The top forex brokers in the Philippines will offer low trading fees, forex and CFDs like cryptocurrencies and the best trading platforms. When choosing fx brokers, look for a broker with regulation. See our list of best brokers Filipinos.
Updated: 10/06/2021
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We review the best forex brokers for Filipinos to trade with
Pepperstone is our top forex broker in the Philippines. One of the most important decisions forex traders have to make is choosing the right broker, The Compare Forex Brokers team believe Pepperstone is the best in the industry due to four factors:
Pepperstone is regulated with multiple tier-one brokers. This gives Pepperstone a reputation of trust and integrity with their business offering as they aspire to meet the requirements of the most stringent regulators around the world. This is an important measure when selecting a broker, as it means your funds are secure from scams and unauthorised activities with the broker. Pepperstone is regulated by the following:
Traders in the Philippines will be signed with Pepperstone Markets Limited, which uses the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) for regulation. While this is not a tier-1 regulator, Pepperstone Markets Limited still offers tier-1 regulatory standards, as their policies are in line with what is required by ASIC. This means you will still have segregated banks accounts, complaints procedures, product disclosure statements and top-level execution speeds and true no dealing desk practices that ensure you will get the best available spreads.
The central bank of the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the local regulatory body governing all foreign exchange transactions. However, international brokers are not required to be registered with the BSP.
The online services the forex brokers offer to their clients come at a cost. For example, if you trade forex, there are three types of trading fees you’re expected to pay:
The fee structure varies between the forex brokers and the account types used. Pepperstone is one of the best brokers in the Philippines because it offers lower trading costs in all three categories (spread, commission and rollover).
Commission
Spread Costs
Total
At Pepperstone, spreads start from 0.0 pips (Razor accounts), round turn commission of USD 3.50 on forex trading and EUR/USD swap rates of USD -6.63 for long respectively USD 2.74 short swap rate.
Note* Swap rates are sourced from tier-one investment banks and updated daily,
Based on the forex quotes streamed from June – June 2020, the average EUR/USD spread is 0.13 pips respectively 0.18 pips for AUD/USD (Raw spread account). The best forex brokers with low spreads are IC Markets and Pepperstone.
Our proprietary trading cost calculator is designed to help traders better assess the total brokerage fees you pay for your trades. To work out your trading costs, we require three inputs:
Residents of the Philippines can start trading forex with a broker that is not bound by the US and EU regulation. The CFTC in the US limits forex leverage to 50:1. At the same time in the EU, due to the ESMA rules, leverage is limited to 30:1.
With Pepperstone, Filipino traders can gain access to the foreign exchange market using a maximum leverage of 500:1. The leverage for trading CFDs is capped at various levels depending on the financial markets traded:
See below the top list with high leverage forex brokers operating in the Philippines.
Trading on leverage allows Philippines FX traders to maximize their profits. Additionally, high leverage allows traders to control large sums of money with a small trading account.
It’s a lot harder to find regulated and credible forex brokers offering high leverage, low trading costs along with the most popular trading platforms. Pepperstone is the only broker in the Philippines that can bring the best trading features into a single place. The retail investor accounts only require a minimum deposit of USD 200. Make sure you grab your live account today by clicking the button below.
View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>
The overall rating is based on review by our experts
Operating as a market maker broker since 2008, Markets.com is one of the best CFD brokers accepting Philippine retail traders. The broker is seen as trusted thanks to global regulation by tier-1 financial authorities such as the FCA (UK), CySEC (Europe) FSCA (South Africa) and ASIC (Australia). Additionally, the broker’s parent company, Playtech, is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange and a component of the FTSE 250 index, adding another level of transparency and security.
Traders from the Philippines receive regulation from the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC). While this regulator doesn’t require as high a level of compliance as the tier-1 regulators mentioned above, Markets.com practices exceed the minimum requirements of the regulator. For example, Markets.com keeps your funds safe in segregated bank accounts.
