Best UK Beginner Forex Trading Platform

eToro – Best Pure Social Trading Platform for Beginners

eToro is the largest social trading network worldwide, popular for its user-friendly trading platform and account mirroring services. With regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, UK), Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC, Cyprus) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) you have the assurance you need that you are trading CFDs with a trusted broker.

Social Trading

eToro’s social-copy trading platform is well-known for its simplistic platform design and easy-to-use trading tools. There are many benefits if you are a beginner trader. First, you gain access to a vast trading community with millions of traders from over 140 countries. Second, eToro offers account mirroring services where you can copy the trading strategies of successful investors with proven track records. Known as Popular Investors, experienced traders receive bonuses for profitable strategies, providing incentivises for successful trades.

To find suitable Popular Investors, you can search for trading strategies that match your risk level, markets and location. You can copy strategies surrounding a range of CFDs, with forex, commodities and Share CFDs available. To keep up to date with market changes, the social trading platform offers a real-time news-feed function that shows analysis conducted by Popular Investors you follow.

As a beginner trader, you may want a well-diversified portfolio to start out. eToro’s CopyPortfolios are an excellent option, with two different portfolio types available:

1. Top Trader Portfolios: a portfolio consisting of strategies from the best performing eToro traders.
2. Market Portfolios: a bundle of different asset classes and financial instruments.

*Your capital is at risk ‘68% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

Markets.com Is The Best Forex Broker For Small Accounts

Markets.com is a commission-free forex broker that follows a market maker business model. The broker offers an excellent range of forex and CFDs with forex, commodities, indices, bonds, ETFs available, plus thousands of different shares.

The fx broker follows tier-1 regulation, including that set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. Therefore, Markets.com provides negative balance protection and as a UK resident, you receive protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

To add another layer of transparency in terms of financial reporting and disclosure, the broker’s parent company, PlayTech, is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange and a component of the FTSE 250 index.

Online Trading Accounts

As a market maker with dealing desk execution, Markets.com offers one main account type. It requires a small initial deposit of $250 to open an account, and you will gain access to tight spreads as low as 0.40 pips, with no commission fees. The combination of tight spreads with no commission fees and a low initial deposit makes it a great option if you are a beginner trader.

If you make a living and earn a salary as a professional trader, Markets.com offers a Pro Account where you can gain access to higher leverage and a dedicated account manager.

To qualify for a professional trading account you need to satisfy two of the following criteria:

• Have over €500k of liquid assets
• 1 or more years of relevant experience in financial services. This could be as a fund managers or forex analyst
• Made at least 10 trades of significant size, in each of the last 4 quarters

Online Trading Platforms

As well as MT4 and MT5, you can also use the broker’s proprietary trading platform, Marketsx, to conduct analysis and place orders.

You can access Marketsx online, via a web trader platform or through mobile trading apps for iOS and Android devices. Both versions of the software offer an excellent range of tools to enhance your trading experience, including:

• One-click trading and the ability to place orders directly from charts, saving time and effort.
• A selection of unique trading tools with 8 sentiment, 2 technical analysis and 4 fundamental analysis tools.

Markets.com’s market sentiment tools are one of the best features offered by the broker and trading platform. The tools help you determine whether most market participants are feeling positive or negative about a specific financial instrument.

Examples of Marketsx Sentiment Tools:

• Signals – an inbuilt client sentiment feature where you can view sentiment data on different instruments while simultaneously analysing charts.
• News Trading Sentiment – Assesses whether current news coverage is positive, negative or neutral for different markets.
• News Alerts – Shows how recent news is affecting the market prices of various financial instruments.
• Trader Trends – Provides sentiment data for Marketsx traders based on the real-time trades being made on the platform by Markets.com clients.
• Analyst Recommendations – Shows how analysts are viewing the biggest US stocks, with star ratings from 0 to 5.

On top of the sophisticated sentiment features, you can also use various technical and fundamental tools to develop trading strategies that include complex instruments and techniques.

• Daily technical analysis levels and ideas.
• Advanced charting tools with TradingView.
• Real-time financial commentary.
• Advanced alerts and notifications.
• Real-time news from Dow Jones.
• Thomas Reuters stock reports.

View Markets.com Review >>Visit Markets.com >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘70% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

FXCM – Best Beginner Add-On Social Trading (ZuluTrade)

FXCM is a top UK forex broker well known for its social trading tools. While automating trading via algorithms (i.e. Expert Advisors and cBots) may be too complex if you are a beginner trader, social trading is a simple way for you to automate CFD and forex trading.

