MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is the world’s most popular trading platform. We look at the best Canadian Forex Brokers with MT4 along with key features such as spreads, trading accounts and financial products.
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The Best Brokers Offering MetaTrader 4 to Canadian Traders
| Broker | Our Rating | Regulation | Standard EUR/USD Spread |
Standard GBP/USD Spread |
Standard AUD/USD Spread |
Raw EUR/USD Spread |
Raw GBP/USD Spread |
Raw AUD/USD Spread |
Commissions (USD Base) |
MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 5 | cTrader | Execution Speed | Minimum Deposit | Currency Pairs | Crypto CFDs | Retail Leverage | Prof. Leverage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
8.83 |
FCA, CIRO, ASIC FSC-BVI, NFA, CFTC MAS, JFSA, KNF |
1.4 | - | - | - | - |
|
|
|
120ms | $0 | 69+ | - | 50:1 | - |
|
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|
8.33 |
CIRO, FSCA ADGM, CBI |
0.90 | - | - | - | - |
|
|
|
160ms | $100 | 37+ | - | 33:1 | 33:1 |
|
||
|
7.0 | CIRO, FCA, NFA, CFTC, MAS, JFSA, CIMA | 1.30 | - | - | - | $6.00 |
|
|
|
30 ms (May 2023) | $100 | 80+ | - | 33:1 | 33:1 |
|
||
|
8.33 |
FMA, VFSC ASIC |
1.0 | 1.32 | 1.11 | 0.10 | 0.42 | 0.21 | $3.50 |
|
|
|
94ms | $100 | 60+ | 12+ | 30:1 | 200:1 |
|
|
8.17 | ASIC, VFSA | 0.93 | 1.08 | 0.92 | 0.13 | 0.21 | 0.12 | $2.25 |
|
|
|
79ms | $0 | 90+ | 10+ | 500:1 | 500:1 |
|
|
8.50 | ASIC, SCB | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.06 | 0.73 | 0.27 | $3.50 |
|
|
|
143ms | $100 | 40+ | 250+ | 30:1 | 500:1 |
|
MT4 is one of the most popular and widely used Forex platforms around the world and is suited for all levels of trading experience. Common MT4 features include an intuitive interface, an abundance of trading tools and thousands of EAs (expert advisors) and custom indicators. These are a handful of considerations we made when picking the 6 best Canadian forex brokers that offer MT4 as a trading platform.
OANDA offers Advanced Trading Tools for MetaTrader 4
We gave OANDA the best MetaTrader 4 broker overall thanks to its low trading costs, a wide range of trading products, and the exclusive MetaTrader 4 plugins provided by OANDA. You should choose the MetaTrader 4 platform with OANDA if you are a scalper because you can access their open order book indicator, so you benefit from knowing where the trade volume is.
What contributed to OANDA being the top choice overall is that they scored very highly on our Trading Platforms and Range of Markets tests. In our overall test, OANDA has proven itself against our methodology by scoring an excellent 71/100. Making it our number one rated forex broker in Canada.
Key Features With OANDA
OANDA Improves on the Default MetaTrader 4
The MetaTrader 4 that is available comes with a wide range of trading enhancements, such as:
With OANDA, you can enhance these features even more by installing the Premium MT4 plugins that are available for free when you open a trading account. The Premium MT4 plugin adds a number of benefits, such as:
There is one tool I think sets OANDA apart from other brokers that offer the MetaTrader 4 platform. This is the Open Order Indicator tool that you can easily install on the platform after opening an account with OANDA. I like this tool because you can see where the “liquidity” is based on the open orders of OANDA’s clients.
This tool is useful for you when you are placing a trade. Naturally, you want to place a trade where there is strength in your favour, and with this tool, you can pick out the key price areas where the strength lies.
OANDA Offers a Spread-Based Trading Account
OANDA has spread-only pricing meaning. If you are new to trading, you will appreciate this simplified pricing since you will not need to worry about any additional entry or exit fees.
Spreads with this account start from 0.6 pips for major pairs and average around 1.2 pips. And leverage is in line with CIRO regulatory requirements being no more than 1:50 leverage
If you are a high volume trader or scalper, you can obtain further savings through their Elite Trader program which can see reduced spreads costs between 10% and 34% if you trade at least $10m (or more) in monthly trading volume.
