We tested 80 brokers this year and pulled together the platforms that actually deliver the low-spread pricing active traders care about. We opened trading accounts and tested spreads on popular instruments to see which brokers offer genuinely competitive pricing.
Along the way, we checked fees and commissions per lot, minimum deposits, and each broker’s regulatory status and reputation to ensure the pricing is both tight and trustworthy.
Using our vast database, we compared every broker side by side for platform quality, available trading tools, and the range of instruments you can trade. Only the brokers that combined ultra-tight spreads with strong overall trading conditions made our final list.
*AvaTrade doesn’t allow CFD trading in Spain; only Futures are available.
To choose the best lowest-spread brokers in the industry, I have taken the data from our 250-point checklist when reviewing a broker and opening a trading account with them. Special consideration has been given to the following features:
Our team of experts has identified each broker’s strengths and weaknesses using FXEmpire’s comprehensive methodology.
Founded in 2007, IC Markets is based in Sydney, Australia, and is authorized and regulated by CySEC, ASIC, SCB and the FSA of Seychelles, providing access to more than 1,700 financial instruments. The broker is considered the ‘go-to’ for serious forex traders seeking ultra-low spreads and commissions with zero requotes and no restrictions on trading strategies.
There is also a swap fee when holding a trade overnight due to the ‘borrowing’ of capital when using leverage or margin-based CFD accounts. This is based on interest rates and a broker markup but was in line with the industry average.
From my personal experience, I have found that the spreads with IC Markets are very competitive and much better than the industry average, where many brokers will quote around 1.0 pip for EUR/USD and more than 3.0 pips for GBP/JPY on a commission-free trading account.
While IC Market’s commission per trade is lower using the cTrader platform than the MetaTrader platform, they are both in line with the industry average. However, I also found that all trading styles are allowed and, uniquely, there is no order distance restriction. This means you can place orders very close to the market price and have them filled with no requotes.
Another reason why IC Markets is considered the best overall broker is that I found you can upgrade your MetaTrader platform with additional trading tools such as an alarm manager, correlation matrix, and sentiment indicator, and access an impressive range of educational materials such as webinars, podcasts, and news articles.
Founded in 2014, BlackBull Markets is authorized and regulated by the FMA (New Zealand) and FSA (Seychelles). It offers over 26,000 instruments, including over 28 cryptocurrency CFDs, that can be traded from TradingView, MetaTrader 4/5, cTrader, and BlackBull Trade platforms.
In our live fee test on the Standard account, I found the spread for trading Bitcoin CFDs averaged $15.61 in the London session and $16.22 in the New York session. This is much better than the industry average of $35.50.
The selection of 28 crypto CFDs is also better than the industry average and covers all the major coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, altcoins such as Cardano and Iota and meme coins like DogeCoin.
I also discovered a good selection of educational materials, including a course on Learn to Trade Crypto. The content is high quality and covers topics for beginner, intermediate, and pro traders. There’s also a wide range of platform video tutorials and webinars to support crypto CFD trading.
Established in 2016, IUX is a derivatives broker headquartered in Cyprus and also registered in the Comoros Islands, South Africa, and Mauritius. It offers seamless integration to trade via MetaTrader 5, the IUX mobile app and a proprietary platform powered by TradingView. With no inactivity fee, low spreads and overnight fees, IUX is ideal for mid- to long-term traders, such as swing traders.
In our live fee test on the Standard account, I found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.8 pips in the London session and 0.9 pips in the New York session. This is much better than the industry average of 1.08 pips.
The spreads were competitive on most asset classes with low-to-average overnight swap fees, making IUX ideal for swing trading. The MetaTrader 5 and IUX Web platforms could be also food options for swing trading as both offer multiple timeframe charts and a large selection of technical analysis indicators.
IUX’s in-house market analyst team provides high-quality market research, helping swing traders stay up-to-date on all the latest market news. Deeper analysis is also available from its YouTube channel, while the website offers useful swing trading tools such as market sentiment indicators.
