Best Forex Brokers In Canada

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Has Top Platform Features

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM is a partnership between Friedberg Direct and FXCM Group. Traders receive FXCM trading services and IIROC regulation which Friedberg Direct holds. FXCM does not own or control any part of Friedberg Direct.

Trading Accounts

While the Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade subsidy offers fixed spreads, Friedberg Direct powered by FXCM offers FXCM enhanced execution. Enhanced execution means you trade without minimum stop distance. This allows FXCM to promise no re-quotes, no stop/limit attractions and superior slippage performance with 87% of slippage being resulting in better than quoted spreads.

FXCM is primarily a no dealing desk broker meaning they source quotes from major liquidity providers such as Barclays Bank, Citadel Securities, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, however, their prime broker is usually Jefferies Financial Services.

Being a no dealing desk broker keeps spreads low however you will pay a commission of $7.00 to open your position for Major forex pairs and $9.00 for other currency pairs. These commission costs are quite high since you can find brokers that offer half this commission.

Trading Products

Friedberg Direct powered by FXCM offers the usual range of products you will find with most brokers. There is nothing in their range that makes them stand out from other brokers, so people choose because of their trading platform.

FXCM doesn’t provide leverage but provides the margin requirements which are kept in line with those permitted by IIROC. We converted these margin requirements to leverage ratios. IIROC can change these at any time.

Trading Platforms

FXCM’s Trading Station

Along with MetaTrader 4, Canadian clients can take advantage of FXCM’s proprietary trading platform – Trading Station, which is available for Windows, Mac OSX, Android and iOS.

The new web-based version of Trading Station, which is built in HTML5, offers a cleaner, more intuitive user interface and a range of valuable features.

The desktop version of Trading Station offers advanced charting capabilities and Forex strategy back-testing and optimisation functionalities. In addition, Canadian traders can access advanced indicators integrated into the platform, such as Real Volume indicators and the Speculative Sentiment Index.

Finally, FXCM’s Trading Station offers the market depth functionality (multiple levels of liquidity for every price level), which can be unlocked by active traders.

Third-party trading platforms available: MetaTrader 4

With FXCM/Friedberg Direct, Forex trading standard, MetaTrader 4, comes equipped with a range of layout customizability options and technical analysis package containing 30 built-in indicators, over 2,000 free custom indicators as well as 700 paid indicators. But what it more, FXCM provides an array of useful features and benefits to its Canadian clients with its MT4 offering, such as:

• Position hedging;
• Micro lots trading available for better risk management;
• Partial closing of positions;
• No restrictions on trade orders, which favours trading styles like scalping;
• Expert advisor development, optimization and backtesting in MQL4 environment;
• Reliable order execution with price improvement – average execution speed of 28 ms, 87% of all trade orders executed with zero or positive slippage;
• VPS hosting service – free-of-charge, in case clients trade an average notional volume of at least 500,000 per month for the prior 3 months;
• Extra trading tools with FXCM Plus – Trading Signals, Trading Analytics and Technical Analyzer;
• Copy-trading functionality with MT4 Trading Signals;
• MT4 WebTrader and MT4 mobile apps for iOS and Android are available.

Summary of FXCM Findings

Overall, FXCM offers hundreds of unique technical indicators and apps that allow traders to find new trading opportunities, even when the volatility is high. Traders can also select from the most popular trading platform—the MetaTrader 4 and an enhanced web-based trading platform—Trading Station.

View FXCM Review >>Visit FXCM >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘67% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

Oanda Is A Top MetaTrader 4 forex broker

Oanda is one of the best Forex brokers that offers the MetaTrader 4 trading platform for traders in Canada. With over two decades of business history, Oanda is a major player in the Forex trading field, being a global, multi-regulated broker, licensed and supervised by some of the most reputable regulatory bodies worldwide.

Trading Accounts

Traders can choose between 2 trading accounts. Most likely you will want to use the Standard account since this has no minimum deposit. In fact, the standard account offers the same essential features one needs for successful forex trading as the Premium account, but without the $25,000 minimum account balance requirement. The Premium account offers a dedicated account manager and faster refresh of quotes, features most traders can do without.

Trading Products

Oanda offers a large choice of trading products, including 70 forex pairs, which are larger than many traders offer. These pairs comprise major, minor and exotic and come with a maximum leverage of 50:1 but are less because of IIROC requirements.

If you are looking to trade Gold and Silver, Oanda offers a range of combinations with different currencies. Combinations include:

Gold/USD. Gold/CAD, Gold/CHF, Gold/EUR, Gold/HKD, Gold/NZD, Gold/SGD and Gold/Silver.

A selection of treasuries and bonds is also available for conservative traders. These include the bund and 6 treasury notes including UK 10Y Gilt, US 10Y T-Note, US 2Y T-Note, US 5Y T-Note, US T-Bond.