OANDA offers savings to high volume traders
If you are a high volume trader or scalper, you can obtain further savings through their Elite Trader program which can see reduced spreads costs between 10% and 34% if you trade at least $10m (or more) in monthly trading volume.
OANDA has one of the Largest Ranges of Currency Pairs and Metals in Canada
OANDA has focused only on forex, indices, commodities, and metals. You can get access to over 120+ trading products across six different markets. You can trade from a solid selection of 70 currency pairs, which include majors, minors, and exotic pairs, if you like to trade more volatile pairs.
Or, if you trade gold and silver, then OANDA is a good choice for you because you can trade gold and silver with multiple currencies allowing you to diversify your trading ideas with different currencies. For example, most brokers only provide XAU/USD or XAU/AUD, yet OANDA provides XAU/EUR, XAU/GBP and XAU/JPY (plus many more).
All of these products are available on the MetaTrader 4 platform.
Our Verdict on OANDA
Overall, OANDA stands out as the best MetaTrader 4 broker overall, with low trading costs, a wide range of products and exclusive plugins that enhance the platform. The open order book indicator and the one-click trading feature of the MT4 will benefit you as a scalper.
Trade with 1:500 Leverage on MT4 with TMGM
We rated TMGM as the best broker for high leverage on MetaTrader 4. You should choose TMGM to trade on MetaTrader 4 if you want to trade forex with lower margins. TMGM offer an excellent service that gives you access to a huge range of markets with ECN-style executions through their deep liquidity sources.
Key Features With TMGM:
TMGM Allows Canadians to Access Higher Leverage on MT4
Getting access to high leverage can be difficult for Canadian traders. The CIRO limits you to 1:50 as a retail trader. This means you are required to have larger margins with each trade. TMGM lets you access higher leverage because they accept Canadian traders through their VFSC-regulated entity. This means you can access up to 1:500 leverage.
So you can open an account with TMGM to sidestep the CIRO leverage limits. This gives you more flexibility as a trader due to smaller margins, which benefits those with smaller trading funds as well as scalpers who want their money to work even harder for them.
Low Spread Trading Accounts with TMGM
TMGM gives you a few different account types that fit different trading styles. You have the Classic account (more commonly known as a standard account), which is ideal if you are a beginner since there’s no commission. You only pay a spread, which starts from one pip on the EUR/USD.
If you are an experienced trader who wants tighter spreads, then the Edge account would suit you more. With this account, you pay 0.0 pips spread, but you’ll have to pay a low commission of $9 per round-turn lot. So overall, you’re costs are lower (especially if you are a high-volume trader).
Based on our recent analysis of advertised spreads from brokers, TMGM actually delivers on its promise of tight spreads on the EDGE account. We found that TMGM provided the advertised 0.0 pips minim spread on the EURUSD 97.53% of the time. This means you can benefit from their low commissions and low spreads consistently on the MetaTrader 4 platform.
Fast Execution Speeds with TMGM on MT4
You get access to all of the features MetaTrader 4 comes with as standard, this includes 50+ technical indicators and drawings, one-click trading, and customizable charts. These are helpful tools if you are a scalper.
Fast execution speeds are important for successful trading. Our team tested 20 brokers for execution speeds on the MT4. In our tests, TMGM recorded an average execution time of 94ms for limit orders, which is fast in comparison to the other brokers in our tests. This put TMGM in the top five out of all the brokers tested, which is really useful if you place limit orders in the market.
Our Verdict on TMGM
TMGM clearly has the liquidity and execution infrastructure to consistently give you competitive spreads, as we discovered in our tests. By allowing Canadian traders to open accounts through their VFCS entity so they can access 1:500 leverage, it makes sense in our opinion to recommend TMGM as a top broker for high leverage on MT4.
FOREX.com has helpful tools with MT4
With a massive 82 Forex pairs available to trade, as well as over 1000 stocks and other indices, metals, energies and soft commodities, Forex.com has the biggest range of markets on our list.
Key Features With Forex.com:
Trading Accounts
To trade using the MT4 or MT5 platforms, Forex.com gives you its Standard Account option. This means zero commissions with spreads as low as 0.8 pips for the major currency pairs.
