Best Forex Trading Platforms In The UK

Pepperstone Has The Fastest MetaTrader 4 Speeds

Pepperstone offers the best UK forex trading environment including:

• The choice of MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView platform
• Some of the lowest spreads on the market
• The fastest execution speeds (~30ms in the UK)
• Educational material for beginners to experts
• Wide range of currency pairs and CFDs
• Expert Advisors (EAs) for automation

Pepperstone Has The Lowest Spreads In July 2022

Most forex traders in the United Kingdom prefer a commission-free account (known as a standard account) where the main cost is in the spread. This account is especially popular with beginner traders and long term traders as no commissions mean a simpler cost structure.

In July 2022,  we compiled the average spreads that brokers publish on their website for their standard account (sometimes called a classic account). It shows that Pepperstone is one of the best choices you can make to get low spreads with any broker across most of the most popular currency pairs.

Standard Account Spreads	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY USD/CAD AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/SGD
	0.75	0.85	1.40	1.43	1.07
	0.86	0.74	1.19	1.76	1.68
	0.80	0.90	1.70	2.30	2.60
	1.90	2.00	2.40	2.30	2.50
	1.40	2.50	2.50	2.60	2.60
	1.30	1.50	1.50	1.90	1.80
	1.52	1.65	1.64	2.24	1.59
	1.30	1.70	2.10	1.70	2.10
	1.70	1.80	2.00	2.30	2.20
	0.70	1.30	1.30	1.40	1.80
	1.20	1.40	1.70	2.50	2.70
	1.10	1.20	1.40	1.50	1.40
	0.80	1.00	1.00	1.50	1.60

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/07/2022

Standard Account Spread Comparison

It is interesting to note that FP Markets standard account spreads match or even improve market maker brokers such as IG and CMC Markets who specialise in no commission account types.

In addition to no commission costs, Pepperstone doesn’t charge any fee for deposits or withdrawals except for international bank transfers. Nor do they charge any inactivity fees should you decide to take a break from trading. This means the only other cost you will have is for swaps (which all brokers charge unless using a swap-free or Islamic account).

Pepperstone Trading Accounts

In addition to Pepperstone Standard Account, Pepperstone also has a Razor Account. This account type uses Straight-Through-Processing (STP) trading execution to bring you ECN like pricing. With this type of execution, quotes are provided directly from liquidity providers which means there is no dealing desk involved in the trading process. To keep spreads as organic as possible, a brokerage commission of GBP 2.29 (GBP 4.59 round turn) is charged in place of a wider spread (as you see with a standard account).

The Razor account is best for traders wanting the lowest possible spreads and is available on the MetaTrader 4, 5 and cTrader platforms.  Spreads for the razor account start from 0.0 pips and for the standard account start from 0.6 pips (but have no commissions) so your costs end up being similar.

Pepperstone Offers  The Fastest Trading Speeds

Pepperstone platform offers up to 12 times faster order execution speed which in 2022 averaged 30 milliseconds. By using demo accounts we compared the speeds of the most popular UK brokes and found that Pepperstone was significantly faster.

Faster trading speed means less risk of slippage which means less chance that you won’t get your quoted price. This will help reduce the risk of unexpected surprises in the event that prices change significantly in a short time.

Pepperstone Products

Pepperstone you a wide range of financial instruments for trading. This is great is it allows you to diversify your portfolio. Over 60 currency pairs are available, major pairs have a leverage of 30:1 and minor/exotic pairs have a leverage of 20:1.

If you really want to spread your risk with forex, you can choose from 3 currency indices. This is a US Dollar Index is made up of 6 currencies with a large weight to the Europe, Yen and Pound. The other currency indices available are the Europe Index and the Japanese Yen Index. Leverage for all indices is 5:1.

Previously, Pepperstone provided access to cryptocurrency markets as well as the above asset classes, however, recent changes to FCA regulation in the UK now mean retail traders cannot trade cryptos such as Bitcoin.

