Best Forex Brokers in the U.K.

The Forex market trades an enormous volume of trades per day, over $5 trillion to be more precise. This market, also known as forex (foreign exchange) or FX for short, is the world’s largest market across the globe. It offers 24-hour trading, five days a week, and is very popular due to its accessibility.

But where profit is involved, risk is too. And the forex market is no stranger to fraud and scams. For this reason, regulation is critical to keep the integrity and security of the market, and to protect consumers.

Yet due to the global scale of the market there is no singular overseeing authority and so, regulations vary greatly between jurisdictions. This lack of consistency can result in misinformation surrounding what exact role regulations, and indeed regulatory bodies, play and how they benefit consumers.

When it comes to the forex market, most traders have a number of questions. Is forex legal in the United Kingdom? If a list of the best UK forex brokers existed — which platforms would top it?

To help you get off to the best start, we’ve compiled a list of the safest, most secure, and best Forex Brokers in the UK. Each broker has different strengths to suit different levels, trading styles, and needs. We believe that many of the online brokers that you’ll see in this article are the top Forex trading platforms across all jurisdictions.

After highlighting the 5 best forex brokers in the UK, we’ll also walk you through who the regulatory authority is over the forex market in the UK, and more importantly, how they can help protect your capital while trading forex.

We’ll also outline how economic turbulence can affect the forex market and lastly, we’ll finish by answering some of your most asked questions surrounding forex regulations in the UK. 🏁

6 Best Forex Brokers in the UK 🇬🇧

The following list of the best forex brokers are all regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. They are listed in no particular order and are chosen based on their reputation, regulations, and financial stability, among others.

To help you choose, consider the trading platform, spread fees, other assets (such as trading CFDs and Bitcoin), and the research tools and support available. While they won’t all score highly on everything, each one has its own strengths.

1. Best Overall: Pepperstone

Founded in 2010 in Melbourne, Pepperstone is one of the world’s leading forex brokers. It boasts strong regulatory licences, being regulated by two tier-one watchdogs – Australia’s ASIC, and the UK’s own FCA.

Despite being our top overall pick, Pepperstone is an extremely accessible broker – the minimum deposit requirement is £0. The account opening process is fully digital and can be completed within 15 minutes. Account verification takes between 1 and 3 business days.

Traders have a choice between two account types – a standard STP account, and a Razor account. The standard account offers all of Pepperstone’s standard features and access to all of their platforms, while the Razor account is more suited to experienced traders – it has higher commissions but offers lower spreads. 

Pepperstone also offers an Islamic account that is swap-free and doesn’t have rollover interest on overnight positions but is identical to the standard STP account in all other regards. High-volume traders can also make use of Pepperstone’s active trader program, which allows you to make use of rebates if you regularly trade large amounts.

Professional traders who opt to go for Pepperstone can access leverage of 500:1, while retail traders are limited to 1:30. Although, caution is always advised when it comes to leverage. As far as the range of tradeable assets goes, Pepperstone offers 62 currency pairs, as well as 1,300+ stock CFDs, 25 stock index CFDs, and 3 cryptocurrency CFDs.

When it comes to trading platforms, clients of Pepperstone have three choices – MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader. Although all of them offer a similar level of functionality, cTrader has a slight advantage – as it is a bit more user-friendly than the other two options. Its only drawback is that it only supports basic order types.

cTrader is available for desktops as well as tablets and smartphones and is available in 13 different languages. The mobile version of the app is intuitive and well-designed, although it lacks a two-step login feature.

The brokerage also offers a demo account, allowing you to test-drive their platforms and see for yourself whether everything that they offer is a good fit for you. Demo accounts last for 30 days, with the exception of demo accounts for cTrader – which do not expire provided that you log in at least once every 30 days.

Pepperstone is also one of the few brokers, with the exception of eToro, that offers copy-trading capabilities. Pepperstone supports a variety of copy-trading platforms, including MirrorTrader, myFxbook, and DupliTrade, depending on the trader’s jurisdiction. 

Pepperstone’s spreads are quite low – with the spread for its Razor accounts starting at 0 pips, and the average spread overall being a very manageable 0.69 pips. The brokerage also utilizes an ECN execution model, which allows it to link buyers and sellers without involving any third parties.

