Best Forex Brokers In Canada

Fusion Markets Is The Best Low Fee Forex Broker

Canadian traders looking for the lowest cost broker should choose Fusion Markets. The broker achieves low costs through industry-low commission costs, tight spreads, and low ancillary fees.

Fusion Markets Has Low Commission

Fusion Markets offers the following low commission for its ‘Zero’ Trading account. If you are a high volume trader, then commission costs can add up as you will pay to open and to close your position for each lot you buy and sell.

• $3.00 CAD commission per side ($6.00 CAD round-turn) per standard lot

Fusion Markets Has Tight Spreads

Spreads represent your largest costs when trading. With this in mind, it makes sense to choose a broker that offers ECN pricing tight spreads.

When trading each pip you trade will cost you CAD$10 so with an average spread of 01.2 for EURUSD. You will pay $1.20 on the spread each way. We recommend trading with the Fusion Markets Zero Account rather than Standard Account, as this will save you on costs. While the Standard account has no commission costs, 0.8 pip is added to the spread. Using EURUSD as an example, if the round trip cost is $2.40 spread cost is ($1.20 each way) + commission of $6.00 = $8.40. Standard account average spread is 0.12 + 0.8 = 0.92 so you will pay $9.20 to in trading costs.

Fusion Markets Does Not Have Inactivity Or Funding Fees

Fusion Markets do not have inactivity costs. This means you don’t have any obligation to meet any minimum trading requirements each month. A lot of traders, especially occasional traders, get caught out with such costs.

Besides no inactivity costs, Fusion Markets do not charge any Funding fees for deposits or withdrawals. The one exception may be when funding from an international bank to a Canadian bank.

Fusion Markets Saves You On Costs

Overall, Fusion Markets is 36% cheaper than other regulated forex brokers based on their low spread and lowest commission rates.
Use the forex brokerage calculator below to compare Fusion Markets to other global forex brokers (some don’t accept Canadian forex traders) to see how much you will save on a trade. We base this on published average spreads, commissions, and live forex pair crosses.

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Fusion Markets Offers The High Leverage

Fusion Markets accepts Canadian traders but is not IIROC regulated. The broker’s offshore, Vanuatu (VFSC) regulated branch offers leverage of 500:1 on currency trading, while the Australian (ASIC) branch is limited to 30:1. Leverage involves a high level of risk, so it is important to select the right level that is right for you. There is no minimum deposit requirement and no minimum account size.

Fusion Markets Offers CAD as Base Currency

When signing up with Fusion Markets, if you are outside Ontario, you can choose to sign up with either Fusion Markets or Fusion Markets. Ontario residents can only choose Fusion Markets. Both entities offer exactly the same product, but choosing Fusion Markets means you can choose CAD as your account base currency.  Having CAD as your account base currency will save you on costs, as you can prevent currency conversion charges when trading.

The reason Ontario residence cannot choose Fusion Markets is that Ontario is not a signatory of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) which is the umbrella financial regulator across all provinces and territories across Canada except Ontario.

Fusion Markets Offer The MetaTrader 4 Forex Trading Platform

Fusion Markets offers MetaTrader 4 (MT4). This is the most popular forex trading platform worldwide, allowing desktop, Webtrader for browsers and mobile trading experience. It is also the most used platform by forex traders adopting automation (Expert Advisors) and also offer offers MetaTrader Signals for social trading (copy trading).

Final Points On Fusion Markets

We recommend Fusion Markets for Canadian forex traders based on their low fees, forex trading platform, and high leverage. The broker is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (No. 40256) and their parent company is ASIC regulated. The broker segregates all client monies with Westpac (in Australia) for peace of mind.

View Fusion Markets Review >>Visit Fusion Markets >>

Forex.com – Best For Currency Pairs

Established in 1999 and based in New Jersey, GAIN Capital Holdings Inc grants access and offers trade execution services in Foreign Exchange for retail investors. The company owns global CFD and Forex brands Forex.com and City Index and, along with its subsidiaries, it is regulated in several jurisdictions across the globe, including:

• USA – National Futures Association (NFA) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
• Canada – (IIROC)
• United Kingdom – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Australia – Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Japan – Financial Services Agency (FSA)
• Singapore – Monetary Authority of Singapore
• Cayman Islands – Cayman Islands Monetary Authority

GAIN Capital Holdings Inc is a publicly-traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GCAP). Among the top 20 regulated Forex brokers in Canada, which our team reviewed, Forex.com offers the most extensive range of currency pairs.