Social-copy trading services allow you to fully automate trading by mirroring the strategies of other traders’. Account mirroring services such as ZuluTrade allow you to follow trading signals developed by experienced investors while engaging in a social trading community.

FXCM provides ZuluTrade as a platform option where you can easily find and copy trading signals, reducing the time you spend developing strategies and implementing trades. Social trading platforms such as ZuluTrade are beneficial to those new to trading as it removes human emotion from the process. Additionally, the inbuilt risk management features such as the ‘Margin Call Meter’ helps you manage your trading accounts and minimise potential losses.

When compared to MetaTrader and cTrader platforms, the social trading platform may lack technical analysis tools. Yet, you do not need advanced analysis tools as trading is fully automated.

FXCM recommends opening a ZuluTrade demo account first before you trade with real money. Once beginner traders are comfortable with the social trading platform, you can open a live ZuluTrade account by contacting FXCM’s customer support and filling out the necessary paperwork.

View FXCM Review >>Visit FXCM

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

Plus500 – Trading Platform With Great Risk Management Tools

If you want to familiarise yourself with forex markets via a user-friendly interface, Plus500’s proprietary trading platform is an excellent choice. Plus500’s platform is available as a web trader platform or mobile trading apps (compatible with iOS and Android devices). Whether you’re trading online or via mobile apps, Plus500 offers a range of order types to manage the high risk of CFD trading.

Risk Management: Order Types

Besides signing up to a trusted regulated broker, you can reduce the high risk of CFD trading by utilising the broker’s trading platforms risk management tools such as order types.

• Stop-Limit & Stop-Loss: Stop-Limit and Stop-Loss order types allow you to specify when to open or close orders at a predetermined price. Although the order type can cap losses and maximise profits, slippage may occur if markets are volatile.
• Guaranteed Stop-Loss (GSLO): A GSLO ensures an absolute maximum on any potential losses. An order is automatically closed at your preset price when market prices move in unfavourable directions. The main difference between a basic stop loss and GSLO is GSLO guarantee no slippage, regardless of volatility. While GSLO’s are an excellent risk management tool for beginners, trading costs increase as you pay a fee to use the premium order.
• Trailing Stop: A Trailing Stop Order closes a position when market prices move away from the current price by a specified number of pips or a percentage amount, helping you lock in profits and minimise losses.

FCA Regulated Broker

Plus500 is a regulated broker overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK as well as other financial authorities worldwide. On top of FCA regulation, Plus500’s listed on the London Stock Exchange. Being a public listed company increases transparency as it requires the broker to frequently disclose financial information. As a customer of Pluss500’s UK subsidiary, you receive various forms of investor protection to help you manage the high risk of forex trading.

• Segregated client funds
• Negative balance protection
• Close-out margins
• Leverage caps

While Plus5o0 also offers brokerage services in Australia (ASIC), NZ (FMA), Singapore (MAS), South Africa (FSCA) and Israel (ISA), if you register with these subsidiaries you will not receive the same strict investor protection UK traders receive, except for segregated client funds.

View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘72% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

XTB – Best Mobile Trading Platform (xStation) For Beginners

XTB is an FCA regulated broker that offers you a choice of either a standard account type with no commission or a pro account with low spreads with a flat-rate commission for each lot you trade. When trading CFDs via xStation, the broker’s proprietary trading platform, over 3,000 financial markets are available using desktop, web or mobile apps.

The mobile trading app is suitable if you are a beginner trader as it provides an easy to use and modern design. There is also a range of comprehensive trading tools including interactive charts and technical indicators. XTB mobile app features include:

• A Traders Calculator to help you calculate a trades potential risk and reward.
• The ability to trade directly from charts.
• Advanced technical indicators, i.e. Fibonacci Retracement and Moving Averages.
• Single click bulk order closing tool.
• Economic calendar to get up to date with significant economic events as well as market news and expert analysis.
• Market sentiment data to show you whether most traders are buying or selling a specific financial product.
• Extensive educational resources based on basic, intermediate, expert and premium trading topics.

When trading on the go, you can manage the high risk of CFD trading by utilising different order types. These include market orders, limit orders and stop-loss orders. You can also set up various customisable alerts and notifications to stay up to date with market news and trading opportunities.

You can view the best forex broker for beginner traders to compare XTB to other leading providers.