When it comes to customer service, Pepperstone deserves high praise. Contacting customer support via email will almost always see your question answered in 2-3 hours, and live chat agents usually respond to queries within a minute or two. The only drawback is that the broker’s customer support isn’t available during weekends.

As far as research goes, Pepperstone offers both third-party research and in-house commentary, as well as powerful research tools such as AutoChartist. Although the research content is well-produced, it is slightly lacking when it comes to quantity – with only a couple of pieces of content being released each week.

Pepperstone also offers educational content, including nine articles about forex trading, a webinar, and dozens of videos, including platform tutorials. The brokerage also has a Youtube channel where you can look at previously released educational videos.

Pepperstone is accessible, affordable, and offers clients a wide array of investment opportunities coupled with great educational materials, a well-designed platform, and powerful research tools. If that has piqued your interest, take a look at our review of Pepperstone.

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2. Best Discount Service: City Index

Founded in the U.K in 1983, City Index offers access to forex, CFD, and spread betting. The brokerage is regulated by three tier-1 regulators and is the recipient of numerous awards in the UK.

City Index’s account opening process is simple and quick – it can be completed entirely online, and it shouldn’t take more than a day to get your account approved. Traders can choose from three account types – Trader, Premium Trader, and Professional.

The Professional and Premium Trader accounts cater to more experienced investors – traders who want to open a Professional account must have a history of working in the finance sector, as well as a portfolio of at least €500,000. 

This account type features lower margin rates and broker-assisted dealing. The Premium Trader account offers the same perks, but is available only via invitation.,

However, we’ve chosen City Index as our best discount service. The minimum initial deposit for opening a standard or Trader account is just £100, making City Index very accessible. The brokerage also offers a demo account, allowing you to trade with paper money and to try out their platforms before committing.

Speaking of platforms, City Index’s proprietary platform, Web Trader is highly customizable, even when compared with competitors. It offers 90 technical indicators, a clean and intuitive search function, as well as plenty of advanced order types.

City Index’s desktop platform, AT Pro is slightly more complex – it has a whopping 130 technical indicators, 25 drawing tools, as well as over 100 pre-loaded strategies, and an automated trading feature. This platform also boasts a clear fee report and a good selection of order types but it is a bit more daunting than the Web Trader, potentially making it a bad choice for beginners..

Forex traders will have access to 84 global FX pairs, with tight spreads from 0.5 points. Beyond this range of forex pairs, traders will also gain access to 4,500 stock CFDs, 22 stock index CFDs, 690 ETF CFDs, and 29 commodity CFDs. All in all, City Index’s offering of investment opportunities is quite impressive.

City Index also offers a wide bevy of useful, well-produced educational content. The brokerage offers daily market analysis that is conducted by its in-house team of experts, as well as educational articles, webinars, and platform tutorials.

When it comes to research, City Index doesn’t fail to impress. The brokerage offers useful trading ideas based on technical analysis from its Trading Central, an economic calendar, as well as a newsfeed that streams headlines from Reuters. On top of that, City Index’s in-house team of researchers publishes content each day.

The company offers a range of support to clients including through an initial welcome pack, a call to walk you through the platform, and monthly market intelligence emails. The customer service team is helpful and professional and available through live chat, phone, and email although email support can take several days to respond. The team is also not available on weekends.

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3. Best for Copy-Trading: eToro

eToro is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The platform has a notably large investment selection including not just Forex but stocks, commodities, and CFDs.

eToro’s best feature for trading Forex in the UK, hands down, is its copy trading. Do you ever wish a professional trader, with a demonstrated history of success, could make your trades — for you?

With copy trading, you simply ‘copy’ the activity of the best traders throughout the UK — and the world. You can even copy several traders at one time by allocating a certain percentage of your portfolio to different traders.

The traders who are ‘copied’ have an incentive to make profitable trades. The more followers they have, the more they receive from eToro. If you don’t have a lot of years of experience under your belt, eToro’s copy trader could be a great way to start trading.

You can filter through them all by their returns, the number of copiers they have, and the markets they’re active in. Not only is a great platform because of this feature, but it also offers excellent trading costs.

eToro offers over 45 different currency pairs for Forex trading — and a number of other trading instruments. The brokerage offers web and mobile trading platforms -both of which have been positively received by traders, as eToro once again prioritized usability. The platform is available in more than 20 languages. It was built with a clean design, predictive and easy-to-use search functionality, and a number of tools to help with trading.

eToro’s minimum initial deposit is $50 for residents of the UK. When it comes to fees, there are no deposit fees. However, the platform’s default currency is USD. If you’re depositing GBP, you’ll have to convert it to USD which will come with a 0.025% fee. If you don’t have USD funds, there are a few ways around this: you could deposit in USD with your bank where you’ll have to pay their conversion fee, or you could use a third-party service such as TransferWise which is known for low currency conversion fees. 

When it comes to withdrawals, there is a $5 withdrawal fee and a minimum $30 withdrawal. If you’re making a currency conversion, a 0.025% fee will be applied. There’s also an inactivity fee of $10 per month after one year of inactivity.eToro’s wide range of currency pairs, overall low fees, and unique copy-trading features make it an interesting broker – and if it has piqued your interest, take a look at our extensive review of eToro.

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4. Great Platform and Pricing: FOREX.com

Owned by parent company StoneX and founded in 2001, FOREX.com was one of the first to bring forex to the market. Forex.com offers a top-quality trading experience for forex and CFD trading in the UK and across the globe. It is regulated by four tier-1 regulators and currently has more than 140,000 clients.

Traders can benefit from low pricing, a range of full-featured trading platforms, in-depth market research, and an advanced mobile app. All of this is to say, if you go with FOREX.com, you’ll be able to start trading forex in no time.

The process of opening an account with FOREX.com is simple and straightforward. It can be done entirely online, and it takes about 2 business days for your account to get verified. The minimum initial deposit is 100 of your base currency.

FOREX.com’s selection of investments is quite wide – traders will gain access to 80 currency pairs, 380 stock CFDs, 20 stock index CFDs, and 29 commodity CFDs. Unfortunately, traders in the UK cannot 

FOREX.com also offers a lot of educational material, including video tutorials and detailed courses. The brokerage’s in-house team of researchers produces daily written content, and traders can also access third-party research. 

On top of that, FOREX.com has a weekly webinar, an economic calendar, and headline streaming from Reuters. The broker also offers a 30-day demo account, allowing traders to test out the platform before committing.

When it comes to trading platforms, FOREX.com offers three of them – MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and its own proprietary web-based platform. While both of the MetaTraders are solid choices, we have to give the edge to FOREX.com’s own platform.

Unfortunately, traders who opt for MetaTrader 5 will have access to a much narrower selection of investments. That rules MT5 out as a choice – and when we compare MT4 and FOREX.com’s platform, the proprietary platform comes out on top.

It offers 70 technical indicators, 50 drawing tools, and plenty of advanced order types. The platform is well-designed, intuitive, and customizable, and also supports alerts and notifications. The mobile version offers all of the same benefits, albeit with slightly reduced functionality.

Spreads start at around 1-2 pips for the most popular assets and can increase as high as 100 on less popular currency pairs. All spreads are variable and can increase or decrease at any time.  FOREX.com also utilizes dealer execution, meaning that it doesn’t rely on third parties to execute trades. The broker also offers Direct Market Access (DMA) accounts, which allow high-volume traders to benefit from various discounts and reduced commissions.

In addition to this, FOREX.com charges no withdrawal fees – however, if you have less than $10,000 in your account are inactive for more than 12 months, you will be subject to a minor $15 inactivity fee.

FOREX.com customer support team is quick to reply and can be reached through phone and live chat from 10 a.m ET Sunday to 5 p.m ET Friday. There is also limited customer support on social media and a chatbot that can answer basic questions, in addition to an FAQ’s page.

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5. Huge Range of Tradable Assets: Interactive Brokers

With an office in London, Interactive Brokers is a top forex broker that boasts a range of regulatory licenses. The company is best suited to professional traders, is known for fast execution, and offers 105 forex pairs, 7,400 CFDs, a lot of ETFs, and much more.

Interactive Brokers offers an in-depth research platform, covering risk analysis and global technical research news that serious traders will appreciate. Trader Workstation, IBKR’s proprietary platform, supports watchlists, 20 order types, as well as advanced charting.

Although the platform is quite customizable, it may end up being too complex for novices. On the other hand, Interactive Brokers does offer a lot of educational materials – including video courses, webinars, and articles. On top of that, traders that are interested can also open a demo account to test out the platform before committing.

IBKR offers iBot on mobile, a voice-activated feature and while the service has improved overall over the year, its phone support can be slow to pick up. In our comprehensive Interactive Brokers review, we analyzed the platform’s technology and overall traits.

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6. Best Premium Broker: IG

IG is a highly regulated and trusted broker across the globe, with an extensive list of tradable assets, an excellent platform and research tools, competitive rates, and leading educational material.

IG is recommended for anyone prioritizing an advanced platform experience – and who isn’t, right? In terms of research, the company’s offering is premium, it also offers a broad range of tools including, technical analysis on charts and streaming news (in real-time).

Everything is customizable, compactable and user-friendly. Alongside a clear layout, users can create personal, multiple workspaces to compliment categorized content.

IG’s fees are clear and transparent IG scores high on customer service, with quick and helpful answers around the clock on live chat, phone, email and social media. Beginner’s and those in need of extra support and education will enjoy IG’s impressive range of educational materia, and helpful and professional customer support team.

Another benefit with IG is its trust factor. IG is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Develop your forex knowledge by checking out IG’s guide for forex traders, where you can learn things like; what exactly forex is and how it works, how to trade forex and the benefits of forex trading, among others. Our IG review provides you with useful info on how to use IG’s guide and overall advantages of this Forex trading platform.

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Understanding the UK Forex Market 🇬🇧

If you’ve done any reading on the forex industry yet you’ll have seen that in 2016 it saw an average daily turnover of $5.1 trillion, making it the largest and most liquid financial market in the world. Better yet — with every top forex broker offering online trading, the market is widely accessible.

This size and accessibility presents its own challenges in terms of regulations – how exactly can a global, digital market be effectively monitored? Needless to say, one regulatory body just would not be effective. Independent regulatory and governmental bodies in different jurisdictions, regulating and monitoring on a more local level therefore is the current structure we see in place today.

Because of this, anyone new to, or unsure of, the market should make understanding the individual rules and regulations that apply to you a priority – in most cases, the law and how strict or relaxed it is will vary depending on the country you are trading in.

So, before we begin looking at  who regulates the forex market in the UK, how they work, and how they work to protect you and your funds, let’s discuss briefly the impact that economic turbulence can have on the Forex market

Economic Turbulence and the Forex Market 📉 

Something that can’t be ignored, particularly in current times, is that the Forex market is susceptible to extreme volatility during times of economic turbulence.

In 2008-2012, we saw how the financial crisis caused an economic earthquake, with an estimated 8.8 million jobs losses throughout. In response, the central bank attempted to kick start economic growth by lowering interest rates more than ever before among major currencies. Due to this, carry trades, and similar strategies, performed differently after the crisis.

Today, we can see a repeat in market volatility due to the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The pound sterling is hitting record lows against the Euro and the dollar, and in response to this, the Bank of England has enforced a second emergency interest rate cut in weeks. The dollar (USD) has also made some almost record gains against the Australian dollar, among others.

With the current unemployment rate of 3.5%, at 5.8 million persons, set to soar in the next few months, experts are predicting the same, if not worse economic effects than the financial crisis of 2008. Right now, the full impact is yet to be seen.

Is Forex Legal in the UK? 👮

As we mentioned briefly, the UK forex market is accessible globally, and as it’s one of the biggest markets in the world, it’s accessed by a whole lot of people. Because of this, there is not just one organization that regulates and monitors the market. Instead, this is done by separate authorities, depending on the country of the trading account, who monitor the market on a more local scale.

Forex brokers in the UK are regulated mainly by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This consumer watchdog agency is funded by forex brokers, as well as other financial services in the UK.

A key objective of the FCA is to ensure that all UK entities are licenced and actively creating and maintaining a trading environment that acts in the best interests of its traders.

Some other national forex market regulators around the world doing this job along with the FCA in the UK include, the following:

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the USA
• Australian Securities and Markets Authority (ASIC) in Australia
• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in the European Union
• Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in France
• Comisión Nacional de Mercado de Valores (CNMV) in Spain
• The Financial Services Agency (FSA) in Japan
• The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong

Forex Regulation in the UK (with the FCA) 📜

UK Forex Broker Regulation: The FCA 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have an extreme amount of authority in the UK, giving them a Godfather-like role of undertaking complete responsibility for the market and protecting consumers from fraudulent, even corrupt forex brokers. In order to operate in the UK, forex brokers (and ECNs) must present themselves to the FCA and become a registered member, which means they’ve been accepted as a respected firm, so long as they continue to prove they are complying with its given rules and restrictions.

If at any stage the broker cannot show evidence they are practicing under the regulations set out by the FCA, it could face harsh disciplinary measures and may be even revoked its license.

New and beginner traders especially, therefore, should make sure the broker in question is fully licensed by the FCA. It’s also important not to trust a broker’s website for its word, but to instead independently verify this criteria through a search of the FCA’s Financial Services Register.

Knowing this will offer you some confidence in ensuring that your money — and your trading account — will be protected in the event of insolvency, fraud, or bankruptcy.

Furthermore, while knowing whether a broker is FCA licensed is the first step to your research, it does not automatically mean the broker is completely safe and secure and you should do some more research to be sure.

Outside of registering brokers in the UK, the FCA enforces regulation that benefits you as a consumer among some big fish. Some brokers that are regulated in the UK are also regulated in other jurisdictions. eToro — our pick for the best forex broker — facilitates trading CFDs and Forex in Cyprus, for example. They are regulated there as well, through the CySEC.

How a Regulated Market (Seriously) Benefits You  👌

The first and most obvious benefit that a regulated UK forex market will bring to you is the confidence that your money is protected because you’ll know that FCA regulated brokers must regularly hand up audits around its financial practices, ensuring transparency. For example, brokers must show that clients funds are held in segregated accounts to its own capital. This applies even to VIPs and the most popular trading platforms, include MetaTrader and WebTrader.

In addition, the FCA enforces caps on leverage and stop loss, and monitors the implementation of this rule. This is to ensure that traders aren’t put in overtly risky situations, where the market takes a sudden turn against you, for example. Still however, there a number of high leverage forex brokers in the UK.

The FCA also ensures, if you wanted to close your account and transfer out your funds, you will receive an efficient and professional service to do this in a straightforward manner. What’s more, in the event of fraud, or loss, the FCA could compensate you up to £85,000 through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If the money lost exceeds this amount, you can still only be awarded a maximum of £85,000.

How to Avoid Getting Caught by a Forex Scam 🎣

Forex scams can happen to anyone. We can all get deceived by fraudsters because they tend to be very good at what they do. They seem professional and go to great lengths to make a quick profit. If this happens to you, or if you have already been victim to a scam, go straight to the concerned governing body to report it. For UK traders, this will be the FCA’s scam report page.

The best way to avoid a scam is to be aware of the tactics used, and the crucial information to look out for. Here’s what we recommend:

Make sure the broker is regulated by the concerned authority. ✅

In the case of the UK, this is a FCA. Make this the first thing you do as it will give you guidance on the brokers reputation and status.

Check the FCA’s warning list. ✅

Thankfully, as well as holding a list of registered brokers, it also has a compiled list of broker’s that should be avoided at all costs. Needless to say, stay clear of any broker you see on this list.

Be aware of any perceived pressure to deposit funds. ✅

Any pressure to deposit funds is a bad sign. Professional and regulated brokers ensure that potential clients feed secure and confident before making any such decision. In this case, if you feel yourself being pressured into depositing money before you have all the information needed, it’s a big red flag for a scam.

If forex were an easy route to success, everyone would be doing it. It requires vigilance, patience, time, knowledge and dedicated research, and like anything the more experience you have the better you (should) become. The key is to stay humble, don’t overstep your mark by taking on more than you can handle, but equally, with little risk comes little reward.