Alpaca Trading vs FXCM compared

Alpaca Trading
FXCM
71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Alpaca Trading

Key score differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Deposit and withdrawal score1.8/5.0
  • Customer service score3.7/5.0
  • Markets and products score2.6/5.0
Good to know
Recommended for
  • beginners 4.40/5
  • equity 4.25/5
You can open an account at Alpaca Trading

FXCM

Key score differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Deposit and withdrawal score4.0/5.0
  • Customer service score5.0/5.0
  • Markets and products score1.7/5.0
Good to know
Recommended for
  • investors and traders globally
You can't open an account at FXCM
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*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Basic data of broker

Overall Score
4.7

Recommended for Traders interested in algorithmic stock trading

Overall Score
4.4

Recommended for Forex traders looking for easy account opening, funding and withdrawal

Country of origin

USA

Country of origin

UK

Fees

Fees score
4.8
Fees score
4.0
Fees summary

Free stock and ETF trading, low non-trading fees

Fees summary

Average trading and non-trading fees, low CFD fees

Stock and ETF fees

Forex fees

Fund fees

Bond fees

Options fees

Futures fees

Crypto fees

CFD fees

Non-trading fees

Deposit and withdrawal

Deposit and withdrawal score
1.8
Deposit and withdrawal score
4.0
Number of base currencies

1

Number of base currencies

4

Deposit type

Withdrawal type

Account opening

Account opening score
4.8
Account opening score
4.2
Account opening fully online
Account opening fully online
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Minimum deposit
*

$50

*
Time to open account

1 day

Time to open account

1-3 days

Required documents

Social security number, other proof of residence

Required documents

Proof of identity: ID / passport / driver's license Proof of residency: bank statement / utility bill

Trading platform

Web platform score
3.7
Web platform score
3.3
Mobile platform score
4.2
Mobile platform score
4.5
Desktop platform score
-
Desktop platform score
3.8

Markets and products

Markets and products score
2.6
Markets and products score
1.7
Stocks
*
*
Stocks
Fractional shares
*
*
Fractional shares
ETFs
*
*
ETFs
Forex
Forex
Funds
Funds
Bonds
Bonds
Options
Options
Futures
Futures
Crypto
Crypto
*
*
CFDs
CFDs
CFD disclaimer

Disclaimer: 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Research, education

Research score
5.0
Research score
4.3
Charting quality

Great

Charting quality

Great

Education score
5.0
Education score
5.0
Demo account
Demo account

Customer service

Customer service score
3.7
Customer service score
5.0
Phone
Phone
Live chat
Live chat
Email
Email
24/7 availability
24/7 availability

Security

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Investor protection amount

£85,000 in the UK, €20,000 in the EU, no protection in other countries

Banking background
Banking background
Listed on stock exchange
Listed on stock exchange
Foundation date

2015

Foundation date

1999

Country of regulation

USA

Country of regulation

UK, Australia, South Africa and Cyprus

Alpaca Trading

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

FXCM

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

Alpaca Trading's service is on par with FXCM's and a comparison of their fees shows that Alpaca Trading's fees are slightly lower than FXCM's.

Account opening takes somewhat less effort at Alpaca Trading compared to FXCM, deposit and withdrawal processes are more complicated at Alpaca Trading, while customer service quality is lower than FXCM's.

Our experts rated the trading platform of Alpaca Trading as being of the same quality as the platform of FXCM, found that clients have access to slightly more markets and products with Alpaca Trading, while FXCM provides somewhat lower-quality research and education.

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