Trading Platforms

Pepperstone offers a choice of 3 trading platforms. These are MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. All platforms are available for desktop, via browser as a web platform and for iOS and Android mobiles.

MetaTrader 4 is considered by many to be the gold standard trading platform on the market. This is partly because it is the most popular trading platform in the world, more brokers offer it and more traders use it than any other.  Another reason it is so popular is that it is one of the oldest trading platforms around, this has allowed the platform to earn a reputation as a platform that is reliable and free from issues as they have been ironed out over the years.

Developed by MetaQuotes in 2005 the platform’s key strengths are its user friendly and highly effective interface and selection of graphical indicators and analytical tools. MetaTrader is also highly regarded for its Expert advisors (EAs) for automation. A huge range of signals is available in the MetaTrader 4 marketplace to help you automate your trading.

Due to MT4’s popularity, there is also no shortage of tools that can integrate with MetaTrader 4. Pepperstone provides 2 social trading platforms that can integrate with MT4, these are DupliTrade and Pelican.

Smart Trader Tools Package (available on both MT4 and MT5)

Smart Trader Tools allows traders to implement advanced trade management techniques that you can only find through the world’s most powerful trading platforms.

The MT4 Smart Trader Tools is a superior collection of Expert Advisors that includes 28 smart trading Apps:

• 13 Expert Advisors (EAs)
• 15 Unique Technical Indicators

The more sophisticated tools include:

• An alarm manager
• Stealth Orders feature for hiding pending orders
• Professional Trade Terminal for superior trade management
• Sentiment Trader showing long-short currency ratios

Autochartist

To be able to explore Autochartist tools, you need to have a live trading account with Pepperstone. With a Pepperstone Active Trader Account, similar to a VIP account, you can have dedicated customer support that will assist you to find the right tools for your trading needs.

Autochartist is a formidable technical analysis software that can help traders on the forex exchange market to make more informed trading decisions with:

• Market Scanners
• Built-in filters
• Risk Management tools
• Pattern recognition tool

WebTrader Proprietary MT4 web-based CFD Trading Platform

Pepperstone WebTrader is the web-based Trading Platform version of the MetaTrader 4 software. You can trade EUR/USD or any other forex pair the same way as you would do it through the MetaTrader 4 software. The Webtrader interface mimics the MT4 terminal interface.

You can enjoy the freedom to trade directly from your browser without the need to install a trading platform on your PC.

Alongside the Pepperstone Webtrader platform, you also have impressive mobile and tablet options for iOS and Android. Our team of experts at Compare Forex Brokers ranks Pepperstone Webtrader as the top web-based trading platform.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

Trading Station By FXCM Has The Best Charting Software

Trading Station is the trading platform developed by FXCM for the exclusive use of its clients of all skill levels. With this platform, you will find some of the best analytical tools of any platform. The platform is available for download on your Windows, as an app for Android and iOS and was recently upgraded to HTML5 allowing for optimal functionality with all web browsers.

The desktop version is FXCM’s flagship trading platform and was built from the ground up based on the feedback of their clients. With this platform, you get all the major features FXCM have to offer, including Marketscope 2.0. Marketscope 2.0 is a powerful professional charting package that allows you to access critical market data in real-time, trade directly through the charts and easily edit your orders. Good quality charting helps with trading analysis so you can make the best trading decisions.

Some 55 built-in indicators are available with this platform but you can add as many as you need via the FXCM app store. 26 drawing tools are available and 10 timeframes. Another major feature is that trade automation is permitted, a feature usually only found on mainstream platforms such as MetaTrader 4 and 5.  Here you can apply forex strategy backtesting and optimization to help you achieve the best trading results.

Note: To use Trading Station with Mac, you will need to use a bridge such as boot camp (pre-installed on new Macs) or a parallel so you can run Windows and Mac OS simultaneously.

