The Canadian financial body is the CIRO (formally IIROC) which regulated forex brokers in the region. We reviewed the best CIRO-regulated forex brokers in 2023 based on features such as trading platforms and costs.
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The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) regulates trading activity in Canada and was originally called the IIROC. On their corporate website, they state that dealer members are required to be a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund (CIPF) established in 1969. This protects traders if the broker becomes insolvent as explained on the CIPF website.
Best Forex Brokers Regulated By CIRO
Our list of the top forex trading platforms is:
We determined the best CIRO-regulated broker for each trader subset determining the overall winner. The core facts considered were fees (spread and commissions), trading platform, customer service and overall trading experience including execution speeds.
| 🏦 Broker Name | 🍁 Regulated By CIRO | 💻 Trading Platforms | 💰 Minimum Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|
| OANDA | Yes | MT4, TradingView, Proprietary Software | $0 |
| Forex.com | Yes | MT4, MT5, Proprietary Software | $100 |
| AvaTrade | Yes | MT4, MT5, Proprietary Software | $100 |
| FXCM | Yes | MT4, Proprietary Software | $50 |
| CMC Markes | Yes | MT4, Proprietary Software | $0 |
| Interactive Brokers | Yes | Proprietary Software | $0 |
OANDA is one of the most trusted brokers with the best forex trading platform.
OANDA is one of the oldest forex companies on the market after being established in 1996. They offer a range of platforms, including the popular MetaTrader 4, TradingView, and their proprietary OANDA Trade. There is an array of useful trading tools powered by the platform TradingView to help analyse the markets.
Account Types
OANDA offers forex traders two account types, both with advantages based on your trading experience and skill level. Both of the accounts come with 24/5 support for customers and various features, as described below.
Standard Account
This account is popular for a forex trader with a smaller balance, as the minimum account balance is $0. You will get access to the full range of markets, including 70 FX pairs, and CFDs on major indices, commodities, metals, and bonds. We have listed some features below.
Execution Speeds
OANDA prides itself on its super-fast institutional-style execution speeds. As there is no dealer desk intervention, both platforms are 100% automatic, which will help maximise the speeds of the trades you place.
Despite the premium service to get your trade executed first, they execute most of their trades quick. The average speed for a trade to get executed is 0.012 seconds. Oanda makes it a key point to do no re-quotes and only reject a trade if it goes out of the specific bounds that you set.
Platforms
OANDA gives you the option of three different platforms. OANDA Trade, which comes complimentary with every account. The second is the popular MetaTrader 4 platform with the option of premium indicator plug-ins. The final platform is a new partnership with the social trading platform TradingView.
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
MetaTrader 4 is the most popular forex platform on this list, as it has been called the ‘gold standard for trading platforms. It comes with a range of inbuilt features and optional plugins to suit your trading style. We have listed some of these features below.
OANDA Trade
OANDA Trade is the award-winning flagship platform with powerful technology and features. This platform is available to all OANDA users and has a wide range of features, as listed below.
TradingView
This partnership is fairly new, as OANDA looked to expand on the ever-growing social trading industry. This trading software allows you to use the community features and powerful charts on TradingView in combination with OANDA’s fast execution speeds. We have listed some features below.
Final Verdict
We named OANDA not just the best CIRO regulated broker but they were the winner on our best forex broker in Canada list. On top of their competitive fees, strong customer support and trading experience they have no minimum deposit for traders making it easy to start testing the broker in a live environment.
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FOREX.com has over 80 currency pairs for trading
FOREX.com has experience in the online brokerage industry after servicing clients for 20+ years. They offer two different account types, including a standard and RAW Pricing account.
Account Types
FOREX.com offers two different account types for you to choose from each with different trading models. To open an account you need to choose one with the standard account having no commission (but higher spreads) which are the primary broker fees. The account type is the Raw Pricing account which offers very low spreads with a fixed commission. We recommend that higher volume or more advanced traders open the latter.
Standard Account
This account is perfect for the beginner or casual trader because of the simple no-commission cost structure. We have listed some more benefits below.
RAW Pricing Account
FOREX.com’s RAW pricing account will appeal to experienced traders because of the lower spreads of their lower spreads. This account has spreads from 0 pips plus a commission of $14.00 round-turn per lot.
Forex.com Gives Good Rebates For High-Volume Traders
If you trade at least 50 million in the month, you will be eligible for discounts through the Forex.com active trader program. The more you trade, the greater the cash rebate which can see as much as 15% deposited into your trading account.
