Best CFD Platforms for Trading

Adding a contract for difference (CFD) to your portfolio could reduce your risk and increase your returns through diversification. A typical CFD trading platform lets you trade thousands of financial instruments and commodities, with no obligation to own the underlying asset. 

CFDs let you speculate on a price movement of an asset, whether stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities or forex, giving you the ability to diversify your trading over a wide range of assets. Keep in mind that trading in CFD contracts cannot be traded by U.S. residents. 

In the following article, we have reviewed the best CFD platforms currently available for trading, taking into account key features like commissions, markets, payments and regulation. 

Quick Look: Best CFD Trading Platforms

• Best for Mobile Users: Plus500
• Best for CFD Trading Tools: Pepperstone
• Best for Ease-of-Use: FOREX.com
• Best for Low Fees: Axi
• Best for Advanced Traders: Saxo
• Best for Multiple Account Options: FxPro
• Best for User-Friendly Platform: AvaTrade
• Best for Professional Traders: Interactive Brokers

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Disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% 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.

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Best CFD Platforms for Trading

Here are some of the best CFD trading platforms available.

1. Best for Mobile Users: Plus500

When you work with Plus500, you gain access to a European derivatives broker that focuses primarily on CFDs. Because CFDs are similar to binary options, you need bit of organization that Plus500 offers. There are no commissions on Plus500, and the platform only profits from the spreads that you pay.

Remember, however, that Plus500 is not necessarily for beginners. If you know what you’re doing, you can easily jump into the fray with Plus500, but there isn’t a lot of extra information for novice investors.

2. Best for CFD Trading Tools: Pepperstone

Pepperstone, an Australian CFD industry leader, was founded in 2010 by a team of seasoned traders. It has a global presence and holds licenses from multiple regulators including ASIC, CYSEC, BAFIN, DFSA, SCB, CMA and FCA. You can choose from an impressive array of platforms, including the popular MetaTrader 4 and 5, the user-friendly cTrader and the innovative TradingView.

Pepperstone is user-friendly and offers a variety of advanced trading tools, including algorithmic trading, Autochartist, API trading, and more. Their customer support is efficient and responsive, and they provide an extensive range of educational resources to help you enhance your trading skills. You'll find that they offer low fees and competitive average spreads on popular forex pairs such as:

• EUR/USD: 1.10 
• USD/JPY: 1.30
• GBP/USD: 1.40

3. Best for Ease-of-Use: FOREX.com

FOREX.com, a regulated firm, provides 220 CFDs in major asset classes under its FOREX.com brand. By testing FOREX.com's platforms and reviewing the provided information, one can confirm their reliability. FOREX.com provides CFD trading on stocks, commodities, and indexes, with exceptional platform speed and performance.

FOREX.com offers access to their Advanced Trading Platform, MetaTrader 4 platform, and web-based platform as well as mobile trading options for all traders. The accessibility options guarantee no missed experiences.

4. Best for Low Fees: Axi

Axi is a low-cost forex broker based in Australia, suitable for those seeking additional tools for developing their trading strategies.The platform offers competitive forex fees and a wide selection of forex pairs. They provide a diverse selection of trading instruments in addition to forex and CFDs including commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies. Axi provides access to copy trading and additional analytical tools for traders seeking to diversify their strategies.

5. Best for Advanced Traders: Saxo

Saxo empowers traders with a high-performance platform offering access to a vast array of over 70,000 financial products, along with comprehensive resources to guide informed decision-making. Through Saxo, you can adeptly navigate market fluctuations with curated investment themes, expert market commentary, mobile alerts, advanced charting tools, and immersive webinars.

You'll have access to the sleek and responsive SaxoTraderGO app to enjoy the convenience of executing trades with the same efficiency and speed as on your desktop. For SaxoTraderPro members, whether trading on desktop or app, you'll have access a suite of high-performance tools designed for managing and executing orders seamlessly. You can benefit from comprehensive market analysis features, including the depth trader, time and sales data, algorithmic orders, advanced charting package, option chains, and user-friendly trade tickets engineered for speed and productivity, ensuring swift order placement with just a click.

6. Best for Multiple Account Options: FxPro

FxPro offers traders like you the opportunity to trade in forex and CFD markets where you can access hundreds of assets, including forex, metals, indices, shares and cryptocurrencies.

You can work with 1 of 8 base currencies and save because there are no account or transaction fees. Inactivity fees will apply after 6 months if your account is not in active status.

There’s no commission charged and the spreads are very tight. Trade on MT4 or MT5 to get fast execution and reach out to the multilingual customer support team 24/5 for assistance.

7. Best for User Friendly Platform: AvaTrade

AvaTrade is recognized for its user-friendly forex and CFD trading platform. They offer various educational resources and tools to assist traders in enhancing their skills and knowledge. This makes it a suitable platform for both beginners and experienced traders seeking to improve their trading strategies. They provide a wide variety of currency pairs, commodities, stocks, and indices, offering traders numerous options to select from. Traders have the opportunity to diversify their portfolios and take advantage of various market opportunities.

8. Best for Professional Traders: Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers offers some of the lowest commissions and fees for retail traders, as well as some of the highest quality features, research and services available for traders. Interactive Brokers is also one of the most professional and versatile online brokers currently available to retail traders who can afford its substantial initial deposit of $10,000 or the equivalent.

Interactive Brokers operates in 150 markets in 33 countries and you can open an account in 25 different currencies. Interactive Brokers is represented on all major world markets and exchanges, plus most regional stock, options and commodities exchanges. The broker is overseen by all major regulators around the world. While the broker is U.S.-based, its CFD trading operation is based in the U.K. 

Features to Look for in CFD Trading Platforms

Keep these things in mind when looking for a suitable CFD trading platform:

Trading Costs  

The less you pay out to your CFD broker in trading costs, the more money you will have in your trading account. Trading costs include trading commissions and fees, dealing spreads and account management fees. 

Tradable Assets 

You will want to select a CFD trading partner that offers CFDs on all the underlying assets you wish to trade. Assets that can be traded as CFDs include stocks, indices, commodities, currencies (forex), and cryptocurrencies. CFDs allow traders to speculate on the price movements of these underlying assets without actually owning them, offering potential profits from both rising and falling markets.

Customer Support

How easily and quickly you can access your broker in case a problem arises and how well they respond to queries and resolve issues can make a substantial difference to your success as a CFD trader. Also, novice traders may require more customer support and educational materials while they learn the ropes of CFD trading. 

Mobile App

Many CFD traders want to be able to watch asset markets, check their CFD trade executions, enter trades and perform market analysis using their smartphones or tablets while away from their desktop computers. A CFD broker having a mobile app suitable for your device can therefore become a priority feature. 

Trading from Charts

If you plan on doing technical analysis and then quickly entering a trade when you spot an opportunity, you will probably want to trade directly from price charts. Most decent CFD trading platforms will offer this important feature. 

Fast Execution

Since CFD trading opportunities are often fleeting, transactions need to be executed quickly. Make sure a broker you are considering has quick transaction times for clients based in your locale and that issues like order slippage and requotes are minimal. You can test execution speeds by making small transactions in a live account. 

Frequently Asked Questions