The Web version of the trading platform is offered many of the same features including FXCM cloud to save your charts, FXCM news and an economic calendar for the latest economic event. Some 52 built-in indicators are available with this platform. Users however should be aware that automation is not available and apps cannot be used with the web version.

FXCM Has The Best Forex Trading Apps With Trading Station

FXCM has a wealth of apps available (often available free) with Trading Stations you can use to supercharge your trading experience, examples include:

Indicators

• Speculative Sentiment Index (SSI) and snapshots to see what other traders are doing
• Risk management indicator to set stop orders
• Donchian channels to identify breakouts

Add ons

• Trading session hours to highlight global trading times
• FXCM news that plots onto charts directly from the economic calendar

Analysis/Reporting

• StrongWeak to save time when analysing the strongest and weakest currency movements
• Advanced Historical Data

Automated Strategies

• Zone Trader to designate a price zone and automatically exit when the price point is triggered

Social Copying with ZuluTrade

If you wish to do social trading, FXCM offers the popular ZuluTrade. For $30 a month, you can follow and copy expert individual traders or a group of traders and share with their success. ZuluTrade uses algorithms to help you find the best traders in their leading social trading community and then copy their trades with minimum hassle. Best of all, you only pay the traders you copy if you make a profit.

Overall FXCM Trading Station gives users a superior charting experience with automation capability.

View FXCM Full Review >>Visit FXCM >>

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

FP Markets Is The Best MT5 Broker With ECN Pricing

FP Markets are one of the best choices for trading because:

• Low Spreads and Commissions
• Excellent Range Of Trading Products
• Advanced MetaTrader trading tools
• In-house Developed Social Trading Platform

FP Markets Account Types

Clients with FP Markets get a choice of 2 account types, the Standard Account and Raw Account. Of these options, the RAW account is the recommended choice as this account has ECN pricing and these spreads are some of the best on the markets.

The RAW Account spreads start from 0.0 pips most major currency pairs involving USD, GBP, AUD and Euro. In fact, the EUR/USD was 0.0 pips close to 36% of the time between 01-08-2021 to 31-08-2021. With no costs in the spread over 1/3 of the time, it is no surprise that FP Markets was awarded ‘Best Global Forex Value Broker’ in 2019 and 2020 at the Global Forex Awards 2019 & 2020. Your only certain cost is the commission which is 4.50 pounds (round trip) per lot which is on par with what most brokers charge.

To demonstrate how competitive spreads with FP Markets are, we compiled the average spreads for similar accounts, that brokers publish on their website. These spreads are checked each month. It’s noticeable that FP Markets spreads for most forex pairs, such as GBP/USD and EUR/GBP are among the lowest of all brokers.

FP Markets No Dealing Desk Account Spreads	EUR/USD USD/SGD AUD/USD AUD/JPY EUR/GBP GBP/USD EUR/JPY USD/JPY USD/CAD	EUR/USD USD/SGD AUD/USD AUD/JPY EUR/GBP GBP/USD EUR/JPY USD/JPY USD/CAD	EUR/USD USD/SGD AUD/USD AUD/JPY EUR/GBP GBP/USD EUR/JPY USD/JPY USD/CAD	EUR/USD USD/SGD AUD/USD AUD/JPY EUR/GBP GBP/USD EUR/JPY USD/JPY USD/CAD	EUR/USD USD/SGD AUD/USD AUD/JPY EUR/GBP GBP/USD EUR/JPY USD/JPY USD/CAD
	0.20	1.30	0.30	0.60	0.40
	0.02	0.85	0.17	0.50	0.27
	0.17	1.38	0.24	0.67	0.40
	0.20	1.50	0.20	0.50	0.40
	0.17	N/A	0.30	N/A	0.54
	0.20	10.00	0.40	0.60	0.50
	0.10	1.30	0.50	1.10	0.60
	n/a	3.10	0.50	0.70	0.60
	0.44	1.30	0.42	0.50	0.40

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/07/2022

Compare Lowest Spreads >>

Why FP Markets Has The Best Trade Execution

When you have high trading volumes, especially when trading with leverage, you will want to minimise the risk of slippage or gapping when trading. One way to reduce the chances of slippage is with fast execution speed.

