Best Online Brokers 2020

Here you will find our guide of the best online brokers in 2020 for trading online. We have awarded these as the best online brokers based on our rigorous analysis, testing and comparison across hundreds of online brokers and the brokerage services that they offer to traders. The trading brokers team have conducted thousands of hours of detailed broker research to produce unbiased broker reviews and ratings that can save you time when choosing the best online brokers according to your individual requirements. We believe that it is vital to trade with regulated and established online brokers that offer a wide range of investment products and some of the best online trading conditions, platforms and tools for both retail and institutional traders. The online brokerages that we have reviewed and chosen as the best brokers for trading online have strict regulation, tight spreads, competitive fees, good execution speeds, a wide range of trading instruments, powerful online trading platforms, various account types, flexible leverage, multiple funding options and top-class customer service.

Top 6 Online Brokers 2020

1.

FCA, CFTC, NFA, BaFin, FINMA, ASIC, FMA, MAS, FSA, FSCA, DFSA, JFSA, METI, MAFF

Min $250 Deposit

1974

1:200

Review Open Account Open Account

2.

ASIC, FCA

Min $200 Deposit

2010

1:500

Review Open Account Open Account

3.

ASIC, CySEC, IFSC

Min $5 Deposit

2009

1:880

Review Open Account Open Account

4.

ASIC, CFTC, FCA, FSA, IIROC, JFSA, NFA

Min $50 Deposit

2001

1:50

Review Open Account Open Account

5.

ASIC, FCA, MAS

Min $100 Deposit

1983

1:500

Review Open Account Open Account

6.

ASIC, BVI, CBI, FFAJ, FSA, FSCA

Min $100 Deposit

2006

1:400

Review Open Account Open Account

Each of our chosen best online brokers have successfully passed our rigorous broker testing criteria and have strict regulation from respected financial regulatory authorities. Our detailed analysis and thorough online broker reviews show that they offer industry leading brokerage services and investment products for trading online.

1. IG

IG are easily one of our best online brokers for Forex & CFD trading. They are amongst the largest online brokerages in the world offering an impressive 16,000+ trading instruments to traders all over the globe. IG have tight spreads, low commissions and fast trade execution speeds due to the brokers deep liquidity pools. This online broker accepts traders from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and most countries from around the globe.

IG have a great choice of easy to use yet very powerful trading platforms that can be used on desktop, web browsers and mobile devices. This includes the brokers own proprietary trading platform and the very popular MetaTrader 4 platform.

Best Online Brokers: IG Review

IG also provide traders with a large variety of trading tools to help you find trading opportunities quickly and easily. There is an IG academy that has an abundance of educational resources to help improve your trading skills and knowledge.

Perhaps most impressively, IG are regulated in multiple jurisdictions spanning across the globe. The brokers regulation includes the widely respected FCA, ASIC & NFA. Having such strict regulation in place can give traders the peace of mind that they are using a trusted, reliable and established online brokerage, such as IG.

You can read our detailed IG Review to find out more about why we consider them to be one of the best online brokers that you can choose to trade online with.

IG Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
16,000+ markets	Limited online payment processors for account funding
US clients allowed
Strict regulation in multiple countries
IG training academy
Tight spreads, fast execution speeds & low commissions
User friendly & powerful trading platforms
Plenty of trading tools

IG are one of our best trading brokers offering traders around the globe over 16,000+ markets including Forex & CFDs. They have a great selection of trading platforms, tools & educational resources. Spreads are tight, commission is low & execution speeds are fast. IG are also regulated in many countries including FCA, ASIC & NFA regulation.

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2. Pepperstone

Pepperstone is one of our best online brokers. They are one of the most popular online brokers for many reasons. The Pepperstone Razor account offers some of the best trading conditions available to retail traders with superior trade execution speeds, tight spreads and competitively low commission fees.