A major benefit to trading with Markets.com is the collection of unique trading tools you gain access to. While most brokers and trading platforms offer technical and fundamental analysis, Markets.com also offers a sophisticated selection of sentiment trading tools.
Key reasons why Markets.com is viewed as one of the best brokers in The Philippines include:
As a market maker that uses a dealing desk, the broker only offers no commission spreads, where all compensation is included in the spread. Commission-free minimum spreads are tight, starting from 0.4 pips for major forex pairs such as the EUR/USD. The table below shows the minimum average spreads for frequently traded currency pairs.
The Marketsx trading platform is the broker’s most popular proprietary trading platform and available as a webtrader platform or mobile trading apps. When using Marktsx to trade, you can access the broker’s full CFD product range that includes thousands of financial instruments:
In addition to the ability to trade a diverse range of CFDs, the Marketsx account also comes with a range of advanced trading tools to help you improve your trading experience and performance.
1. Sentiment Tools help you to analyse and measure overall trading attitude towards financial assets, giving you an indication of buying or selling activity (e.g. Trading Analyst Recommendations, Insider Trades, Signals)
2. Technical Analysis Tools help you to use charting patterns, indicators, and oscillators to model trading data and visualize how various financial assets can be correlated (e.g. Related Instruments, Advanced Charting)
3. Fundamental Analysis Tools financial newsfeeds and updates about significant events to help you keep up to date with changing market conditions and potential trading opportunities (e.g. Financial Commentary, Advanced Alerts)
The share dealing account offers you over 7,000 stocks across 19 global exchanges, all with very small commission fees:
The Marketsi account does not feature the same range of trading tools as the Marketsx account. Instead, you can utilise the platform’s Investment Strategy Builder that is a quantitative trading tool. Designed specifically for share market analysis and trading, the portfolio development tool helps you design strategies by filtering data such as market cap, PE ratios, and daily average volumes.
As well as proprietary platforms, clients can also choose MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Although the broker’s unique trading tools and full product range are not available on MT4 or MT5, you are able to design automated trading strategies using Expert Advisors, a necessity for many experienced traders.
MT4 and MT5 are well known for their algorithmic and analytical trading tools, including:
Markets.com is the ideal broker for traders in The Philippines due to the vast range of advanced trading tools on spread-only accounts. The wide range of available CFDs and the options of various trading platforms make Markets.com a sound choice. You can test your trading skills with a demo account with Markets.com before progressing to a live account.
View Markest.com Review >>Visit Markets.com >>
With more than 100,000 active clients across the globe, IC Markets, founded in 2007, is among the largest FX CFD providers in terms of Forex volume. It falls under the regulation of some of the most reputable regulatory bodies worldwide:
Traders in the Philippines receive regulation from the financial services regulator of Seychelles (FSA). This regulator is not considered a tier-1 regulator which means the regulatory compliance standards IC Markets needs to meet are not as high as regulators like ASIC and CySEC however IC Markets Global (the subsidiary registered in Seychelles) apply a standard that exceeds FSA requirements. Clients with IC Markets Global receive regulation that is consistent with what IC Markets AU use for ASIC.
IC Markets’ diverse and proprietary liquidity mix enables Philippines-based retail clients to trade with the lowest possible spreads 24 hours per day, 5 days a week on three exceptional trading platforms – MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader.
The broker offers three main account types, with the minimum deposit being USD 200 and the maximum leverage allowed – 1:500. Traders have the opportunity to take advantage of spreads starting from 0.0 pips on the broker’s Raw Spread and cTrader Raw accounts. The average spread on major Forex pairs such as EUR/USD remains 0.1 pips during most of the time – one of the best worldwide.
If you want to compare several forex brokers in the Philippines and analyze their FX spreads, please use the table below. You can view how IC Markets compares to other forex brokers using the ECN pricing model.
Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 04/06/2021
Compare All Spreads >>
On average IC Markets spreads are 0.25 pips cheaper than Pepperstone spreads and than FP Markets spreads.
Raw pricing coupled with a MetaTrader 4 server located in the Equinix NY4 data centre are two key factors ensuring a true ECN environment for Forex traders – low latency and minimized probability for slippage, no re-quotes and ultra-fast execution of trade orders (less than 40 ms). In other words, perfect conditions for trading styles such as Scalping, Day Trading and Automated Trading.
In exchange for these conditions, traders will have to pay a small commission:
The broker offers low spreads even on its Standard Account – as low as 1.0 pip on EUR/USD, which is quite competitive compared to other leading brokers’ offers.
Filipino clients can choose from more than 60 Forex pairs. The following table compares the minimum and the average spreads on the most popular currency pairs, which can be traded on IC Markets’ Raw Spread and Standard accounts:
Philippines-based clients can also open a free Demo Account to test the broker’s trading platforms and experiment with various strategies before they start trading Forex with real money.
When it comes to trading CFDs on Cryptocurrencies, IC Markets’ offer in terms of spreads is also very competitive. A total of 10 digital currencies can be traded with no commissions, maximum leverage of 1:5 and spreads of as low as 4.0 points on Ethereum and 5.0 points on Bitcoin.
IC Markets offers the most favourable trading conditions among the brokers we reviewed. The spreads on the live trading account can even drop to 0.0 pips during peak market hours. IC Markets ECN pricing model handles over USD 15 billion in daily FX volume. In this regard, you can safely trade with low spreads even if you’re a high-volume trader. Claim your free demo account by clicking the button below.
FP Markets is the ultimate FX broker offering its clients access to a proprietary trading platform built by an in-house team of experts. FP Markets is one of the trusted global CFD and Forex brokers with 15 years of business history and 36 Industry Awards.
FP Markets is the trading name of:
Clients of FP Markets are registered with FP Markets LLC. This company does not have formal regulation however FP Markets apply protection that is consistent with the requirements of ASIC. For example, your funds are kept in segregated bank accounts.
FP Markets operates an ECN pricing model, which ensures deep liquidity, the highest level of price transparency, tight spreads as well as exceptional order execution with minimal slippage. By connecting to multiple liquidity providers, the broker is able to offer Philippines-based clients extremely competitive Forex spreads (starting from 0.0 pips), ultra-low latency and fast order execution (37 ms).
The Iress proprietary trading platform aggregates its FX quotes from 12 different liquidity providers. FP Markets network of tier-one LPs includes the world’s leading liquidity providers like Goldman Sachs, Barclays, CitiBank or J.P. Morgan.
The deep liquidity network that can be found on the Iress platform ensures 3 important features:
FP Markets was awarded as the Best for Quality of Trade Execution 2019 by Investment Trends.
Our team recommends FP Markets for Iress – the broker’s new, comprehensive trading platform offering advanced functionalities. Iress is available as a web-based application (Iress ViewPoint) and as a mobile app (Iress Mobile) for iOS and Android devices.
With its fluid and intuitive interface design, Iress ViewPoint offers enhanced charting and analytical tools and has better compatibility with a range of Internet browsers. Iress Trader is now available for both Windows (7 or higher) and Mac OSX.
What makes the Iress platform unique includes:
The IRESS in-house developed trading platform comes with personalized features and more powerful tools than the third-party trading platforms. Professional traders seeking more advanced charting tools and a robust interface can opt for a trading account with FP Markets. Create your demo account (it’s free) with FP Markets by clicking the button below.
eToro was chosen as the best social trading broker in the Philippines. eToro’s copy trading platform grants you access to view and copy in real-time professional traders. eToro is a leading Forex and CFD provider, recognized internationally for its social trading platform. The broker is authorized to operate in a number of jurisdictions, including:
CopyTrader is a unique feature that enables beginners or traders with insufficient experience to monitor what real traders are doing and instantly replicate their trading activity.
