Best forex brokers in 2021

To help you find the best forex brokers in 2021, we went ahead and did the research for you. First, we selected 84 quality online brokers, then we checked and compared fees, currency pairs, charting tools, platforms, practically everything. We dug deep, so you won't have to. And now, without further ado...

Our top 5 picks for the best forex brokers in 2021:

1. Saxo Bank is the winner, the best forex broker in 2021. Great trading platform. Outstanding research. Broad product portfolio.
2. CMC Markets takes the second place. Low forex fees. Great web and mobile platforms. Advanced research and educational tools.
3. Fusion Markets rounds out the top three. Low trading and non-trading fees. Fast and easy account opening. Great customer service.
4. City Index, is ranked fourth. Low fees for forex. Fast and smooth account opening. Diverse research tools.
5. TD Ameritrade. Low trading fees (free stock and ETF trading). Superb desktop trading platform. Great customer support. Just made it to the list moving to the number five spot.

What makes a good forex broker? First of all, fair forex fees and low withdrawal fees. They should also offer a lot of currency pairs and a great platform with advanced charting. Easy to list, but hard to figure out. We test brokers based on more than 300 criteria with real accounts and real money. We know what we are talking about.

If you are a beginner, be careful with forex trading. Forex products are complex and very risky, thus not suitable for everyone. You can easily lose all your invested money. If you don't have a clue how forex trading works, start with forex trading 101.

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

And now, let's see the top forex brokers in 2021 one by one, starting with the winner, Saxo Bank.

Saxo Bank, a Danish investment bank founded in 1992, provides online trading and investment services. The company is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the Danish Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

Saxo Bank is a global service provider and its subsidiaries are present in the form of separate legal entities in different regions of the world. The services offered by the various entities may differ slightly, especially with respect to fees and product portfolios. In this review, we tested Saxo Bank UK.

Saxo Bank is considered safe because it has a long track record, a banking background and is regulated by top-tier financial authorities.

Recommended for investors and traders looking for a great trading platform and solid research

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#1 Saxo Bank
Fees

Saxo Bank has low fees when it comes to buying and selling currency pairs.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

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

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#1 Saxo Bank
Deposit and withdrawal

4.8

Saxo provides multiple deposit and withdrawal options free of charge on a user-friendly interface.

Why do base currencies matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

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#1 Saxo Bank
Markets and products

Saxo Bank gives access to 182 currency pairs.

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#1 Saxo Bank
Desktop trading platform

5.0

Saxo Bank's desktop trading platform is one of the best on the market. It is well designed, easy to use and offers great customizability.

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#1 Saxo Bank
Account opening

2.5

Saxo's account opening is fully digital, user-friendly and available in most countries. On the other hand, the minimum deposit is high in certain countries and account verification can take longer.

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#1 Saxo Bank
Verdict

Saxo Bank is a great broker, providing a complex and good service.

It offers a user-friendly and well-designed trading platform, backed by great research. The product portfolio covers all asset types and many international markets.

It has some drawbacks though. The fees for bonds, options and futures are high. There is also a high minimum deposit for certain countries. Lastly, there is no live chat or 24/7 customer support.

In general, Saxo Bank is one of the best online brokerage companies out there. By opening an account, you will get a broad, well-developed service constantly adapted to the needs of clients.

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Note (March 18 2021): Short selling recently popular stocks are currently restricted on CMC Markets platform.  We'll keep monitoring the issue, and will update our scores if this issue still persists.

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 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. 73% 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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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 CMC Markets
Fees

CMC Markets has low fees when it comes to buying and selling currency pairs.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

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

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 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.

Why do base currencies matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 CMC Markets
Markets and products

CMC Markets gives access to 338 currency pairs.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 CMC Markets
Desktop trading platform

3.4

CMC Markets doesn't have its own desktop platform, leaving you with MetaTrader 4 as your only option. In design and functionality, MT4 is way behind CMC's web platform.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 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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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#2 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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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Fusion Markets is an Australian discount forex broker founded in 2010. It is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74-89% 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 traders looking for low fees and a chance to use the metatrader 4 platform

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Fees

Fusion Markets has low fees when it comes to buying and selling currency pairs.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

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

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Deposit and withdrawal

4.4

At Fusion Markets, most withdrawals are free, and you can use bank transfer, credit/debit cards and electronic wallets to add money. However, you can't open an account in minor currencies.