Pepperstone offer over 80+ trading instruments across global markets including forex, CFDs and cryptocurrencies. These assets are available to trade via flexible, powerful and user-friendly online trading platforms for desktop and mobile devices.

Best Online Brokers: Pepperstone Review

Pepperstone are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). This strict regulation can give traders protection and peace of mind that they are using a safe and secure online broker.

Pepperstone have also won multiple online broker awards over the years, including awards for customer service, client satisfaction, value for money and more. You can read our full Pepperstone Review to find out more as to why we have chosen them amongst our best online brokers.

Pepperstone Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
Fast trade execution speeds	No US clients
Tight spreads	No fixed spread accounts
Low trading fees	$200 minimum deposit
Multiple trading instruments
Strict regulation
Award winning broker

Pepperstone is one of the largest trading brokers providing traders worldwide access to trade across all markets with cutting edge technology, low cost spreads, low-latency high speed execution and award-winning customer service.

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3. XM Group

XM Group deserve a place in our list of best online brokers. We consider them to be a trusted and reputable online broker. They provide online trading to more than 196 countries worldwide with prompt and efficient customer service that is available in 30 different languages.

Based in the United Kingdom, XM Group is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). They are also regulated in other jurisdictions. These regulations help to give traders peace of mind that they are using a trusted and secure online broker who will keep client funds safe.

Best Online Brokers: XM Group Review

XM Group serves millions of online traders across the globe, providing them with industry leading online trading conditions and some of the best trading platforms. They have a vast amount of trading instruments across multiple markets to trade online, including forex, CFDs and cryptocurrencies.

This brokerage has fast execution speeds and low spreads due to their best execution policy and relationships with multiple liquidity providers. They also implement a no-requotes and no extra commissions policy. This help to ensure you get the best prices available and save on overall trading costs. The XM Zero account has the lowest spreads and charges a very competitive commission for each trade.

You can read our full XM Group Review to find out more of the reasons why we consider them as one of our best online brokers.

XM Group Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
No-requotes policy	No US clients
No extra commissions	No fixed spread accounts
Low spreads & fast execution
Min $5 deposit
Strict regulation

XM Group is a multi-award winning globally established and regulated trading broker with over 2.5m clients from 196 countries offering no-requotes, low spreads, fast execution and negative balance protection.

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4. Forex.com

Forex.com is ranked in our best online brokers, primarily due to the fact that they offer industry leading trading services to clients who reside in the United States and globally.

Established way back in 2001 as one of the first online brokers to offer retail traders online forex trading, Forex.com now offer over 300+ global markets with tight spreads and low fees. Trading instruments include Forex, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Shares, Indices, Metals, Energies and CFDs.

They have superior trade execution speeds that are disclosed within an execution scorecard for full transparency, showing 99.96% of trades are executed in under one second, with the average trade execution speed at a very impressive 0.03 seconds. A large percentage of orders actually end up getting executed at better prices than expected.

In addition to a top-class trading environment, Forex.com provide traders with flexible trading platforms that can be used across multiple devices along with a wide range of sophisticated trading tools. These tools can be used to analyse the various markets in great detail and to identify potential trade opportunities. Whatever the expertise or style of trader, there are technical and fundamental indicators for everyone.

Best Online Brokers: Forex.com Review

The Forex.com excellent customer support team are on hand to give you professional guidance and support as and when you need it. They reply in a prompt and efficient manner, available instantly via online chat, telephone and email.

Forex.com are under strict regulation by the most respected regulatory authorities. They have a proven track record of offering stable and secure online brokerage services for many years. Their parent company is the publicly traded GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. They have assets valued in the billions and must constantly meet the highest standards of corporate governance with financial reporting and disclosure. This gives Forex.com traders great peace of mind they are using an established and secure online broker.

They have accounts to suit different investor needs. You can choose between spread only or commission-based trading accounts. Overall, Forex.com is our best online broker for US traders.

You can read our detailed Forex.com Review to find out more of the reasons why we included them within our list of the best online brokers.

