Best Managed Forex Accounts of 2023

A managed forex account is a type of account that allows a trader or money manager to trade on a client’s behalf for a fee. It provides investors with the opportunity to grow their capital and allows traders to build another revenue stream from performance or management fees.

Professional products that allow for managed accounts include MAM (multi-account manager) or PAMM (percentage allocation management module) accounts, while a more basic version would be a copy trading account.

In my own experience of managing investor funds, choosing a well-established, regulated broker for a managed forex account is the most important step. The broker also needs to provide the right technology and products to manage investors’ capital safely and be highly reputable for investors to trust the process.

Our team of experts has researched and analyzed the best forex brokers who offer managed accounts for those who want to manage investor capital or simply follow a successful trader through copy trading. I have outlined the findings below and shared my own experience in managing accounts.

List of Top Managed Forex Accounts

Best brokers for US traders

• eToro – Best Overall in the US
  Managed account alternative. Easy-to-use copy trading platform. Smart Portfolios also available.

Best brokers for international traders

• FP Markets – Best Overall
  PAMM & MAM accounts, copy trading platform all available. Unlimited number of sub-accounts. Multiple trade allocation methods.
• IC Markets – Best for Fees
  Zero spread, low fees. cTrader, MT4, MT5, Autochartist. IC Social service.
• FxPro – Best for MAM/PAMM Accounts
  Set your own fees. Earn rebates. Multiple trade asset allocation methods. High level of execution transparency.
• Tickmill – Best for Trading Tools
  MAM account technology works with MT4. Unlimited sub-accounts. Multiple allocation methods are available. Algo trading allowed.
• FXTM – Best MT4
  Copy strategy managers in real time. Only pay fees on profits. Trade from Advantage MT4 account with zero spreads on majors.
• AvaTrade – Best for Copy Trading 
  Multiple copy trading platforms. DupliTrade, AvaSocial, Capitalise AI, ZuluTrade. Advanced statistical data to research the best traders.

How did FX Empire choose the best managed forex accounts?

• We ensured each broker provides access to MAM and PAMM account technology for professional money managers to trade investor capital.
• We also identified brokers that provide access to copy trading and social trading platforms for those who prefer to copy other successful traders.
• We checked the broker has a high level of regulation and safety which is key for investors trusting a trader to trade their capital.
• We opened live accounts to check the service quality and customer support available to fund managers and investors.
• We identified the brokers that provide the best type of trade allocation method among their investors such as percentage and lot allocation.
• We reviewed the live spread for forex and other markets to try and identify the brokers that also provide the lowest fees for trading.

Our team of experts has identified each broker’s strengths and weaknesses using FX Empire’s comprehensive methodology. Here’s how we test.

How to choose the best managed forex account?

Below are some of the key points to consider when choosing the best managed account provider.

Why is it important to choose a regulated broker?

As a money manager trading client capital, the safety and security of the broker you use is just as important as your performance. As an investor following a managed account provider, you will also want to know that your capital is safe and secure.

A regulated broker means that the company needs to adhere to strict regulatory standards that cover the safety of funds, transparency of execution, handling of client deposits, etc. If a regulated broker fails to adhere to the rules then they will lose their operating license or be fined.

When choosing the best managed account provider we prioritized brokers that have entities regulated in tier-1 and tier-2 jurisdictions. The three tiers of regulation incorporated in our broker reviews include:

• Tier-1 regulators are those in well-established financial jurisdictions which offer the highest level of protection. Examples include the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
• Tier-2 regulators are those in well-established economies but offer a lower level of investor protection. Examples include the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) of New Zealand.
• Tier-3 regulators are those that typically operate in offshore locations such as the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) and the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize.

Nowadays, there are also some entities that are not regulated at all, such as those based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As managed accounts involved handling other people’s money or someone else trading your capital, it’s best to stick with those that are trading with tier 1 and tier 2 regulators.

Tier 1 regulators offer the highest of protections because it is now a regulatory requirement for brokers to offer additional risk management measures, such as negative balance protection and the segregation of client funds from company funds.

From personal experience, I would advise you to avoid unregulated brokers, as this means there’s no recourse if they take your funds or provide bad trade execution. When in doubt of a broker’s regulation, you can view the online register of the regulator to verify its license, giving you peace of mind.

What fees should you be aware of when choosing a broker?