RoboForex is an established financial derivatives broker that specializes in stock trading. Founded in 2009, it is headquartered in Belize and offers more than 12,000 tradable instruments exclusively via its flagship R StocksTrader platform dedicated to stock trading.
The R StocksTrader platform features a user-friendly design and fluid charts that accommodate the execution of probing technical analysis. While primarily geared towards stock trading, it facilitates forex, energies, metals, indices, and ETF trading.
R StocksTrader can be used to trade on stock CFDs, as well as to invest in real stocks. The maximum retail leverage on stocks is 1:20, while the minimum deposit for trading real US stocks is $100. The platform also features 60+ analytical tools, supports all basic order types (market, limit, and stop), and has a sophisticated algo-building environment.
Regarding its trading fees, I discovered that the R StocksTrader account features a $0,02 cent commission for US stocks, which is aligned with the industry average. I was also impressed by RoboForex’s comprehensive in-house market research, which helps stock traders stay on top of the latest market developments.
Established in 2011, FXTM is licensed by the UK FCA, CySEC, FSCA, and FSC (Mauritius). It offers trading in 600+ CFDs on forex, commodities, indices, shares, and cryptocurrencies via MetaTrader platforms and the FXTM Trader App.
In our live fee test of the Advantage Plus commission-free account, we found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 1.9 pips, higher than the 1.08 pips industry average. However, traders can access spreads from 0.0 pips on the Advantage account with an industry-standard commission.
The zero spread account can be accessed from the MT4, MT5, and FXTM Trader App. We found all the platforms helpful for short-term trading styles, while the broker’s trading app stands out for its good design and beginner-friendliness.
FXTM also offers trading signals from Acuity and additional indicators for MT4. These include a Pivot Point Indicator, Pip Value Calculator, Spread Indicator, and Market Data to CSV tool.
Founded in 2005, FP Markets is based in Sydney, Australia, is authorized and regulated by ASIC and CySEC, and has an unregulated entity based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The broker has become a leader in the industry, providing access to more than 840 tradable instruments covering forex, shares, commodities, indices, cryptos, bonds, and ETFs with competitive fees.
From my personal trading experience, I find that the spread on EUR/USD for a commission-free trading account is in line with the industry average. However, the spread is much better than the industry average for GBP/JPY, which can sometimes reach over 3.0 pips.
I also found that the commission of $3.00 per 100,000 units of currency traded, per side, is better than the industry average for using MetaTrader, which is typically around $3.50. The mere fact you can access the MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms is also great.
There is a decent range of tradable instruments, too. This includes 72 currency pairs, 17 commodities, 18 indices, 12 cryptos, 46 ETFs, and more than 680 European, US, UK, and Asia shares. You can also open an IRESS platform trading account and trade more than 15,000 shares using direct market access.
The 2019-founded Fusion Markets is gaining prominence among commodity traders as one of the best options for trading metals, particularly gold. This is thanks to the Aussie broker’s razor-sharp spreads and diverse gold contracts.
I cross-checked Fusion Markets’ gold spreads on its Classic and Zero accounts and confirmed that both beat the respective industry averages. With the Classic account, I captured a 24-cent AM spread and a 33-cent PM spread. I plotted these numbers and calculated a trade cost of $10.24, which was significantly lower than the $17.48 industry average.
I also estimated a $16 price tag for the XAUUSD with the Zero account. I arrived at this number by adding the 11.5-cent median XAUUSD spread I captured to the $4.5 commission per traded lot. The $16 cost of trade came in below the industry benchmark of $17.
Another highlight of Fusion Markets for gold trading is the wide range of denominations available. In addition to USD, you can also trade XAU against EUR and AUD. Accordingly, traders holding accounts denominated in either of the three currencies can avoid paying conversion fees.
Established in 2002, FxPro is headquartered in London and is authorized and regulated by the FCA, CySEC, FSCA, and SCB. It offers over 2,100 financial instruments, including CFDs on forex, commodities, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies. FxPro provides an excellent range of products, tools, and services that cater to the needs of professional traders.
