Forex And CFD Broker Guide

Pepperstone Offers The Best CFD Trading Platforms

Pepperstone has the best choice of trading platforms of all CFD brokers in Australia. With this broker, traders can choose from three top trading platforms to trade CFD such as forex, indices, stocks and commodities.

Choosing the right trading platform is an important factor for CFD traders, as there is such a wide variety of market types available to trade.

Pepperstone’s trading platform options:

• MetaTrader 4 (MT4) available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and browsers as WebTrader
• MetaTrader 5 (MT5) available on Windows, iOS, Android and browsers as WebTrader
• cTrader Platform

That’s a choice of the three most powerful trading platforms for CFD traders. All available to clients, free of subscription charges on PC, Mac, mobile, and tablet.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) CFD Trading Platform

The MetaTrader 4 trading platform (commonly referred to as MT4) is the most popular amongst CFD traders for trading instruments that use underlying assets for prices. Designed by traders themselves at a company called MetaQuotes, it has all the features required to give you an edge.

Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned professional trader, MT4 is a popular choice. With a user-friendly and highly customisable charting environment, you’re able to set the platform up whichever way you desire.

Key Features of MT4:

Indicators and EAs – 85 pre-installed indicators available, with the ability to code custom indicators as you go.

Flexible charting – Multiple chart setups to help you control your positions quickly and efficiently.

Flexible order types – Trade with several markets, limit or stop orders to suit your trading style.

Backtesting capabilities – Ensures your automated trading strategies and EAs are optimised for the best trading results.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) CFD Trading Platform

The MetaTrader 5 trading platform, also known as MT5, is the next generation of CFD trading platform from MetaQuotes. The trading platform builds upon the foundations laid by MT4 and offers a more complete trading experience.

Speed is one of the major evolutions, with MT5 processing times slashed when compared to MT4. If you require advanced trading functions such as the ability to hedge your CFD positions, then MT5 is perfect for you.

Key Features of MT5

Speed – Whether it’s processing speed or order execution speed at Pepperstone’s end, MT5 is designed for speed.

Advanced order types – The ability to use multiple pending orders on the same market. That is the ability to hedge your position.

More in-built indicators – An even greater choice of built-in indicators and EAs to choose from without having to customise.

MQL5 coding language – An advanced, more logical coding language for custom indicators and EAs, more closely resembling C#.

Low commission costs for Razor Accounts – As you are trading ECN-style spreads, you pay a flat rate commission fee starting from $7 round-turn per 100,000 units traded on both MT4 and Mt5.

cTrader CFD Trading Platform

The cTrader platform is a refreshing alternative to the MetaTrader platforms. An intuitive and simple to use trading platform, it offers several advanced order capabilities and customisations that have otherwise been unavailable to retail traders.

Excellent for both beginner and professional CFD traders, cTrader is worth your consideration even if just for the ability to view market depth.

Key Features of cTrader

Advanced order types – cTrader offers advanced risk management and order functionality previously only available on institutional trading platforms.

Scale-out – Rather than setting one SL and TP level, cTrader gives you the ability to add multiple take-profit orders to scale out of positions.

Market depth view – Designed to replicate an institutional trading environment, displaying market depth.

Trade analysis – Detailed trade analysis tools built in to better identify your strengths and weaknesses as a trader.

Low commission fees – Commission is calculated as 0.0035% of the base currency (of the fx pair) being traded. I.e. if you are trading 100,000 units of the AUD/NZD, you will be charged a commission fee of AUD $7 round-turn.

Pepperstone Spreads

To complement Pepperstone’s trading platform offering, the broker offers ultra-tight spreads via its Razor and Standard accounts. The Razor account provides access to ECN like spreads from 0.0 pips plus commission fees, making it a great choice for those executing automated trading strategies with cBots or Expert Advisors. Average spreads for Pepperstone’s Razor account are shown below. As you can see, the broker offers some of the best pricing worldwide. Commission fees are also competitive, starting from $3.50 per side, per 100k traded.