Platforms
FOREX.com offers a range of different platforms to either trade on or view the markets from. The first is their proprietary platform available as a web or mobile application. The second option is MetaTrader 4 platform available as a desktop application, web format, or for mobile devices on IOS or Android.
FOREX.com Web
This version has a range of features, including indicators, analysis tools, and account management features. We have listed some of these below.
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
MetaTrader 4 is the world’s most popular trading platform originally designed for the forex markets but now includes a multi-asset integration. We have listed some features below.
Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology Spreads Are Sourced from the best providers
FXCM is a multi-regulated international forex broker that has partnered with Friedberg Direct, a subsidiary of Friedberg Mercantile Group Ltd, one of Toronto’s top asset management companies to offer online forex and derivatives trading to traders. We know this combined company as ‘Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology’ with FXCM offering the trading technology and clearinghouse and Friedberg Direct holding the CIRO licence and providing the CFD brokerage services.
Trading Accounts
Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology offers two trading accounts. With these accounts, you can access over 60 trading products including Forex, soft commodities, precious metals, energies, indices and treasuries.
When trading forex, you will need to pay a commission of $7.00 side-ways or $14.00 per standard (100,000) lot round turn for major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF. Minor and exotic pairs have a commission is $18.00 round-turn.
CFD Trading Products
Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology offers 39 currency pairs with leverage determined by CIRO regulation, which often changes. Leverage can be up to 50:1 but expect it to be lower, usually 33:1 or 22:1.
Other trading products include hard and soft commodities with corn, soy and wheat being options not found with many other CIRO regulated brokers. You can also trade indices and the Bund for treasuries. Stock is not available.
Platforms
Friedberg Direct, powered by FXCM Technology, has two different platforms to choose from. The first is ‘Trading Station’, which is an FXCM proprietary platform designed for forex and CFD trading only for FXCM clients. The second option is the more popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform, which offers automated trading capabilities. We have gone into more detail below on the features of each platform.
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader is one of the most popular trading platforms in the world since it is a standard offering from many brokerage firms. Its reach with traders makes the platform one of the safest choices you can make in choosing a platform. Key features include:
Expert Advisors
A significant feature that comes with the MT4 platform is the use of Expert Advisors (EAs). They automate these trading strategies using the MQL4 programming language. If you never want to miss a market move, then you can program these EAs with your strategies. There is also an option of using some of the community strategies from pre-made EAs with back-testing of their effectiveness.
Trading Station
Trading Station comes in a web, mobile, and desktop format to allow for trading easily anywhere. We have listed some features that come with the platform below.
*Your capital is at risk ‘67% of retail CFD accounts lose money’
CMC Markets NGEN has over 100 technical indicators for analysis
CMC Markets is one of the more global brokers on this list with regulated offices in the UK, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. With over 10,000 financial instruments to trade, CMC definitely offers the widest range of markets for you to trade. CMC Markets has a wide range of platforms for you to choose from, including their next-generation platform and MetaTrader 4.
Spreads
Since CMC Markets only has one account type, it makes calculating trading costs simple. There is no commission on this account as they have already been pre-built into the spreads. We have made a chart with their average spreads below to compare to other brokers.
Platforms
CMC Markets has a range of platforms for you to choose from. The first choice is one of the best proprietary platforms on the market in their next-generation platform. Second, they offer the world’s most popular MetaTrader 4 platform specializing in trading currencies, commodities, and indices. We have gone into more detail about the two platforms below.
Next Generation Platform
This platform is CMC Markets’ award-winning flagship platform available for all users. It gives you access to the full range of tradable instruments, including currencies, commodities, indices, shares, and treasuries. We have listed some features below.
MetaTrader 4
CMC Markets also offers the more popular platform MetaTrader 4. This platform has a limited range of markets, only being able to access currencies, commodities, and indices. However, it has a few additional features, as listed below.
Learning Centre
CMC Markets has one of the best customer learning systems in the market. Available 24/5 their team of experts is always on hand to help with any queries. We have listed some ways they can help you trade below.
Interactive Brokers lets you trade Forex, Shares, Bonds, Futures
Interactive Brokers is one of the more well-known brokers on this list, with over 1.5 million client accounts. They are one of the few brokers that are listed on the NASDAQ as a publically traded company.
Invest in over 130 different markets, including stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds from their single account. Interactive brokers only offer one trading platform, but in multiple versions to suit your device.
Education and information are some of the most important aspects of being a successful trader, which is why Interactive Brokers give you all the tools that you need to succeed. Some of these tools include:
ECN Spreads
Interactive Brokers is unique in that they only offer a single account to trade with. They operate this account under an ECN style trading execution with low commissions. With spreads being such a major trading cost, Interactive Brokers take their spreads straight from interbank quotes to ensure they are as low as possible. This means there is no mark-up on the spreads or hidden pricing.