Forex.com FX offering

With Forex.com, Canadian forex traders are granted access to 84 major, minor and exotic currency pairs and can take advantage of competitive spreads, starting from 0.8 pips on majors such as EUR/USD, USD/JPY and AUD/USD. The minimum and typical spreads offered on other popular pairs are presented as follows:

• GBP/USD – minimum 1.0 pips, typical 1.8 pips,
• USD/CHF – minimum 1.3 pips, typical 2.0 pips,
• NZD/USD – minimum 2.3 pips, typical 3.1 pips,
• USD/CAD – minimum 1.5 pips, typical 2.2 pips,
• GBP/CAD – minimum 3.7 pips, typical 5.4 pips,
• EUR/CAD – minimum 2.6 pips, typical 3.6 pips,

Traders can gain access to +200 CFD instruments on popular equities, commodities, and indices.

Forex.com Order Execution

Because of the innovative technology and deep network of liquidity providers, Forex.com delivers accurate pricing and outstanding execution of trade orders, with average execution speed being 0.05 seconds. The broker discloses more details on its Execution Scorecard:

• 73% of all trades are executed in less than 1 second,
• 37% of limit orders are executed at a better price than the requested one,
• 100% of limit orders are filled at the requested price or better,
• 99% of trades are successfully executed
• The average difference between the requested and executed price on Forex limit orders with price improvement is 1.04 pips

Forex.com DMA Account

Canadian Forex traders who demand exposure to deep Forex liquidity pools will probably find Forex.com’s Direct Market Access (DMA) Trading Account as suiting their preferences. This account enables them to:

• Trade on quotes that come directly from global banks and top tier liquidity providers
• View multiple levels of real-time pricing on the broker’s order book
• Split the spread and place orders within the top of the book spreads

Clients who trade on a DMA account will pay no spread to the brokerage and benefit from better trading conditions. They can benefit from commission discounts depending on their trade volume. Or, the more they trade, the greater the discount they will receive during the next month.

Let’s consider a simple example:

• If a Canada-based institutional investor trades $355 million volume in Sept, its commission for trades in Sept will be $35 per million traded, or 42% less compared to the standard commission.
• If the investor trades $555 million volume in Sept, its commission for trades in May will still be $35 per million traded, because it is based on its 3-month rolling average of volume traded.
• And if the investor trades $610 million volume in May, its commission for trades in Sept will become $30 per million traded (as its 3-month rolling average of volume traded is considered).

OANDA – Best For Maximum Leverage

Established in 1995, OANDA Corp is a registered Futures Commission Merchant and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is also a member of the National Futures Association. The company provides financial services such as:

• Currency conversion
• Online retail Forex trading
• Currency data and analytics.

OANDA is licensed and overseen by five major financial regulators, including Canadian authorities:

• Canada – the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)
• United States – US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC)
• Europe – the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Asia Pacific – the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• Australia – the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

Among the top 20 regulated Canadian Forex brokers we reviewed, OANDA (Canada) Corp offers the best maximum leverage conditions. Canada-based retail investors can take advantage of maximum leverage of up to 1:50 when trading high-risk derivative instruments (CFDs) on currency pairs.

Margin requirements will be different depending on the base account currency and the forex pair being traded. Canada-based traders using CAD as their base account currency can use maximum leverage of 1:50.

Oanda Account Types

Canada-based investors can open two types of accounts with OANDA (Canada) Corp:

• Standard Account
• Premium Account

Unlike other regulated Forex brokers in Canada we reviewed, OANDA has no minimum deposit requirement for clients to open an account with the company. Important disclaimer: this is only valid for the broker’s Standard Account. However, we should note that Canadian traders will have to ensure sufficient funds in their trading account to meet OANDA’s margin requirements.

If Canadian clients choose to open a Premium Account with the broker, they will have to ensure an initial deposit of USD 20,000 (or the equivalent in local currency).

A comparison between the two Oanda account types can be observed in the table below:

As for base account currencies, OANDA allows deposits made in 9 different base currencies:

• Canadian Dollars (CAD)
• Australian Dollars (AUD)
• Swiss Francs (CHF)
• Euros (EUR)
• British Pounds (GBP)
• Hong Kong Dollars (HKD)
• Japanese Yen (JPY)
• Singapore Dollars (SGD)
• US Dollars (USD)

Note* OANDA also offers a FREE demo account for Canadian customers.

Deposits and Withdrawals

We should note that, at present, Canada-based retail clients cannot deposit funds into their OANDA accounts by using debit or credit cards.