	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD
	0.77	0.84	1.40	1.43	1.07
	0.80	0.90	1.70	2.30	2.60
	1.90	2.00	2.40	2.30	2.50
	1.40	2.50	2.50	2.60	2.60
	1.30	1.80	1.90	2.10	2.10
	1.24	1.77	1.65	2.14	1.79
	1.30	1.70	2.10	1.70	2.10
	1.70	1.80	2.00	2.30	2.20

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/10/2022

Compare Standard Account Spreads

Not only is the spread with Pepperstone low, but they also have no inactivity fees should you decide to take a break from trading and no funding fees either. Pepperstone accepts a range of funding methods including

• Visa, Mastercard debit and credit cards
• POLi
• Bank transfer
• BPay
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Union Pay

All funding methods for deposits and withdrawals have no fees except for international bank transfers.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

IC Markets Offer The Lowest Spreads for CFD Trading

IC Markets is Australian forex (based in Sydney) and CFD broker that offer some of the best spreads on the market. By trading with a CFD broker that has tight spreads, you’re keeping your trading costs low. This will help place you in a position to succeed long term as a trader.

Regardless of your chosen leveraged product for trading like forex, indices CFD or commodities CFD trader, then you will be impressed by the spreads on an IC Markets RAW account.

IC Markets market types:

• Forex CFDs – Spreads from: 0.0 (EURUSD)
• Indices and Stocks CFDs – Spreads from 0.95 (AUS200)
• Commodities CFDs – Spreads from 0.0 (XAUUSD)
• Bond CFD – Spreads from 0.10 (various)
• Cryptocurrencies – 13 Crypto combinations

With many market types to choose between, traders who choose IC Markets as their CFD broker of choice have a lot of flexibility.

Open a demo account >>Visit IC Markets >>

Forex CFDs

IC Markets have some of the tightest forex trading spreads in the Australian CFD broker industry. Here is a snapshot of the most liquid markets on offer:

RAW Spread Account:

RAW spreads – Tight spreads from 0.0 pips on the majors, during times of peak liquidity.

Forex markets – 60 different currency pairs to choose from on the trading platform of your choice.

ECN liquidity – Deep liquidity is sourced from a multitude of partner tier 1 banks and financial institutions.

Minimum Deposit – To open an account there is an initial deposit of $200 to open an account and start trading

Best For: Experienced traders wanting the tightest spreads available

Indices And Stocks CFDs

IC Markets have some of the tightest spreads on Indices and stocks CFD markets, in the Australian broker industry. Here is a snapshot of the most liquid markets on offer:

RAW Spread Account:

RAW spreads – Tight spreads from 0.95 pips on the AUS200 when the market is open.

Range of markets – 17 Indices and 120+ stocks from ASX, Nasdaq & NYSE.

Earn dividends – When trading individual share CFDs, you’re still entitled to dividends in the same way that an owner of the share is.

No Commissions – Never pay commissions on indices CFDs, only pay the spread.

Commodities CFDs

IC Markets have some of the tightest spreads on commodity CFDs, such as metals and gas within the Australian broker industry. Here is a snapshot of the most liquid markets on offer:

RAW Spread Retail Investor Account:

RAW spreads – Tight spreads from 0.0 pips on Gold, during times of peak liquidity.

Financial instruments – Over 19 commodities to trade. Choose between crypto, precious metals, energy and soft commodity derivatives.

Types of CFDs – Spot and Futures CFDs.

City Index Has Best Range Of CFD Instruments

City Index has an impressive range of forex and CFDs covering a diverse range of financial instruments which is why the broker makes our list of the best forex brokers.  With City Index, you can trade over 4,500 derivatives including indices, shares, cryptocurrencies, oil, metals, energies, soft commodities, interest rates and options. The diverse range of products makes City Index an excellent choice if you are looking for a broker that offers more than just trading with forex.