The RAW Pricing account which has spreads from 0 pips since it has commission costs of $14.00 per lot round-turn is more suited to those looking for experienced traders such as scalpers since the overall trading cost is lower.
An Active Trader program is also available for high-volume traders. If you trade at least US$50 million in a calendar month, you can receive rebates of 5% to 15% in cash rebates at the start of the following month.
MT4 Trading Platform Features
Forex.com specific MT4 features include fully integrated Reuters news, Forex.com’s own research, Trading Central technical analysis and account management tools. These features also exist on their demo account.
The broker also allows you to optimise your strategy using MT4 with a suite of over 20 EAs for professional-grade control and flexibility over your trading strategy. Features include custom indicators, such as integrated Pivot Points and Highs and Lows, Chart-in-Chart, which lets you view multiple products on one chart window, and an Alarm Manager.
Should you wish to automate your trading or use social trading, Forex.com will allow you to utilise a 3rd party provider and integrate with MT4.
As an aside, it is worth noting that Forex.com also offer TradingView. While this cannot be used with MetaTrader 4, the broker allows you to open multiple accounts thus allowing access to TradingView.
TradingView has 16 million members, making it the largest investment community on the web. The platform offers advanced charting with over 65 drawing tools, 11customable chart types and an infinite number of time intervals.
With Forex.com, Canadian forex traders have access to a massive 82 currency pairs and can take advantage of competitive spreads, starting from 0.8 pips on USD-pegged majors such as EUR/USD, AUD/USD and USD/JPY.
Please note, that the 82 Forex pairs are only available using the Standard Account.
FOREX.com also offers Canadian traders over 1000 stocks and a smaller range of other CFD products.
Eightcap has over 70 crypto pairs for trading on MT4
Eightcap has a competitive advantage in cryptocurrency with over 250 products available to trade, the most of any broker in the industry.
We think this makes Eightcap one of the best brokers for low-spread STP/ECN forex trading accounts, with spreads being 0.0 pips around 50% of the time and averaging 0.02 to 0.10 pips for EUR/USD. You can view our lowest spread forex broker page to compare Eightcap to other Canadian brokers.
Like TMGM, this is because Eightcap is a no-dealing desk broker, meaning it has STP or ECN ‘like’ pricing. As such this ensures their price feeds are taken from a large pool of tier-1 liquidity providers and brought directly to you with no price interference.
Please note, that Eightcap is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC), not IIROC, but still accepts Canadian clients.
Key Features With Eightcap:
Trading Accounts
Eightcap gives you two trading account options: Standard and Raw.
The Standard account is Eightcap’s no-commission account with spreads starting from 1.0 pip while the Raw account has a lower minimum spread with commission costs of CAD 7 round-turn.
Spreads for major currency pairs such as EUR/USD can be as low as 0.0 pips, a major advantage over other fx brokers.
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Standard Account Spreads
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1.12 | 1.22 | 1.40 | 1.69 | 1.47 |
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1.13 | 1.01 | 1.71 | 1.66 | 1.12 |
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1.20 | 0.90 | 1.50 | 1.80 | 1.80 |
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1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.60 | 1.50 |
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.20 |
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1.10 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 |
|
1.20 | 1.80 | 1.90 | 1.90 | 1.60 |
|
1.32 | 1.95 | 1.37 | 1.70 | 1.40 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 01/09/2023
Compare Lowest Spread Forex Brokers
MT4 Features
Eightcap is a MetaTrader specialist as they only offer the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The good thing about using Eightcap is that they don’t place limitations on how you use MetaTrader. This means you can use the platform for automation, scalping, hedging and integrating with other 3rd party products.
As well as the standard features, Eightcap offers Fx Blue Labs which is a suite of 28 widgets, trading expert advisors and charts. Trading apps include Alarm Manager, Correlation matrix and Trader, Mini and Trade Terminal and Stealth Orders. The indicator package includes charts such as Donchian, Chart-In-Chart and Renko Bar.
Another useful MT4 add-on Eightcap offers is Capitalise.ai, which allows you to write your own algorithms without any knowledge of coding.
Trading Products
In terms of FX, Eightcap offers 40 major, minor and exotic foreign exchange markets to trade.