Forex.com Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
300+ global markets	No online payment processors for funding such as PayPal, Skrill, etc
US clients	No fixed spread accounts
Strict regulation
Commission free accounts
Tight spreads & low fees
Transparent & fast execution
Advanced trading platforms & tools

Since 2001, Forex.com has been offering over 200,000 traders across the globe access to trade 300+ global markets with a proven track record of consistently providing exceptional trading conditions with fast execution speeds and competitively low trading costs.

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5. City Index

City Index makes it into our best online brokers list. Just like Forex.com, the parent company of City Index is GAIN Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP), one of the largest retail and institutional online trading service providers globally.

City Index have more than 35 years worth of experience, offering a vast selection of more than 12,000+ different markets for online trading across the globe. Through City Index you can trade online markets including Forex, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Shares, Indices, Metals, Energies, Options, Bonds, Spread Betting, CFDs and ETFs.

Best Online Brokers: City Index Review

City Index provide fast execution speeds, tight spreads and low fees. Traders have access to a range of award-winning trading platforms, sophisticated trading tools for market analysis and industry leading trading technologies. Customer support is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, via online chat, phone or email.

City Index pride themselves on offering traders across the world with industry leading online brokerage services. They are widely known for their fair and transparent pricing, whilst clients have peace of mind as City Index are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. They also have strict regulation in 8 jurisdictions across the globe, which helps make them a trusted and reliable choice of broker that deserves a place on our best online brokers list.

You can read our detailed City Index Review to find out more of the reasons why we included them within our list of the best online brokers.

City Index Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
12,000+ markets	No US clients
Strict regulation	No fixed spread accounts
Negative balance protection	Limited deposit / withdrawal methods
Tight spreads, fast execution speeds & low fees
Sophisticated trading platforms & tools

City Index is a one of the world’s leading trading brokers offering over 12,000 markets to over 150,000 traders worldwide. They have over 35 years of experience with fast and reliable trade execution speeds, award winning platforms and technology on multiple devices.

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6. AvaTrade

AvaTrade earns a spot in our best online brokers of 2020 list. This brokerage provides online trading services to over 200,000+ clients across the globe. They process a monthly trading volume of around £60 billion making them one of the largest online brokers.

AvaTrade is an award-winning online brokerage that has offices located in multiple countries and offer 24/5 support in 14 languages. They have some of the best available online trading conditions, with reliable execution speeds, tight spreads and no commission fees.

Best Online Brokers: AvaTrade Review

They have one of the largest selections of trading instruments available from any online broker, providing traders with over 250+ instruments across different markets to trade online, including forex, CFDs and cryptocurrencies. There are a range of free trading platforms to choose from, suitable for all different experience levels and style of trader.

In addition to a vast range of investment products, AvaTrade also provides traders with a wide range of sophisticated trading tools to assist with trading and educational materials to help improve trading knowledge and skills.

AvaTrade is authorised and regulated across 5 continents by 6 regulatory authorities. This is an impressive number of regulators that helps to show they are a secure and reliable online broker that must abide to the rules and regulations set out to protect investors.

Their huge sponsorship deals over the years help to emphasise the global strength of the AvaTrade brokerage brand within the online trading industry. You can read our full AvaTrade Review to find out more about why we consider them as one of the best online brokers.

AvaTrade Pros/Cons
Pros	Cons
250+ trading instruments	No US clients
No commissions	Min $100 deposit
Good trade execution speeds
Broad selection of trading tools
Educational materials
Strict regulation across 5 continents

AvaTrade is an award-winning trading broker with regulation in 6 jurisdictions offering 250+ trading instruments across multiple markets and trading platforms.

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How did Trading Brokers choose our best online brokers?

Now that you know our best online brokers for 2020, we will look at why we chose these online brokers and what factors are worth considering when looking for an online broker.

What makes a good online broker?