1) Indices Trading

City Index offers 20 Index CFD for trade including Australia (ASX200), 7 European indices (Germany 40, Spain 35, Uk 100),  4 Asian indices (Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong) and 4 US Indices (US SP 500, Wall Street, US Tech 100). These indices are also available as Futures and Options. All indices have fixed spreads from 1 point and no commissions. leverage can be up to 20:1 (5% margin).

2) Share Trading

City Index over 4,500 shares CFD with leverage up to 5:1 for Australian, UK, European and US stock markets. Unlike other products, you will pay a small commission for each stock you buy and this will vary depending on the market you trade with.

• Stocks from the Australian ASX cost 0.09% with a $5 minimum
• Stocks from the US Markets (NYSE, NASDAQ) cost 2 cents per share with a minimum purchase of $15 USD
• All other markets have a cost of 0.1% and have a €10 minimum

Shares come with a dividend adjustment where applicable. In addition to shares CFD, you can also trade these stocks as futures and options.

3) Cryptocurrency Trading

City Index claims to offer the lowest costs broker when trading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple. The table below was taken from the City Index website where they compiled a cost comparison for cryptocurrency trading compared to other leading brokers.

Leverage when trading cryptocurrency is 2:1

4) Commodity Trading

Commodities. Trade over 25 global commodities markets such as gold, silver, natural gas and even wheat. If there’s a market for the commodity, then you can trade it on your City Index account.

City Index allows trading with a mix of 25+  hard and soft commodities from global markets.  These commodities are available as CFD or futures and include oils and gas energies, gold and silver metals long with softs such as coffee and wheat. Leverage will vary for each commodity but gold has a maximum of  20:1 and most others are around 10:1.

5) Interest Rates and Bonds Trading

11 bonds and 3 interest rate futures are available for trading, all with a leverage of 1:5. Spreads are fixed and range between 0.02 and 0.6 pips.

Risk Management With City Index

City Index offers Guaranteed Stop Loss Orders (GSLOs) for the bulk of their 4500 trading instruments. GSLOs is an effective tool to manage your risk as it guarantees you will not more than you are willing to lose which can sometimes happen due to slippage. If you are new to trading or trading in a volatile climate, then a GSLO can give you peace of mind that you will not lose more than you expect.

Using a GSLO with City Index requires no upfront premium, you simply set the basis points from which the GSLO will be triggered. You only pay the premium if the GSLO is triggered.

View City Index Review>>Visit City Index >>

Plus500 Is The Best CFD Provider For Beginner Traders

Plus500 is a global CFD broker with an ASIC regulated subsidiary called Plus500 Australia. As a global trading behemoth, the size of which can afford sponsorship like Athletico Madrid, we recommend Plus500 for beginner traders.

As a specialist CFD broker, Plus500 can offer tools that are imperative for new traders wanting to trade in financial markets.

Plus500 features for beginners:

• Demo account
• Guaranteed stop-loss protection

These account features for beginner traders help will help make the journey towards becoming a consistently profitable forex trader, a lot safer. Risk minimisation is the key, and a Plus500 CFD trading account will allow you to achieve this.

Open a demo account >>Visit Plus500 >>

Demo Account

If you’re just beginning your CFD trading career, then you will not want to jump straight in and risk an AUD 50,000 account. You’re going to want to test each Australian CFD broker and decide which has the features that work best for you.

This is where a demo account comes in handy. Demo trading accounts let you test the features of a broker’s trading platform under actual market conditions, without risking any real money.

Why Use A Demo Account:

Zero risk – Using a Plus500 demo account is completely risk-free. The funds are all virtual and can be reset at any time.

Unlimited demo – Most Australian online brokers set their demo accounts to expire after 30 days. Your Plus500 demo account, however, will never expire.

Live market conditions – There is no difference between demo and live market conditions, ensuring the transition to a live account is seamless.