You can also obtain leverage of up to 500:1 for professional accounts with Forex derivatives. A disclaimer: while high leverage does maximise your returns, you take on more exposure to market volatility so it is a high-risk investment.
The broker also has the largest range of cryptocurrencies with over 250 available to trade including bitcoin, Ethereum and dogecoin CFDs.
Fusion Markets has some of the lowest commissions in the FX industry
Having the best commissions means Fusion Markets offers Canadian traders the lowest cost broker. These low costs are achieved through a combination of competitive commissions and tight spreads, in addition to low ancillary fees. Other broker highlights include a superior forex trading platform and high leverage.
Please note, like Eightcap, Fusion Markets is not regulated by IIROC, although the broker does accept Canadian clients. Fusion is instead regulated by the VFSC (Vanuatu Financial Services Commission) for traders outside Australia.
Key Features With Fusion Markets:
Trading Accounts
The two account types Fusion Markets offers are their Classic and Zero accounts.
The Zero Account uses STP or ECN-like trading execution which brings your spreads down to a minimum of 0.0 pips. Where Fusion Markets shines is their commissions which are some of the best in the industry. With Fusion Markets, you will pay a CAD 3.00 commission per side (CAD 6.00 round-turn). If you are using USD then you will pay $4.50 round-turn per side.
While there are zero commission costs associated with the Standard account, the minimum spread is 0.8 pips for EUR/USD.
There is no minimum deposit requirement or account size for either account.
There are also no inactivity costs. This means you don’t have any obligation to meet any minimum trading requirements each month, which can catch some retail investor accounts out.
Besides no inactivity costs, Fusion Markets do not charge any Funding fees for deposits or withdrawals, unless funding is from an international bank to a Canadian bank, which you may want to check with your institution.
MT4 Benefits
Alongside the low pricing you can achieve, Fusion Market’s MT4 platform also boasts 0.02ms execution speed on each CFD trade as well as the ability to connect to their proprietary Fusion Hub for managing your account.
The broker also allows desktop Webtrader for browsers and mobile trading experience for MT4 while adopting automation (Expert Advisors) and MetaTrader Signals for social trading (copy trading).
For those seeking a specialist social or copy trading platform, Fusion Markets offers Myfxbook (social trading) and DupliTrade (copy trading) and both integrate with MetaTrader 4.
They also offer Trading Central, with this tool you get actionable trading information such as Market Buzz for market sentiment. You also get analyst views, and technical insights.
Trading Products
Fusion Markets offers superior 90+ Forex pairs, the most of any broker, along with a limited array of additional trading products.
The broker’s offshore, Vanuatu (VFSC) regulated branch offers leverage of 500:1 on currency trading. Leverage involves a high level of risk, so it is important to select the level that is right for you. This high leverage of 500:1 is also available for precious metal commodities and energies.
Friedberg Direct With AvaTrade spreads are often fixed
Friedberg Direct, powered by AvaTrade technology, have a point of difference from other brokers, as they have fixed spreads. If you are concerned about slippage or market volatility then fixed spreads can help allay these concerns. The predictable nature of fixed spreads can also help with your trade planning so are popular with scalpers.
To achieve fixed spreads, this broker uses a market maker mode meaning they have an in-house dealing desk. While the broker is your counter-party, the fixed spread model means spreads are transparent so you don’t need to be concerned with price manipulation from the broker.
It has built the usual commission costs into their spread costs, but AvaTrade has still kept them at a low, such as a spread of 0.60 pips for EUR/USD.
Key Features With Friedberg Direct Powered By AvaTrade Technology:
Friedberg Direct, powered by AvaTrade, offers one main account type: a Retail account. You get a choice of USD or CAD as your base currency with this account.
The base currency you choose will affect the minimum deposit requirements to open an account and the margin requirements to trade.
For CAD-denominated accounts, the minimum deposit is CAD 300, while a minimum of USD 250 is required for a USD-denominated account.
IIROC determines the margin requirements the broker can allow in trading. Traders with a CAD account have a higher margin requirement than traders with a USD Account. Maximum leverage can be as high as 50:1 but the leverage of 33:1 or lower is more common.
Remember that spreads with Friedberg Direct are fixed. This makes the broker unique since most brokers offer variable spreads or sometimes variable spreads with selected instruments.
