Best FCA Regulated Forex Broker List

Financial Conduct Authority or FCA regulated forex brokers are a natural choice for UK fx traders. FCA regulation ensures brokers offer top security for their client’s investment. Our experts compare 20 FCA brokers, to find the best forex brokers.

See the Compare Forex Brokers top FCA regulated forex brokers below.

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.

Updated: 04/11/2020

What Changed?

Each month we update average spreads data published by the brokers the retail brokers lose %

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Top 8 FCA Regulated Forex Brokers

Our list of the best forex brokers regulated by the FCA are the following.

Pepperstone – Best Overall FCA Regulated Broker
ThinkMarkets – Top MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Provider
XTB – Offers Good CFD Product Range
FXCM – Best Spread Betting Broker
eToro – CFD Platform Good For Social Trading
Forex.com – Best Range of Cryptocurrencies
FxPro – Top cTrader Trading Platform Provider
Plus500 – CFD Provider With Good Risk Management Tools

Visit Site

Our Rating

9.17

7.67

7.42

7.17

5.46

Pepperstone Review

Review Of ThinkMarkets

XTB Review

Review Of eToro

Review Of FxPro

79.3% of retail CFD accounts lose money

73.72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs

80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

75.54% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Regulations and Licenses

FCA (UK)

Brokerage

EUR/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.16

0.1

0.3

0.37

GBP/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.4

0.6

1.02

AUD/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.27

0.5

0.87

EUR/USD Standard Spread

1.16

1.2

0.7

1.58

EUR/USD Fixed Spreads

3.0

1.71

Commissions (USD Base)

GBP £2.29 Side-Trip (MetaTrader)

£2.50 per side

GBP £3.00

USD$0.45 (cTrader)

Commission Rebates

Minimum Deposit

GBP £200

£0

£250, €250, $250

USD $200

USD $100

Swap Free Account

No Inactivity Fees

Funding Methods

No Funding Fees

Markets and Instruments

Currency Pairs

61+

38+

48+

47+

70+

Cryptocurrency CFDs

9+ (16 cross pairs)

98+

Index CFDs

14+

21+

42+

13+

24+

Share CFDs

60+

1200+

1750+

2000+

150+

Commodities CFD

15+

10+

22+

12+

10+

Stockbroking

N/A

2000+

Retail Max. Leverage

30:1

Professional Leverage

500:1

200:1

400:1

500:1

Trading Platforms + Tools

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

cTrader

Proprietary Platform

Automated Trading

(MT4 only)

Social + Copy Trading

Allowed but not supported

Standard Stop Loss

Guaranteed Stop Loss

Guaranteed Neg Protection

Europe Only

Demo Account

Unique Feature 1

Commission rebates for active traders

Guaranteed Negative Protection

xStation 5 trading platform

CopyTrader functionality for automated trading

1,300,000 client accounts

Unique Feature 2

Award Winning Customer Support

Uptime record of 99.99%

Award winning CFD provider

Social trading interface across CFDs

Choice of CFD or Spreads Betting

Overall

Our Rating

9.17

7.67

7.42

7.17

5.46

Pepperstone Review

Review Of ThinkMarkets

Pepperstone Best FCA Regulated Broker Overall

With the lowest spreads, top trading platforms and award-winning customer services, Pepperstone is the best FCA regulated broker overall. Traders can choose between ECN-like or commission-free trading while gaining access to a wide range of financial markets such as forex, shares and cryptocurrencies. Overall, three of Pepperstone’s greatest strengths are:

Tight Spreads and Excellent Trading Conditions
Top Trading Platforms and Tools
Award-Winning Customer Services

1. Spreads and Trading Conditions

When trading with Pepperstone, two account types are available. The main difference between the accounts is spreads and commission fees:

Standard Account: Minimum spreads of 1.0 pips with no commission fees.
Razor Account: ECN-style spreads as low as 0.0 pips. Razor account holders pay flat rate commission fees starting from £2.29.