Adding virtual funds automatic – If your demo account balance drops below $200, then your balance will automatically be reset. No need to apply again.

Guaranteed Stop Loss

Plus500’s guaranteed stop-loss helps ease some of the stress new traders experience when they first transition from a demo account to a live account.

During times of low liquidity, such as the seconds following a major news release, the market can thin out and experience volatility. If there are no orders in the market, then your stop loss may experience what’s called slippage, and be triggered at a much worse price.

Guaranteed Stop-Loss Orders:

Never lose more than you expect – Add an absolute limit on your potential loss and ensure that unexpected price movements never mean you lose more money than you can afford.

Available on all CFD markets – An advantage of being a CFD broker means you’re not sourcing prices from liquidity partners and can guarantee stops on all markets.

All CFD trading platforms – Guaranteed stop losses work on whichever trading platform you trade on.

Spread mark-up – There is a spread markup applied to all markets when you choose to be protected by a guaranteed stop loss.

eToro Offers Social Trading And Copy Trade CFD Facilities

If you’re looking for an alternative to your traditional Australian CFD brokers listed above, then take a look at eToro. eToro is a CFD broker known for its social trading platform.

eToro gives its clients the ability to copy trade respected professional traders. When they place a trade, the same position is automatically mirrored on your own eToro CFD trading account.

Social trading with eToro:

• Social trading platform
• The eToro Popular Investor Program

Take the stress out of making trading decisions yourself and join the eToro social trading community. Follow and socialise with professional traders that you respect. eToro is more than a CFD broker, it’s a community.

Open a demo account >>Visit eToro >>

Social Trading Platform

When you open an account with eToro, you’re joining more than just a CFD broker. You’re joining a social trading community.

The most popular feature at eToro is the social trading platform called CopyTrader. By allowing traders to view professionals in real-time and instantly copy every trade, it adds an extra dimension to forex signals.

Social Trading Beats Signal Services:

Real-time entries and exits – There is no lag between when the trader you’re following enters and you enter the same trade. No text message, just instant copy trading.

Average profits – The average yearly profits of the 50 most copied eToro traders in 2019, was +29.1%. An impressive return when you consider most CFD traders lose money.

No management fees – Other signal services and managed funds require traders to pay a management fee. Social trading is free for eToro CFD account holders.

Community feel – eToro offers retail investors so much more than just a trading platform. They give traders a community to collaborate and learn from professionals.

eToro Popular Investor Program

If you want to allow traders to copy your trades, the application is called the eToro Popular investment Program. When you’re verified and selected for the program, you essentially become an investment manager with the opportunity to build your own online financial business.

Get Copied, Get Paid:

Become a portfolio manager – Start your own online business by having a profitable eToro CFD trading account with a proven strategy behind it.

Earn rebates – Earn instant rebates on all trades copied from your Popular Investor Program account.

Earn fees – All eToro Popular Investors earn a 2% annual fee on top of all trades copied from your CFD trading account. This means that if 1000 people copy you with $5 million, you will earn an additional $100,000 per year!

Axi Has A Strong Forex Training Offering

The Axi Education Centre is next-level, when it comes to educational content that a forex and CFD broker offers their clients, then Axi (formally AxiTrader) goes above and beyond.

Whether you’re looking for eBooks, videos, learn to trade classes or tools to bring what you’ve learned all together, then Axi has you covered.

Learn to trade with Axi

• Education Centre
• Partnerships with external education providers

If you’re new to the trading space and are looking for an Australian CFD broker that will help you begin using proven strategies and methods, then Axi is worth a look.

Open a demo account >>Visit Axi >>

Learn To Trade Forex

Axi is a CFD and forex broker that care about the success of their clients. As a result, they’ve invested heavily in the education section of their website.

All of their education pages and courses have been created by traders, specifically for new traders to learn to trade forex. This ensures that the methodology and wording are easily understood and can be applied instantly. They also have a detailed FAQ section to answer the majority of your basic trading questions that you might have.

