New Zealand Foreign exchange trading requires a NZ forex broker regulated by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) with the best forex brokers offering ecn low spreads, a mainstream forex trading platform and a range of CFDs financial services.
View the forex broker NZ comparison list below.
By Justin Grossbard / Updated: Wednesday, December 11th, 2019
Best NZ Forex Brokers
The best forex broker in NZ that are regulated by the FMA are:
CMC Markets – Best NZ Forex Broker
IG Markets – Best Range Of Financial Markets
Plus500 – Best crypto CFD trading
Hantec Markets – Best MetaTrader CFD Broker
OMF – Best cTrader Platform CFD Broker
NZ forex traders should only consider a CFD provider that shows as active on the Financial Service Providers Register. Only FMA brokers are listed on this page (last updated on December 2019). New Zealand forex traders should understand the high risks of leveraged products. Regulatory bodies have guides providing risk warnings and risk management suggestions including this article.
CMC Markets – Best NZ Forex Broker
CMC Markets allows trading CFDs across the world with FCA regulation in the UK to ASIC regulation in Australia. Within New Zealand they offer contracts for difference (CFD trading) and countdowns across:
Forex
Indices
Shares
Commodities
Treasuries
Cryptocurrencies
CMC Markets Spreads
Below shows the spreads on the core markets offered from Forex to Cryptocurrencies. There are several further trading costs when CFD trading with CMC Markets including holding costs (often called overnight fees) for positioned held overnight. There are commissions only for Share CFDs while data subscription costs exist to view share CFDs price data within the trading platform. The final charges occur when a guaranteed stop-loss order (GSLO) is made and then triggered.
Leverage With CMC Markets
CMC Markets offers leverage on major currency pairs of up to 500:1. There is a high level of risk when trading at this level so only experienced traders with a high-risk threshold should consider choosing the maximum leverage available. Maximum leverage ranges for other products with 500:1 of indices, 400:1 for treasuries and 200:1 for commodities. You can view more leverage information on the CMC Markets review.
IG is one of the largest retail fx broker worldwide marketing itself as an all-in-one trader solution. They are a stockbroker, currency broker and CFDs provider. They offer a number of forex platforms that impact the spreads and commissions on trades. The broker has a lower leverage level which excludes many intermediate and expert forex traders. They are also are regulated by the Australia Securities Commission. Read more…
IG offers CFDs on shares for NZ traders with market-based spreads and a 0.09% commission per side (minimum of NZ $7). For the spot AUD/USD and EUR/USD CFDs the average spread is 0.75 pips. Overall, spreads and commissions vary by CFDs with some more competitive than others. CMC overall spreads and commissions were viewed as more competitive compared to IG.
Plus500 allows individuals to start trading on a not just forex markets but also on cryptocurrency including Bitcoin. Other CFDs and commodities can also be traded online. Leverage is up to 300:1 and unlike CMC a there are no commissions on trade. The fx broker has a presence globally and in addition to NZ (FMA regulation), they are regulated by CYSEC in Cyprus and ASIC in Australia. A number of CFDs can be traded by Plus500. Read more…
Unique features for Plus500 is their trading tools. They allow for stop-loss, trailing-strop and stop-limit functionality. They also for an additional fee provide guaranteed stop, ensuring a trader can’t lose more than the amount set for a CFD trade. Another feature which is standard is negative balance protection. This ensures a trader doesn’t go into a negative balance and the NZ forex broker exists the trader when they approach $0. If the trader does go into negative, Plus500 will cover the additional losses.
Hantec offers the most popular forex trading platform, MetaTrader 4. This is the platform the most used by online brokers worldwide and by the good brokers across-the-globe. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is suitable by a range of trading experience forex traders with Hantec Markets offering based currency including GBP, USD and EUR. There is also the option of a demo account to trade virtual funds before real money.
OMF – Best cTrader NZ Broker
The best cTrader forex broker in NZ is OMF Markets. OMF are specialist when trading forex and cTrader has a range of financial instruments to trade currencies and other services including:
FX Hedging and Payment – An advisory service for forward and spot contracts
Equity Markets – Connects NZ investors to equity products from EFTs, CFDs to equities
Futures Market – Acces to the most active exchanges to trade commodities to interest rates
Carbon Trading – A facility to trade OTC derivatives and spot carbon markets
Power – Exchange-traded OTC electricity future contracts to help power companies hedge
It’s their range of financial instruments which gives OMF a unique value proposition over their currency brokers.
Selecting The Right NZ Forex Broker To Suit Your Needs
When selecting a New Zealand forex broker to consider the following 5 aspects:
1) Brokerage Fees which primarily is spreads. Spreads are similar to those traveller views when going to a foreign exchange provider with a different price for ‘buying’ a currency compared to ‘selling’ the same currency. The foreign exchange provider makes the difference which is called the ‘spread’. Some forex brokers will move to minimise these spreads and instead charge a commission. This increases the transparency of forex brokerage costs and can lead to a lower overall brokerage. These types of NZ brokers are called ECN brokers. It should be noted that some NZ forex broker charge other fees for holding positions, trading exotics and certain funding methods.
2) Forex Trading Platforms help individual online forex brokers match individual traders with overseas liquidity markets. The main markets are in New York and London so the trading platform servers need to be close to these locations. Choosing the right forex trading platform will mean finding one that has a good interface, fast trading execution and it’s popularity. By using a popular forex platform like cTrader or MetaTrader 4 a broker can relatively seamlessly change the NZ forex broker they trade with.
3) Leverage is critical for currency trading to make it worthwhile for traders. With currencies often moving by fractions of a percent each day, leverage makes these changes more substantial. The leverage levels can up to 10x different so this element needs to be considered. It’s also worth noting that higher leverage is not necessarily better. This is because higher leverage increases the risks of forex trading.
4) Risk Management features can help forex brokers reduce the level of risk associated with leverage. Some management tools are in-built such as minimum balance protection which ensures an NZ trader doesn’t lose more than their deposit. Other features need to be enabled on individual trades such as guaranteed stops where a broker can determine the most they are willing to lose on a transaction. It should be noted that these features can increase the brokerage costs of the trader.
5) Regulation: The NZ financial service providers register created by the Financial Services Market (FMA) show locally regulated fx brokers. There are many requirements of the New Zealand regulators so choosing these fx brokers will reduce the risk of forex scans. The brokers listed on this page meet FMA requirements and you can view the FSPR (financial service provider registry) website.
FMA Derivatives Issuers
To view the NZ licenced provider list you can view the FMA register. The top derivative issuers which offer retail forex broker NZ services are listed below. As further licences can be added or suspended it’s recommended to check the FMA register website to ensure details are up-to-date. The list below was updated in December.
Best NZ Forex Brokers
Best NZ Forex Brokers
CMC Markets – Best NZ Forex Broker
Forex
Leverage With CMC Markets
IG Markets – Best Range Financial Services
Plus500 – Best Crypto CFD Trading
Hantec Markets – Best MetaTrader 4 Broker
OMF – Best cTrader NZ Broker