Our live fee test of the Standard Account revealed that FxPro’s spreads in forex and crypto are not very competitive. However, their spreads are better than average for CFDs on shares, some commodities, and indices. We also found that traders can access much lower spreads on the Raw+ and Elite accounts, which also have an industry-standard commission.
Another benefit of the Elite Account is access to rebates on your trading activity from $1.50 per lot. This helps to reduce the overall cost of trading but does require a minimum account deposit of $30,000.
Professional traders can enjoy access to a broad range of trading platforms that cater to different trading styles. The MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms are packed full of advanced trading features and are the go-to for short-term trading and algorithmic trading styles.
While the FxPro proprietary platform is highly customizable and offers a powerful range of tools.
AvaTrade was founded in 2006 in Dublin, Ireland, and offers more than 840 tradable instruments that can be traded as CFDs and vanilla options. This diversity affords traders greater flexibility.
AvaTrade offers several proprietary platforms (Ava Web Trader, AvaOptions, and AvaSocial), and it also incorporates MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, and DupliTrade. The platforms are versatile and cater to the needs of different traders.
Ava Web is suitable for carrying out advanced technical analysis because of its fluid charting capabilities. Meanwhile, MT4 and MT5 allow basic technical analysis and easy order execution. AvaSocial and DupliTrade connect signal providers and signal followers and facilitate social trading.
I also determined that AvaTrade’s prices fall marginally below the industry average. The combination of zero commissions and floating spreads from 0.9 pips is suitable for day trading. I also measured the broker’s swaps and determined that they were suitable for longer-term trading. Indeed, AvaTrade’s overnight charges are quite favorable for swing trading and position trading.
tastyfx is a new brand name of IG US, offering margin-based foreign exchange trading to US citizens. Registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA), tastyfx provides access to competitive forex fees and trading platforms.
tastyfx offers one type of live trading account with access to over 80 currency pairs, including majors, minors, Australasian, Scandinavian, exotic, and emerging pairs.
My hands-on tests revealed that tastyfx offers highly competitive trading fees. Spreads on major currency pairs are among the tightest in the industry, and swap fees are better than average. Additionally, high-volume traders can benefit from significant rebates, further reducing costs.
The tastyfx web trading platform is top-notch, featuring a simple, clean, and user-friendly design that is easily customizable. I particularly appreciated the in-built news and analysis from tastyfx’s own in-house analysts, as well as the automated chart pattern recognition tool directly on the platform.
With tastyfx, you also have access to MetaTrader 4, TradingView, and ProRealTime. Having used ProRealTime myself, I found it a valuable addition for creating automated algorithmic trading strategies with simple scripts.
The forex and CFD analysts and editors at FXEmpire bring together seasoned trading professionals and experienced financial journalists. Many of our experts have been featured in leading publications such as Investopedia and Forbes, and all of them combine strong industry credentials with hands-on trading experience.
Dan Blystone began his career in the trading industry in 1998 on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later, Dan gained insight into the forex industry during his time as a Series 3 licensed futures and forex broker. He also traded at a couple of different prop trading firms in Chicago. Dan is well-equipped to recommend the best forex brokers due to his extensive experience and understanding of the brokerage industry.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
Having been a retail trader since 2013, Plamen has gained an in-depth understanding of the challenges that novice traders face today. His expertise is swing trading and day trading with a heavy emphasis on psychological and fundamental analysis. Plamen’s favourite trading instruments include FX majors and gold. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. Plamen's broad experience has equipped him with the expertise to recommend the best forex brokers.
In more than 15 years of trading in the financial markets, Vladimir dealt with a wide range of brokers and financial instruments. His career as a day-trader at a proprietary trading firm goes back to 2007. Later, Vladimir turned to longer time frames and became an independent trader and analyst managing his own portfolio. Using his experience, he helps traders find the best broker in his reviews.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
At FXEmpire, we strive to provide unbiased, thorough and accurate broker reviews by industry experts to help our users make smarter financial decisions.