Best Brokers in the UK
An online broker is the platform between buyers and sellers of financial instruments. Trading brokerages charge traders and investors a fee or commission for facilitating the purchase and sale of various assets via their platform. They often invest in high-performance and innovative technologies to facilitate top class trading conditions so that their clients can get exposure to a wide range of markets and powerful tools.
Brokers provide three main levels of service and the one you choose will depend on the level of autonomy you want over your investment decisions. Advancing technology has led to an increased number of online brokers over the years, and identifying one that suits your needs might not always be an easy task.
The United Kingdom is home to some of the best trading brokers that you will find anywhere. Whilst this does mean that you have lots of choice, it can be overwhelming trying to sift through all of the available options to find a suitable broker. That is why we have complied this handy guide to help you along the way.
Top 10 Brokers UK
Here you will find the best United Kingdom brokers according to the many hours of research, testing, analysis and comparison that we have conducted across hundreds of brokers. By having all of the best brokers listed in one place, we aim to make it quick and easy for you to identify the best broker in the UK according to your own individual needs.
In order to be included within our best brokers in the UK list, the broker should be regulated and offer top trading conditions, including tight spreads, low fees, lots of liquidity and rapid execution speeds. They should have a choice of easy to use yet powerful trading platforms and trading apps along with a wide selection of quality trading tools for comprehensive market analysis and to assist you with your daily trading activities.
Other factors that we consider to be important when choosing the best UK broker include the variety of account types, funding options provided, reputation within the industry, customer support and range of financial instruments available to trade online. We also like to see enough educational resources provided to help beginners learn more about trading and investing online.
That being said, we have chosen these as the best brokers in the United Kingdom as they meet our criteria and are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They have passed our strict broker reviews with flying colours and been awarded a top broker rating for the excellent range of trading and investing services that they provide.
ASIC, BaFin, CFTC, DFSA, FCA, FINMA, FMA, FSA, FSCA, JFSA, MAFF, MAS, METI, NFA
$250
1974
1:200
AvaTrade
AvaTrade are a very well-regulated broker that provide an excellent range of trading products and services to UK traders. You can access the markets via the brokers user-friendly platforms on your desktop and mobile devices. They are suitable for manual trading, automated trading and copying signals of other traders using their social trading platform, the innovative AvaTradeGO app.
AvaTrade do not charge any commission fees, you will pay a small spread mark-up instead but the overall costs work out to be some of the lowest that you will find anywhere. The broker has a fantastic selection of educational resources to help bring beginners up to speed with trading online. You can also open a free demo account to see if they meet your expectations before making a financial commitment.
IG
IG have remained one the best UK brokers for many years now. They are an industry leader in many aspects, including best in class platforms, tools, costs and customer support. UK traders are spoilt for choice with a massive range of over 18,000 financial instruments including forex, stocks, commodities and cryptos. You can get free access to comprehensive market research and analysis from the experts.
The broker also offers direct market access (DMA) for professional traders who would like to deal directly into the order books of major equity exchanges. Whatever you are looking to trade and however you want to trade, IG are one the best brokers in the UK by far. Regulation across multiple jurisdictions can also give you the peace of mind that they are a trusted broker in an industry where so many come and go.
Pepperstone
Pepperstone have been around for many years and were one of the very first brokers that I started trading with. They have exceptionally good trading conditions, especially when it comes to trade forex. The spreads are very tight starting from just 0.0 pips and the execution speeds some of the best you will find anywhere.
The broker gives you convenient access to trade online via the user-friendly MetaTrader platforms and the professional cTrader platform. There are some powerful tools available to help with your market analysis so that you can spot potential opportunities and make informed decisions. Overall, I feel that they are one of the best brokers for UK traders who are looking for no-nonsense access to the markets in a regulated environment with excellent support.
IC Markets
For anyone in the UK who is looking to trade forex with some of the best trading conditions, IC Markets are a top choice. They provide you with powerful platforms and lots of robust tools for trading forex with raw spreads from zero pips, low commission fees and superior execution at the best available price from a deep pool of top-tier liquidity providers.
In addition to forex trading, IC Markets have a great selection of stock CFDs which allow you to speculate on the price of a stock without needing to take physical ownership. This also applies to the generous range of commodities and cryptos that the broker provides. I think they can be an excellent choice for UK traders who are looking to day trade using scalping strategies and automated trading systems.
City Index
City Index are an established and well backed UK broker that offers a superb range of investment products and services to clients. You can trade a wide variety of financial instruments within a regulated environment and get all of the support you need to help you reach your trading goals.
The broker has some of the best trading platforms and apps, with lots of robust trading tools for analysing the markets and finding trade opportunities. They also have an abundance of helpful educational resources to educate those of you who are new to trading. This includes comprehensive trading guides and videos.
I think City Index are a very reputable broker for UK trader who want to trade in a professional environment with all of the resources needed being available at your fingertips. Forex.com is another trading broker under the same umbrella which further emphasises the size of the company.
Markets.com
Markets.com is a regulated broker that provides clients with a large range of trading instruments on powerful yet user friendly platforms, with tight spreads, rapid execution speeds, low commissions, various funding options and excellent 24/5 support.
ActivTrades
Established in 2001, ActivTrades are an award winning and regulated online UK broker offering traders a great selection of over 500+ trading instruments. They provide powerful trading platforms, useful trading tools and educational materials.
Valutrades
Valutrades is a regulated trading brokerage firm with flexible platforms and accounts. They have a selection of tools and educational materials but non-FX instruments are lacking in comparison to some of the other UK brokers.
Key to Markets
Key to Markets is a regulated ECN broker with a good selection of trading instruments available via MT4 and FIX API. Eligible clients can claim a free VPS although they lack additional trading tools and educational materials.
Capital.com
Capital.com is a UK based online broker providing a great range of financial products and services. Through their award-winning platform, traders can trade CFDs online with a choice of over 2,000+ markets across indices, commodities, cryptocurrency, stocks, and forex currency pairs.
Best UK Brokers Conclusion
Whilst this article covers what we consider to be amongst the most important things to consider when choosing a broker in the UK, it can differ depending on your individual preferences. Thus, it is important that you choose a broker that meets your needs and use this information only for educational purposes and not as advice. Take your time to research brokers and conduct your own due diligence. You can even test a broker with a free demo account to see if they are suitable before making a commitment. Please feel free to use our broker comparison tool if you are looking for some further inspiration to help you choose a broker.
Relevant Articles
Brokers with Instant Deposits
Investors can quickly execute a trade before the market moves thanks to brokers who offer…
Brokers with Instant Withdrawals
For traders who need to access their winnings right away, brokers who offer instant, same-day,…
cTrader vs TradingView
It's interesting to note that both cTrader and TradingView were introduced in 2011, a year…
TradingView vs NinjaTrader
NinjaTrader and TradingView are two distinct platforms, each with advantages and disadvantages of its own.…
MetaTrader (MT5) vs TradingView
It's crucial to keep in mind that TradingView is a charting program, but MetaTrader 5…
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) vs TradingView
Learning to trade involves a lot of difficulties. There is so much to learn, including…