UK traders can trade forex through FCA-regulated brokers. These brokers offer MT4, MT5, and cTrader trading platforms. They might also offer their own proprietary trading platform.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates Forex trading platforms in the UK. Only FCA-regulated forex trading platforms are safe for you. Do not trade with an unregulated forex trading platform. It is not safe and you can lose all of your money.

Show More

Comparison of Best Forex Trading Platforms UK

Forex Broker Regulation Maximum Leverage Minimum Deposit
Visit
Pepperstone

FCA, ASIC

1:30
£0
Visit Broker
IC Markets

ASIC, CySEC

1:30
£200
Visit Broker
eToro

FCA, ASIC

1:30
$10
Visit Broker
FXCM

ASIC, FCA, FSCA

1:30
£50
Visit Broker
FxPro

FCA, CySEC, FSCA

1:30
£100
Visit Broker
City Index

FCA, ASIC

1:30
£100
Visit Broker

 

6 Best Forex Trading Platforms UK for 2023

Forex trading platforms are a dime a dozen. We have gathered for you the best of them in the UK.

  1. Pepperstone – Best Forex Trading Platform for MT4
  2. IC Markets – Good MetaTrader platform for Forex
  3. eToro – Social and Copy Trading Platform
  4. FXCM – Forex Broker with Multiple Platforms
  5. FxPro – Forex Broker with Low fees on cTrader Platform
  6. City Index – Best Forex Trading Platforms for Beginners

Now a brief description of all the above listed best Forex Trading Platforms in the UK.

#1 Pepperstone – Best Forex Trading Platform for MT4

EUR/USD Benchmark:
0.77 pips on Standard Account
Trading Platforms:
MT4, MT5, cTrader
Account Minimum:
No Minimum Deposit

Pepperstone is regulated with the FCA as Pepperstone Limited.

Regulation: They have been authorized to operate in the UK since 05/08/2015. Their FCA reference number is 648312. We consider Pepperstone low risk.

Trading Fees: On their Razor Account, Pepperstone offers GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and EURGBP at 0.59 pips, 0.17 pips, and 0.4 pips respectively. You are also charged a £4.50 commission for MT4 and MT5 platforms for 100,000 units traded. cTrader commissions are fixed at $6/lot Roundturm. Their fees on Nasdaq and Gold are shown in the table below

Instruments Spread Commissions (round-turn per standard lot)
Gold 0.13 pips Depends on your trading platform
Nasdaq (US100) 1.0 pips Depends on your trading platform

Available platforms: Pepperstone offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader platforms. The three platforms are available on the desktop and the web. They are also available as mobile apps on the Apple app store and Google play store. In addition, there is also TradingView with advanced technical and drawing tools.

Pepperstone also offer Social Trading. They have a trading platform for that as well. It is called DupliTrade.

Funding/withdrawals: Pepperstone supports four deposit/withdrawal methods. You can use your Visa credit/debit card, Mastercard credit/debit card, bank transfer, and PayPal. Deposits reflect in your account immediately for card transactions and PayPal.

Bank transfer deposits take up to three business days. Withdrawals take 1-3 business days before they reflect in your bank account.

Customer support: We spoke with Pepperstone’s live chat agents and had a holding time of two minutes before a response. The email response was okay, arriving after two hours. Overall customer support is good.

Pepperstone Pros

  • MT4, MT5, and cTrader are supported
  • Social trading is supported vis DupliTrade
  • Extra tools for technical analysis
  • Algorithm trading is supported
  • Hedging is supported

Pepperstone Cons

  • No guaranteed stop loss

#2 IC Markets – Good MetaTrader platform for Forex

EUR/USD Benchmark:
1 pip
Trading Platforms:
cTrader, MT4, MT5
Account Minimum:
$200

IC Market’s cTrader platform is available on the web, desktop, and mobile app. The cTrader app works on both Android and iOS systems.

