IIROC Forex Brokers

These are the best Brokers with IIROC regulation for Canadian traders

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology Is The Best Broker Overall

FXCM is a multi-regulated international forex broker that has partnered with Friedberg Direct, a subsidiary of Friedberg Mercantile Group Ltd, one of the top asset management companies in Toronto to offer online forex and derivatives trading to Canadian traders. We know this combined company as ‘Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology’ with FXCM offering the trading technology and clearing-house and Friedberg Direct holding the IIROC licence and providing the CFD brokerage services.

Spreads

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology offers what they call FXCM Enhanced trading execution. This means the broker (in this case FXCM not Friedberg Direct) is the counterparty to your trades.

Since price feeds are mostly taken from third-party sources such as liquidity providers, the broker is not a market maker in the sense that they do not set the prices but the broker is a dealing desk they provide the liquidity and take the other side of your trade.

FXCM can offer low spreads because of their price engine, which captures price feeds from a large pool of liquidity providers to bring you the best spreads. The broker selects these spreads by ranking the liquidity providers, order rejection rate, spreads, and latency.

One feature of FXCM enhanced order execution is that the FXCM publish their liquidity providers and prime brokers, few brokers offer this level of transparency. Liquidity providers include many tier 1 banks, such as Barclays Bank, Citadel Securities, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Morgan Stanley. The broker also uses two Prime Brokers, these being Citibank and Jefferies Financial Services.

The following spreads table compiles average spreads that brokers publish on their website. We update these spreads each month. As one can see, spreads from FXCM stand up very well when compared to other brokers, especially for similar brokers in Canada.

Commission Spreads
0.10 0.50 0.10 0.40 0.20
0.14 0.35 0.09 0.27 0.17
0.20 0.30 0.20 0.40 0.20
0.50 0.60 0.30 0.50 0.50
0.30 N/A 0.30 0.50 0.40
0.20 0.83 0.44 0.40 0.42
0.24 N/A 0.17 0.54 0.30
0.30 0.70 0.20 0.50 0.40
0.30 1.10 0.10 0.60 0.50
n/a 0.30 n/a 0.60 0.50
0.34 1.14 0.27 0.81 1.06

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/12/2021

Trading Accounts

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology only offers one trading account. With this account, you can access 58 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.

friedberg direct fxcm canada trading account

CFD Trading Products

Friedberg Direct Powered By FXCM Technology offers 39 currency pairs with leverage determined by IIROC 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 IIROC regulated brokers. You can also trade indices and the Bund for treasuries. Stock is not available.

friedberg direct fxcm canada trading products

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.

friedberg direct fxcm canada trading platforms

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader is one of the most popular trading platforms in the world, since it is a common 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:

  • 3 types of order execution – profit target, stop loss and trailing stops
  • 30 inbuilt technical analysis indicators with the option of over 2000 free custom indicators and 700 paid indicators
  • Customisable charts
  • 9 Timeframes
  • 3 Chart types – Line, bar, candlesticks
  • 24 Graphical objects
  • 4 Pending order types

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.

fxcm expert advisors

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.

  • News and economic calendar fully integrated into the platform, so you don’t miss any key international events
  • Education and research tools available to equip yourself with the best trading skill-set
  • Multiple pre-loaded indicators and trade directly from the charts for a seamless trading experience

View FXCM Review >>Visit FXCM >>

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


Our Rating

The overall rating is based on review by our experts

6.33
Spreads
6 / 10
Leverage
8 / 10
Trading Platform
6 / 10
Risk Management
4 / 10
Range of Markets
8 / 10
Customer Service
6 / 10

Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade For Top Fixed Spreads

AvaTrade offers one of the largest range of markets with over 170 tradable instruments, including forex and a range of CFDs. While 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 trades. It has built the usual commission costs into their spread costs, but AvaTrade has still kept them at a low and guaranteed with 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.

friedberg direct avatrade canada trading account

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. Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade has some of the best fixed spread rates compared to other fixed spread brokers, as seen below in this chart.

Fixed Spreads
0.90 1.10 1.50 1.10 1.60
1.86 1.83 2.04 N/A 2.19
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
1.84 2.53 2.67 2.14 2.46

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/12/2021

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 instruments that are available to trade.