Why do base currencies matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Markets and products

Fusion Markets gives access to 81 currency pairs.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Desktop trading platform

3.4

In design and functionality, Fusion Markets's MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is almost the same as the web trading platform. One major difference is that you can set price alerts on it.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Account opening

5.0

Account opening at Fusion Markets is user-friendly and fully digital. It is also very fast, as our test account was verified the same day.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Fusion Markets
Verdict

Fusion Markets is a great forex broker with very low fees. 

It offers low trading and non-trading fees. Account opening is fast and easy, and customer service provides quick and relevant answers.

On the negative side, Fusion Markets has limited educational tools. The product offering covers only forex and some CFDs. Lastly, there is no investor protection provided.

As you can open an account within a day and fees are low, feel free to try Fusion Markets.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

City Index is a global CFD and FX broker that was founded in 1983. City Index is the trading brand of StoneX Financial Ltd., whose parent company StoneX Group Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The company is regulated by top-tier financial authorities, such as the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

City Index is considered safe because it has a long track record, it is regulated by top-tier financial authorities, and its parent company is listed on a stock exchange.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73% 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 forex fees and great research tools

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Fees

City Index has low fees when it comes to buying and selling currency pairs.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

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

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Deposit and withdrawal

4.3

City Index provides multiple deposit and withdrawal options, all free of charge. However, withdrawal is not possible with some credit cards.

Why do base currencies matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Markets and products

City Index gives access to 84 currency pairs.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Desktop trading platform

3.0

City Index's desktop platform has the same functions as the web trading platform but lags behind in user-friendliness.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Account opening

5.0

City Index's account opening process is fully digital and there is no minimum deposit. It took one day for us to get the account approved.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 City Index
Verdict

City Index is a great CFD and forex broker regulated by top-tier financial authorities, such as the UK's FCA.

On the positive side, it has low forex fees, a smooth account opening process, and high-quality research tools.

It has some drawbacks though. The product portfolio is limited, stock CFD fees are quite high and the desktop platform lags behind its competitors.

As there is no minimum balance required, no withdrawal fee and an inactivity fee only kicks in after one year, feel free to try City Index.

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73% of retail CFD accounts lose money

TD Ameritrade was founded in 1975 and is one of the biggest US-based stockbrokers. It is regulated by top-tier authorities like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

TD Ameritrade is considered a safe broker since it has a long track record, is listed on a stock exchange, has a banking background, discloses its financials, and is overseen by top-tier regulators.

Recommended for investors and traders looking for solid research and a well-equipped desktop trading platform

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Fees

TD Ameritrade has low fees when it comes to buying and selling currency pairs.

To have a clear picture of forex fees we calculated a forex benchmark fee for major currency pairs. This catch-all benchmark includes commissions, spreads and financing costs for all brokers.

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

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Deposit and withdrawal

2.2

TD Ameritrade has user-friendly account funding with no deposit fees, but USD is the only available base currency, and wire transfers incur a high fee.

Why do base currencies matter? Because if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, currency conversion fees won't be charged.

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Markets and products

TD Ameritrade gives access to 75 currency pairs.

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Desktop trading platform

4.5

The 'thinkorswim' desktop platform is one of the best on the market, we really liked it. The only feature we missed was a two-step authentication.

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Account opening

3.6

TD Ameritrade offers many different account types, and there is no minimum deposit for US citizens.

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#5 TD Ameritrade
Verdict

TD Ameritrade is one of the biggest US online brokers. It charges no commission on stock and ETF trades.

Research and education are outstanding at TD Ameritrade, offering you many useful tools. The 'thinkorswim' desktop trading platform is one of the best on the market. Customer service is great, you will get relevant answers within a short time.

TD Ameritrade has some drawbacks, though. It charges high financing (margin) rates, and it doesn't accept credit/debit cards and electronic wallets for money transfers. Furthermore, the product portfolio covers only the US markets.