Regulation: IC Markets are licensed in another European Economic Area. However, they have temporary permission to operate in the UK as IC Markets (EU) Ltd. Their FCA license number is 837935 and they are considered low risk.

Update: At the time of this writing, IC Markets have applied to cancel their temporary FCA regulation. This is according to the information on the FCA website.

Trading Fees: IC Markets spreads for GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and EURGBP on their Raw Spread Account are 0.23 pips, 0.02 pips, and 0.27 pips respectively. You pay a round-turn commission of £5.00 per standard lot traded. cTrader round-turn commissions are fixed at $3.

Below are the fees for Gold and Nasdaq:

Instruments Spread Commission (round-turn commission per standard lot)
Gold 2.083 pips £5.00
Nasdaq (USTEC) 1.807 pips £5.00

Available platforms: IC Markets offer MetaTrader 4 and Metatrader 5. The MetaTrader platforms are available as mobile, web, and desktop. cTrader is also available and it supports algorithm trading.

Funding/withdrawals: You can deposit/withdraw your funds via Visa credit/debit card, Mastercard credit/debit card, Neteller, Skrill, and bank wire transfer. Deposit transactions are instant. Withdrawals can take up to 2-5 business days to reflect in your account.

Customer Support: We had the best customer support experience with live chat. There is a chatbot with a menu-based response that is programmed to answer common questions.

We also had a chat with their live chat agent and there were three minutes of holding time. Once connected their chat support was okay.

Email response was quick when we raised a query to their support email, arriving after 25mins.

IC Markets Pros

  • You can trade on MT4, MT5, and cTrader
  • No dealing desk so execution is fast
  • You can write your own codes
  • You can hedge your trades

IC Markets Cons

  • Minimum deposit is high
  • No guaranteed stop loss

#3 eToro – Social and Copy Trading Platform

EUR/USD Benchmark:
1.0 pips
Trading Platforms:
eToro own trading platform and app
Account Minimum:
$10

eToro is regulated with the FCA as eToro (UK) Ltd.

Regulation: eToro FCA reference number is 583263. eToro is considered a safe platform for trading CFD because they are regulated.

Trading Fees: eToro offer both GBP/USD and EUR/USD at 1 pip while EUR/GBP is offered at 1.5 pips. There is no commission.

You can find the fees for Gold and Nasdaq below:

Instruments Spread Commission
Gold 4.5 pips N/A
Nasdaq (NSDQ100) 2.4 pips N/A

Available platforms: eToro offer their own proprietary trading platform. It is also available as a mobile app on the app store and Google play store. eToro is known for social or copy trading. So they have a good trading platform for it. The name of the platform is CopyTrader.

You can read our review of the UK’s best copy trading platforms for more on this.

Funding/withdrawal: You can deposit/withdraw your funds using a credit card, PayPal, and bank wire transfer. The shortest way to deposit is PayPal because transactions are completed in 2 business days. Bank transfers and credit card transactions take up to 10 business days.

Customer support: eToro’s live chat is only available to active clients. You cannot connect to their live chat if you are not a customer. We were able to test their live chat and got a response after five minutes. You can also reach eToro via email. We got no response when we reached them through email. The customer support experience is moderately good.

eToro Pros

  • Low minimum deposit
  • No commissions on CFDs
  • Social trading is available without extra fees

eToro Cons

  • No MT4, MT5, or cTrader
  • No guaranteed stop loss
  • Withdrawal fee of $5
  • You cannot withdraw below $30

#4 FXCM – Forex Broker with Multiple Platforms

EUR/USD Benchmark:
1.4 pips on Standard Account
Trading Platforms:
MT4, NinjaTrader, Zulutrade, Tradingview, and Trading Station
Account Minimum:
£50

FXCM Trading Station and MetaTrader platforms are available as mobile apps and desktop versions. The Metatrader platform is also available as a web trading platform.