Fixed spreads come with no commissions, so you expect to be wider than ECN-style accounts. Interestingly, AvaTrade fixed spreads compare well with a Standard account from other brokers. This is unusual since fixed spreads are usually wider so the brokers are better covered as they take on higher risk.
Friedberg Direct provides easy accessibility for the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms as a download for Windows and Mac (Mojave and earlier), Android and iOS. Web Trader is the MetaTrader 4 version for browsers.
Regardless of which platform you choose, you will have access to all the standard tools MetaTrader 4 offers. These include 9 timeframes, 30 built-in indicators, 4 pending order types and 1-click trading across one login.
One exclusive expert advisor with AvaTrade is Guardian Angel. This is a personalised trading feedback tool, that helps you to improve your decision-making and trading performance. And If you are using WebTrader, AvaTrade provides a summary of overall long and short positions for all the main assets they offer.
Like with TMGM, Trading central is also available. This platform contains market analysis tools that can help you when assessing the market and making trading decisions.
Friedberg Direct, via AvaTrade, offers a good range of 37 FX and 42 FX options trading products. There’s also a large selection of almost 600 stocks available to trade.
As mentioned above, the maximum leverage available for retail traders is currently 1:33 (for the major USD-dominated Forex pairs) and varies depending on the trading instrument and the base currency.
E.G. Trading EUR/USD on a USD-denominated account is associated with a 4.50% margin requirement or leverage ratio of 22:1. Conversely, trading EUR/USD on a CAD-denominated account is associated with a 4.50% margin requirement or leverage ratio of 22:1.
These margin requirements can vary as IIROC regulations do change and margin requirements may tighten as your position size increases.
The reason Friedberg Direct and AvaTrade formed a partnership were to allow Canadian residents access to AvaTrade’s global online technology, many trading instruments, cutting-edge forex trading platforms and technical support while maintaining their accounts with a regulated Canadian firm in Friedberg Direct.
While your account is held with Friedberg Direct, you will still be able to trade most of the products that AvaTrade normally offers. I.E. You will still benefit from low fixed spreads on AvaTrade’s entire product range using MT4 and MT5. It was listed as one our top brokers for beginner forex traders.
MetaTrader 4 was originally developed to trade on decentralized markets, including foreign exchange. As such, the platform is best suited for forex trading, primarily, which we have focused on in this review. There were plenty of considerations we made when reviewing the top forex MT4 brokers for Canadian traders including:
Having said all that, our forex broker comparison didn’t shortlist some brokers, such as CMC Markets, Friedberg Direct (with FXCM) and Interactive Brokers, as we only wanted to pick the best, which our list reflects.
Forex market regulation is a key factor to consider when assessing Canadian Forex brokers. Canada is unique as they have many different organizations (15 to be exact) that supervise the Forex market. The two main organizations are IIROC (the main regulator for debt and equity markets in Canada) and the CSA (Canadian Securities Administrators).
CSA is an umbrella organization that oversees 13 different securities regulators, encompassing the 10 Canadian provinces and 3 Canadian territories. Two of the biggest are the Ontario Securities Commission and the British Columbia Securities Commission.
Client protection is paramount when it comes to Forex market regulation, not just in Canada, but around the world with top-tier regulators like the FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia. Similar to these, IIROC enforces rules designed to protect clients against the insolvency of regulated brokers. As such, there are a number of strict conditions that brokers have to abide by in order to operate, such as minimum capital requirements and regular, comprehensive financial reports.
Given the differences in regulations between Canadian provinces and territories, some brokers only accept clients from certain regions. Two notable examples are Alberta and Ontario, which both have additional regulatory requirements than other areas. We encourage Canadian investors to double-check this information via a broker’s website or contact them directly online.
IIROC requires all residents of Canada to trade with an IIROC-regulated broker and if this is the case, we recommend you do choose an CIRO-regulated broker and to double-check the broker accepts traders from your province. However, it might be that you live in Canada but are not a Canadian resident or citizen, if this is the case, you can use a broker outside Canada. For this reason, we have included brokers that will accept Canadian traders.
The last major body that protects clients against broker insolvency is the CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund), which is a not-for-profit that safeguards funds held within an IIROC-regulated broker account, within certain limits.
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