FXCM Review 2021

FXCM has low forex fees and average non-trading fees. There are no account, deposit, or credit/debit card withdrawal fees. However, you have to pay a $50 fee after one year of inactivity and bank withdrawal can be costly.

How we ranked fees

We ranked FXCM's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of FXCM for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.

We also compared FXCM's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Forex.com and Pepperstone. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of FXCM alternatives.

To have a clear overview of FXCM, let's start with the trading fees.

FXCM trading fees

FXCM trading fees are low.

We know it's hard to compare trading fees for forex brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We chose popular instruments in each asset class usually provided by forex brokers:

• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP
• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50

A typical trade means buying a leveraged product, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $20,000 position for forex and a $2,000 position for stock index and stock CFD transactions. The leverage we used was:

• 30:1 for forex
• 20:1 for stock index CFDs

These catch-all benchmark fees includes spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for FXCM fees.

Forex fees

FXCM forex fees are low.

CFD fees

FXCM has generally low CFD trading fees.

Non-trading fees

FXCM has average non-trading fees. There are no fees charged for account maintenance, deposit, or credit/debit card withdrawal. 

However, there is an inactivity fee and bank withdrawal fees. The inactivity fee is $50 after each year of inactivity. The bank withdrawal fees depend on the currency and where your bank account is located.

The account opening process at FXCM is hassle-free, but the minimum deposit is $360 (£300) in Europe and $50 in non-EU countries. Also, the account opening time is longer than usual.

Can you open an account?

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FXCM accepts customers from most countries around the world. There a few exceptions, like residents from the USA, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Hong Kong, Iran, Cuba, Russia, New Zealand, Syria and South Korea.

What is the minimum deposit at FXCM?

The FXCM minimum deposit is $/€/£300 in the EU, but only $50 in non-EU countries for the Standard account. Active Trader accounts require a $25,000 minimum deposit. 

Account types

FXCM offers four account types:

• Individual – Standard
• Individual – Active Trader
• Joint
• Corporate

If you plan to trade in high volumes, FXCM's Active Trader account would be the best option for you. This provides better spreads and customer support compared to the standard accounts. For example, the EURUSD spread is 0.2 with the Active Trader account, compared to 1.2 at the standard account.

There is a one-time fee of $300 if you open a corporate account. This fee is deducted from your first deposit. 

How to open your account

The account opening is fully digital and straightforward. 

You have to go through the following steps:

1. Choose your platform, account type and base currency.
2. Add personal information and do a KYC questionnaire. KYC means "Know Your Customer", and is a standard and regulated process for identifying clients.
3. Upload documents to verify your identity and residency. You can upload a copy of your ID/passport for verifying your identity, and a bank statement/utility bill for verifying your residency. 

There are multiple options both for deposits and withdrawals, but bank withdrawals have high fees and only a few account currencies are available.

Account base currencies

At FXCM, you can choose from four major currencies: EUR, USD, GBP and CHF. No minor currencies are accepted.

This account base currency selection lags behind the competitors.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

FXCM charges no deposit fees. You can use the following deposit options:

• Bank transfer
• Credit/Debit card
• Skrill
• Neteller
• UnionPay

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

FXCM withdrawal fees and options

FXCM charges no withdrawal fees for credit/debit cards, but bank transfers may cost up to $40.

You can use bank transfer, debit/credit cards and electronic wallets for withdrawing funds. 

The bank withdrawal fees depend on the currency and where the target bank account is located.

How long does it take to withdraw money from FXCM? We tested the credit card withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts that are registered under you name. 

How do you withdraw money from FXCM?

• Log in to your account through myfxcm.com
• Once logged in, click on 'Withdraw Funds'
• Select your preferred withdrawal method
• Specify the amount of funds you want to withdraw
• Re-enter your password for security reasons and review your withdrawal

Compare to other brokers

FXCM's web trading platform is extremely customizable, provides a wide range of order types and has a great search function. On the other hand, it lacks two-step authentication and price alerts.

With FXCM you can trade on many platforms:

• Trading Station – FXCM's own self-developed trading platform
• MetaTrader 4 – a third-party trading platform designed for forex trading
• NinjaTrader – a US broker's platform, which has advanced charting and technical tools
• ZuluTrade – a trading platform for social (copy) trading 
• TradingView – you can integrate FXCM into the TradingView platform and trade directly from there

In this review, we tested Trading Station, as this is FXCM's own platform.