Oanda Trading Platform

Oanda allows you to choose between 2 trading platforms for trading CFDs: Oanda’s in-house developed trading platform and MetaTrader 4.

Oanda Trade Desktop for Desktop and Web

Choosing one of Oanda’s Desktop trading platforms gives you access to:

• Fast execution speeds of 0.012 seconds
• No requotes
• No rejections unless outside the upper and lower bounds you set for protection
• Market price orders

Oanda’s desktop platform offers no shortage of features to enhance your trading experience, features include:

• 10+ charts types and 10 layout types
• 50+ drawing tools
• The very latest news and market analysis from 4CAST and Dow Jones FX Select
• Personalised layouts for enhanced intuitively

You can download the desktop edition for Windows, Mac and even Linux computers.

TradingView Partnership

One feature of Oanda’s trading platform is it integration with TradingView. This gives you access to

• Extra and more powerful charts
• TradingView’s community of 15.5 million investors to share ideas
• 34 million charts created by the TradingView community
• Ability to customise your trading alerts
• Enhanced back-testing tools

MetaTrader 4

Along with the default MT4 features, Oanda’s MetaTrader 4 offers a range of enhancements, including more technical indicators, expert advisors, one-cancels-the-other (OCO) orders, tick-chart and keyboard trading and a five-minute orderbook.

Canadian traders can access depth of market (DOM) pricing. Smaller order sizes will be associated with tighter spreads. This benefit is available through Oanda’s MT4 premium upgrade with the mini terminal.

Another interesting feature is Oanda’s suite of technical analysis packages that can be used as a plug-in for MetaTrader 4. This way, clients will execute trades directly from the interface, use intraday market scanning tools and set up automated alerts for specified patterns.

Client fund security

Canadian clients’ funds are kept fully segregated from Oanda’s own corporate accounts in client trust accounts at top-tier financial institutions. As an IIROC-regulated entity, Oanda is also a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). What this means for traders is that all retail investor accounts will be compensated for up to CAD 1 million (per covered client) in an event of broker insolvency.

Regulation

In Canada, OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC is regulated as IIROC Dealer Member by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). Oanda is also a regulated broker in the USA by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), UK’s FCA and in Australia by the ASIC, which are considered the most trustworthy regulatory bodies.

Summary of Oanda Findings

Overall, since Oanda offered its retail investor accounts to traders from Canada; this brokerage trading firm has emerged as a top-tier MetaTrader 4 broker. Oanda is ideally suited to traders that want access to an enhanced MT4 platform. Click the button below to get unlimited, free access to a demo account that comes equipped with $100,000 in virtual funds.

View Oanda Review >>Visit Oanda >>

Forex.com has Low Spreads

Our team of experts considers FOREX.com as one of the best Forex brokers Canada traders can find in terms of spread costs. Founded in 1999, FOREX.com is a trading name of GAIN Capital Holdings, a company now part of NASDAQ-listed StoneX Group Inc.

Forex.com is a respected, multi-regulated broker, which complies with strict regulatory regimes in several key jurisdictions. In Canada, this forex broker is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).

Lowest CFD and Forex trading spreads for Canadian clients offered by a leading IIROC-regulated brokerage

To trade Foreign Exchange with FOREX.com, you will need to make a minimum deposit of $100 to open a Standard Account, but it is recommended you have at least $1000 as there are margin requirements to open a position. As a retail trader, this is the account you will most likely be using with Forex.com.

The standard account uses a market maker model, which means there are no commission costs. Spreads start from 0.8 pips.

If you are an advanced trader and want to access the order books and have a depth of market for the best spreads then the DMA may be better for you. This account has a minimum deposit of $25000 as Forex.com wants to be sure you are a serious trader. This account is an STP/DMA style account, so has commission costs that vary depending on your trading volumes.

Active Traders

If you are a high volume trader, then you should join the active trader program. With this program, you can earn up to a 15% reduction from the regular trading commission (charged per million USD in volume).

The active traders can have VIP access to private events and first-hand access to new products.

Trading Products

FOREX.com offers over 80 major, minor and exotic currency pairs, which you access on its in-house Web Trader and on the popular third-party MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. The broker’s deep liquidity mix allows it to offer very competitive pricing in Forex pairs, Spot Metals and CFDs. Spreads are variable and start from:

• 0.8 pips on currency pairs such as EUR/USD, USD/JPY and AUD/USD;
• 1 pip on GBP/USD;
• 1.5 pips on USD/CAD;
• 1 point on Stock Indices such as FTSE 100 and DAX 30 – we should note that spreads on Stock Index CFDs across American, European, Asian and Australian markets are fixed;
• 0.35 pips on Spot Gold (XAU/USD);
• 0.026 pips on Spot Silver (XAG/USD);
• 1 point on UK Stock CFDs.

