Best CFD brokers in Australia in 2021

To help you find the best CFD broker in Australia for 2021, we went ahead and did the research for you. First, we selected 94 quality online brokers, then we checked and compared their CFD fees, product selection, deposit and withdrawal options, trading platforms and more. We dug deep so you don't have to. 4 brokers made it to the top in Australia. We strongly recommend all 4 to you. And now, without further ado...

Our top 4 picks for the best CFD brokers of 2021 for citizens in Australia:

1. CMC Markets is the best CFD broker in Australia in 2021. Low forex fees. Great web and mobile platforms. Advanced research and educational tools.
2. eToro takes the second place. Free stock and ETF trading. Seamless account opening. Social trading experience.
3. ActivTrades rounds out the top three. Low trading fees. Excellent account opening. Free deposit and withdrawal.
4. Trading 212, is ranked fourth. Real stocks and ETFs are commission-free. Quick and easy account opening. Great trading platforms.

What makes a good CFD broker? First of all, fair fees. They should provide access to lots of products as well as easy account opening and depositing. Having a great trading platform is also a strong plus for a good CFD broker.

Easy to list, but hard to figure out. We are testing brokers based on more than 300 criteria with real accounts and real money. We know what's going on. You can find the details of all the ranking criteria in our methodology.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take that kind of risks. If you don't have a clue what a CFD is, you should start by reading more about CFD trading.

Not sure which broker to choose? For a tailored recommendation, check out our broker finder tool. Just enter the name of your country and you will see only the relevant brokers. Want more details? Compare brokers with this in-depth comparison table.

And now, let's see the best CFD brokers for Australian citizens in 2021 one by one. Starting with the winner, CMC Markets.

CMC Markets is a global CFD and forex broker, founded in 1989. It is regulated by several authorities globally, including the top-tier UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.

CMC Markets is considered safe because it has a long track record, is listed on a stock exchange, and is overseen by top-tier regulators.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Recommended for forex and cfd traders looking for an advanced trading platform with many research tools

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Fees

3.7

CMC Markets has competitive forex and stock index CFD fees, and no fee is charged for deposits and most withdrawals. However, stock CFD fees are high.

All spreads, commissions and financing rate for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Markets and products

2.2

CMC Markets's product selection covers only CFDs, forex and crypto. You can't trade other popular asset classes such as real stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options or futures.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Account opening

4.1

The account opening process is fully digital and there's no minimum deposit, but confusion about what documents to upload for identification can prolong the verification process.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Deposit and withdrawal

4.8

You can use multiple deposit/withdrawal options and CFD account base currencies. Withdrawals are mostly free, except for same-day or international bank withdrawals.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Web trading platform

5.0

CMC's 'Next Generation' platform has a clean and modern design, is highly customizable, and boasts an advanced order panel. On the other hand, it lacks two-step authentication.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#1 CMC Markets
Verdict

CMC Markets is overseen by top-tier regulators and is one of the best CFD and forex brokers out there. 

On the plus side, it has low forex fees, well-developed trading platforms, and useful research and educational tools.

There are also a few drawbacks, though. Stock CFD fees are high, and the account verification process is not always seamless. Also, its product selection covers only CFD and forex asset classes, meaning no real stocks, bonds or mutual funds.

Feel free to test CMC Markets's first-class trading platform, as it has great features and requires no minimum deposit to open an account.

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66% of retail CFD accounts lose money

eToro review summary

eToro is a well-known Israeli fintech company and a social trading broker, established in 2007.

eToro serves UK clients through a unit regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Australians through an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) regulated entity. All other customers are served by a Cypriot unit that is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

eToro is not listed on any stock exchange, does not disclose its annual report on its website and does not have a bank parent.

eToro is considered safe because its UK and Australian arms are regulated by top-tier financial authorities and it is a well-known fintech company.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Our overall eToro rating

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Recommended for traders interested in social trading (i.e. copying other investors’ trades) and zero commission stock trading

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#2 eToro
Fees

4.4

eToro offers free stock and ETF trading, while forex and CFD fees are low. On the negative side, non-trading fees are high, including a $5 withdrawal fee.

All spreads, commissions and financing rate for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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#2 eToro
Markets and products

3.8

At eToro, you can trade CFDs and forex, as well as real stocks, ETFs and many cryptos. Innovative services like social trading and CopyPortfolio are also available.

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Your capital is at risk

#2 eToro
Account opening

5.0

Account opening at eToro is seamless and very fast.

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Your capital is at risk

#2 eToro
Deposit and withdrawal

3.5

Depositing money is free and easy, with a lot of available options, including credit cards. However, there is a withdrawal fee and only USD accounts are available.

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Your capital is at risk

#2 eToro
Web trading platform

4.4

eToro offers a user-friendly and well-designed web trading platform. Social trading is available, too. On the other hand, customizability is limited.

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Your capital is at risk

#2 eToro
Verdict

How eToro works? eToro offers zero-commission stock trading. The account opening is swift and seamless. It has a lot of innovative features, like social trading and copying other (successful) traders.