In case Canadian Forex traders prefer to fund their OANDA accounts by using PayPal, this is possible only if their account currency is CAD. Processing time is up to 1 business day. There is no minimum deposit requirement and no limit for maximum deposits for verified PayPal accounts. For unverified accounts, however, the maximum deposit cannot exceed CAD $1,000.

In case Canada-based retail investors choose to deposit funds via bank wire transfer, again, there will be no limit for maximum deposits. Processing time is between 1 and 3 business days for wire transfers within Canada. As for additional charges, clients may have to pay their bank a fee.

Withdrawals need to be carried out by using the same method, which Canadian retail clients used for their deposit. Withdrawals via PayPal are processed only in CAD and only to personal PayPal accounts (business accounts are excluded). PayPal withdrawals are processed between 1 and 5 business days and are not associated with any fees.

Withdrawals via bank wire transfer require between 2 and 5 business days to be processed. With this method and depending on the account currency, Canadian traders will be charged fees as follows:

View Oanda ReviewVisit Oanda

Interactive Brokers – Best for ECN Trading

Established in 1978 by its Chairman Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers Group has an office in Montreal, Quebec and functions as an “all-in-one” brokerage providing:

• Direct market access (DMA)
• Trade execution
• Clearing services

IB caters to both professional and institutional traders for a range of asset classes and derivatives such as stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, metals, commodity futures, options, ETFs and Mutual Funds internationally.

Among the many entities operating under the parent company, Interactive Brokers LLC is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while Interactive Brokers Canada Inc is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

Low-cost Stock Trading

Interactive Brokers (IB) allow Canadian citizens access to a range of small-cap, mid-cap and large-cap domestic and international stocks from a single account at low brokerage fees.

The company offers three types of pricing plans to suit its clients’ needs:

• Transparent Volume-Tiered Pricing
• Fixed-Rate Pricing
• Zero Commission US Stock Trading (IBKR Lite)

IB’s Tiered Pricing plan features low broker commission, which diminishes based on trade volume. The plan also includes exchange, regulatory, and clearing fees.

The following table shows commissions charged on trading US stocks:

 As for trading in Canadian stocks and ETFs, IB will charge commissions as follows:

Note * IB’s Fixed Rate Pricing plan features a fixed fee charged per share or a particular percent of the trade value. The plan also includes exchange and regulatory fees.

Stock trading comes with different fees:

• When trading US stocks, IB will charge clients a fixed fee of USD 0.005 per share. The minimum fee per order is USD 1.00, while the maximum fee is 1.0% of the trade value.
• When trading Canadian stocks, the brokerage will charge clients a fixed fee of CAD 0.01 per share. The minimum fee per order is CAD 1.00, while the maximum fee is 0.5% of the trade value.

IBKR Lite pricing plan allows for unlimited trading of US-listed stocks and ETFs with no commissions charged.

Trading Platforms

IB allows for direct market access to financial markets through a range of platforms:

• Client Portal – suitable for new clients and traders who prefer to access all the resources they need to monitor and manage their accounts with a single login to one website,
• Desktop Trader Workstation (TWS) – the broker’s flagship platform suitable for traders who operate with a range of trading instruments and for those who require in-depth news, technical research and advanced algos and trading tools,
• IBKR Mobile for iOS or Android devices,
• IBKR WebTrader – suitable for traders who prefer a less sophisticated interface. The platform offers similar functions and tools as Desktop TWS,
• IBKR TWS Application Programming Interface (API) – suitable for clients who prefer to create trading software or automated trading programs of their own.

Best Order Execution Engine

Canada-based traders can have their orders executed at the best possible price via IB’s SmartRouting engine. The latter explores the best stock, option and combination prices available at the moment clients place their orders and looks to immediately fill those orders electronically.

Last year, the brokerage insured average savings of $6.70 per trade for its clients, and after considering average commissions charged, the average net benefit for clients amounted to $4.42 per trade.

Friedberg Direct [Powered by AvaTrade] – Top Fixed Spread Forex Broker

Canadian traders looking to use fixed spreads for their trading should turn to Friedberg Direct, powered by AvaTrade. AvaTrade is a reputable forex and CFD broker running the Friedberg Direct trading platform technology. Friedberg Direct was founded in 1971 and forms one of the largest independent brokers in Canada.

Friedberg Direct [Powered By AvaTrade] Has Competitive Fixed Spreads

Friedberg Direct offers you the ability to trade forex using fixed spreads. Fixed spreads remain constant except in extreme market conditions. This predictability can provide advantages over floating spreads which fluctuate when economic conditions turn unfavourable, thus leading to large losses.