XTB Review >>Visit XTB >>

CMC Markets – Best Web Trading Platform (Next Generation)

To avoid downloading and installing a desktop trading platform, as a beginner you may initially prefer a web trader platform. CMC Markets proprietary web trading platform, Next Generation, offers comprehensive trading tools and educational resources to develop trading strategies while providing market access to a range of asset classes.

The web-based platform lets you choose either a standard view or advanced view, allowing beginner traders to opt for a simplified interface when they’re starting out. If you are new to forex trading, you can benefit from the extensive trading tools and platform features, such as:

• Technical Analysis Tools: Over 12 chart types, 70 chart patterns and 115 drawing tools and technical indicators, with the ability to trade directly from charts.
• Client Sentiment Data: allows users to see the percentage of traders buying and selling.
• Price Projection Tool: The pattern recognition software automatically detects short and long-term trading opportunities with projected prices.
• Next Generation Trading Community: CMC’s chart forum connects you with other traders, allowing you to share ideas and discuss financial markets.
• News and Insights: In-house analysts comment daily on CFD and forex markets, with real-time news from Morningstar and Reuters.

If you are using the online brokers Next Generation platform, you can access foreign exchange markets as well as the following CFD products:

• Indices
• Shares
• ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds)
• Commodities
• Treasuries

To supplement CMC Markets impressive market access and Next Generation platform you can learn about risk management, trading strategies and unique platform feature with the broker’s library of educational resources.

CMC Markets award-winning educational resources consist of webinars, ebooks, videos, articles and trading courses designed for beginner, intermediate and experienced traders. Topics discussed include forex and CFD trading, technical indicators, fundamental analysis, and trading platforms.

CMC Markets is regulated by top-tier financial market authorities such as the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority, UK), BaFin (Germany), ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) and the CFTC (Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, US).

View CMC Markets Review >>Visit CMC Markets>>

FxPro – Best Beginner Trading Platform – cTrader

cTrader is a popular forex trading platform offered by FxPro. You can use either a webtrader platform or mobile trading app (iOS and Android) to access the trading software.

Mimicking a professional fx trading environment, cTrader is suited to traders wanting low spreads and ultra-fast execution. Spreads are as low as 0.0 pips on major currency pairs such as the EUR/USD, so you pay a flat rate commission fee as compensation to FxPro for their brokerage services.

Commission fees depend on the volume traded, $45 charged per million traded and $4.5 per 100k. To assist customers with calculating commission fees for different trade sizes, base currencies and currency pairs, the fx broker provides a commission calculator on its website.

As well as major, minor and exotic fx pairs, cTrader users can build diversified trading strategies using other asset classes like indices, energies and metals.

Trading Conditions and Tools

FxPro cTrader customers benefit from the following trading features and tools:

• ECN-style spreads as low as 0.0 pips.
• No commission fees on indices.
• Average execution time less than 11.06 ms.
• Level 2 Depth of Market (DOM).
• Algorithmic trading with cBots, that you can write yourself using the C# programming language or download from the cTrader website online.
• Advanced backtesting.

In terms of risk management, you can use a range of order types to mitigate losses. Besides standard market orders, the following order types are available to manage the high risk of forex trading:

• Stop Orders
• Stop Loss
• Limit Orders
• Take Profit
• Good till Cancel (GTC)
• Good till Date (GTD)

cTrader VIP Account Type

For traders wanting even tighter spreads and lower commission fees, you can sign up to the broker’s VIP account type. To qualify as a VIP, you need to deposit an amount of $50,000 into your trading account. After you make the required minimum deposit, a FxPro account manager will reach out to process a VIP account application.

View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘73.76% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

City Index- Best Beginner CFD Trading Platform (WebTrader)

With access to over 12,000 financial markets, City Index is a popular FCA regulated broker in the United Kingdom. On top of excellent CFD market access, City Index’s web trading platform offers advanced trading tools, a customisable workspace and a range of risk management features. The user-friendly trading platform is an easy introduction to CFD trading, with forex, shares and indices available to trade.

The highly regulated broker is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and overseen by many financial authorities around the world. In the United Kingdom, where financial authorities permit spread betting, the City Index by Gain Capital UK subsidiary follows regulation set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

UK traders receive some of the strongest investor protection available to retail investor accounts worldwide through the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

As a UK resident, you may receive tax benefits when spread betting as opposed to CFD trading. City Index offers the best UK spread betting platform. Click here to find out more.