Philippines-based clients have the freedom to locate and choose on the eToro CopyTrader platform from millions of professional traders. The eToro trader profiles will help you better choose the most profitable traders.
Note* According to eToro, the average annual profit generated by the 50 most copied traders for 2019 is 29.1%.
At the same time, traders, whose portfolios are copied, have the opportunity to earn an extra income each month by participating in eToro’s Popular Investor Program. The popular investors who get copied will benefit from the following advantages:
When copy trading, clients do not have to pay any management fees or other hidden costs. All they have to do is allocate a part of their available account balance to copy the portfolio of a top-performing trader.
What eToro offers Filipino clients is not simply a copy trading platform, but an opportunity to join a leading collaborative community of traders and investors – a place to connect, exchange trading ideas and benefit from other people’s knowledge.
It is quite a simple process. Once a top-performing trader is found, clients need to click on his/her icon, type in the total amount for the copy and click the “Copy” button. To copy trade, clients need to ensure a minimum deposit of $200, while the minimum amount for every copied position is $1.
eToro’s CopyTrade technology allows clients to:
Last but not least, copy trading is taken to the next level with eToro’s CopyPortfolios, an investment product that bundles together a collection of financial assets. CopyPortfolios operate like numerous traders, all working for a client at the same time, with many underlying positions being opened on his/her behalf.
The minimum amount required to invest in CopyPortfolios is $5,000.
Once a client invests in a CopyPortfolio, his/her capital will be professionally managed by eToro’s investment committee. The performance of each CopyPortfolio is analysed in-depth and rebalanced automatically so that its gain potential is maximized.
CopyPortfolios are structured as medium to long-term investment vehicles and require longer investment periods. No management fees will be charged. Since they are meant to minimize long-term risk, CopyPortfolios aim to offer a client up to double-digit annual returns.
At eToro, both novice traders and professional traders have the opportunity to earn passive income. Filipino residents can connect with hundreds of thousands of traders and copy trading automatically across more than 2,000 financial markets. For as low as USD 200, anyone can copy specific strategies within your own risk parameters.
AvaTrade was handpicked as the best broker for beginner traders. New investors need to have access to an easy-to-use platform, in-depth learning centre and proper market research to help you in your trading journey.
AvaTrade is one of the globally recognized Forex brokers, regulated on five continents by tier-one reputable regulatory bodies such as:
Traders from the Philippines will get BVI FSC regulation by default but can choose a preferred regulator if they wish.
Since AvaTrade offers one of the lowest fixed spreads on the market, we recommend this broker to novice traders or traders with little experience. The broker grants access to the Forex market through its MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms, available as desktop, web-based (Web Trader) and mobile versions.
AvaTrade also has no restrictions on scalping and hedging, as it aims to ensure the ultimate trading environment for its clientele.
In addition, AvaTrade clients can access a comprehensive library of informative educational materials and useful Forex trading resources (economic calendar, daily news, market analysis updates in fundamental, technical and sentimental aspect).
The role of the broker’s education centre is to teach clients more about the trading products offered. The AvaTrade Education centre will teach novice traders how online trading works and much more. Here is what resources you’ll find on the AvaTrade website:
Last but not least, AvaTrade offers a new feature available exclusively on the AvaTradeGO app – known as AvaProtect. For a small fee, clients can get 100% security for their trades against any adverse price movement for a specified period of time. Or, the broker will reimburse clients for losing trades at the end of the protected period, directly into their trading account. In other words, with AvaProtect Philippines-based novice traders can open positions in the global markets with zero risks.
Our team of experts examined all the best forex brokers for beginners, and AvaTrade makes trading more accessible to novice traders. All in all, AvaTrade has an excellent trading environment for inexperienced traders. Open a demo account by clicking the button below and fine-tune your trading skills.