FXCM's web trading platform is available in English, Chinese, German, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Japanese, Spanish and French.

Look and feel

The FXCM web trading platform is relatively user-friendly. Important features, like account management or some research tools, are not integrated with the trading platform and you have to open separate web pages to use them.

On the other hand, the customizability is great and extremely advanced. Basically, the whole page consists of customizable widgets.

Login and security

FXCM provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be safer.

Search functions

The search functions work well. You can search by using the traditional search field or by finding assets categorized by type, e.g. forex or commodity products. 

You can find the Search function under the Subscription List menu. 

Placing orders

You can use a wide range of order types on the FXCM platform: 

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop trailing
• OCO (one-cancels-the-other)

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.

You can choose from several order time limit options:

• Good-til-date (GTD)
• Good-til-canceled (GTC)
• Immediate or cancel (IOC)
• Fill or kill (FOK)

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set up price alerts or notifications on FXCM's Trading Station.

Portfolio and fee reports

There are clear portfolio and fee reports on the 'Reports' tab of the platform and at MyFXCM.

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FXCM has a mediocre mobile trading platform. It has a great design, is user-friendly and offers many order types. On the negative side, there is no two-step login and you cannot set price alerts.

With FXCM, you can use the following mobile trading platforms:

• Trading Station – FXCM's own mobile trading platform
• MetaTrader 4 – a third-party mobile trading platform
• ZuluTrade – a mobile trading platform for social (copy) trading 

Similarly to FXCM's web trading platform, we tested FXCM's own mobile trading platform, Trading Station. It is available both for iOS and Android.

Trading Station is available in English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Turkish, French, Greek, Chinese and Japanese.

Look and feel

The FXCM mobile trading platform is user-friendly and well-designed. However, when we tested the platform on iOS, we felt that the platform's layout was not optimized for newer iOS versions.

Login and security

FXCM provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be safer. Biometric authentication isn't available either.

Search functions

FXCM's search functions could be better. It is surprisingly difficult to find the search option, as the 'Settings' menu is not at all an obvious location for it – but that's where it is. Once you pass this hurdle, it works as a basic, bare-bones search field, with no predictive input or any other features. 

Placing orders

You can set the same order types and order terms on the mobile platform as on the web trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can't set price alerts or notifications on the FXCM mobile platform.

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FXCM's desktop platform has great customizability and a good variety of order types. However, you cannot set price alerts.

You can use Trading Station or MetaTrader 4 as FXCM's desktop trading platform. We tested FXCM's own desktop platform, Trading Station.

Trading Station is available in many languages:

Look and feel

Just like Trading Station's web version, the desktop trading platform has great customizability. It is fast and stable and its charting solution is really advanced. You can build and save your own layout.

However, first you need to get used to the logic of the platform before you can become a power-user. It is quite inconvenient that many functions, such as research, are not integrated with the platform.

Login and security

FXCM provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be safer.

Search functions

The search function works well. You can search by typing in the name of the product, while there is also a categorized breakdown, for e.g. major currency pairs.

Placing orders

There are more order types on the desktop trading platform than on the web platform. 

The following order types are available on the desktop platform:

• Limit
• Market
• Stop
• Stop loss
• Stop trailing
• OTO (One-Triggers-the-Other)
• OTOCO (One-Triggers-One-Cancels-the-Other)
• If-Then
• If-Then OCO (One-Cancels-the-Other)

There are also order time limits you can use: GTC, IOC and FOK.

Alerts and notifications

You can't set price alerts or notifications on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

The FXCM desktop platform has clear portfolio and fee reports.

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FXCM provides only forex and CFDs (on stocks, stock indices, commodities and cryptos). Popular asset classes, like real stocks and bonds, are not available for trading.

FXCM is primarily a forex broker with some CFD and cryptocurrency instruments. To learn more about CFDs read our CFD trading tips.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76.31% 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.

FXCM's forex and CFD offering lag behind compared with the selected competitors. 

FCA bans the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers from 6 January 2021.

You can't change the leverage levels of the products, which is a drawback. Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels may be high.

FXCM offers a social trading service via the third-party service ZuluTrade. Access is provided through ZuluTrade's own trading platform, where all you have to do is register with your FXCM account number.