No Commission Standard Accounts

Ideal for beginner traders, standard accounts holders pay no additional commission fees on top of the spread. When compared to other top fx brokers, Pepperstone offers the best commission-free spreads. Average spreads for all the major forex pairs shown below are significantly lower than competitors, with the EUR/USD averaging 1.13 pips commission-free. For the EUR/GBP fx pair, Pepperstone spreads average 1.41 pips, nearly a full pip less than other brokers such as FXTM.


1.16	1.35	1.40	1.35	1.16
1.40	2.20	1.80	2.20	1.60
1.58	1.74	2.39	2.22	1.45
1.20	1.80	1.80	1.90	1.70
1.90	2.40	2.00	2.50	2.20
1.70	2.00	2.40	2.20	1.60
1.20	1.60	1.30	1.40	1.20
1.40	2.50	2.00	2.50	1.50

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 02/11/2020

Compare All No Commission Spreads >>

Pepperstone’s Razor Account

The brokers ECN-style account is well-suited to active traders, scalpers and day traders, or those executing algorithmic trading strategies. As Pepperstone’s Razor spreads are ultra-tight, averaging 0.13 for the EUR/USD fx pair, traders pay a flat-rate commission fee on top of the spread (£2.29 per side, per 100k traded).

The below table shows Pepperstone’s competitiveness compared to other brokers. Across all currency pairs, Pepperstone offers the lowest spreads. While the EUR/JPY averages 0.27 pips when trading with Pepperstone, Admiral Markets averages 0.80 pips.


0.27	0.16	0.34	0.50	0.35
0.40	0.30	0.70	0.60	0.70
0.50	0.50	0.50	0.60	0.60
0.70	0.50	0.80	1.70	0.80
0.96	0.27	0.55	0.46	1.06
0.50	0.30	0.80	1.10	1.10
0.40	0.10	0.40	0.12	0.50

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 02/11/2020

Compare All Commission Spreads >>

Ultra-Fast, No Dealing Desk Execution

As a no dealing desk (NDD) broker, Pepperstone fills customers orders through external liquidity sources rather than its own liquidity (as a market maker does). This allows the broker to offer institutional-grade pricing, providing traders with the best bid-ask prices available in the market.

As well as NDD execution and ECN-like spreads, Pepperstone orders are executed quickly thanks to Equinix servers located in New York’s financial district. The majority of orders are filled within 30ms, providing ideal trading conditions for scalping and algorithmic trading strategies.

2. Trading Platforms and Tools

Pepperstone offers three of the worlds most popular trading platforms, each of which suits different traders’ needs. While Standard account holders can choose between MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) as their trading platform, Razor account holders are offered the additional option of cTrader.

Each platform provides a user-friendly trading environment, with automated trading features and advanced technical analysis tools. Users are provided similar trading tools across each platform, yet a key difference between each is market access. If you are wanting to trade Share CFDs, you are required to use MT5. Although MT4 and cTrader are predominately forex trading platforms, Pepperstone offers commodity, index, and cryptocurrency CFD trading on both platforms.

Pepperstone Trading Platforms	MetaTrader 4 (MT4)	MetaTrader 5 (MT5)	cTrader
Financial Products	Forex, commodity, index and cryptocurrencies	Forex, commodity, index, cryptocurrencies and shares	Forex, commodity, index and cryptocurrencies
Account Types	Standard and Razor	Standard and Razor	Razor
Algorithmic Trading	Expert Advisors, MQL4 programming language	Expert Advisors, MQL5 programming language	cBots, C# programming language
Depth of Market	No	Yes	Yes
Social Trading	Yes	Yes	Yes
Charting Tools	30 technical indicators, 31 objects and 9 timeframes	38 indicators, 44 objects and 21 timeframes	60 indicators and objects plus 28 timeframes
Desktop trading platform	Windows and Mac	Windows and Mac	Windows
Webtrader	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mobile apps	Android and iOS	Android and iOS	Android and iOS

3. Customer Services

Pepperstone offers award-winning customer support and educational resources. To get in touch with the broker’s customer support team, live chat, phone and email contact methods are available 24/5.