Commissions
Interactive Brokers has some of the lowest spreads on the market for an ECN broker. The amount of commission that you pay depends on the volume of trading in any month and will decrease the more it is. We have listed the commission costs for spot currencies below.
Platforms
Interactive Brokers only offer one choice of platform, but it comes in multiple forms, including web browser, desktop application, mobile app, and FIX API. We have listed a few of the features of Trader Workstation which is their proprietary platform.
Available in multiple formats, this powerful platform comes with a range of different features, as listed below.
With the simplicity of only one account type, Interactive Brokers only charges a USD $2.00 per order (scaling down the more you trade).
View Interactive Brokers ReviewVisit Interactive Brokers Markets
Friedberg Direct Powered By AvaTrade Spreads Don’t Change
AvaTrade offers one of the largest range of markets with over 170 tradable instruments, including forex and a range of CFDs. At the same time, this brokerage may seem similar to the previous, AvaTrade works on a zero-commission basis with a Straight Through Processing (STP) execution style.
Spreads
As AvaTrade uses an STP execution, it means that there is no commission on any side of the trade. It has built the usual commission costs into their spread costs, but AvaTrade has still kept them at a low and guaranteed fixed spread costs of 0.60 pips for the forex pair EUR/USD.
Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade is the only brokerage on this list that has fixed spreads. The benefit for you as a trader is that there are no hidden costs, and your trade will always cost the same amount every time. The downside is that the spread cost could be lower on a variable spread at some points in time.
As there are only a few brokers around the world that have fixed spreads, so we have found a few of them and compiled their costs into this chart. As seen below in this chart, Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade has some of the best-fixed spread rates compared to other fixed spread brokers. The charge below confirms this.
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Fixed Spreads
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
0.90 | 1.00 | 1.50 | 1.10 | 1.50 |
|
1.94 | 1.83 | 2.11 | 2.36 | 2.05 |
|
1.60 | 1.60 | 1.70 | 1.90 | 2.10 |
|
1.50 | 1.80 | 2.00 | 1.80 | 2.00 |
|
3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 |
|
4.00 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 |
|
|
2.01 | 1.86 | 2.31 | 2.52 | 2.22 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
Range Of Markets
AvaTrade has one of the most diverse ranges of markets compared to any of the brokers on this list including forex, stocks, commodities, indices, FX options, and bonds. Below, we have listed examples of some available instruments to trade.
Platforms
AvaTrade has a range of different platforms available for CFD trading, Options trading, and FX trading. These platforms include WebTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and AvaOptions. We have gone into more detail about some platforms below.
WebTrader
AvaTrade gives you access to downloadable web-based and mobile versions of their proprietary platform WebTrader. We have listed some benefits below.
AvaOptions
Options trading is a way of trading instruments that give you the right to buy or sell at a specific date and price. AvaTrade makes this easy with its advanced options trading platform. We have listed some benefits below.
Choosing an IIROC Regulated Forex Broker ensures your broker adheres to stringent regulatory standards, offering you a secure and fair trading environment. View our forex broker comparison to
Yes, forex trading is legal in Ontario with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) as the local regulator. Traders should ensure they choose a broker that accepts traders from Ontario before making a deposit.
Yes, forex trading is legal in Alberta with the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) the regions regulator. The rules outlined by the ASC stipulte that only accreditor investors can trade forex. Absolutely, forex trading is legal in Alberta. But to trade forex, you have to earn recognition to become an accredited investor.
The CIRO was established in 2023 as a merger of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) and the IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada). It should be noted that the IIROC was initially a result of a merger between the Markets Regulation Services Incorporated the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA) and the Market Regulation Services Inc.
The CIRO is responsible for setting and enforcing rules with transparency, integrity, and fairness regarding proficiency, business, and financial conduct. Besides CIRO regulation, some provinces have their financial regulator so brokers may also need to comply with provincial-level requirements. For this reason, some brokers do not accept clients from certain Canadian provinces.
Provincial regulators include
CIRO regulates all brokers in this review and we have noted if any brokers do not accept clients from any Canadian provinces.
The Role Of CIRO
The CIRO ensures brokers comply with the high standard expected of the investment industry. This means they write and enforce the rules forex broker must abide by. Duties (but are not limited to) include:
There are four key reasons why traders should only shortlist regulated brokers:
To view the types of brokers regulated by the CIRO view start from our compare forex brokers section.
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