Investment Trends awarded FP Markets as best for ‘quality of trade execution’ as testing showed the broker delivers an execution speed of 40 milliseconds recorded. The table below shows how brokers compare when it comes to the execution of speed following testing.

Forex Platforms With FP Markets

FP Markets gives you a choice of 2 pure trading platforms, These are MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. While both platforms are excellent choices, the reason we recommend MT5 over MT4 with FP Markets is that it allows you access to a far larger range of shares and stock exchanges compared to MT4.

While traders using the MT4 platform are limited to just 8 stocks consisting of 4 on NASDAQ exchange, 2 on London Stock Exchange and 2 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange traders with MT5 can choose from 814 stocks across 8 stock exchanges including Amsterdam (AMS), Australia (ASX), Frankfurt (FRA). Hong Kong (HKG), London )LSE), Madrid (BME), NASDAQ, New York (NYSE) and Paris (EPA).

Access to stocks isn’t the only reason to choose MetaTrader 5. MT% has a wealth of trading tools not available on MT4. For example, one can choose from the following tools

• 21 timeframes which is an increase with the 9 available on MT4
• 6 Pending order types (4 with MT4)
• 38 technical indicators (up from 30)
• 44 Analytical objects (up from 33)
• Unlimited number of charts
• Partial filling allowed (not available on MT4)
• Depth of Market (not available on MT4)
• Economic Calendar (integrated on MT5, need an add on to use with MT4)

Processing is also more powerful since it comes with 64-bit processing which means a better experience when doing backtesting and faster trade execution.

Social Trader With FP Markets

Not all brokers permit social trading platforms and if they do, it is usually via a 3rd party platform that can only integrate with MT4, not MT5. FP Markets includes their own developed Social Trading tool simply called FP Market Social Trading which can integrate with MT5 as well as MT4.

Social trading allows you to automate your trading by copying the trades of other traders but FP Markets includes tools that allow you to modify how you mirror the trades of others. This feature is good for inexperienced traders who want to leverage off the success of experienced traders or time-pressed traders that don’t have time to manually research and execute their own trades.

Overall expect FP Markets to be one of the best choices for low spreads when trading with an ECN pricing account. In addition to low spreads, the broker also offers a good range of trading products especially if you trade with MetaTrader 5 since this allows you to access their full range of stock CFDs.

Compare ECN Brokers >>Visit FP Markets >>

IG Has The Best Range Of Trading Platforms

IG Markets offers 4 distinctly different trading platforms, thus allowing you to find the platform that fits your needs. IG Trading Platform is IG’s flagship platform but you can also choose from MetaTrader 4, ProRealTime and L2 Dealer.

IG Trading Platform

This is IG’s award-winning proprietary trading platform that comes in 3 versions. The most powerful version is browser-based and includes all of IG’s best trading features. This includes the full range of trading products, 28 indicators, 17 drawing tools and 4-time frames in a single chart.

Other features that are really helpful include 5 order types including guaranteed stops to protect yourself against more losses than you are able to accept. Monitoring tools such as watchlist, price alerts and Autochartist and ProRealTime integration.

If you want to see the order books at the exchange then there is the option to trade using Direct Market Access (DMA). TO access this you can request a forex direct account for forex trading and Shares DMA for stock trading. This feature is best for professional traders.

If you prefer to trade via your mobile then you can download the Android or iOS app or use progressive web app. The mobile app has many of the same critical features available as the web version but does not offer Autochartist, ProRealTime. DMA trading is also possible but with iOS only.

Progressive web app is a browser-based tool with mobile shortcuts. It can handle most features that the browser version offers but does not guaranteed stop, DMA trading or share trading.

