments, trading comes with a high risk of losing money. Demos allow you to practise and build confidence in real-time currency trading conditions, but in a risk-free environment. The online broker offers trials for MT4, MT5 and ctrader with both standard and razor account pricing.

To open a real account with pepperstone, no minimum deposit is required, although the broker recommends at least $200.

Our rating

The overall rating is based on review by our experts

Largest forex brokers

Biggest forex brokers 2020

Before we drill down in depth about the largest forex brokers by volume, we first need to understand what a forex company, or broker is . So what exactly is a forex broker? Well a forex broker is a financial services company that offers traders access to a specific platform in order for them to be able to buy and sell foreign currencies.

The global foreign exchange market is ultimately a 24-hour market, since global currencies are traded on this timescale. Most of the foreign exchange transactions that take place on the global market are between the 10 most popular pairs, which belong to the 10 countries that make up the G10.

Such countries and their currencies include; united states (USD), europe (euro), united kingdom (GBP), japan (JPY), australia (AUD), new zealand (NZD), canada (CAD) and switzerland (CHF). Although these are the most popular pairs that forex brokers offer, there are other less popular currencies that are available to trade as well.

Who are the biggest forex brokers?

When it comes to forex brokers, there are so many brokers out there but for this section I will only be talking about the biggest brokers on the planet, and how they differ from others.

In order to make this clearer, I will be breaking it down into different areas of the world.

The largest forex brokers in the world are:

IC markets – 19 billion

Forex.Com – 15 billion

XM group – 13.4 billion

Saxo group – 12 billion

Hot forex – 12 billion

Based on daily trading volumes

broker type	ECN
regulations	ASIC
min deposit	$200.00
account base currency	USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, JPY, NZD,CHF, SGD, HKD
max leverage	500:1
trading platforms	metatrader 4/5, ctrader, webtrader, API trading, MAM / PAMM

Broker type	market maker
regulations	NFA, CFTC, RFED, FCM
min deposit	$50.00
account base currency	USD CAD GBP
max leverage	50:1
trading platforms	forextrader, metatrader 4

Broker type	market maker
regulations	IFSC, cysec, ASIC
min deposit	$5.00
account base currency	USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, RUB, PLN, HUF, SGD, ZAR
max leverage	888:1. *leverage depends on the entity of the group and the financial instrument traded.
Trading platforms	metatrader 4/5, webtrader

Account base currency

Broker type	market maker
regulations	cysec, FSC
min deposit	$5.00
account base currency	USD, EUR
max leverage	1-1000, EU clients 1:30
trading platforms	metatrader 4, webtrader, HOTFOREX FIX/API

Largest forex brokers by volume 2020

The united states is one of the largest foreign exchange markets in the world as we know it.

However because of incredibly restrictive and stringent regulations, it has been on a downward spiral for some time now.

As well as being one of the largest, it is also the most isolated market. This is because the traders in the U.S. Are unfortunately unable to open any account with offshore forex brokers, due to FATCA regulations that are enforced on foreign financial institutions.

These tough regulations means that it has become too expensive for anyone to accept U.S. Clients.

Due to the harsh rules and protection from outside competition, this has led to the consolidation of local brokers. One notable development is that of the acquisition of FXCM by gain capital (also known as forex.Com ).

Currently in the U.S. There are only three forex brokers, and one of them is pretty much just an institutional broker.

Because of these regulations which increasingly limits the amount of leverage a trader can use, these U.S. Based brokers haven’t been able to gain the traction they need in the foreign exchange arena.

The biggest U.S. Brokers in the united states are:

Europe : europe is where a lot of the foreign exchange platforms are housed, and this is where you’ll find the majority of them in the world.

The vast diversity featured in europe meant that local brokers had to shift and adapt very different markets, as well as competition.

These european brokers are situated in many different countries and multiple trading licenses, but if you don’t know already, the main location for foreign exchange brokers is in cyprus (cysec) and the united kingdom (FCA).

Thanks to financial regulations, you’ll commonly see that brokers are regulated either by the cysec or FCA. Even the likes of swissquote will be regulated and use a cysec or FCA license.

Whilst all european regulation differs from country to country, they are all MIFID compliant. This gives traders another layer of protection when it comes to their money.

Below are the largest foreign exchange brokers in europe:

Some european brokers have managed to go global, as well as their base of operations spanning different continents.

The european brokers are specifically used by countless traders all around the world in places such as asia, africa, middle east and latin america, and have attracted a lot of growth due to their international operations.

Australia : australian brokers have their own regulatory standards under the australian securities and investments commission (ASIC).

These brokers are incredibly well represented outside of australia, and the jurisdiction is very tight and solid, with some brokers offering some of the best conditions and liquidity.

Largest foreign exchange brokers in australia

Below are the three major australian foreign exchange brokers that generate some of the largest average daily volumes:

Rest of the world : there are a number of large, high volume foreign exchange brokers that are located in other parts of the world.

Since these large brokers are spread across the globe and aren’t concentrated in a specific region, they are in this category instead.

Brokers in this list come from countries like st. Vincent and the grenadines, belize or the cayman islands.

The brokers in this list follow a different set of regulatory guidelines and can vary a lot when it comes to reliability. Although, having said this, it doesn’t mean they aren’t good brokers.

Overall who are the largest brokers

Whilst traders in the united states will have to settle for a U.S. Based broker, since they aren’t allowed to any accounts with companies outside of U.S. Jurisdiction.

Whereas traders from other parts of the world are free to open accounts with offshore foreign exchange brokers.

Typically, europeans will settle for european brokers and australians will choose a broker in their region. But what about the rest of the world.

They make up approximately 85% of the world’s population, so they must choose a broker to trade with. So what options do they have?

Forex brokers will accept people from almost anywhere, but only a small number of brokers have the power to be able to handle a diverse client base.

In order to support people from various countries and continents, a broker must be able to easily handle deposits and withdrawals with a vast number of internationally used payment methods.

These brokers must also allow for accounts in different local currencies, have multilingual websites and dedicated customer support for many countries and languages.

The brokers targeting a worldwide audience may hold a number of licenses and operate in different parts of the world in order to provide the best trading conditions for people in different regions.

So, let's see, what we have: A list with the largest forex brokers in the world, ranked by volume of daily transactions. See the biggest forex companies in each region. At largest forex brokers