TD Ameritrade offers great education tools including a demo account, so we definitely recommend giving them a try.

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Trading with forex became really popular over the last decade. Looking at important criteria like fees will help you find the best forex broker for you.

At BrokerChooser, we test online brokers based on more than 300 criteria, with a real account and real money.

The most important factors to consider in selecting the top forex brokers are the fees of forex trading. besides trading fees, you should also look at withdrawal fees and the number of available currency pairs. Check if the broker provides great desktop and mobile platforms, and advanced charting tools.

Fees, fees, fees. We bet this is always on your mind when you're looking for the best forex broker. It can be complicated. Let's see how we did it.

It is not easy to compare forex broker fees, but we are here to help. Forex brokers can charge commissions, spreads and financing fees.

For commissions, there are two versions forex brokers use:

1. All trading fees are included in the spread except the financing rate. Basically, think of it as the broker giving you a wider spread than it gets from the market.
2. You get the market spread, but you pay a commission based on the traded amount. This model is usually used by ECN brokers.

The second version is more transparent, but this doesn't mean that the first method cannot be cheaper.

When you trade forex on leverage and hold your position overnight, a fee will be charged. This fee is called financing cost. The financing costs change daily and can be an important cost if you hold your positions for longer.

To make your life easier, we calculated what your overall fee would be if you took a $20,000 position, held it for a week then closed it. We used a 30:1 leverage, the maximum available leverage for major currency pairs at many brokers.

Forex trading looks simple, but it carries serious risks. Before trading, understand the basics and ask yourself: is this for me?

Understanding the forex market

Forex, FX, foreign exchange or currency market: you have probably already heard one of these expressions. They all mean the same: a market where you can exchange currencies or bet on the price movement of currency pairs.

The forex market has several outlets, from currency exchange booths on the street to the currency trading desks of big banks.

For a non-professional trader, as you probably are, the easiest and safest way to trade forex is by opening an account at a reliable online broker.

The vast majority of currency transactions are conducted on OTC (over-the-counter) markets. An OTC market is a non-regulated market, where you have to assess for yourself how safe your counterparty is. When you travel abroad to an exotic country and you need to exchange some money, you would probably go to a bank branch instead of changing money on the street, right?. This is how you minimize your counterparty risk. You have to do the same when you select your online broker for trading forex. You should always choose a reliable broker.

Forex trading is tempting for the following reasons:

• everybody has an opinion on where currencies are going

• at first sight, the forex market is relatively easy to understand compared to other markets, like the stock market

• by using leverage, traders can easily trade with 100 times more money than they have on their trading account and thus magnify profits (or losses!)

• the market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week

• it is the most liquid market in the world, meaning there are lots of transactions every second and you don't have to worry about how to find a partner to trade with

Although it looks easy, trading with forex can be risky if you don't know what you're doing. By using high leverage carelessly, you can easily lose all your money within a couple of seconds. So you better start off slow, learn and open a demo account first. If you want to learn more, check out our blog post about the best trading apps for learning.

Forex market trading hours

The forex market is open from 11:00 PM on Sunday until 11:00 PM on Friday, London time.

Trading activity is usually at its highest when London and New York are open.

It is good to know that there is a difference between currency conversion and forex trading.

The end result of a conversion is basically changing one currency into another. Imagine that you receive your salary in euros (EUR), but you spend it in British pounds (GBP). In this case, you exchange euros to pounds.

When you trade with currency pairs there is no physical conversion. Imagine that you have an online broker account in US dollars and you want to bet on the price movements in EURUSD. In this case, you never convert your dollars to euros. If your bet was correct, the profit from your trade will be booked to your account in US dollars. If you were wrong, the loss will be deducted from your account in dollars as well.

Breaking down the forex trading jargon

When you trade forex, you bet on the price change of a currency pair, for example, the EURUSD.

First of all, you need to understand what the bid and the ask prices are. Let's take the EURUSD again as an example. The 'bid' is the price at which you can sell the EURUSD, or in other words to go short in it. If the price goes lower, you will generate a profit. The 'ask' price is the opposite. If you want to bet on the price moving up, you can open a trade at the 'ask' price. The mid-price is usually halfway between the two, but this is just a theoretical price that is not used for trading.