FXCM provides great research tools for technical analysis, e.g. good charting and market screener. On the negative side, fundamental data on assets is not available.

Most FXCM research tools are available on the FXCM Plus platform, a separate portal that is not included in the trading platform. This makes it a bit inconvenient.

Trading ideas

FXCM provides trading ideas. You can find recommendations through FXCM's Trading Signals and Technical Analyzer pages. These recommendations are based on technical analysis. 

Fundamental data

FXCM does not offer data on asset fundamentals.

Charting

FXCM has outstanding charting tools. They are customizable and you can use over 50 technical indicators.

There is also a Market Scanner feature. This shows whether you should buy or sell, based on technical indicators like RSI or MACD. However, you can use it only for a few products.

News feed

You can read a quality news feed, sign up for a newsletter and use an economic calendar. 

The news is available through the 'Global Market News' page. We liked that you can view search terms by category, like currency pairs or popular searches.

There is also a daily newsletter called 'Before the Bell'. This includes 5-6 trading ideas, based on technical chart analysis. 

The economic calendar has a nice design, but it lacks a country filter option.

Other research tools you will enjoy

FXCM does a great job in algorithmic trading. It provides four APIs for free, and you can buy many others. The free APIs are REST API, FIX API, Java API and a ForexConnect API.

Compare research pros and cons

FXCM's customer support is great. You can reach them in many ways and you will get fast and relevant answers.

You can contact FXCM via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

FXCM provides free phone support for the residents of 42 countries. Click here for the full list.

When we tested customer support, an agent was connected almost immediately both on the live chat and phone. We got relevant answers on both platforms.

We also received relevant answers to queries sent by email. The response time was around one day.

The only thing we missed is the 24/7 availability.

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FXCM offers a great range of educational tools, such as educational videos and webinars. Demo accounts are also available, but only for a limited set of countries.

At FXCM you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos
• Webinars
• Quality educational articles

FXCM provides a demo account, although only for certain countries. FXCM also sends free educational material via email when you open a demo account, which is a nice touch.

Furthermore, we enjoyed the quality of the videos, which were well-produced, factual and concise.

The FXCM video library is very extensive: you can find content on topics such as charts, and various order and product types.

Live webinars, pre-recorded videos and pdf booklets are available for free. These cover topics ranging from trading basics to platform tips and tricks. 

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FXCM is regulated by top-tier authorities, like the UK's FCA. Its parent company is listed on the stock exchange and has a banking background.

Is FXCM regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa (FSCA). It is also regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).

Is FXCM safe?

To be certain if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

Depending on your country of residence, you can open an account at one or more of FXCM's legal entities.

This can be important because the investor protection amount, the maximum leverage allowed and the regulator differs depending on the entity. Only the clients of Forex Capital Markets Limited and FXCM EU LTD are covered by investor protection.

FXCM provides negative balance protection for retail clients onboarded under FCA regulation and trading with spot forex or CFDs. If the balance on your account goes into negative, you will be protected.

Professional and non-EU customers are not covered by negative balance protection.

Background

The background of the broker matters, as a strong parent company reduces the chance that the company will go bust. FXCM's main owner is the Jefferies Group.

The Jefferies Group is a strong parent company, as it has an investment banking background and is listed on the New York and London stock exchanges. The banking background indicates higher security, since the bank can provide additional funds in case of insolvency. The strict regulation for banks also results in higher safety for you. Meanwhile, the stock exchange listing increases transparency, as the company publishes annual reports.

FXCM was founded in 1999. The company's more than 20-year history signals that FXCM can sustain operations despite periods of economic distress. The company had been fined multiple times from 2005 to 2017 and there were name changes also. However, we did not find any problems from 2018.

Having an exchange-listed parent company, providing annual financial statements and being regulated by a top-tier regulator are all great signs for FXCM's safety.

Find your safe broker

FXCM is a great forex and CFD broker. It has a strong parent company and is regulated by multiple top-tier financial authorities, including the FCA and ASIC.

FXCM has a great account opening process, and its technical research and educational tools are high-quality and well-organized.

On the other hand, FXCM's product selection is limited to only forex, CFDs and cryptos. Bank withdrawal fees are high and trading platforms lack a secure two-step login. 

Feel free to try FXCM, as their minimum deposit requirement is low and the inactivity fee only kicks in after a year.

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