To help develop your CFD and forex trading knowledge, Pepperstone provides a great range of educational materials such as trading platform tutorials, live webinars, articles and a glossary. Hundreds of past webinars are available on the broker’s youtube channel, covering topics such as technical analysis, scalping strategies and risk management using different order types.

To supplement Pepperstone’s excellent education section, demo accounts are available for Standard and Razor accounts on either MT4, MT5 or cTrader. A $50,000 virtual account balance is provided to practise trading, with access granted for 30 days. A wide range of payment options is available from Paypal to bank transfer.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

Our Rating

The overall rating is based on review by our experts

9.17

Spreads

10 / 10

Leverage

10 / 10

Trading Platform

10 / 10

Risk Management

7 / 10

Range of Markets

8 / 10

Customer Service

10 / 10

ThinkMarkets – Best MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Provider

ThinkMarkets is a global, multi-regulated broker offering MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as a trading platform option. To gain access to MT4, CFD and forex traders can choose between three main account types:

Standard Account: Commission-free spreads averaging 1.2 pips.
ThinkZero Account: ECN-style account with average spreads of 0.1 pips, traders pay flat rate commission fees of £5 round turn
Islamic Accounts are available with Standard or ThinkZero pricing. As per Sharia Law, no interest is paid and earnt, with flat rate swap rates being charged instead.

To open a ThinkMarkets account and start trading, an initial minimum deposit of £250 is required. This requirement is different in other locations such as South Africa where the broker is regulated under FSCA and in Australia where ASIC is the regulator.

MetaTrader 4 Trading Tools and Features

ThinkMarkets customers using MT4 can trade an excellent range of financial products while utilising different trading tools and platform features. With various inbuilt and add-on tools to enhance your trading experience, ThinkMarkets MT4 clients can easily conduct technical analysis and automate trading.

MT4 Charting Tools

MetaTrader 4’s preinstalled charting tools include 30 technical indicators, 24 objects and 9 timeframes, with thousands more available to download from the MetaTrader marketplace online.

Automated Trading with Expert Advisors

MT4 is well-known for its automated trading features with Expert Advisors (EAs) allowing users to execute algorithmic trading strategies. Using the MQL4 programming language, traders can create EAs that automatically analyse and enter/exit markets.

As well as writing your own Expert Advisors, MT4 traders may prefer to purchase and download indicators and EAs from the MetaTrader Marketplace online. With thousands of EAs to choose from, those new to trading may find this the easiest way to automate trading.

When developing algorithmic trading strategies, MT4 users can test and optimise EAs against historical data. MT4’s backtesting features are single-threaded and allow one currency pair to be tested at a time.

AutoChartist

If you are signed up to a ThinkZero account, access is granted to Autochartist, a useful technical analysis tool. The pattern recognition software automatically scans financial markets and alerts users of potential trading opportunities, reducing the need to conduct lengthy technical analysis.

MT4 Market Access

ThinkMarkets customers can develop diversified trading strategies with access provided to commodity, crypto, index, precious metal and forex markets. Unlike other top fx brokers, ThinkMarkets allows MT4 users to trade cryptocurrency CFDs including Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin.

MT4 Execution

ThinkMarkets is a no dealing desk broker that executes trades with Straight Through Processing (STP). STP brokers fill orders using external liquidity pools, allowing ThinkMarkets to offer institutional-grade pricing to its customers.

As well as tight spreads, ThinkMarkets partnership with Equinix ensures liquidity sources are efficiently connected to your MT4 trading platform. The broker uses Equinix servers based in London and Hong Kong to execute orders, with traders from Asia to the UK enjoying fast execution.

An additional benefit that ThinkMarkets promotes is no requotes, meaning customers do not need to worry about orders being executed at prices different from what it was executed at (known as slippage). To explore MetaTrader 4 tools and features before trading with real money, ThinkMarkets offers a demo account with a virtual balance of $50,000.