The actual bid and ask prices together are called the quote.

A long position is when you bet on the price moving up, while a short position is when you profit from the price going down.

The spread is the difference between the ask and bid prices. In the example above, the spread is 0.0005, which is calculated as 1.1705-1.1700.

The pip is the smallest amount of a currency pair. One pip is equal to 0.0001 for most of the currency pairs. In case of our example, the spread is 5 pips, or 5 times 0.0001, equalling 0.0005. For some currency pairs like the USDJPY, one pip is 0.01.

Leverage allows you to take bigger positions than the amount of money on your account. Imagine this as a multiplier of your profit or your loss. This can be as high as 300. Imagine you have $1000 on your account and your applied leverage is 100. If you open a long position by using all your $1000, this means you open a trade for $1,000*100, or $100,000. If the price drops 1%, you will lose $1000 (1%*$100,000), that is, all the money on your account. And the price of a currency pair can very easily drop by 1%. In case of EURUSD, this would mean a price decrease from 1.1705 to 1.1588.

A lot is the standard number of units of a forex contract. It is usually 100,000 units of the base currency. The base currency is the first currency in a currency pair. For EURUSD, the base currency is the EUR and one lot is €100,000. A mini lot is 10,000, a micro is 1,000 and a nano is 100 units of the base currency.

In forex trading, you can encounter different types of contracts: spot, CFD, forward and futures. Spot and CFD contracts are traded by most people.

A spot contract is by definition settled two days after the trade. Settlement means that the counterparties are converting their currencies between each other at the price of the trade made two days earlier. Imagine the settlement as a currency conversion made at a money exchange booth on the street. The only difference is that this happens two days after the price was agreed on. However, in most cases, the settlement doesn't actually happen, because spot contracts are rolled over before the settlement. The rollover is done because when you are betting on the direction of a currency pair, you do not actually want to convert money into the other currency, you just want to bet on the price movement. The rollover ensures that the conversion will not happen.

To learn what forex CFD is and how you can trade it, read our CFD 101 and CFD trading tips.

When your position is rolled over, your online broker closes your current spot position and opens a new one. This is not visible for you, but it has a fee, called the rollover or financing fee. The rollover fee is calculated from the interest rate difference between the two currencies you are trading. In some cases, you may also receive a fee from the broker, if the interest rates you trade are in your favor.

A forward forex contract is a contract made on the OTC market. The specifics of the contract, like the term, the price and the settlement are defined by the counterparties case by case. Let's take as an example a company that needs $100,000 in 30 days to pay its employees, but its revenues are in euros. Since it wants to lock the exact exchange rate it gets in 30 days, it will seal a forward contract with a big bank at a fixed price, let's say at 1.1710. After 30 days, they will exchange the currencies and the company will receive €85,397 ($100,000/1.1710). In this case, there is an actual settlement.

A futures forex contract is traded on a regulated market, for example, on a commodity exchange, like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). When you trade futures, your counterparty is the exchange and the specifics of the contract are predefined by the exchange. When your counterparty is a regulated exchange, you don't need to check your counterparty risk, as this is one of the safest ways of trading. However, the exchange requires a large amount of initial money for trading, so this is not suitable for you if you have little money to invest. If you want to trade one EURUSD futures contract on the CME, for example, you need to have more than $2000 on your account.

What drives forex market prices?

As we said before, everybody has an opinion about the forex market, because it seems simple. However, currency markets are among the most unpredictable ones in the world.

Everything from monetary policies and government spending to politics and wars can influence the prices of currency pairs. Thus, it is difficult to predict which way they are going move.

Nevertheless, economic calendars can help, so at least you know about the scheduled events that could have an effect on the forex market.

You saw the details, now let's zoom out. Here are the top forex brokers in 2021:

Saxo Bank is our winner, the best forex broker in 2021. Great trading platform. Outstanding research. Broad product portfolio.

All are great choices. Watch out, forex trading can be risky. If you know enough and are good to go, pick your favourite 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.