Best CFD Brokers
A contract for differences (CFD) is a financial contract that pays the differences in the settlement price between the open and closing trades. CFDs essentially allow investors to trade the direction of securities over the very short-term and are especially popular in forex, stocks, cryptos and commodities products.
In order to trade CFDs, you will need an account with a contract for differences broker. A CFD broker is the intermediary between traders and the market, which provides you with a trading platform and the necessary services to conduct your trading activities.
However, with so many CFD brokers to choose from, it can seem like a daunting task to try and separate the good from the bad. We have put together this CFD trading broker guide to help you understand more about the options available to you and discover some of the best CFD brokers out there today. Having the best brokers for trading CFDs according to our findings listed in one place, can help you save time when looking for the best CFD broker for your own individual needs.
Top 10 CFD Brokers
ASIC, BaFin, CFTC, DFSA, FCA, FINMA, FMA, FSA, FSCA, JFSA, MAFF, MAS, METI, NFA
$250
1974
1:200
AvaTrade
AvaTrade is included in our best CFD brokers list. They offer award winning online trading services on a large variety of CFD instruments including forex, commodities, indices, ETFs, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and more. Customer service is offered 24/5 with multi-lingual live support and a dedicated account manager. If you don’t have the time or skills to trade and want to copy trading signals, they also have a popular social trading platform.
AvaTrade give traders access to multiple free trading platforms including the most popular and widely used MetaTrader 4 platform. This is a very user-friendly platform thus making online CFD trading easily accessible to traders of all experience levels. In addition to various online trading platforms, they also offer a good selection of trading tools and educational materials to assist with trading online.
AvaTrade have licenses from multiple regulatory authorities spanning across various continents. Amongst these, they are authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). This strict regulation across multiple jurisdictions can give clients peace of mind that they are using a safe and secure CFD broker.
AvaTrade are one of the largest CFD brokers in the world providing online CFD trading to clients across the globe. There is a demo account option should you wish to practice before opening a real account. This can be a great way to get a feel for what they have to offer before making a financial commitment.
I think that AvaTrade can be a great choice of broker for anyone who is looking for easy market access within a regulated environment and minimal hassle.
IG
IG get a well-deserved place on our best CFD brokers list for offering industry leading CFD trading services to a global clientele, including the USA. They have been around since way back in 1974 and are regulated in multiple jurisdictions. IG traders get a choice of powerful yet user-friendly platforms for trading CFDs including Forex, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Shares, Indices, Metals and Energies.
The platforms include IG’s proprietary trading platform, ProRealTime (PRT), L2 Dealer or the very popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platform. The platforms contain a vast array of built-in tools for conducting in-depth market analysis. They are available on desktop, web and mobile devices. 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.
You can trade a huge range of over 18,000 CFD instruments with tight spreads, low fees, reliable execution speeds and leveraged positions. There is a choice of trading accounts to suit different trader requirements and convenient funding options.
The broker has a generous selection of trading tools that can be used to help reinforce trading decisions, keep up to date on market events with real time Reuters news and inform your trading with expert market analysis.
There is the IG Academy which is a free resource that has a large collection of easy to digest educational materials to help traders to develop their trading skills and knowledge. This shows that the broker cares about clients making informed trading decisions. 24-hour client support can be reached via email, telephone or live chat.
I have always been impressed with IG and consider them to one of the best brokers overall when it comes to trading and investing online. They have a fantastic range of financial products and services for both retail and institutional traders alike.
Pepperstone
Australian based Pepperstone makes it into our best CFD brokers list. They offer CFD trading on two of the best online trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 and cTrader. You can trade CFDs through one account on multiple platforms should you wish. This makes it useful should you wish to trade on the go using the web and mobile trading applications.
Despite primary focus on being a forex broker, Pepperstone offer a selection of CFDs for trading online via their multi award winning trading accounts with no dealing desk execution. They offer tight spreads, low fees and fast execution speeds. They are well known for providing innovative technology to traders around the world.
Pepperstone developed their CFD trading technology specifically for traders looking to execute large CFD orders with minimal slippage. They offer ultra-low latency execution from a deep pool of liquidity providers and no dealing desk interference. This makes them highly desirable to clients who need to trade large sizes on single ticket orders. They can handle multiple fills for sweeping large orders through multiple levels within their liquidity aggregator.