View ThinkMarkets Review >>Visit ThinkMarkets >>

XTB – Best Range of Financial Products

XTB is an FCA regulated broker that offers a huge range of CFDs across various asset classes. The CFD broker also has regulation with the IFSC and CySEC. For those wanting to focus on forex trading, 49 different currency pairs are offered by the broker. The maximum leverage available varies between CFD and asset class. For major currencies, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) limits exotic and minor currency pairs to 20:1 and major pairs to 30:1.

As well as a good range of forex instruments, XTB clients can access the following CFDs and financial markets:

42 indices including CFDs from major stock exchanges, i.e. UK100, US500, AUS200, EU50 and JAP225.
14 commodities with precious metals, softs, 0il and gas CFDs available.
16 cryptocurrencies with major and emerging CFDs such as Bitcoin, EOS and Dash.
1,700 share CFDs including major corporations such as Apple, JP Morgan and Mastercard.
114 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with share, bond and other funds from different locations around the world.

Market access is dependent on the trading platform you use. The broker offers the choice of MetaTrader 4 and its proprietary software – xStation 5. As an MT4 user, you are restricted to index, commodity and forex trading, while xStation 5 can trade ETFs, crypto and share CFDs as well.

Two account types are available on both xStation 5 and MT4. A Standard account can trade minimum spreads of 0.35 pips commission-free, while Pro accounts gain access to discounted spreads of 0.28 pips and pay commission fees starting from £3.00 (GBP). Another comparative broker is Tickmill.

Prior to signing up to a Standard or Pro account, prospective XTB customers can practise trading the broker’s wide range of financial products via a demo account. A virtual balance of $100,000 is provided with access granted for 30 days, although demos can be renewed after the trial period ends.

XTB Review >>Visit XTB >>

FXCM – Spread Betting Broker

If you are a UK or Ireland resident, spread betting is an alternative to CFD trading if you are wanting to speculate on price movements without buying or selling the underlying asset.

When spread betting with FXCM, customers bet on the direction and amount they think the market will move. Benefits of spread betting include:

Spread betting is tax efficient. While CFD trading is subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT), spread betting is exempt from CGT.
As with CFD trading, leverage is available with limits varying between financial instruments: i.e. 2:1 (crypto) to 30:1 (forex).
Tight spreads that are all-inclusive of fees such as commission. Average spreads start from 0.7 pips for the EUR/USD.
Active Traders are rewarded with tighter spreads.

Active Traders gain access to significantly discounted spreads starting from 0.2 pips. As well as lower spreads, spread betting accounts that qualify as FXCM Active Traders are provided premium customer support and market data.

Spread Betting Platforms

When spread betting with FXCM, three trading platform options are available.

MetaTrader 4: FXCM clients can use the popular MT4 platform to execute spread betting strategies. Well-known for its professional-grade trading tools, MT4 users can conduct complex analysis and research.
NinjaTrader 8: A third party trading platform that offers advanced charting technical analysis tools that can be used to develop spread betting strategies.
Trading Station: FXCM’s proprietary software is an HTML5 platform that can be used for spread betting. Users are provided with a wide range of technical and fundamental analysis tools and data within a user-friendly interface.

For those wanting to try out spread betting in a risk-free environment, FXCM offers a demo account with a virtual account balance of £50,000.

View FXCM Review >>Visit FXCM >>

eToro – Best Pure Social Trading Platform

With millions of traders from 140+ countries, eToro is regarded as one of the worlds largest pure social trading platforms. When copying forex trades, no commission spreads start from 1 pip, with a small minimum deposit of $50 required to start trading.

As well as being an excellent introduction to trading CFDs and forex, social-copy trading allows experienced users to reduce the time spent conducting analysis and developing trading strategies. eToro’s social network allows customers to copy the strategies of experienced traders (Popular Investors) while learning from one another via chat features and newsfeeds.