Regulation: FXCM is regulated with the FCA as Forex Capital Markets Limited. Their license number is 217689.

Trading fees: The spread for GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and EUR/GBP are 4 pips, 2pips, and 3 pips respectively. FXCM do not charge commissions.

Instruments Spread Commission
Gold 4.8 pips N/A
Nasdaq (NAS100) 1.18 pips N/A

Available Platforms: FXCM has multiple trading platforms compared to other brokers. Metatrader 4, NinjaTrader, Tradingview, and Trading Station.

Funding/withdrawals: You can deposit and withdraw funds via credit/debit card, Skrill, Neteller, and bank transfer.
Customer Support: We contacted FXCM through email and WhatsApp. The experience was good with instant responses on WhatsApp. FXCM responded to our mail after an hour.

FXCM Pros

  • Multiple trading platforms
  • Hedging is available
  • Minimum deposit of $50
  • Regulated with the FCA

FXCM Cons

  • Limited number of CFDs
  • Extra commissions on trades

#5 FxPro – Forex Broker with Low fees on cTrader Platform

EUR/USD Benchmark:
1.2 pips
Trading Platforms:
MT4, MT5, cTrader, FxPro Edge
Account Minimum:
£100

On FxPro’s cTrader platform, you pay a commission of $45 for every 10 standard lots traded.

Regulation: FxPro are regulated with the FCA as FXPRO UK Limited. Their reference number is 509956. FxPro has been authorized in the UK since 10/09/2010 and they are considered low risk

Trading Fees: FxPro offers a spread of 2 pips for GBP/USD and EUR/USD. For EUR/GBP, the spread is 1 pip. You do not pay any commission on MT4 and MT5 trading platforms.

FxPro’s fees for Gold and Nasdaq is shown below:

Instruments Spread Commission (per 10 standard lot) cTrader platform only
Gold 2.9 pips $45
Nasdaq (USNDAQ100) 2.0 pips $45

Available Platforms: FxPro supports MT4, MT5, and cTrader trading platforms. They also offer their FxPro trading platform. All four are available as mobile apps (iOS and Google Play) and web traders. Only MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms are available on desktops.

Funding/withdrawal: With FxPro, you can deposit/withdraw funds through bank transfer, broker-to-broker, and credit/debit cards. Credit/debit card deposits usually take 10 minutes. Bank transfer and broker-to-broker depend on the banks involved.

All withdrawals can take up to 1 working day.

Customer Support: We received a response via their live chat feature in one minute. We also tested their email support and received a response after four minutes. Overall support experience was good.

FxPro Pros

  • Free Trading Central Plug in for technical analysis
  • Up to 20 FxPro plugins without extra fees
  • Low slippage percentage
  • Wide range of CFDs
  • Mt4, MT5, and cTrader are available

FxPro Cons

  • Complex spread pricing and execution
  • High commissions

#6 City Index – Best Forex Trading Platforms for Beginners

EUR/USD Benchmark:
0.5 pips
Trading Platforms:
Advantage Web, AT Pro, MT4
Account Minimum:
GBP 100

In case of Bank transfer City Index takes up to 1-2 working days. Funding and withdrawing via PayPal can take up to 2 working days.

Regulation: City Index is regulated with the FCA as StoneX Financial Limited and their FCA reference number is 446717. You can trade safely with City Index.

Trading Fees: The spread for GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and EUR/GBP are 1.1 pips. 2.0 pips, and 1.6 pips respectively. You pay no commission for trading these pairs. The table below shows City Index’s trading fees for Gold and Nasdaq:

Instruments Spread Commission
Gold 0.3 pips N/A
Nasdaq (US Tech 100) 1.0 pips N/A

Funding/withdrawals: City Index support three payment methods. You can deposit/withdraw your funds through credit/debit cards, bank transfers, or PayPal. Credit/debit card transactions take 3-5 working days. Bank transfer takes up to 1-2 working days. Funding and withdrawing via PayPal can take up to 2 working days.