L2 Dealer

L2 Dealer is a purpose-built trading platform for traders who wish to have direct market access (DMA) pricing. To access DMA you will need a Forex Direct account for forex trading or Shares DMA account for Share trading. While the platform itself is free, there are additional costs for the shares data and live level 2 pricing.

When trading direct market access (DMA), having an understanding of the overall sentiment of the market can be a key advantage. This is a key feature of IG’s L2 Dealer platform through their live pricing feed which let your view the order books at the exchange.

ProRealTime

If you rely on charting for advanced technical analysis when trading, ProRealTime offers over 100 powerful decision support tools to help with this. ProRealTime is a charting package that can function as a standalone trading platform or add on to the IG web-based trading platform.

Key features include:

• 115 technical indicators
• 40 Drawing Tools
• Infinite number of timeframes
• Autotrading capabilities with backtesting
• Depth of Market Order Book
• Market scanning tools

ProRealtTime is free to use in the first month and will remain free as long as you make 4 trades per month. ProRealTime is a good way to get even more out of the IG Trading platform especially since it has automation capability which IG does not.

Overall most traders will use IG Trading Platform or MetaTrader 4. The IG Trading platform is a powerful platform with useful capabilities not found on other trading platforms.

View IG Markets Review >>Visit IG Markets >>

FxPro Is The Best Forex Broker With cTrader

FxPro has been awarded by our team of experts as the best cTrader Forex broker and the best UK spread betting platform. The broker offers strong investor protection as it is regulated and licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. Many advanced trading tools help FxPro to stand out from the other cTrader brokers.

The cTrader trading platform is the second most popular forex trading platform, which is why it becomes the leading multi-asset trading platform for many advanced forex traders wanting low trading costs.

From the FxPro trading platform download centre, traders can have access to the cTrader for both PC and Mac.

The FxPro cTrader platform is an award-winning platform that comes with the following capabilities:

Ultra-Fast Order Execution Capabilities

The trading conditions the broker offers via the cTrader platform are unmatched among top forex brokers. FxPro pride itself by using an execution model that has deep liquidity from top-tier liquidity providers and a number of global banks.

This enables FxPro to provide retail investor accounts with:

• Ultra-fast order execution
• Tight spreads
• Execution speed is ultra-fast
• Orders are filled instantly in under 11.06 milliseconds
• More than 7,000 orders being executed each second.

With an initial deposit of $100, you can have access to an award-winning order execution model that is fully transparent. For optimal trading conditions, FxPro recommends opening retail CFD accounts with at least $500.

In the table below you can discover how FxPro compares to other UK  Forex brokers in terms of the minimum deposit, maximum leverage, and the EUR/USD spreads.

Full Live Market Depth

cTrader offers three types of Depth of Market (DOM) on a range of currency pairs:

1. VWAP Depth of Market
2. Standard Depth of Market
3. Price DOM

Currency trading with the liquidity available for each price can give you an extra edge and trade alongside institutional traders. This is an outstanding feature for big traders that execute large sizes. You can use the Depth of Market as an order management tool and place your buy and sell orders directly at the price you wish to trade.

Additionally, the Depth of Market is available even for CFD trading.

 cTrader Automate

A key powerful feature of the FxPro cTrader is the algorithmic trading platform designed to build cBots and custom-made indicators. The cTrader Automate feature is a versatile tool that enables advanced optimization of trading parameters even when trading CFDs.

FxPro was among the first UK CFD brokers to offer cTrader Automated including all the integrated algo trading tools that come with it. When you opt to trade with FxPro cTrader you have access to a competitive trading platform that can supply all your trading needs.

View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘84.67% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

Plus500 Platform Is Good For Beginners

Plus500 is the largest CFD online broker in the world that comes with its own in-house proprietary trading platform. Plus500 has a rich history being in the online trading business since 2008 when it started serving clients around the world.