Instead of placing orders yourself, as an eToro client, you can review Popular Investors stats, history and location, and copy the strategies that suit your risk and investment preferences. Five different asset classes are offered by eToro with market access provided to forex, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, ETFs and indices.

As well as copying the individual strategies of Popular Investors, CopyPortfolios are available for those wanting to trade diversified bundles of financial instruments. Two types of portfolios are available:

Top Trader Portfolio: A mix of eToro’s best performing Popular Investors.
Market Portfolio: A bundle of financial instruments that may include fx pairs, indices, ETFs, commodities and/or shares.

Compared to standard Popular Investors and social trading, CopyPortfolios offer a longer-term investment that is constantly rebalanced by the eToro team. Hence, a higher minimum deposit of $5000 is required. This also meets with their other regulators including MiFID.

To access eToro’s social trading network and a diverse range of financial products, clients can use the brokers online trading platform or iOS and Android mobile apps. To familiarise yourself with eToro’s social network and trading tools without risking real money, demo accounts available. eToro demo accounts have no time limits and are funded with a virtual account balance of $100,000.

View eToro Review >>Visit eToro >>

Forex.com – Great Range of Cryptocurrency CFDs

As a Forex.com client, an excellent selection of crypto CFDs are available to trade, with access provided to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple markets. Although the broker offers MetaTrader 4 as a trading platform option, its crypto CFD range is only accessible via Forex.com’s proprietary trading platform. In line with FCA regulation, the broker offers maximum leverage of 2:1 on crypto CFDs.

A unique feature that the broker offers is Bitcoin trading against a range of currency pairs, not just the United States Dollar:

Bitcoin vs United States Dollar (USD)
Bitcoin vs Australian Dollar (AUD)
Bitcoin vs Euro (EUR)
Bitcoin vs Great British Pound (GBP)

Bitcoin Cash, a fork of Bitcoin, is also available to trade with Forex.com and valued against the USD.

Crypto Spreads and Fees

When compared to other FCA regulated brokers, crypto spreads are tight and swap rates low when trading with Forex.com. Minimum spreads on Bitcoin (USD) are 35 points, while CMC offers 37 and IG Markets 36. As well as tighter spreads, Forex.com customers are charged lower swap rates for long positions than competing regulated brokers. CMC and IG Markets clients pay 0.0548% and 0.0685% in overnight financing fees if a position is kept open longer than one day, compared to 0.0411% when trading with Forex.com.

With both tighter spreads and lower swap rates, customers pay lower trading costs overall. Combined with great market access (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin), Forex.com is one of the best brokers for those wanting to develop crypto CFD trading strategies. To practise and optimise crypto trading strategies, Forex.com offers demo accounts funded with $10,000 in virtual funds.

FxPro – Best cTrader Broker

FxPro is a hybrid market maker broker with low spreads and fast execution. Because the broker fills orders internally as well as from top-tier liquidity providers, FxPro customers gain access to ultra-tight spreads when using cTrader.

Predominately a forex trading platform, cTrader provides an ECN-like trading experience with access granted to over 70 currency pairs with EUR/USD spreads averaging 0.37 pips. As forex spreads are ultra-tight, traders pay a flat rate, round turn commission fees of $9 (USD) per 100,000 traded. In addition to forex, FxPro provides access to commission-free index and cryptocurrency trading.

FxPro’s cTrader users can expect minimal slippage and requotes when placing orders, with the majority of trades being executed within 11.06 ms. FxPro’s partnership with Equinix Data centres in London and Amsterdam ensure fast execution speeds, with cross fibre connecting cTrader users with top-tier liquidity sources.

As well as an ECN-style trading environment, FxPro’s cTrader users are provided with the following trading tools and features:

Algorithmic trading with cBots, developed using the C# programming language.
Backtesting tools for cBots.
50 technical indicators and 26 timeframes for analysis.
Level 2 depth of market pricing.