Customer Support: We found an extensive FAQs section. You can find commonly asked questions there. We also tested the menu-based live chat feature. We received quick responses with no holding time.

City Index Pros

  • Regulated with the FCA
  • Guaranteed stop loss order
  • MT4 is avaialble

City Index Cons

  • City Index is a market maker
  • Shares CFDs are available on their proprietary platform only.

More on Forex Trading Platforms

A forex trading platform begins with regulated brokerage companies. These companies have a system of accepting traders and connecting them to the forex market. A Trading platform is a major way forex brokers let traders access the markets.

Once you are registered and your trading account is activated, you can then use the trading platforms to trade forex. Trading platforms are broadly divided into two — third-party platforms and proprietary platforms. The former is developed by other companies for forex brokers. Examples of third-party platforms include MT4/MT5 (from MetaQuotes) and cTrader (from Spotware Systems).

On the other hand, proprietary platforms are developed by brokerage companies. They are designed and built by brokerage companies. eToro, FxPro, and City Index are examples of brokers with their own platforms. Some brokers support both types of trading platforms. However, there are a few brokers like XTB who only support their proprietary platforms.

What is the Difference Between Dealing Desk and Non-Dealing Desk Platforms

Forex trading platforms can be divided into dealing desk and non-dealing desk (NDD) platforms. Dealing desk platforms are market makers. They take the opposite sides of your trades. In simple terms, when you buy a currency pair, they are selling it to you and vice-versa.

Most dealing desk brokers usually have an in-house price book so they set the price of trading instruments. Because of this, there’s likely to be a conflict of interest where the broker stands to benefit from your trades. This does not mean dealing desk brokers should be avoided. You can review their legal documents to see how they deal with conflicts of interest.

NDD brokers, on the other hand, do not take opposite sides of your trades. They have no dealing desk and in-house price book. an NDD broker could be an ECN or STP broker. ECN brokers give direct market access. They connect you directly to buyers and sellers in their market.
STP brokers connect you to buyers/sellers through their liquidity pools which could be banks or other financial institutions.

Finally, there are hybrid brokers that combine the features discussed above. The important point is to know how they handle conflicts of interest. You can ask your forex trading platform for their conflict of interest document to know how they handle it.

How to Choose the Best Forex Trading Platform

We considered some criteria when assessing forex trading platforms. To know if a forex trading platform is the best for you, there are certain things you must check and verify. Here is what you check and how you go about it.

Is the forex trading platform regulated?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates forex trading platforms in the UK. Do not trade with unregulated forex trading platforms. You could lose all of your money to fraud.

Registering with FCA regulated broker would offer you protection as an investor in case the regulated broker goes out of business. Your funds are protected for up to £85,000. This protection is under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

You will be able to get your money back. Some forex brokers give release this money without charges while some might subtract you an administration fee. Pepperstone is an example of such a broker as shown below:

Pepperstone FSCS

How do you know if a broker is regulated with the FCA?

Step 1) Go to the broker’s website and scroll down to the footer. You will find their regulations clearly stated. Here is a picture from Pepperstone’s website.

Pepperstone Regulation Stated

You can see the regulation statement is clear with their registration number as 648312. Should you stop here? No.

Step 2) You have to go further to verify the information on the broker’s website. You have to check if it is the same on the FCA website. Go to https://register.fca.org.uk/s/. Scroll down until you arrive at the area shown below.

FCA Search Firms
Step 3) Select firms and enter the company’s name or registration number. For Pepperstone, it is 648312. Click on search. Your search result should look like this:

Pepperstone FCA Regulation
The registration number on the two websites match. Once you can confirm this, you know a forex trading platform is regulated and safe.

Furthermore, on regulation, some forex trading platforms only have temporary permission to operate in the UK. This is because they are licensed in another European Economic Area (EEA). An example of such a platform is IC Markets.