They provide online traders with 24-hour customer support and funding through multiple different methods including bank transfer, credit/debit card and online payment processors. Pepperstone are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). This strict regulation helps to reassure client that they are using an established and respectable CFD broker.
I have had an account with Pepperstone for many years now and have always found them to be reliable. I think they can be a great choice for anyone who is primarily looking to trade forex CFDs. You get access to top trading conditions in a regulated environment. I have never had any problems with them and have always received my withdrawals in a timely manner.
IC Markets
We have included IC Markets in our best CFD brokers lists for many reasons, primarily due to the fact that they have been offering competitive trading conditions for a very long time. As a regulated broker, they offer clients CFD trading online via user-friendly trading platforms in an ECN trading environment with no dealing desk intervention. This means that the broker can deliver tight spreads and quick trade execution speeds so that positions are executed at the best available prices from a deep liquidity pool that includes over 50+ liquidity providers. IC Markets offer the MetaTrader and cTrader platforms which are 2 of the best trading platforms available today.
In addition to innovative trading technologies, the brokers CFD trading service includes trading tools, educational materials, various account types, flexible account funding options and multilingual support 24/7 via phone, chat and email.
I have had multiple trading accounts with them over the years and never been disappointed. I found the trading conditions to be amongst the best you will find anywhere. All of my withdrawals have been processed quickly and you can always get a prompt and polite response from their customer support.
XM Group
XM Group are one of our best CFD brokers. This CFD brokerage offers a staggering 1,000+ CFD instruments so there is something for every type of trader. The CFDs they offer include forex, indices, commodities, stocks, cryptocurrencies (including popular choices such as Bitcoin and Ethereum). This is a vast amount of CFD trading instruments compared to other brokers.
XM Group offer online CFD trading through the most popular online trading platforms including MetaTrader. They implement a no-requote policy to ensure that trades have minimal slippage and are executed at the best possible prices. The XM Zero account has the tightest spreads starting from just zero pips which can help to bring down overall CFD trading costs.
XM Group claim to have over 2.5 million clients from 196 countries across the globe. This makes them one of the largest CFD brokers in the world. They have strict regulation from 3 of the top regulatory authorities XM Group are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
XM Group is well known as a transparent and client focused online CFD broker with trading conditions being of primary importance to them. They provide clients with an abundance of additional trading tools for efficient analysis of different CFD charts. They also have many convenient methods for account deposit and withdrawal including online payment processors such as Skrill and PayPal.
I have also held an account with XM for many years and have always found them a pleasure to deal with. They are very approachable and have good conditions for trading forex and other CFD instruments. I think they are certainly worth consideration if you are looking to trade online using some of the best CFD platforms in the industry with a regulated broker and very competitive fees overall.
City Index
City Index is a one of the world’s leading CFD trading brokers offering over 12,000 markets to traders worldwide. They have over 35 years of experience, offering fast and reliable trade execution speeds, tight spreads and award-winning trading platforms.
FP Markets
FP Markets is an established and regulated broker that offers 10,000+ CFD trading products across multiple global markets. They have award winning platforms with transparent pricing, fast execution speeds and competitive trading costs.
XTB
XTB offer superior execution on a reliable, award-winning platform, being one of the largest stock exchange-listed Forex and CFD brokers in the world – dedicated to helping you at every stage of your trading journey.
Admirals
Admirals is an award-winning and multi-regulated broker that offers a large selection of CFD trading instruments with very competitive trading conditions on the advanced yet user-friendly MetaTrader platforms for desktop, web and mobile devices.
FXTM
FXTM is an award-winning CFD broker with strict regulation in multiple jurisdictions. They have user-friendly trading platforms, various account types and funding methods, along with a vast range of educational materials and trading tools to help you make informed trade decisions.
Conclusion
Here you will find our best CFD brokers, based on thousands of hours of extensive research, testing and analysis across hundreds of brokers. Upon conclusion of each of our broker reviews, we have assigned each broker with a rating.
Some of the most important factors that contribute towards a good broker for trading CFDs online have been considered including things such as the available CFD instruments, platforms, apps, tools, spreads, execution, liquidity, fees, education, funding options, regulation, customer service and more.
Each of our chosen CFD brokers have undergone and passed our stringent broker reviews with flying colours, based on what we consider to be amongst the most important considerations when choosing a CFD broker for trading online. These brokers are well-established within the online trading industry, providing top CFD trading conditions to traders and investors of all experience levels.
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