Our team of experts has awarded Plus500 as the best forex trading platform for beginners for the following reasons:

Intuitive Trading Platform

Its own proprietary trading platform is pretty intuitive and very simple to use for beginners. The main user interface is designed to help beginners trade in an environment that focuses on simplicity.

You can trade via the web-based trading platform and trading Apps on both iOS and Android. Mobile trading has integrated the same trading feature that comes with the Plus500 web-based trading platform.

Opening a Plus500 demo account is just as easy as the platform interface. The fast account opening procedure is done using your Facebook or Google account.

Safe Trading on Plus500 Platform

The Plus500 trading platform is safe to start trading because it’s regulated by CySEC, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and it’s listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In terms of regulation, they have oversite around the world by the main regulatory agencies. Client funds are held in segregated bank accounts, and you have protection in case of bankruptcy. So you do not need to worry about Plus500 being a scam broker, they are a broker you can trust.

+2000 Financial Instruments Traded on Plus500

The Plus500 offers a wide range of markets. There are over +2000 financial instruments traded through the Plus500 trading platform. You can trade CFDs on the following instruments:

• Forex
• Stock Indices
• Shares
• ETFs
• Commodities
• Options

Inside the spread betting trading platform, you have tools that can help you search for your favourite trading instrument as well as populate your favourite list with your chosen instruments.

Guaranteed Stop

The Plus500 offers a guaranteed stop on its +2000 traded instruments. This trading feature comes very handily during volatile times when the market can experience rapid and sharp price movements. This risk management tool guarantees that you’ll never lose money when trading CFDs. The advantage of using a guaranteed stop-loss order is that you’ll never encounter slippage on your stop loss. With this kind of protection, FX traders will never lose more than the stop loss size.

Real-time Alerts

The Plus500 real-time alerts service allows you to get notified based on:

• The latest changes in the price
• Pre-defined buy and sell prices by the user
• Traders’ Sentiments alert

Traders have three options on how they get notified: by email, SMS or either by push-notifications. This unique price alert tool will automatically trigger an alert signal once the conditions set by the user are satisfied.

The real-time alerts come free of charge you only need a demo account and you’re set to go.

Overall, for beginner UK forex traders, Plus500 is the recommended option with the choice of opening a live or demo account.

Open a demo account >>Visit Plus500 >>

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

eToro Is The Best Social Trading Account

eToro is the world’s leading social trading platform that allows millions of investors to copy trade in real-time. eToro’s innovative social trading technology allows traders around the world to copy other successful traders or to open manual trades in the financial markets.

Our team of experts evaluated eToro alongside other copy trading platforms by being committed to rigorous standards. We awarded eToro the prize of the best social trading network because of the outlined trading features:

eToro Powerful Copy Trading Platform

eToro social network platform connects traders from over 140 countries and lets them mimic the trading activity of the most talented traders. eToro proprietary trading platform is recognised around the world for its collective advantageous social ecosystem.

Professional traders can share their success inside the eToro social network and generate an extra passive income from their trading ideas. eToro can facilitate communication between a losing trader and a profitable trader in up to 20 languages.

Traders looking for a user-friendly and intuitive online trading platform can be satisfied with the eToro interface. The powerful dashboard can help you easily navigate to your favourite trading tools:

• Copy trader analysis and stats
• Technical tools
• Order execution
• Newsfeed and market trends
• ProCharts tool

You can enjoy social live trading on your mobile devices: iPhone and Android. eToro minimum deposit for a live account start just at $50 for Australia and USA  residents, and for the rest of the world, the minimum deposit amount is $200. Residents of Israel have required a minimum deposit of $10,000 to start trading with eToro.