Education Offered By Axi

Forex video tutorials – Take advantage of a suite of video tutorials and lessons. Whether it’s learning about the MT4 platform, or specific trading strategies, Axi has a comprehensive video library.

Seminars and Webinars – Within their educational video library, Axi records all webinars presented by their team of market analysts. Making them available on-demand for clients to learn from.

eBooks – Axi has one of the more comprehensive eBook depositories from any of the Australian CFD brokers. Learn trading strategies and get trading tips in a visual, easy to read format.

Online courses – Make your way through Axi’s online trading courses, or check out partnerships with accredited, external education providers such as the Knightsbridge Trading Academy.

Trading Tools And Partnerships

Alongside their education centre, Axi has key partnerships with some well-known external providers. Alongside the right CFD broker, start your career with the right tools and customer support.

Whether you’re looking for trading tools to help journal your progress, or trusted education classes to sit in on in-person, Axi has you covered.

The Best CFD Trading Tools Available:

PsyQuation – Free for all Axi clients, PsyQuation is the world’s leading AI-powered analytics platform for traders. This tool helps to identify strengths and weaknesses in your trading and delivers powerful performance statistics.

Knightsbridge Trading Academy – Learn from the best at Knightsbridge. All Axi clients receive complimentary access to online courses run by this London Stock Exchange accredited academy.

AutoChartist – The popular MetaTrader 4 plugin is free for live account holders. Use the market scanner to automate your technical analysis and avoid taking low percentage trades.

CMC Markets Offers Stock Exchange And CFD Trading

CMC Markets are an award-winning, broker that offers clients both CFD trading and physical share trading services. While the Share trading and CFD accounts are separate, the CMC Markets advantage is that both you can trade both asset classes through one broker using one login.

Open a demo account >>Visit CMC Markets >>

CFD Trading

CMC Markets offer contracts for difference (CFD) trading on multiple financial products, across multiple asset classes. A trusted name in the Australian share trading scene, CMC Markets offer a plethora of ASX and overseas share market CFDs.

The broker is a market maker, and most CFD products do not have commission costs. Spreads major forex pairs start from 0.7 pips. In addition to forex, you can also trade indices, commodities, shares CFD, treasuries and cryptocurrencies.

If you are looking for another Market Maker broker then consider IG Markets or AvaTrade

CMC Markets For CFD Trading

Large range of CFDs – Access to over 9,500 global markets, at competitive spreads and margin rates.

Tight CFD spreads – Trade CFDs on major forex pairs from 0.7 pips and stock indices from 1 point.

Proprietary trading platform – CFD trading on an award-winning trading platform, with native apps for mobile trading and an innovative platform navigation

Risk management – Robust risk management functions including guaranteed stop-loss orders

Earn rebates – If you’re a high volume CFD trader, then you’re able to earn cash rebates. Perfect for share market hedging with large positions at low risk.

Share Trading

Whether you already have a share portfolio or if you’re looking for a physical stockbroking alternative to CFD trading, then you can remain under the CMC Markets umbrella. Choose from a wide range of ASX investment products, including shares and ETF.

One savvy trading strategy is to transfer all of your current share portfolios into a CMC trading account and then hedge positions depending on index movements, via your alternative CFD account.

CMC Markets For Share Trading:

Low brokerage fees – Pay less in brokerage the more you trade with CMC Markets’ Frequent Trader Program. The program provides the lowest brokerage and offers advanced features for high-volume traders.

Award-winning trading platforms – CMC Markets is known as a specialist stock trading broker and their proprietary trading platforms with mobile apps on Apple and Android, ensure they live up to their reputation.

Trading tools – Trade with a suite of powerful trading tools and advanced charting options that suit your stock trading style.

Manage high-risk positions – Robust risk management functions including free unlimited conditional orders including stops and limits.