There are a variety of fees to take into consideration when using managed accounts. A money manager will typically set their own fee. Usually, this will be a performance fee and possibly a management fee.

You should always check that the performance fee is only charged above the high watermark. This means a fee can only be charged when the account is at its highest profit level. The MetaTrader MAM and PAMM technology allow for this to be automatically done.

If you are following a money manager or trader through a copy trading platform, it is important to check if there are any monthly fees to follow the strategy. Some traders may charge people to follow their trades.

However, most – but not all – copy trading platforms will offer copy trading for free. It’s worthwhile checking the terms and conditions to be sure.

There are other broker-related fees to take into consideration as well. These are fees related to the opening, closing, and holding of a trade, such as:

• Spreads. This is the difference between the buy price and the sell price. Money managers will want to ensure this is as low as possible to get the best returns.
• Commission. Some brokers will charge a fee to open and close a trade. Some brokers will offer commission-free trading accounts or commission-based trading accounts but with lower spreads.
• Swaps. This is a fee for any leveraged trades to be held overnight. Usually, it is based on the interest rates of the currencies being traded and a broker markup.

Investors will want to make sure the money manager hasn’t increased the spreads, commissions, or swaps charged to clients and marked up what the broker charges (rare but can happen and is available to money managers).

Also, if you are copying the trades of another trader, make sure they are based on real results which will take spreads, commissions, and swaps into consideration. In the early days of social trading, I found that many traders would show demo account performance without commissions, but once these were factored in, it turned a profitable track record into a losing one.

Some brokers may also charge an account maintenance fee. While this is rare, many will choose to charge a fee if there is no activity over a certain period of time, so it is worthwhile checking with the broker if they do.

What is the best type of forex brokerage account for managed accounts?

For brokers that offer managed accounts, it is worthwhile checking the different types of accounts associated with them and the execution model. Brokers will usually offer different account types, which have different fees, minimum deposits, etc.

Generally, account types with the highest minimum deposit will offer the most amount of services and the lowest fees. However, it’s crucial to research what is most suitable for your needs. Platforms that provide managed account or copy trading services may also provide different terms.

For example, the minimum deposit for the DupliTrade copy trading platform is $2,000. However, for brokers using MetaTrader, the minimum deposit is based on the broker, which could be as low as $50. A money manager will most likely have a much higher minimum investment though.

It is important to thoroughly research your options and speak to the broker directly for any questions.

Another factor to consider is the broker’s execution model. As a managed account will be taking the same trade across many sub-accounts, there needs to be fast execution direct to the market with very little broker intervention.

A broker’s execution model is likely to be one of the following:

• Market maker dealing desk accounts. With this account type, your broker takes the other side of the trade. Some brokers will be transparent in the fact they do this but many would not be. If they do, it’s likely they will offer accounts with a fixed spread and try to profit from a lower market spread and what they offer you.
• No dealing desk accounts. With these types of accounts, your orders are automatically matched with those of other traders in the market using algorithms. There are different types of no-dealing desk accounts:
  • STP accounts. A straight through processing execution model means that client trades are routed directly to the broker’s liquidity provider.
  • ECN accounts. An electronic communications network execution model means that client trades are matched up to the prices from a variety of liquidity sources (banks, hedge funds, etc) in an anonymous network.
  • DMA accounts. A direct market access execution model means that client trades are being traded directly with other interbank market participants.
• Demo accounts. These are accounts which allow you to trade in a risk-free, virtual environment. It’s a great way to test the products and services of a broker.

How to determine the best leverage for your managed account?

A trading account with a forex broker is likely to be a margin-based trading account that utilizes leverage. This allows traders to trade larger position sizes using a small deposit by borrowing funds from the broker.

As you borrow funds from the broker to control a larger position size, there is an overnight financing fee to borrow the capital. This is known as the swap fee. The principles are the same as a mortgage, in which you borrow capital and pay interest on the loan.

By leveraging positions, it will amplify both winning and losing trades. For example, if a broker offered 30:1 leverage to trade currencies, this means you can open a currency position worth $30,000 but will only need $1,000 of cash in the account to do so.

The launch of MiFID II regulations in 2018 forced many tier 1 brokers to restrict leverage to retail traders to make it safer. Brokers regulated by the FCA, CySEC, and ASIC have a regulatory requirement to cap forex trading at 30:1 leverage.

While some brokers may offer 1000:1 leverage, these are most likely to be unregulated offshore providers, as there are zero to very few regulatory protections for retail traders.

