Top low-spread forex brokers compared

About Top low-spread forex brokers compared

This ranking covers 140 low-spread forex brokers, read for what a trade costs, what stands behind your balance, and how the account behaves once it is funded. The trade-off at the centre is that a tight spread is only useful if the rest of the cost structure stays quiet. A broker with a narrow spread, a modest minimum and a low inactivity charge is easier to plan around than one that gives the saving back on deposits, on idle balances or on equity trades. So each entry below states its fees against the account they apply to, names the regulator only where a licence fact supports it, and spells out what the protection scheme covers. Retail loss percentages are given by their published figures, because they are the closest thing in this data to an honest measure of the typical outcome. The picks near the front give the strongest mix of cost and regulated cover; those further down earn their place on platforms, market range or account structure. Each blurb offers a fit line and a trade-off line so you can match an account to your own trading pattern.

How we picked

Score is built from weighted inputs. Trust carries the largest share at 40%, cost is weighted at 35% and the breadth of the offer at 25%. Trust reads the regulator named in the licence record and the protection scheme attached to the client entity. Cost covers the account fee, the minimum deposit, the stock and options charges, any forex charge, the inactivity fee and what deposits and withdrawals cost. Offer covers the markets on the board, the platforms, the account types and the extras such as demo accounts, copy trading, fractional shares and mobile apps. Facts come from each broker's published account and fees pages, its own investor protection material, and regulatory registers, and every figure is read against the wider BrokerCue set of 270 brands, where 194 are licensed. Brands that pay for placement are listed ahead of the rest, and the remaining places follow on score alone. The order is a comparison rather than a recommendation, and every entry carries a trade-off line.

Our top picks

1. 1. ActivTrades

   ActivTrades takes its place in this ranking because the platform set is the reason to look at it. ActivTrader, its own desktop terminal, sits beside MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and TradingView, so chart choice is unusually open on a low-spread list, and the board carries forex, stocks, ETFs, bonds, crypto and CFDs. Founded in 2001, it rounds out a list where the entries above pair a named regulator with a published charge. The figure that argues for caution is the retail loss percentage of 84%, above the ranking median of 72.13%. The pick that follows, Totality, matches the multi-asset breadth but is built around joint and corporate accounts rather than retail currency trading.

   • Minimum deposit: $0
   • Stock trade fee: $0
   • Account fee: $0

   Pros

   • Stock trade fee sits at $0 for share dealing under commission free
   • Minimum deposit sits at $0, below eToro at $50
   • Funding terms read Free deposits and withdrawals for deposits and withdrawals
   • Platform access spans ActivTrader, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 with added tools via crypto, demo account and fractional shares

   Cons

   • Retail accounts that lose money sit at 84%, above the CFD median at 72.05%
   • Currency conversion on funding costs 0.5% for balances held in other currencies
   • Cash interest sits at 3.3%, which limits appeal for cash heavy portfolios

2. 2. XTB

   XTB follows in this ranking with the widest licensing among the low-cost entries. XTB Limited sits under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the FCA and KNF, with EU ICS protection of EU ICS up to EUR 20,000 and a retail loss percentage of 77%. Costs are stated plainly: an account fee of €0, a forex charge of 0.5%, a stock trade fee of €0 and a minimum deposit of €0. The trade-off is the inactivity fee of €10, and its deposit and withdrawal terms are Free deposits; free withdrawals above 100 EUR/USD. Support runs on email, chat and phone, the broadest set in this ranking, where the next pick, Octa, adds a published major pair spread of 0.9%.

   • Minimum deposit: €0
   • Stock trade fee: €0
   • Account fee: €0

   Pros

   • Account fee of €0 on the standard account, and stock trades cost €0.
   • Minimum deposit of €0, so the account opens without a funding floor.
   • Regulated by CySEC, the FCA and KNF across Cyprus, the UK and Poland.
   • Free deposits, with withdrawals free above the stated threshold on Free deposits; free withdrawals above 100 EUR/USD.
   • Markets span stocks, ETFs, forex, CFDs and crypto on xStation 5 and xStation Mobile.

   Cons

   • An inactivity fee of €10 applies, unlike eToro, which has no such charge.
   • Forex and CFD trading is not cost free: fx trading costs 0.5%.
   • CFDs carry a high proportion of losing retail accounts, and XTB's own figure is 77%.
   • Leverage reaches 1:30 on retail accounts, so losses can build faster than on an unleveraged account.

3. 4. eToro

   eToro holds the following place in this ranking on costs that are hard to argue with: an account fee of $0, a stock trade fee of $0 and a commission-free model, held by eToro (Europe) Ltd under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, with SIPC named in the licence record and EU ICS protection of EU ICS up to EUR 20,000. The board is wider than CFI's, adding futures, and the extras suit newer traders through fractional shares, copy trading, crypto, a demo account and an ISA. Founded in 2007, it pairs that with support running on help centre, a thinner channel set than the picks below, where Vantage sits on a low-fee model with metals and crypto on the board.

   • Stock trade fee: $0
   • Account fee: $0
   • Markets: Stocks, ETFs, Forex, and 3 more

   Pros

   • No commission on share dealing: stock trade fees are $0
   • No account fee on the standard dealing account: $0
   • Regulated in Cyprus by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, and a SIPC member in the US
   • One account spans stocks, etfs and forex
   • Fractional shares and a demo account let you start small and practise before committing money

   Cons

   • A separate management fee of 0% applies to the managed portfolio service, so headline dealing costs are not the whole bill
   • Support runs on help centre only, so there is no stated phone or live chat route for account problems
   • The same commission-free model at XTB comes with a stated stock trade fee of €0, so commission alone does not separate the two

What to look for

Entry point

Compare the minimum deposit before anything else. Across this ranking the median is €22.58, the lower quartile sits at €0 and the top of the range is €4,384.81. A narrow spread only pays for a position you can actually open.

Account and idle fees

Account fees in this ranking run €0 to €219.24, and the inactivity fee has a median of €4.38 against a top of €43.85. Read them before funding an account you may not trade from every week.

Per-trade charges

The stock trade fee has a median of €0 here, with the upper quartile at €0.88 and a maximum of €17.54. If you hold anything besides currency, this is the line that decides the ranking for you.

Who regulates it

Licensing is the practical safety test. Of the 140 brands in this ranking, 79 are licensed, so the unregulated names are the exception. Check the regulator and the protection scheme attached to the entity your account is opened with.

Odds on a retail account

The retail loss percentage has a median of 72.13% in this ranking, running from 40.3% to 88%. A brand publishing a higher figure is telling you something real about the typical outcome on a retail account.

Tools and markets

Every brand here covers forex, while 28.6% also list metals and 23.6% offer options. A mobile app appears on 89.3% of them, so platform choice is where the remaining difference sits.

Frequently asked questions

Top low-spread forex brokers compared by country

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV