2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP FOREX TRADING SITES & BEST FOREX BROKERS
Intro: Finding the Best Forex Broker & Top Forex Trading Website
Finding the best forex broker can be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. A forex broker needs to be, above all else, reliable and not a fly by night organization. If you are investing your hard earned money into the forex trading platform, you should be well-assured that your money will not be stolen or used inappropriately.
Not only does the forex broker need to be reputable, but they also need to have an easy-to-use online interface. Who wants to waste time struggling to understand a forex trading broker’s website design?
Rather than leaving you to weed through the dozens and dozens of forex brokers on the internet, Advisory HQ has compiled a list of the best forex trading platforms for you!
Award Emblem: Top 6 Best Forex Trading Sites
AdvisoryHQ’s List of Top 6 Best Forex Trading Platforms
List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the names above to go directly to the detailed review section for that advisor)
See Also: Best Online Stock Trading Sites for Investors – Top Rankings
What Is Forex Trading?
Forex is commonly known as the Foreign Exchange market. At bare bones, you use forex to exchange one currency for another at a set rate. Typically, a forex trading platform is used to process this transaction.
Forex trading operates like the stock market. If you think that the value of a certain currency will fall, you should sell it. Conversely, you should purchase more of a currency if you think its value will increase in the near future.
What Affects Forex Exchange Rates?
Forex trading is one of the world’s most traded markets due to it being used worldwide. This means that people all over the world are affecting currency exchange rates. You must be careful when deciding to invest in a specific currency, because you run the risk of losing money if the currency depreciates.
Image source: What is Forex Trading?
There are a couple of factors that come into play when determining Forex exchange rates. A few of these factors include:
1. Interest Rates. High interest rates in a country typically mean that the currency value will increase. This is because lenders get more of a return from the high interest rates in this country. This may not be the only factor that comes into play when determining exchange rates, but it is a good starting place to get a feel for the country’s currency value.
2. Current Account Deficits. A current account is the amount of money that a country spends or earns through trading with another country. When a country has a current account deficit, this means that they are spending more money on foreign trade than they are bringing in. A deficit in this area will lower a country’s currency value.
3. Public Debt. Public debt is never a good thing. Foreign investors tend not to invest in a country that has a large public deficit. This ultimately lowers the currency value of that particular country.
4. Trade Policy. Another factor to keep in mind when comparing currency values is the ratio of export prices to import prices. When a country has greater export prices, there is a greater demand for their products. This increased demand in the products of the country will increase the country’s currency value.
5. Political and Economic Stability. Political turmoil means that a country is not particularly stable at the moment. An unstable country will have a greater chance of economic risk. Foreign investors are less likely to put money into a country that is undergoing political turmoil, because the risk factors are too high. Political turmoil tends to lower the currency value of a country.
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Selection Methodology – Best FX Trading Sites
What methodology does AdvisoryHQ use in selecting and finalizing the firms, services, and products that are ranked on its various top rated lists?
Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top rated firms, products, and services.
Detailed Review – Top Ranking Best Forex Brokers
Below, please find the detailed review of each firm on our list of the best forex trading platforms. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these best forex brokers to score so highly in our selection ranking.
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EToro Review
EToro is a forex trading platform that specializes in currency, commodity, indices, and CFD stock trading. EToro has over 4.5 million users in over 170 countries. They boast that thousands of new accounts are created every day! A huge surge in the user base of a company would not occur if the website was not reputable.
EToro was brought into existence by its founder, Yoni Assia. Yoni Assia wanted to re-vamp the old banking industry, because it was not geared toward the younger generations. The younger generations are all about social media, so Assia designed eToro with that in mind. In this regard, the first social investment network was born!
Key Factors That Enabled This Website to Rank as a Best Forex Broker Site
Below are the primary reasons we selected eToro to be rated as one of 2016’s best forex trading platform.
Simple to Use
As one of the best forex brokers, eToro is incredibly simple to use. Their website interface is designed while keeping simplicity in mind. eToro gets many positive forex trading reviews, because their website is very user-friendly.
Social Trading
EToro is not called the first social investment network for nothing. This forex broker has a variety of services that allow users to communicate with one another in real time. A beginner to forex trading platforms can follow an experienced trader and vice versa.
Any eToro client is able to follow and copy the same trades that a popular investor is making. EToro offers information on the trading history and risk profile of any investment professional. If you decide that you want to copy that person’s portfolio after viewing their information, you can do so with the push of a button!
Vision
EToro has a vision to become the first and foremost global forex broker. They are committed to their customers by upholding the company vision. They uphold the following values:
- Striving toward being a global marketplace
- Designing the website for simplicity
- Creating an open investment network
- Providing personal financial empowerment
- Offering trusted service
Related: Acorns App Review and Fees. Is It Safe? Pros and Cons of Using Acorns
Forex.com Review
Forex.com is a forex trading platform that gives you full access to the foreign exchange market. Forex.com has been in the market as a forex broker for over a decade. They opened their doors in 2001 and have stayed strong in the business ever since.
To date, they serve individuals in over 140 countries. Since 2013, they have processed over 45 million regular trades and 3.3 million mobile trades. On a day-to-day basis, they routinely process over 190,000 trades! That’s an insane number of trades for a company to handle daily!
Key Factors That Led Us to Rank This Business as a Best Forex Trading Platform Site
After narrowing down the significant list, the below factors represent what we find notable about Forex.com, one of best forex brokers.
Global Market Leader
Forex.com is one of the best forex brokers because it is the global market leader in currency exchange. At Forex.com, you do not have to worry about someone running off with your money.
This forex broker’s parent company, GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc., is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As a publicly traded company, it is held up to certain standards by the industry. This means that its subsidiaries, such as Forex.com, are also held to those same standards!
In the United States, Forex.com is also regulated by the National Future Association and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Internationally, this forex broker is regulated by jurisdictions. Forex.com has no issues with complying with the rules and regulations put forth by these organizations.
Competitive Pricing
Forex.com regularly has glowing forex trading reviews because their pricing is very competitive. They have spent over a decade in the business of currency exchange, so they have the means available to offer low pricing to their clients. They offer full transparency, and you can view their live spreads here.
As one of the best forex trading platforms, Forex.com has no minimum account balance or volume requirements. It also offers no commissions and has the opportunity for price improvement on every trade.
Superior Trading Technology
Forex.com offers a fast and accurate service. Their average execution speed is 0.05 seconds, and 99.9% of their trades are executed in less than 1 second. This low transaction time means that you are not throttled by the website when exchanging currency. You do not run the risk of losing money on a trade because the website was crawling at a snail’s pace.
FXCM Review
Next on our list of the six best forex trading platforms is FXCM. Fifteen years ago, FXCM was just a budding business. Today, FXCM is one of the leading providers of forex trading!
As of January 2015, there are over 220,000 active accounts on FXCM. That is not including people who use FXCM on a non-regular basis! FXCM is also proud of the fact that they have over 800 employees across 13 different countries. Some of the countries in which they hold offices include:
- United States
- Germany
- Australia
- France
- Italy
- Greece
- Japan
FXCM would not be one of the best forex brokers without a large retail trading volume. In 2015, FXCM had a whopping $3.9 trillion dollars in retail trading volume. This large trading volume ensures that they are not a company who will run off with your money!
Key Factors That Enabled This Website to Rank as a Best Forex Platform Site
While it was difficult to narrow down, below are some of the deciding factors that allowed FXCM to be rated as one of our best forex brokers.
Award-Winning Service
FXCM has consistently won awards for being one of the best forex brokers over the past 15 years. A couple of their recent awards include:
- 2015 Investment Trends: Best Educational Materials
- 2015 FX Street: Best Sell Side Analysis Contributor
- 2014 Readers Choice Award: Stocks and Commodities Award
A full list of the awards FXCM has won can be found here.
Not only has FXCM consistently won awards for their awesome services, but they were also the first Forex trading platform to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange!
Top Notch Pricing
In various forex broker reviews, FXCM is praised for having competitive pricing. FXCM does not markup spreads, so there are no hidden fees associated with using their website. You do not have to worry about paying hidden charges when using this forex broker!
FXCM has two commission schedules depending on the country you are located in. Their commission schedule can be found here.
The total fees for using FXCM are low because they offer low commission rates and tight spreads. The exact spread fees, found here, are unique to your country of residence.
Popular Article: Best Forex Trading Platform – Top Forex Brokers (Ranking & Reviews)
OANDA Review
OANDA is a top-notch forex trading platform that has been in business since 1996. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year! OANDA has regularly won awards for their excellent service offerings. In addition, OANDA’s board of directors consists of the leading experts in Forex trading.
Key Factors That Allowed This Website to Rank as a Best Forex Broker Site
Below are some key features to give you an idea of what we used to rate OANDA as one of the best forex trading platforms.
Image source: Best Forex Trading Platforms
Resources for Clients
OANDA cares about its clients. OANDA offers customer service support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you have an issue at another time, you can send an email to their emergency support account. OANDA is infamously known as a forex trading platform with one of the best customer services departments!
Variety of Platforms
This forex broker has two trading platforms:
- fxTrade Desktop
- fxTrade Mobile
The fxTrade Desktop can be accessed from any PC, tablet, or laptop device. The interface on the desktop is easy to use and built for high-volume trading. Using the desktop interface, you can open a demo account to get a taste of everything that is offered on the website.
In response to requests within forex trading reviews, OANDA manufactured an fxTrade Mobile platform. The fxTrade Mobile platform can be used on the go and allows the user to keep up to date on market movements in real time. You do not have to fall behind on the latest market news just because you are away from your computer for a couple of hours!
Cutting Edge Development Lab
OANDA is one of the best forex brokers because they have their own team of engineers on hand to work on the customer interface! The team of engineers posts new tools and features on their website and allows their customers to vote whether they want to use the tools.
This allows real clients to offer their feedback on whether the new features will be useful for improving their forex trading platform experience! Because of this, OANDA’s interface is constantly changing for the better. Any feedback that comes back negatively will allow OANDA to improve its interface until the customers are completely satisfied with it.
TD Ameritrade Review
TD Ameritrade is a forex trading broker that has been in the business since 1975. That means that they have over 35 years of experience in forex trading! This gives them the wealth of expertise necessary to be known as one of the best forex brokers of 2016.
Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This Firm as a Best Forex Trading Platform Site
Below are some of the most significant reasons we selected TD Ameritrade as one of this year’s best forex brokers.
Retirement Planning
TD Ameritrade offers a service that not many other forex trading platforms offer: a retirement planning service. TD Ameritrade is one of the best forex brokers because of these additional services. No matter if you are a young client just starting to save for retirement or an older client looking to cash out your retirement soon, TD Ameritrade will help you pick the best retirement option!
Education
TD Ameritrade gives its clients the resources necessary to make smart investment choices. They will not hold your hand through the investment process. Instead, they will give you the tools you need to make your own informed investment choices. You can choose from the following education programs:
- Rookie
- Scholar
- Guru Essentials
The educational programs are separated into three categories depending on how much previous knowledge you have on the topic. You can choose whichever category you want to learn from. They will not stick you in the Rookie category if you want to learn at the Guru level.
Within the educational toolbox, this forex trading platform also offers video playlists that you have access to 24/7. You can listen to the video playlists as many times as you want. They are there for your use so that you can become a better forex trader. This will allow you to trade with more confidence!
Research Tools
TD Ameritrade also gives you the tools necessary to analyze the current market trends. Not many other forex trading platforms offer this service, making TD Ameritrade one of the best forex brokers. They give you the most recent market trends in easy to read graphs and charts. If you are a newbie to forex trading, this will be a priceless service to get caught up on what is happening within the marketplace.
Related: Firstrade Review | Get the Key Facts Before Trading with Firstrade
TradeKing Review
TradeKing is a forex trading broker that is known for their trust and reliability. They act as an introducing broker to GAIN Capital Group, LLC. This means that your money is in safe hands! GAIN Capital Group, LLC is a registered trading commission with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They are also a member of the National Futures Association. TradeKing is backed by the best of the best!
Key Factors That Enabled Us to Rank This Website as a Best Forex Broker Site
Below are some of the most significant reasons we selected TradeKing as one of year’s top forex brokers.
Straightforward Pricing
TradeKing is a forex broker that does not pull the wool over your eyes. They are proud of the fact that they offer a transparent and competitive pricing model. All around the board, TradeKing aims to keep tight spreads so that your spread fees stay low.
You can go here and see what their spreads are in real time. These spreads are updated anytime that they change, so you know exactly what you are getting into. The spreads are arranged by your country of residence, so make sure that you find the correct one!
Superior Trading Tools
TradeKing is one of the best forex brokers, because they give you the tools you need to make proper investments. You have the option of choosing two different trading platforms with TradeKing:
- ForexTrader
- MetaTrader 4
ForexTrader is a forex trading platform that offers top performance while still keeping power and versatility in mind. You will have access to customizable watch lists, trade alerts, and integrated statements. If you prefer to trade on the go, ForexTrader also comes with a matching mobile app for Apple and Android phones.
MetaTrader 4 is the beefed up version of ForexTrader. TradeKing designed MetaTrader as a way for customers to stay in sync 24/7. MetaTrader 4 offers 1-click dealing and advanced order management tools.
You are not locked into one platform versus the other. You are more than welcome to give both forex trading platforms a try until you find the one that best suits you!
Free Practice Account
If you are not ready to dive straight into a live account with TradeKing, they do offer a practice account. The practice account has access to the same features as the live account, and they give you $50,000 in “fake” money to spend, letting you learn the ropes before you get hands-on with your real cash!
Conclusion—Best Forex Brokers
Using one of the best forex brokers in this article will mean that you do not have to toss and turn at night about whether your money is safe. These forex brokers will also do their best to limit the amount of hassle you have in using their website.
Forex trading is difficult enough as it is, so you do not have to add to that difficulty by using a poor forex trading company. No matter if you are an experienced Forex trader or a beginner, using one of the six companies listed in this article can help you get on track!
AdvisoryHQ (AHQ) Disclaimer:
Reasonable efforts have been made by AdvisoryHQ to present accurate information, however all info is presented without warranty. Review AdvisoryHQ’s Terms for details. Also review each firm’s site for the most updated data, rates and info.
Note: Firms and products, including the one(s) reviewed above, may be AdvisoryHQ's affiliates. Click to view AdvisoryHQ's advertiser disclosures.
PREVIOUS RANKING: 2016 RANKING
TOP BEST FOREX BROKERS
Top Forex Brokers
Professional forex traders normally consider some key factors before selecting the forex trading platform that they believe will be the best fit for their trading needs and requirements.
A forex platform with very fast execution is a top priority for serious FX traders.
When trading forex, fractions of a second can mean money, and when FX markets go into rapid overdrive (i.e., a major surge or plunge based on breaking economic news), slow execution could result in tremendous losses.
As such, you want a forex broker with a high execution rate and reliability that your trades or stop losses will be honored.
Other Ranking Factors for FX Trading Sites
The transaction spread is another key comparison factor when reviewing forex brokerages in order to select the top online forex trading platform that can best meet your needs.
The spread is the difference between what the market maker buys a currency for (called the bid) and the price at which they sell a currency to you (called the ask), so the smaller the spread, the better off you are.
When you trade FX with an online forex broker that uses the Electronic Communications Network (ECN), you are effectively trading directly on the network – which gives you maximum security and control.
When conducting our forex trading platforms reviews, we focused on the top forex brokers that provided advanced computational capabilities for fast execution.
As part of our analysis, AdvisoryHQ also focused on FX trading sites that provided an advanced level of research, analytics, and trading tools.
Lastly, we also considered the level of customer service support available.
FX trading can be stressful enough.
If you have a question or concern that needs answering, you want fast access to friendly, US-based, well-experienced support.
All of the brokerages on this list are known to have extensive and high quality customer support.
Getting the Final List of Best Forex Trading Platforms
Presented below is this year’s list of the best forex trading platforms, followed by reviews of these top FX brokers.
MarketConsensus News started out with a larger list of over 55 forex trading platforms.
After applying various criteria (spreads, ease of use, fast execution, brokerage details, etc.), we narrowed the list down to the three best forex brokers below.
List of Best Forex Brokers (Reviews)
Forex Trading Platforms Reviews and Ranking
The tables provided below highlight some of the things that we like about each of the brokers in our list.
The purpose of this information is to provide you with a quick overview of the unique characteristics about each of the top FX brokers highlighted in this directory.
Forex.com Review
Min. Deposit | What AdvisoryHQ Likes About This Forex Broker |
| $250 |
|
MD Trading Forex Review
Min. Deposit | What AdvisoryHQ Likes About This Forex Broker |
| 400 in base currency (EXN Spread and EXN Limits plans) |
|
How to Decide Which Plan to Go With
Additional Information on This Top Rated Forex Broker
|
TradeKing Forex Review
Min. Deposit | What AdvisoryHQ Likes About This Forex Broker |
| $500 To trade the full range of products offered at TradeKing, a starting balance of at least $3000 is recommended |
Other Information
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