Leverage is in line with IIROC requirements, and this can change from time to time. The leverage ratio will depend on whether you are using a CAD or USD trading account.

Canadian clients can trade Forex and CFDs with price improvement

Along with competitive pricing, FOREX.com has also ensured high-quality execution of trade orders. Canadian traders can take advantage of an average execution speed of 0.05 seconds and optimize their results with the broker’s price improvement technology. FOREX.com claims that:

• 52.36% of all limit orders are filled at a better price than the one requested (positive slippage);
• 100% of limit orders are filled at the requested or at a better price;
• 99.83% of all orders are filled in less than 1 second.

Trading Platforms

Forex.com allows you to choose between their own custom trading platform, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

Forex.com Web Trading and Forex.com Trading App
Forex.com offers the Web and Mobile version of their flagship trading platform for traders in Canada.

The web version is designed with simplicity, speed and reliability regardless of which browser type you prefer. Key appeals of this trading platform are the large number of technical indicators that total over 70 and drawing tools that exceed 50. Other features include 10+ time intervals, a large choice of chart types and the ability to create new orders directly from the charts.

The mobile version is designed with one swipe trading in mind which means many actions can be done with one hand. Personalised full-screen charts and watch lists can be set up that allow you to see all the information you need at a glance.

To supercharge your experience, you can integrate TradingView with the app for deeper charting and real-time analysis through your iPhone or Android device.

Summary of Forex.com Findings

Overall, Forex.com is best suited for active traders that want access to ECN-like spreads, lightning-fast order execution, and minimum slippage on a plethora of FX pairs. More the award-winning trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, have an extremely easy-to-use interface that makes them the go-to platforms for many traders.

View Oanda Review >>Visit Oanda >>

Fortrade is a Good IIROC regulated broker choice

A relatively new company to the online Forex trading space, UK-based Fortrade has already expanded its operations to several key jurisdictions, including Canada. The brokerage and its corporate arms are authorised by the following regulators:

• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK;
• The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC);
• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia;
• The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB);
• The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in the EU.

Fortrade is also a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) an institution that aims to protect the investors from malpractices of brokerage trading firms.

Brokerage Overview

IIROC-regulated Fortrade subsidiary, Fortrade Canada Limited, is allowed to offer online CFD trading services in all provinces in Canada, except in Quebec.

By ensuring a minimum deposit of $100, Canadian traders will open a CFD trading account, which grants them access to all Fortrade trading platforms (its proprietary Web ForTrader and third-party MetaTrader 4) as well as a range of tradable asset classes – currency pairs, Commodity CFDs, Stock CFDs, Stock Index CFDs, Cryptocurrencies, ETFs and US Treasuries.

Over 300 trading instruments are available.

Disclaimer: Based on the IIROC regulatory frameworks and local regulations, CFDs are available in all provinces across the country except Quebec. Ontario and Alberta’s residents need to be Accredited Investors to access CFD trading.

Trading Cost

The broker offers commission-free CFD trading, as all costs are incorporated into the bid-ask spread. Spreads offered are variable across Fortrade’s entire product list and tend to be wider on some particular instruments. Let us look at the average spreads in different asset classes:

• EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY – 2.0 pips;
• USD/CAD, USD/CHF and EUR/JPY – 4.0 pips;
• WTI Crude Oil – $0.04;
• Spot Gold – 0.02 pips;
• S&P 500 – 0.6 points;
• FTSE 100 – 2.0 points;
• Canada’s S&P/TSX 60 – 1.0 point;
• Bitcoin – $120;
• Ethereum – $7;
• ProShares UltraPro QQQ ETF – 0.14 points.

The max leverage allowed for Foreign Exchange is 1:50, but the ratios are much lower on other asset classes.

Funding Methods

The broker will not charge any fees on deposits and withdrawals, while account funding options available include:

• Bank transfer
• Debit or Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard)
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Neteller.

Fortrade will charge an inactivity fee of $10 per month after 180 consecutive days of no trading activity.

Trading Platforms

As for trading platform options, Canadian traders can choose from a web-based version of Fortrade’s in-house Fortrader software or mobile apps for iOS and Android. They can use the popular MetaTrader 4 platform as a desktop, a web-based version or a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. The platforms are very user friendly in terms of interface and features but do not offer additional trading tools for more sophisticated traders.

Fortrade also offers 24/5 customer support service via live chat, email and phone contacts, while, for more general inquiries, Canadian clients may use its FAQ section.

Summary of Fortrade Findings

Overall, Fortrade offers first-rate trading services by industry standards. However, the only downside with this forex broker is that spreads are a little wider. Traders can always find ECN-like spreads with brokers like Interactive Brokers.