Powerful Risk Management Tools

eToro offers powerful risk management tools to identify the most decent trading strategies. The risk management tool offers advanced trading functions and stats to better assess the performance of a trader.

eToro Enjoys Strict Regulation

eToro social platform works by following the strict licensing requirements imposed by multi-regulatory bodies, including:

• UK’s FCA
• Australia’s ASIC
• Cyprus’s CySEC

Investors can trade with peace of mind and be assured that eToro has safety and compliance standards set in place. Additionally, US residents can also conduct live trading through the eToro USA LLC, which is a registered entity that complies with FinCEN, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

 eToro CopyPortfolio

The CopyPortfolio is a tool that helps investors to copy an entire portfolio of instruments or traders. This portfolio management tool includes three types of new investment opportunities:

• Market Portfolios
• Top Traders Portfolios
• Partner Portfolios

The Top Trader Portfolio features eToro’s most successful and profitable traders, while the market portfolios include instruments of the same type. If you’re an investment manager, you can create your own CopyPortfolios with eToro.

A Wide Range of Markets

eToro brings a wide range of assets to its global clientele, including:

• Stocks
• ETFs
• CFDs
• Currency Pairs
• Commodities

The wide array of instruments makes eToro one of the best brokers in the UK when it comes to social trading.

Overall, no UK forex broker comes close to eToro when it comes to the social trading features of eToro. If this feature is what you’re looking for when it comes to a CFD broker in the UK, then you should consider opening a live account or trial a demo account.

Open a demo account >>Visit eToro >>

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

Interactive Brokers Trading Platform Has Top Automation

Interactive Brokers offers access to one of the best automated trading platforms in the UK. The algorithmic trading software comes with advanced tools dedicated to the most sophisticated quants and math geeks.

In today’s dynamic trading world, dominated by algos, you need to have access to more sophisticated trading tools if you want to compete with the algos that run the markets. Our team of experts has determined that Interactive Brokers automated trading platform is the best platform for developing automated trading strategies, for the following reasons:

TWS Algorithmic Trading

The Trader Workstation (TWS) automated trading software is designed for all types of high-risk algo development. To have access to the IB’s full range of trading platforms, you need to have an IBKR PRO live client account.

Interactive Brokers Trader Station offers 12 pre-integrated algorithmic tools among which the most popular and effective programming tools are:

• Accumulate/Distribute Algo
• Dark Ice Order
• Variant Algos
• Minimize Impact Algo
• VWAP Algo (Best-Efforts)

The only downside that comes with Interactive Brokers TWS is that it’s not user-friendly, and it’s difficult to figure out all the advanced features without first investing the proper time into it.

We recommend IB Trader Workstation (TWS) for professional traders that have a deep understanding to cope with a complex trading platform and are looking for an efficient algo building tool.

+100 Order Types and Algos

IB TWS offers access to over 100 order types and in-house automated algos that are designed to:

• Limit risk
• Faster order execution
• Opportunity for price improvements
• Allows privacy for big orders

Additionally, the automated trading platform offers groundbreaking third party algos order types, including:

• CSFB
• Fox River
• Jefferies and Quantitive Brokers (QB).

 Accumulate/Distribute Algo

IB’s Accumulate/Distribute Algo is a proprietary automated software designed to break large orders into multiple smaller increments. This innovative tool can help you receive price improvements on your large orders and at the same time enjoying privacy.

In addition, the algo can be customised for a more efficient order management process. The all-inclusive interface has the following main features:

• Randomised order submission times
• Programming the algo to respond to changes in the market price and trend
• Order Summary tab
• Supports multiple instruments including stocks, forex markets, options, and futures

Effective TWS API Feature

IB’s proprietary API allows traders to develop automated trading strategies that can profit from IB’s:

• Fast order routing algorithms
• And deep liquidity

The Interactive Brokers’ API provides professional traders to implement algorithmic trading solutions in multiple programming languages including:

• Python
• Java
• Visual Basic for ActiveX
• C++
• DDE for Excel.

Interactive Brokers offers you the option to open a TWS demo account so you can backtest your automated trading strategies before you commit any of your hard-earned money. Before you use the Client Portal Web API make sure you read all the relevant risk warnings so you trade in compliance with Interactive Brokers’ standards.