It has some drawbacks, though. Non-trading fees are high and eToro only allows USD accounts, which means that conversion costs on deposits and withdrawals can be high in some cases. Live chat is hard to reach and their educational materials could be better.

So is eToro good? Overall, we would recommend eToro for its social trading feature and zero-commission stock trading.

Risk disclaimer

eToro is a multi-asset platform that offers both investing in stocks and crypto assets as well as trading CFD assets.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Cryptoassets are volatile instruments that can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading crypto assets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.

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ActivTrades is a global forex broker founded in 2001. It is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB). 

ActivTrades is considered safe because it has a long track record and it is regulated by the FCA, a top-tier financial authority.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Recommended for forex and cfd traders looking for low fees and great deposit/withdrawal conditions

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Fees

4.4

ActivTrades has low trading fees and average non-trading fees. As a plus, it charges no deposit and withdrawal fees in most cases.

All spreads, commissions and financing rate for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Markets and products

1.4

At ActivTrades, you can only trade forex and other CFDs. Other popular asset classes such as real stocks, bonds, mutual funds or options are not available.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Account opening

5.0

Account opening at ActivTrades is seamless and fully digital, taking just a few minutes to complete and verified within one business day.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Deposit and withdrawal

4.5

ActivTrades offers free deposit and withdrawal options, including bank transfer, credit card and various e-wallets. On the negative side, minor currencies are not accepted.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Web trading platform

4.3

ActivTrades has its own web trading platform called ActivTrader. It's highly customizable, multilingual and has a clear fee report On the other hand, there are no price alerts.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 ActivTrades
Verdict

All in all, ActivTrades is a good CFD/forex broker.

ActivTrades has low trading fees. The account opening is excellent and the deposits and withdrawals are free.

On the downside, its product portfolio is limited to just a few products, as it offers mainly CFDs and forex instruments. Research tools are basic, and there are no trading ideas or fundamental data. There is an inactivity fee.

As trading fees are low and your account will be ready quickly, we encourage you to try ActivTrades.

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60% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Trading 212 review summary

Trading 212 is a global CFD and forex broker, but clients can also trade stocks and ETFs free of charge. The company was founded in 2004 and is now headquartered in London. Trading 212 is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). 

Trading 212 is considered safe as it is regulated by the top-tier FCA. 

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Our overall Trading 212 rating

Compare this broker to the best Trading 212 alternative here. 

Recommended for active cfd and fx traders and investors looking for intuitive trading platforms

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Fees

3.3

Trading 212 has commission-free stocks and ETFs, and there are also no fees for deposit, withdrawal or inactivity. However, fees for forex trading are high.

All spreads, commissions and financing rate for opening a position, holding for a week, and closing.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Markets and products

3.9

Trading 212 focuses mainly on CFDs and forex. You can also trade real stocks and ETFs, but popular asset classes like bonds, mutual funds, options and futures are missing.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Account opening

4.5

The account opening process is straightforward, user-friendly and quick. Our account was verified within one business day.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Deposit and withdrawal

4.3

Trading 212 deposits and withdrawals are free, fast, and can be done in several way. On the negative side, there are only a few account base currencies available in each country.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Web trading platform

4.9

Trading 212 has a user-friendly and customizable web trading platform. It also provides a two-step login.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Trading 212
Verdict

Trading 212 works as a CFD and forex broker regulated by multiple financial supervisory authorities.

On the plus side, Trading 212 offers commission-free stocks and ETFs, while CFD fees and non-trading fees are low as well. The account opening process is seamless and the trading platforms are user-friendly.

However, Trading 212 has a limited product portfolio, lacking popular asset classes such as bonds or options. We missed phone and live chat support, and found forex fees relatively high.

So is Trading 212 good? Trading 212 is a good choice for those interested in investing in equities or trading leveraged forex and CFD products, with the use of a great trading platform. As it offers a demo account, don't hesitate to give it a try.

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76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Trading with CFDs became widely popular over the past decade. Keeping your eyes on important criteria like CFD fees or the number of CFDs offered can help find the best CFD broker for you.

In 2021, we ranked CFD brokers based on more than 300 criteria. We list below only the five most important criteria to make sure you don't get overwhelmed.

Fees, fees and fees. We bet fees are always on your mind when you’re looking for the best CFD broker. Let's see how we compared the fees of the various CFD brokers.

It is not easy to compare CFD broker fees, but we are here to help. There are two categories: trading-related fees and non-trading fees.

Trading-related fees

As to trading-related fees, brokers can charge commissions, spreads and overnight fees. To make your life easier we calculated all fees based on real-life scenarios so you can make a simple comparison. We looked at the following products:

• Stock index - S&P 500 index CFD and Europe 50 index CFD
• Stock - Apple CFD and Vodafone CFD
• Forex - EURUSD and GBPUSD

Our assumptions included opening a position, holding it for a week, and then closing it. We calculated with the following positions: $2,000 for stock index and stock CFDs and a $20,000 forex position. These real-life assumptions make CFD fees comparable.