A good online broker will be regulated by the most respected regulatory authorities such as the FCA, ASIC & CySEC. They should have been operating for a number of years with a proven track record of delivering online trading services to clients across the globe.

They should offer the best trading platforms, ideally a platform that you are already familiar with. The MetaTrader 4/5 trading platform should be sufficient enough for most online traders. MetaTrader has a quick and easy learning curve so is deemed suitable for all experience levels of trader.

You should make sure that the broker offers the markets and trading instruments that you wish to trade. If you plan to trade currency pairs (forex) now but could branch into CFDs in the future, then you should consider choosing an online broker who offers access to both markets. This will make the transition into other markets more convenient.

Trading costs at the broker should be low, the lower the spreads and commission the lower your overall trading fees will be. The online trading conditions should provide fast trade execution with minimal slippage. This helps to ensure that your trades get placed at the prices that you want them to.

The customer support provided by the broker should answer all client questions in a polite, prompt and sufficient manner. You can connect to the live chat on a brokers website to test how their customer service is. All traders should be treated equally, whilst you should be able to contact support via online chat, email and phone. Make sure that they offer a contact method that is suitable to you and available at least 24/5.

Some of the key points to consider when choosing an online broker are:

Broker regulation
Trading platforms
Markets offered
Trading instruments
Trading fees (spreads / trade commission)
Customer service

What is online trading?

Online trading is the buying and selling of assets using an online brokers trading platform. Many markets can be traded online including forex, CFDs, indices, commodities, energies, precious metals, stocks, bonds, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and more.

What is an online broker?

An online broker provides a brokerage account and online trading platform for investors to buy and sell trading instruments across multiple markets. Traditionally, investors would have had to have telephoned a brokerage to place trades and manage transactions for them. Trading online has made it much quicker and easier for anyone to have access to trading through an online broker.

What types of online brokers are there?

The main types of trading brokers are market makers and ECN/STP brokers. Market makers usually do not charge a commission to trade with them but will add a mark-up to the spread to cover operational costs and take the opposite side of client trades. ECN/STP brokers will usually provide spreads direct from liquidity providers (LP’s) but charge a small commission for each trade to cover their costs. Overall, a non-market maker broker is usually preferable to most online traders as the costs can work out cheaper in the long run without a potential conflict of interest.

What markets can I trade with an online broker?

The most commonly traded markets by retail traders through an online broker are forex (currencies) and CFDs. This is partly due to the leverage offered on these products that can allow a trader to place trades greater than they would without leverage. It is highly recommended to understand trading, leverage and the risks involved before opening a real trading account. Whilst leverage can increase profits, it can also increase losses. It is considered good to practice trading on a demo brokerage account to begin with.

How much money do I need to start investing online?

You can start trading online with as little as $1 depending on the minimum deposit required by the broker. As trading is risky by nature, never trade with more than you can afford to lose.

Can you make money trading online?

It is possible to make profit from online trading although statistics provided by the many online brokers that we have researched does show that a percentage of traders lose money. Trading successfully requires patience, discipline, practice and a good trading broker.

How to open an online trading account?

Simply choose an online broker, complete the quick sign-up process and you will be able to start trading online.

Need help choosing from the best online brokers in 2020?

If you are still unsure which is the best online broker for you then you can use our free online broker comparison tool to quickly compare online brokers based on trading platforms, trading instruments, minimum deposit, regulations, leverage, funding options and more. You can also read our broker reviews and choose from our best brokers that we have conveniently categorised into the best online brokers, best forex brokers, best stock brokers, best CFD brokers, best crypto brokers, best trading platforms, best social trading platforms and best trading apps. If you would like to look for the best trading brokers in a particular country, we have pages dedicated to our best forex brokers USA, best forex brokers UK, best forex brokers Australia, best forex brokers South Africa and best forex brokers Canada. There are also pages for our best stock brokers USA, best stock brokers UK, best stock brokers Australia, best stock brokers South Africa and best stock brokers Canada.