Depending on your preferred device, cTrader is available as a webtrader platform online or mobile apps (Android or iOS). To open a FxPro cTrader account, the broker recommends an initial minimum deposit of $500.

FxPro offers demo accounts for those wanting to explore the cTrader platform, with access granted for 6 months and unlimited virtual funds.

View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>

Plus500 – Best Risk Management Features

Plus500 is a market maker broker that offers a range of risk management features such as premium order types and demo accounts. When trading with Plus500, customers are limited to the brokers proprietary trading platform, available online or as a trading app.

To manage the high risk on individual trades, the Plus500 trading platform allows users to place standard and premium order types. Basic orders such as trailing stops, stop limit, stop-loss orders are free of charge, while guaranteed stop-loss orders (GSLOs) can be placed for a fee.

Traders pay a fee to place guaranteed stop-loss orders as the premium order type eliminates the risk of slippage that is possible with basic orders. The premium ensures that even if prices move rapidly, the order will be executed at the price level you have specified.

Demo Accounts

Unlike the majority of fx brokers, Plus500 does not restrict access to demo accounts. With no time restrictions, users can practise trading strategies and learn in a risk-free environment for as long as they please. Additionally, Plus500 demo account trading balances can be reset at any time, with no limit on virtual funds.

View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

About FCA Regulated Forex Brokers

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the main financial authority overseeing forex and CFD markets in the United Kingdom (formally known as the FSA, Financial Services Authority). Seen as one of the strictest regulatory body in the world, the FCA promotes healthy competition within financial markets, while ensuring retail investor accounts are protected from scams and deceptive conduct. The FCA follows the guidelines of the Bank of England who manage the top-end policy.

As forex and CFDs are complex instruments that carry a high risk of losing money, FCA regulated brokers are required by law to enforce policies such as leverage limits, negative balance protection and segregated client funds.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Rules for UK Forex Brokers

The FCA requires allows caps maximum leverage limits for different asset classes, varying with the volatility of the financial product. For instance, as cryptocurrency markets are incredibly volatile, leverage is limited to 2:1 to protect traders from large loses. Major fx pairs such as the EUR/USD are less volatile, therefore the maximum leverage allowed by the FCA is 30:1.

Traders can access the following leverage when trading with FCA regulated brokers:

Major currency pairs	30:1	Minor and exotic currency pairs	20:1
Major Indices	20:1	Non-Major Indices	10:1
Gold	20:1	Commodities (Including Other Metals)	10:1
Shares and ETFs	5:1	Cryptocurrency	2:1

Negative Balance Protection

Negative balance protection (NBP) is a risk management feature that ensures traders cannot lose more than they have initially deposited into their trading account. Designed to protect retail investor accounts from ending up in deb to their brokers, NBP closes all open positions if an account balance decreases to zero. While certain brokers choose to offer NBP to all clients, FCA regulated brokers in the United Kingdom are required by law to provide NBP.

Segregated Client Funds

The requirement for brokers to segregate client funds from operational company capital funds is a common regulation enforced by well-respected financial authorities around the globe. The FCA, as well as ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission), CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission), FMA (Financial Market Authority, NZ) and the NFA (National Futures Association) all enforce segregated client funds as it ensures that if a broker becomes insolvent, a customers trading account balance is protected.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

As with segregated client funds, the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protects retail traders in the case that a broker becomes insolvent. If a broker liquidates or has its assets frozen, customers can claim up to £50,000 under the compensation scheme.

All brokers operating in the UK and licensed by the FCA are required to provide negative balance protection and the FSCS while enforcing leverage limits and segregated client funds. With some of the most stringent regulation in the world, those trading with FCA regulated brokers are protected through various policies that promote risk management and fair brokerage services.

About This Comparison

This comparison was created for UK residences trading forex (not binary options). For these traders, only FCA forex brokers should be considered with a wide range of brokers considered but not shortlisted such as CMC Markets and City Index. You can also view our best UK forex broker list.

About the author: Justin Grossbard