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CFDs are derivatives, where you can make bets on the price movement of a wide range of products. However, it is a leveraged product, which means that it is quite risky.

CFDs are derivatives: you bet on price movements

With CFDs, you can bet on whether the price of an asset will go up or down, without buying the underlying asset. Let's say you want to profit from the Microsoft stock price going up. At an online stockbroker, you would simply buy the Microsoft stock. In comparison, at a CFD broker you can instead bet directly on the stock price going up. However, CFDs are much like knives: they can be very useful, but if you have no idea how to use them, you can easily hurt yourself.

CFDs are an easy way to reach a lot of markets with leverage

Why would this be interesting for you? Well, CFDs have three big advantages:

• 1. You can make bets on all kinds of products. If you want to trade with Turkish stocks, you can do so via CFDs, which might not be possible with an online stockbroker. It is easier for a broker to provide a CFD than to have access to the Turkish stock exchange.
• 2. The second advantage is leverage. The potential return on your bet will be much bigger than with owning the actual stock. But this certainly carries greater risks, so you should fully understand leverage before you invest.
• 3. Lastly, CFDs are an easy way to have short positions. This is indeed a big plus.

To better understand these advantages, educate yourself by reading our CFD trading tips.

Not owning the underlying asset exposes you to additional risks

If you do not own the stock (or any other underlying asset), you are running a whole different kind of risk, which you need to understand before trading CFDs.

Let's say Bob owns Siemens stock, while Janet has an open long Siemens CFD position, both of them with “Bust Brokers.” The worst happens, and Bust Brokers goes bust. Bob's Siemens stock is in custody with his custody service provider. This means that sooner or later he will be able to access it again. However, Janet did not own any stock, only a long CFD position, therefore she will be compensated only up to the investor protection scheme of the broker’s country. In most cases, this is a maximum of €20,000.

The regulation of CFDs changed significantly in the last few years. One of the most significant changes were the measures European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published back in 2018. Most recently the Australian regulator followed ESMA's direction and introduced similar regulations for brokers operating in Australia. These measures clearly show how regulators globally aim to protect retail investors from the dark side of the retail brokerage industry.

Based on ESMA's research, around 74-89% of investors were losing money on their CFD investments, and in many cases it was not entirely their fault. One core problem is that some dealing desks brokers made a profit when their clients lost money. If you don't know what this model looks like, this Financemagnates article clearly explains it. Another problem was the aggressive and unbridled marketing of deposit bonuses, cheap prices and messages that promised easy ways of getting rich.

The new ESMA and ASIC regulation is aimed at lowering the proportion of accounts suffering losses. Here are the measures with their explanations:

• Limiting leverage: it was not uncommon to be able to open a position with 400:1 leverage. The possible maximum leverage is now limited to 30:1 for major currency pairs. The limitation varies according to the underlying asset's volatility:
  • 30:1 for major currency pairs
  • 20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold and major stock indices
  • 10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major stock indices;
  • 5:1 for single stocks and any underlying not otherwise mentioned
  • 2:1 for cryptocurrencies
• Margin close out on a per account basis: if an account's total margin falls below 50% of the initially required margin, brokers must close one or more of your positions.
• Negative balance protection: you cannot lose more money than you invested.
• Restrictions on marketing and incentive tools: instead of promoting CFD trading by get-rich-quick, promises, brokers have to clearly show what percentage of their customers are losing money.

To sum it up, do the stricter regulations mean that trading CFDs will become nothing but a bedtime story we tell our kids? On the one hand, retail investors are now protected from losing more than they invest. On the other, canny investors won't be able to multiply their profits by using high leverage. All in all, we think CFDs will remain popular despite the new regulations as trading becomes safer and more transparent.

You should be aware that investor protection regulation is different in every jurisdiction. You should always check the relevant rules.

Being part of a banking group or listed on an exchange should be your primary compass for finding the best CFD brokerss

It's time to discuss how to make a well-informed choice in today's changing landscape of CFD brokers. We prefer exchange-listed and/or banking licensed brokers. Why?

• Being listed on any developed exchange means additional regulations, strict and frequent audits and also the need for constant communication between shareholders and other stakeholders. No wonder that only a small portion of retail brokers decide to give up money in exchange for transparency.
• Banks are the crucial building blocks of any economy. Strict capital requirements, regulations and transparency are a must. Therefore any broker backed by a bank can be considered more reliable than the ones that aren't.

For more help on these points, check out ourcomparison table for online brokers.

Compare protection amounts

You've seen the details, now let's zoom out. here are once again the best CFD brokers in 2021 for citizens in Australia:

CMC Markets is our winner, the best CFD broker for Australian citizens in 2021. Low forex fees. Great web and mobile platforms. Advanced research and educational tools.

All the five top brokers are great choices. However, do not forget, that CFDs are really risky. If you are experienced, pick your winner, and take the next step in your trading journey. Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Still unsure? Use the broker finder and find the best broker for you.