Visit AvaTrade >>
In our reviewing process, we have taken into account the range of trading markets. XTB allows traders to speculate on the price movement in several different asset classes, average spreads of 0.28 pips, and commissions from GBP 3.0 per lot.
XTB is a stock exchange-listed, award-winning CFD and Forex broker with over 15 years of business history and offices in more than 13 countries across Europe. Based in London, XTB Ltd is authorized and regulated by the UK’s FCA XTB also has European-based subsidiaries such as XTB Europe, which is regulated by CySEC and XTB Spain, which is regulated by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores.
Traders from the Philippines are registered with XTB International, which is regulated by the Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC). While the IFSC does apply a lighter touch to regulation than tier-1 regulators, XTB is a reputable forex company, regulated by multiple tier-1 brokers and XTB apply this standard to all clients.
XTB offers Philippines-based traders access to over 1,500 financial instruments across a range of six markets. Those include:
Due to XTB’s negative balance protection policy, retail investor accounts cannot lose greater amounts than the initial deposit.
Before trading complex instruments (CFDs) on a live trading account, Philippines-based retail customers have the option to test these high-risk products on XTB’s demo account for four weeks by using GBP 100,000 in virtual funds.
Out of all the online brokers we reviewed, XTB is the most exclusive in terms of the available financial instruments on its platform. If you like to combine trading the forex market along with stocks, indices, commodities, ETFs or cryptocurrencies, TB is the best in the industry.
XTB Review >>Visit XTB >>
The best MetaTrader 4 forex broker is OX Securities. Developed by MetaQuotes Software in 2005, the MT4 platform remains one of the most popular trading platforms in the industry.
OX Securities is the trading name of Ox Securities Limited, an entity incorporated in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The broker operates a Straight-Through Processing (STP) model, which brings several key benefits for clients – improved speed and execution of Forex transactions, lower spreads and access to leading liquidity providers worldwide.
OX Securities allows access to financial markets through its MetaTrader 4 software solution, available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS and Android.
Philippines-based clients can trade four different asset classes, including Foreign Exchange, Cryptocurrencies, Commodity CFDs and Stock Index CFDs by choosing from three account types:
There is no minimum deposit requirement, the maximum leverage allowed is 1:400, while spreads start from 0.0 pips. The Pro Account is associated with a small commission ($7.00 per round turn for 1 Standard Lot traded) and suits trading styles such as scalping and day trading.
The broker’s MetaTrader 4 trading servers are linked with the New York NY4 Equinix data centre, which ensures lightning-fast execution speeds, low latency, top-level security and maximum performance. OX Securities’ clients are granted access to the broker’s STP providers and liquidity providers (including 50 banks).
In addition, the broker offers 6 account funding options and charges zero fees on deposits. Client funds are kept fully segregated at a top-tier financial institution – Westpac Bank of Australia, while electronic payments are processed by using Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Payment methods allowed include:
Most forex brokers offer the MT4 platform included in their software packages. However, there are only a handful of FX brokers who focus exclusively on the MetaTrader 4 platform. On the downside, OX Securities remains an unregulated offshore broker that carries many risks.
Visit OX Securities >>
Forex brokers in the Philippines fall under the regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a government agency responsible for the supervision of the domestic securities industry. This regulatory body safeguards the stability and integrity of local financial markets and also aims to improve transparency and confidence in local markets.
Locally regulated Forex brokers do offer a certain level of protection for retail investors, but yet, the latter is free to choose any other brokerage, including those regulated by reputable Forex authorities elsewhere.
At the same time, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is responsible for monitoring the country’s economy and ensuring its financial system’s stability. Despite that the central bank is not directly responsible for regulating Forex market participants, it plays an essential role in Forex trading since it determines the exchange rate policy for the Philippine Peso against currencies worldwide and manages domestic currency reserves.
We should note that similar to other countries with developing financial systems, the Philippines’ Forex industry has also seen numerous cases of scams – unethical behaviour by online brokers resulting in huge losses for retail traders.
Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.
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