When using a managed account, it’s important to take into consideration whether the investor can access the same account type as you (the money manager). Or, if you are copying someone else’s trades, it’s wise to check you can open the same type of leveraged account, otherwise, you may miss out on a lot of trades and end up with completely different returns.

Which trading platform is best for managed accounts?

The most professionally managed account platforms are offered by MetaTrader’s MAM and PAMM technology. MAM (multi-account manager) accounts simply provide the technology to have one master account with many sub-accounts. Any trades taken on the master account are then also taken on the sub-accounts.

Depending on the broker, they will offer different types of trade asset allocation methods. One of the most common is percentage allocation, which is offered by PAMM (percentage allocation module management) account technology.

While trade allocations can be distributed across all sub-accounts by the percentage of funds held by all investors, other allocation methods include allocating trades by lot but this is only used if every investor has the same account balance. These are known as LAMM accounts (lot allocation management module).

MAM accounts typically involve the investor having to sign a Limited Trading Authorisation (LTA) form to give permission for a money manager to take a trade on their account (but things such as deposits and withdrawals are excluded).

Another type of managed account product is copy trading. Some brokers will also use MetaTrader for this, while others have built their own proprietary copy trading platforms allowing clients to become strategy providers and earn a share of follower profits, or simply be a follower and copy the trades of other clients.

Having used both MAM accounts and copy trading, I have found that using a copy trading platform is the easiest way to get started and doesn’t require money managers to be licensed or regulated. It’s also easier for clients to get started with, as on most platforms, it is just the click of a button to get started with.

A MAM account is more of a professional solution, but in some regions, will require the money manager to have a license and authorization to manage capital.

What to avoid when choosing a managed account?

When choosing a managed account, ensuring the broker has the right technology to support the trading of client money is important. As money managers, it is essential to know that any trade you take on a master account will be executed seamlessly on all of the sub-accounts.

In my own personal experience of managing client capital, another important factor is the safety and security of the broker. Investors will want to know that they are funding an account with a top broker and that their money is safe. Therefore, make sure the broker is highly regulated by a well-established financial body.

If you are choosing a managed account provider to follow, then be sure the platform allows you to view the performance of the trader with statistics that can measure the return as well as overall risk. The longer the track record, the better.

How to avoid forex and CFD scams?

Unfortunately, there are many forex and CFD scams around. However, these can be avoided by doing thorough research beforehand. Leveraging the power of other experts and analysts through websites such as FX Empire can help you make more informed decisions.

It’s also wise to stick to regulated brokers in well-established jurisdictions that provide a high level of safety and transparency regarding your funds. There are many managed account providers that will use unregulated, offshore brokers, which provide zero or very little transparency and safety.

In the early days of managed accounts and social trading, there was a trend I witnessed that you also should be aware of. Some traders will lock off the ability to view the current open positions in the portfolio. This means they may only close winning positions to show very good results but have a lot of open losing trades. Only follow a trader or invest if open and closed trades are transparent.

Our Methodology

To select the best managed account, I have used the findings from our research team’s extensive 250 data point checklist used in our broker reviews and have also further refined the brokers according to the following factors:

• Highly regulated brokers – essential when managing other people’s money
• Offers MAM (multi-account manager) technology through MT4
• Offers copy trading solutions for those looking for a simpler option to manage investor capital or copy other traders
• High-quality customer support and service for managers and investors
• Customized solutions such as setting performance fees, spread markups, and multiple allocation methods
• Low trading spreads and commissions compared to the industry average

A higher amount of emphasis was placed on brokers who scored well in trust and platform and tools. This is because these are two of the most important factors for money managers when trading investor funds.

The safety, security, and trust of a broker are paramount for investors to feel safe in funding an account for you to trade. Or, if you are copying the trades of another trader you want to know that your funds are handled safely.

The broker also needs to have the right technology for trades to be executed as fast as possible but across hundreds or thousands of different accounts. Most money managers will use MAM and PAMM technology for this, which not all brokers provide.

We researched and checked for brokers that can be considered to provide the best managed account service by opening live accounts and testing the features ourselves, providing you with a great foundation to make a better choice.

Meet Our Writers

The team of forex and CFD writers and editors at FX Empire is composed of trading industry professionals and seasoned financial journalists. Our writers have been published on leading financial websites such as Investopedia and Forbes. In addition, they all have extensive trading experience.

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