  • 37 different forex pairs including majors like EUR/USD & GBP/USD
  • 65 stock shares with the option of over 500 additional stocks on the MT5 platform, including Apple, Amazon, & Tesla
  • 19 commodities including Crude Oil & Gold and the option for more with MT5
  • 42 different FX Options for more advanced traders looking into derivatives

friedberg direct avatrade trading products

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.

friedberg direct avatrade canada trading platforms

WebTrader

AvaTrade gives you access to downloadable web-based and mobile versions of their proprietary platform WebTrader. We have listed some benefits below.

  • Take control of the markets with AvaProtect—a risk protection tool to protect your trading portfolio easily
  • Live market sentiment to make educated decisions from the AvaTrade community
  • Access a wide range of timeframes, studies, and indicators with the option for Trading Central for further technical insight

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.

  • Trade options visually with their unique interactive page showing historical data and the potential confidence interval
  • Live streaming for prices for over 40 FX pairs & Gold with no additional fees
  • 13 different option strategies to trade spot, calls, puts, or a combination all from an easy-to-use menu and interface

Visit Friedman Direct powered by AvaTrade >>

CMC Markets Had Good Risk Management

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.

cmc markets trading instruments

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.

Standard Account Spreads
0.69 0.77 1.27 0.88 0.74
0.86 0.74 1.19 1.19 0.83
0.70 1.30 1.30 2.20 1.40
0.80 0.90 1.70 1.80 0.80
1.30 1.20 1.30 1.90 1.30
1.10 1.40 1.60 2.00 1.20
1.10 1.20 1.40 1.50 1.20
1.20 1.30 1.60 1.30 1.20
1.20 1.20 1.40 1.40 1.20
1.20 1.20 1.40 1.40 1.40
1.30 1.50 1.50 1.70 1.70

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/12/2021

cmc markets trading accounts

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.

cmc markets trading platform

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.

  • Advanced charting tools with 115 technical indicators, over 70 chart patterns, and 12 chart types pre-built into the platform
  • Client sentiment tool to gauge the overall position of the market
  • Morningstar quantitative equity research reports to compare the estimated value of a share to its actual price

CMC Trading Platform SG Beginners

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.

  • Automated trading strategies available for testing and application with Expert Advisors (EAs) or other MT4 traders
  • Wide range of sentiment analysis as it stretches a range of brokers, not just CMC
  • Mini-terminal that can allocate your lot size to cash risk (for example, placing a trade with 3% of your account at risk)

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.

  • Webinars and events to learn everything from basics in trading to advanced trading strategies
  • Library of market analysis videos to help you use their Next Generation platform and build an effective strategy
  • Articles on technical and fundamental analysis with day trading strategies to give you an extra edge
  • Financial terms glossary to get up-to-date on the financial language you might see in articles or webinars

View CMC Markets Review >>Visit CMC Markets >>

Oanda Is The Best MetaTrader 4 Broker

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 as powered by the platform TradingView to help analyse the markets.

OANDA Guaranteed Stop Loss Brokers

Account Types

OANDA offers you two different 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.

oanda canada trading accounts

Standard Account

This account is most popular for traders 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.

  • The full range of platforms, including web, desktop, MT4, and mobile applications available
  • Variable contract sizes (can go to 1 unit size) for a which have advantages for small speculation trades
  • There is an option of having a joint account or a corporate account with multiple users. Unfortunately, there are inactivity fees if a user is not using their account for over 12 months

Premium Account

OANDA’s premium account comes with everything the standard account has, and much more. This account is suitable for traders that will risk a higher level of capital, as the minimum account balance is $25,000. We have listed the additional features that you get with this account below.

  • Access to a dedicated account manager on call at all times to assist you with questions you might have
  • Unlimited free wire transfers compared to the limited amount you get with the standard account
  • Priority service queues to skip the line and get your trade executed first

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.

oanda execution speed

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.

oanda canada trading platforms

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)metatrader

MetaTrader 4 is the most popular 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.