Overall, Interactive Brokers offers access to the best-automated trading platform in the forex space. With the TWS platform, you have access to complex algo tools that can compete with the most sophisticated trading tools used on Wall Street.

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

Markets.com Trading Platforms Offer Unique Trading Tools

Markets.com offers a great selection of trading and research tools as part of their proprietary trading platform to help you with your day trading.

Makets.com makes our best list because:

• Commission-free trading for a large range of products
• Marketsx Trading Platform
• Trading and research Tools
• Extensive choice of trading products

Exceptionally Low Spread Account With Markets.com

Unlike many brokers which offer 2 or more account types to choose from, Markets.com only offer one account type. Markets.com is a market maker, so this means the account has no commissions when trading. As a spread only broker, Markets.com have some of the best spreads for standard accounts.

While Markets.com don’t publish their average spreads, they provided us with their minimum spreads and they compare well with other brokers, so you can expect their spreads to match the best competitors at least some of the time.

Standard Account Minimum Spreads	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD USD/SGD	EUR/USD AUD/USD EUR/GBP EUR/JPY AUD/JPY GBP/USD USD/JPY USD/CAD USD/SGD
	0.60	0.60	0.90	1.80	1.80
	0.90	0.80	0.80	1.20	0.90
	0.17	0.24	0.40	0.43	0.67
	0.80	0.80	1.00	1.60	1.70
	0.60	0.60	1.00	1.00	1.00
	0.70	0.70	1.10	n/a	1.40
	1.52	1.62	1.64	2.24	3.13
	1.50	1.80	2.10	2.20	2.80
	0.10	0.10	0.30	n/a	n/a

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/07/2022

Markets.com Products

There are in excess of 2200 tradable assets with Markets.com. Among these is a significant selection of forex pairs, metal, equities, ETFs, bonds and blends. Markets offering of blends is one of their most notable features, blends are a type of fund or index combining stocks for a particular theme such as industry sector, events, strategy or Guru.

If you choose ‘Gurus’ theme then your index will replicate the investment portfolio of notable investors such as Warren Buffet or George Soros. Given their track record for success, building a portfolio based on their stock portfolio can be a canny move.

If you choose ‘Sectors’ then you can choose a basket of stocks built on a verticle such as US Tech, Cannabis, Oil and Petroleum and eCommerce,

The Event theme allows you to take a position on major political events that can impact markets. An example of this is Trade War Winner and Loser blends which allows you to bet on companies that are exposed to the US-China trade war.

The last blend theme is Strategy, this theme essentially combines growth and value stocks across different industries and stock markets.

Marketsx Trading Platform And Decision Making Tools

Markets.com offers a choice of MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and Markets trading platforms. Here we discuss the Marketsx trading platform which is your best choice when trading CFDs because of their outstanding range of trading tools.

Marketsx is a multi-asset award-winning platform that is easy to use and has a host of excellent features for optimal trading. The interface is intuitive with a clean design that makes it easy to find the information you need. Like all good platforms, it comes with advanced charting, so you can identify trends and trading opportunities, and includes comprehensive drawing tools such as plot trendlines, pitchforks, channels and Fibonacci Retracements, among others. When using charts, you can use up to five different types of indicators at one time, overlay multiple assets and put up to eight instruments side-by-side for comparison purposes.

Marketsxstandout features however are the 14 unique trading or research tools.  These tools help traders make better, more informed decisions and provide Markets.com with an edge on their competitors as they do more to help you improve your trading results.

Marketsx trading tools are neatly divided into sentiment, technical and fundaments tools.  Sentiment tools use social media and news to try to gauge general market sentiments for different products you may be looking to trade. Technical tools use past data to help guide you with decision making while fundamental tools consider macro and micro-economic factors that can affect asset performance.

Overall Markets.com is a great choice because of their no commission spread account, choice of trading platforms and excellent trading or research tools.

View Markets.com Review >>Visit Markets

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