Their details on the FCA website are shown below:

IC Markets FCA Regulation
Finally, you should be wary of clone firms. They structure their names to be similar to regulated fore trading platforms. They are fake. Ensure you use your forex broker’s official websites only. Here is a screenshot of firms that tried to clone FxPro as an example.

Unauthorised Firms

They are not authorized and are marked as clones. As a trader, always makes sure you do your due diligence on any forex trading platforms. Never assume.

In addition, check the website that is authorized. Never open an account on a website that is not authorized. You can check this as well. Just click on Pepperstone in your FCA search result and scroll down. You will see a section that shows Pepperstone’s authorised website

Pepperstone Authorised Website

You can read our review of the UK’s best FCA regulated brokers for more.

Is there more than one account?

Forex trading platforms usually have more than one account. You should consider this factor because it helps you with pricing flexibility. Usually, forex brokers will have a standard trading account. This account will have high average spreads with zero commissions per standard lot.

The other account(s) have a low typical spread but you are charged a round-turn commission on your trades. Because account types affect the structure of trading fees, it is better you go for a trading platform with at least two accounts.

In addition, account types might also affect your minimum deposit. A forex broker may have an account with no fixed minimum deposit. This allows you to trade with little money. However, some accounts do have a specific minimum deposit. Do you see why you have to consider a platform with multiple accounts?

Here is an overview of IC Markets trading accounts for example.

Trading Conditions at IC Markets

IC markets have a Raw Spread Account and a Standard Account. You can see from the image that the trading conditions in the accounts are different. Spreads, commissions, etc all vary per account. The image below gives you even more info.

Account Conditions at IC Markets

Do you see why you need to compare trading accounts? If your broker offers more than a single trading account, you have to compare them to choose the best trading conditions.

Are overall fees low?

Your overall fees as a trader is a combination of trading and non-trading fees. Trading fees include spreads, commissions, and overnight charges. Non-trading fees include inactivity, deposit/withdrawal, or currency conversion charges.

It is important to know if the overall fees are low or high. Overall fees affect your profit or loss cumulatively so make sure to check them out. They are usually found under the forex broker’s fees or pricing. Here is a screenshot of how to check pepperstone’s fees:

Pepperstone Pricing

Click on pricing and select the information you want. Here is a picture showing their spread for some currency pairs.

Pepperstone Spread
Their commissions look like this:

Pepperstone Commission

If you want to save your time, you can speak to the forex broker’s customer support via email or live chat.

Since we are discussing trading platforms, you should know that some trading fees can differ based on trading platforms. For example, Pepperstone charges a £4.50 round-turn commission (per standard lot) on MetaTrader. On cTrader, the round-turn commission is $6 (per standard lot).

FxPro also have different spreads for CFDs based on their trading platforms. This is why it is important to check the overall fees relative to the platforms supported by your broker

Is their platform multi-device?

MT4, MT5, and cTrader platforms are prominent with traders. You want to make sure your chosen forex trading platform supports them. They should also be available on multiple devices.

This is important because all devices do not give you the same experience. Mobile apps allow you to monitor your trades on the go. Desktop versions give you a detailed and concise view that is lacking on mobile apps.

Forex trading platforms usually state their platforms and the device or devices they are available on. All you need to do is go to their website and click on platforms or trading platforms.

Here is a screenshot of City Index’s MetaTrader 4 platform. You can see how it is available on multiple devices and functional on different operating systems.

City Index MT4 Trading Platform

If you prefer other trading platforms apart from MT4 or MT5, you can check if your broker supports other platforms. Examples of such platforms are TradingView, DupliTrade, NinjaTrade, and cTrader. This list is not exhaustive as there are many platforms out there. Just make sure you learn about any platform so you choose so you can maximize it.

FXCM is an example of forex broker’s with MetaTrader and other third-party trading platforms.

FXCM's Trading Platforms

Is the CFD range wide?