  • Automated trading strategies from Expert Advisors (EAs) developed by third parties, or you can build your own
  • Over 50 different built-in indicators, 9 timeframes, and multiple displays
  • Option for a premium upgrade to use one-cancels-the-other (OCO) to catch a breakout or reversion trade

OANDA Tradeoanda logo 240 px wide

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.

  • Personalised layouts to suit your trading preferences with multiple trading profiles and charting layouts
  • Market data on the most up-up-date news as it unfolds, with insights and analysis from large outlets
  • One-click trading straight from the charts makes trading a seamless experience

TradingViewBest Web-Based Trading Platform

This partnership is fairly new, as OANDA looked to expand on the ever-growing social trading industry. This platform 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.

  • Identify and test strategies from either the community or your own using custom filters and indicators
  • Social community of over 15 million active investors and 6 million trading ideas to give you a better idea of where the sentiment in the market might be
  • Access hundreds of chart types and technical indicators on an easy-to-use charting layout

Regulation

As you can see below, OANDA is a reputable broker around the world, holding multiple high-level regulatory licenses. Some of these licenses include:

  • IIROC (investment industry regulatory organisation of Canada) – Canada
  • ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) – Australia
  • FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) – UK

oanda regulators

View Oanda Review >>Visit Oanda >>

Interactive Brokers Has Largest Range of Trading Products

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:

  • Traders Academy – Improve your understanding of the markets and the platform
  • Traders Insights – To analyse the markets with leading experts in the field.
  • IBKR Quant – For the latest news on computer and data science, with updates on python, R, and more.
  • IBKR Webinars – Range of free webinars on a range of markets, technology, and trading

interactive brokers trading products

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.

interactive brokers currency tiers

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 for this platform below.

interactive brokers trading platform

Trader Workstation

Trader Workstation is the proprietary platform for Interactive Brokers. With the simplicity of only one account type, Interactive Brokers only charges a USD $2.00 per order (scaling down the more you trade). Available in multiple formats, this powerful platform comes with a range of different features, as listed below.

  • Mosaic gives direct access to trading, orders, live quoting, and technical research all in a simple to use interface window
  • Research news from leading newsagents and analyst research from a range of hosts, including Morningstar & Zacks
  • A range of risk management tools, including the risk navigator, model navigator, and options analytics to help protect your portfolio

interactive brokers regulators

View Interactive Brokers Review >>Visit Interactive Brokers Markets >>

Forex.com Has The Most Currency Pairs

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 direct market access (DMA) account for the full depth of the market.

Forex.com is a market maker (they take the other side of your trades) and have therefore developed a close relationship with multiple liquidity providers.

One of the major benefits of trading with a market maker is that the execution speeds are world-class with 99.73% of all trades being made in under 1 second.

forex.com trading products

Account Types

Forex.com offers two different account types for you to choose from each with different trading models. The first is their standard account, which operates with a market maker trading model. The second is their straight-through processing (STP) direct market access (DMA) account.

forex.com trading accounts

Standard Account

This account is perfect for the beginner or casual trader because of the simple no commission costing. The maximum leverage for this account is 33:1 under IIROC regulation rules. We have listed some more benefits below.

  • Minimum trade size of $1000, therefore, a recommended account balance of at least $1,000
  • Access to over 80 forex pairs, 12+ commodities, and cryptocurrency markets
  • Typical spreads of 1.20 pips for EUR/USD forex pair, with the possibility of going as low as 0.80 pips
  • Opportunity to get up to 16% of cash rebates when trading with this account

DMA Account

It suited this account towards the more professional or experienced trader because of the lower spreads and full depth of the market. Direct Market Access means that you will have access to level 2 pricing and the spreads provided by global banks with no additional markup. However, pay a commission per trade. We have gone into more detail below.

  • Typical spreads average around 0.40 pips for EUR/USD forex pair
  • Minimum account balance of $25,000 and minimum trade size of $100,000, therefore, more suited for traders that have more money to invest
  • Dedicated support from one of their professional market strategists to help with your trading plan

Below we have included a table with the commissions per volume traded each month.

forex.com active trader program

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 trading platforms

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.