Friedberg Direct does not charge commission fees (on top of their spreads) meaning your trading costs are part of the fixed spread. Fixed spreads are usually wider than standard spreads (which also have no commissions) to cover the brokers’ risk for spread fluctuations, AvaTrade’s spreads, however, are competitive with standard spreads from brokers.

Low Funding Requirements

Friedberg Direct has a CAD $50 minimum requirement for deposits or withdrawals. Depositing and withdrawing with a Friedberg Direct account can be done using credit cards, debit cards, or wire transfer.

Friedberg Direct Offers Trading Platform Features

Friedberg Direct offers excellent liquidity on a wide range of financial products. Over 100 financial instruments are available for you to trade including forex, stocks, commodities, indices, forex options, and bonds.

If you are looking to trade options, then AvaTrade might be the best broker around. AvaTrade offers AvaOptions trading app/platform, which will help you make the most of your options trading. Few CFD brokers offer tools specially designed for options trading. This broker offers 42 forex pairs plus gold and silver for options trading.

Forex trading platforms available through Friedberg Direct include:

• MetaTrader 4
• MetaTrader 5
• Mac Trading
• Web Trading
• AvaOptions
• AvaTradeGo

A large choice of trading platforms makes it easy to benefit from more ways to trade. Trading automation is available as Expert Advisors or EAs through MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms. Traders can also achieve automation through social and copy trading tools such as  ZuluTrade, DupliTrade and AvaSocial.

Advanced Protection With AvaProtect

If you desire a higher level of risk management beyond the standard stops, AvaTrade offers AvaProtect™. If you are using AvaTradeGo, for a small premium, you can buy time to reverse your trade. This means, if your trade moves in an unfavourable direction during this set period of time, you can pull out of the trade.

AvaTrade allows hedging your position to offset the risk associated with complex instruments such as CFDs.

Last Notes On Friedberg Direct

As a reputable independent broker since 1971, Friedberg Direct is regulated by IIROC, meaning they offer a relatively safe environment for traders of all levels. AvaTrade also offers various educational materials through Friedberg Direct such as economic calendars, eBooks, training videos, beginner guides, and of course the option to open a demo account along with professional customer support ready to answer all your questions.

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TD Direct Invest – Top Broker For Share Trading

TD Direct Investing is a top Canadian broker with competitive pricing when share trading and innovating trading tools, investing advice and education content to help make your trading experience successful.

TD Direct Investing Offers A Variety Of Trading Instruments

TD Direct offers a variety of products trading including Canadian and US stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds, GICs, bonds, IPOs and Precious metals. CFD products such as forex, commodities and cryptocurrencies are not available.  Pricing for TD Direct instruments include:

• Stocks – $9.99 or $7 for active traders
• Options – $9.99 or $7 for active traders, plus $1.25 per contract
• Mutual funds – No commission
• Fixed income – Commission is included in the quoted price
• IPOs and new issues – No commission

TD Direct Investing Has Multiple Account Types

TD Direct give clients many account types to choose from, this allows you to select an account that suits your long- and short-term goals. The range of accounts is listed below:

• Margin account
• Cash account
• Self-directed tax-free savings account
• Self-directed registered retirement savings plan
• Registered education savings plan
• Self-directed retirement income fund
• Self-directed locked-in retirement accounts
• Life income funds
• Self-directed registered disability savings plan

TD Direct Investing Level Of Resources

Trading Platforms

TD Direct offers a variety of trading platforms for all levels of experience. Platforms available include:

• WebBroker online – Best for investors and traders who trade north American stocks and options
• TD app (Android and iOS devices) – Best for investors and traders who trade north American stocks and options who wish to be mobile
• Advanced Dashboard – Best for active traders as it contains live news streaming and full customisation.
• Thinkorswim – This platform is owned by TD Ameritrade. It is best for options trading and US stocks. You will need a minimum 25k USD account balance to use this platform. Forexbrokers.com has awarded this platform as the #1 trading platform 5 years running.

Trading Tools And Education

A range of online resources are available to help improve your knowledge and confidence in trading. Features include:

• TD Invest Learning Centre: houses a collection of tools and analytics such as training videos, explanation guides, live online classes, platform tours, and webinars.
• TD Market Research Centre: displays a range of market insight data and research tools including real-time news, economic events, screen scanning, interactive charting, and email alerts.

Last Notes On TD Direct Investing

TD Invest offers online and in-store investing. There is 24/7 support available if you are investing online, and this is available in English and French.  TD Direct is a highly regarded broker, but if you are looking to trade forex of CFDs, they are not the ideal choice. TD Direct is the top Canadian broker for trading and investing in stocks.

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