Forex trading platforms tend to have different number of CFDs. Several factors are responsible for this but that is not our focus here. The crucial matter is that your trading platform must have enough CFDs that allows you to be flexible.

There should be a good number of currency pairs since they are the most traded CFD class. However, there could be times when there are no trading opportunities on your favorite currency pairs. This is where other CFD classes like shares, ETFs, commodities, and gold comes in.

A wide market range ensures you have opportunities across different CFD classes. Here is an example of currency pairs available with IC Markets.

IC Markets Fx Pairs

Can you see how good the range is? There are major, minor, and exotic currency pairs. This is an example of the ideal trading condition you should look out for.

Is it easy to withdraw funds?

You should be able to withdraw your money easily at any time. What you need to check are the withdrawal methods, how instant they are processed, and when the money shows in your account. You can find this by going to the funding and withdrawal section.

For FxPro as an example, click on pricing, then on funding in the dropdown.

FxPro Pricing

On the funding page, you will find their withdrawal methods and how long they take. It looks like the picture below.

FxPro Payment Deposit Methods

Furthermore, you can see from the image that FxPro does not charge extra fees for funding/withdrawal. Most brokers do not. However, your bank or other payment providers may charge a commission on your transactions.

Is customer support quick?

To know if the customer support is quick, you have to test it yourself. This way, you get a first-hand experience. You can use the live chat feature or send an email. You can grade the speed of the customer support this way. A local phone number could also be helpful. If your broker has one, you can give them a call and see how quickly they respond.

Finally, you can enquire if your broker receives clients in their UK office. Some brokers do not so it is essential you confirm this. If they do, then it is possible they offer customer service there.

How to Start with the Best Forex Trading Platforms in Australia

In this section, we will be showing you how to open a trading account with the best forex trading platforms in Australia. There are quite a number of them so we will be using one of them as an example (Pepperstone).

1) The first step is to go to their homepage. Pepperstone’s website for Australia is www.pepperstone.com/en-au. On the homepage, click on ‘join now’

Pepperstone UK Homepage

2) Enter your email to register. Then click on ‘Get Started’

Pepperstone UK Get Started

3)You will enter your email address again, create a password and choose an account type. Note here that you are choosing between an ‘individual’ or ‘corporate’ account. Not necessarily the trading accounts.

Registering for New Account

4) After these steps, you will have access to your ‘secure client area’. Here, you will need to give more personal details. Like your nationality, date of birth, residential address, etc.

Account Personal Details

5) When you scroll further down in the client area, you will be able to choose your account base currency, trading account type, and preferred trading platform.

Choose Trading Platform

6) The final step will require uploading your ID document for verification. You will also have to declare your employment and source of income.

Pepperstone KYC

7) Once your ID is verified, you can begin trading with Pepperstone.

FAQs on Best Forex Trading Platforms UK

Which forex trading platforms are regulated in the UK??

Any forex trading platform that is authorised by the FCA is regulated in the UK. So, make sure to check if the platform that you are choosing is authorized in the UK by checking their Reference Number on the FCA’s Register. Only this would ensure that your funds are protected.

As per our research, Pepperstone, City Index, FxPro and eToro are reputable brokers and are considered low risk.

Which forex trading platforms have the lowest spreads??

Pepperstone, FxPro, and IC Markets are some of the forex trading platforms with low spreads. Look for brokers that offer ECN-type accounts with Raw spreads if you are looking to trade with very low spreads. You can read our in-depth research on ECN brokers and low spread brokers for more on this.

Which trading platform is best for beginners?

City Index is the best platform for beginners as per our review. Their offering is clear, with an average spread, Metatrader platform, low deposit, fair trading conditions, and okay support.

Which is the best platform for forex trading?

MetaTrader 4 and 5 are the most popular trading platforms. They have good charting tools that are ideal for trading. cTrader follows them closely and is growing in popularity too.

Pepperstone is our #1 rated Forex Trading PlatformVisit