  • Smart trading ticket to set orders based on P&L levels, pip amounts, or price to manage the risk to your portfolio on each trade
  • Personalize layouts to suit your trading style and preferences
  • Advanced charting tools including over 70 technical indicators and 50 drawing tools to give you an edge on reading the market

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)metatrader

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.

  • Expert Advisors (EAs) for auto-trading your strategies or from the MetaTrader community for a simpler trading experience
  • Real-time account data with no third-party bridges to hold up the refresh rate
  • Advanced tools and analysis with access to Reuters news reports, Forex.com research, and Trading Central technical analysis

Regulation

Forex.com holds a range of licenses with regulators around the world. This only increases the credibility of Forex.com as a significant worldwide broker.

forex.com regulators

View Forex.com Review >>Visit Forex.com >>

Fortrade Has Good Eduction Tools

Fortrade is a relatively new brokerage established in late 2013 after setting up its base in the UK. They offer a wide range of markets, including forex, index CFDs, Agriculture CFDs, and commodities.

To trade these markets, Fortrade offers a few different platforms, including their proprietary platform Fortrader or the more well-known MetaTrader 4. Either platform is available on multiple devices including mobile, web application, or desktop app.

fortrade banner

Range of Markets

Trading with Fortrade means you have access to these financial markets 24 hours a day, so whether you are at home or on the move, you can make new trades. We have listed some of the potential markets below.

  • Over 50 forex currency pairs to speculate on the world’s top exchange rates
  • Commodities including gold, oil, energies, and other metals with fixed spreads on select markets instead of floating rates
  • Agriculture CFDs for direct exposure to some of the staple food commodities like sugar and soybeans

fortrade trading products

Education Academy

Fortrade has one of the largest and most expansive online academies compared to other brokerages. There is everything from eBooks to trading course videos to help you become the best trader possible. We have listed some features of the academy below.

  • Trading Webinars from expert analysts covering a range of different topics including strategies, trading terminology, and recent events
  • Beginner or advanced trading courses ranging from the basics of trading to more diverse derivative trading contracts
  • A range of different market analysis tools, including morning & evening updates, an upcoming economic calendar, microanalysis, and a historical overview of the markets
  • Trading glossary with the most frequently used trading vocabulary and their meanings all in their A – Z guide

fortrade education academy

Platforms

Trading with Fortrade includes two different trading platforms for you to choose from. The first is their proprietary platform called Fortrader available in web-format or mobile format on IOS and Android.

The other platform option is the more popular MetaTrader 4 platform available in web format, a downloadable desktop app, or a mobile application.

Both platforms come with a range of support videos on how to make a trade, setting up indicators, and general tutorials.

fortrade trading platforms

Fortrader

Fortrader comes free with every account and is available for anyone to use. It comes with a range of benefits, as listed below.

  • Simple to use and very user friendly, so it made buying your favourite instruments easy on the new platform
  • Demo Account with $10,000 of virtual money available with the option of switching between the demo and live accounts easily
  • Full range of instruments to analyze, track, and trade from, saving you valuable time

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader is the most popular trading platform in the world designed for forex trading on the next level. We have listed some benefits of trading with this platform below.

  • Technical, fundamental, and sentimental analysis from the entire MetaTrader community across all brokerages
  • Algorithmic trading for advanced automated trading strategies ensures you can just sit back and relax
  • Advanced trading orders including stop losses, take profit orders and trailing stops to assist with your account risk management

fortrade metatrader app

IIROC Regulated Forex Broker Background

IIROC stands for Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and regulates the nation’s financial markets. IIROC must regulate any broker that wishes to offer derivative or.

Besides IIROC regulation, some Canadian 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

  • Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) – Ontario Region (including Toronto)
  • The British Columbia Securities Commission – British Columbia Province (including Vancouver)
  • Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) – Quebec Province (including Montreal)

IIROC regulates all brokers in this review and we have noted if any brokers do not accept clients from any Canadian provinces

The role of IIROC

IIROC 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:

  • Providing licences to brokers to operate in Canada.
  • Investigating and taking appropriate actions against any brokers that breach the terms of their licence
  • Ensuring brokers meet required capital requirements and perform financial compliance reviews
  • Conduct reviews to check brokers have the correct procedures in place to meet individual clients’ needs
About the author: Justin Grossbard

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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