If you’re looking for strong liquidity and low transaction costs, forex is one of the most accessible asset classes for large and small investors alike. The foreign exchange market is a truly international market where traders take advantage of global currency movements.
If you're looking to trade forex but are unsure of what platforms to use, keep reading. In this article, we review the top international forex brokers in the market that can meet your forex trading needs.
Quick Look: Best International Forex Brokers
- Best for All Around Offerings (US & Intl): FOREX.com
- Best for CFD Traders (Intl Only): Vantage Markets
- Best for MT5 Users (US Only): Trading.com
- Best for Low Fees (Intl Only): Axi
- Best for Active CFD Traders (Intl Only): City Index
- Best for Advanced Traders (Intl Only): Saxo
Compare Forex Brokers in Your Country
Best International Forex Brokers
It's important for forex traders to find a broker that is reliable, trustworthy and offers a wide range of currency pairs. Here are some of the top international FX brokers.
1. Best for All Around Offerings: FOREX.com
- Best For:Earning Cashback on TradesVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Forex.com's website
FOREX.com is a top-tier forex and CFD broker founded in 2001 and is a subsidiary of StoneX (NASDAQ: SNEX). The company is regulated by several financial regulatory authorities.
Why We Picked it: FOREX.com stands out as an excellent broker for dedicated forex traders. They even offer up to 5% cash back of the initial deposit for U.S. residents. The platform is easy to navigate, caters to beginner and advanced traders and offers excellent all around offerings.
2. Best for CFD Traders: Vantage Markets
- Best For:CFD TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Vantage Markets's website
Vantage Markets has built a reputation over 15 years for reliability and service, attracting a global clientele seeking flexible trading solutions. The platform's wide range of financial instruments and educational support make it a solid option for both novice and seasoned traders.
Why We Picked It: Vantage Markets is a versatile online broker offering access to over 1,000 CFD trading products. The platform supports popular tools like MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView, and the Vantage App, providing traders with diverse, user-friendly options for both web and mobile trading. Vantage also offers educational resources through its Vantage Academy, where traders can access webinars, eBooks, and courses to deepen their market knowledge.
3. Best for MT5 Users: Trading.com
- Best For:$100 Welcome BonusVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Trading.com's website
Trading.com offers a user-friendly platform for forex trading, featuring low spreads, zero commissions, and seamless access to popular tools like MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Why We Picked It: With strong regulatory backing from the CFTC and NFA, it ensures a secure environment for U.S. traders. Notable features include a $100 no-deposit bonus, transparent pricing, and extensive educational resources such as tutorials and research tools. Traders can also compete in a monthly paper trading competition for real prizes, making it ideal for beginners and experienced traders alike.
4. Best for Low Fees: Axi
Axi is a global online trading platform offering over 220 financial products. Known for its competitive pricing, high liquidity, and powerful trading platforms, Axi provides flexible leverage, raw spreads starting from 0.0 pips, and fast execution speeds.
Why We Picked It: Axi supports traders with various educational resources, a multilingual support team, and the industry-standard MT4 platform. Axi is recognized for its transparency, reliability, and commitment to customer service, making it a trusted broker for traders in over 100 countries.
5. Best for Active CFD Traders: City Index
- Best For:Spread Betting, CFD and Forex TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through City Index International's website
City Index stands at the forefront of online trading services, specializing in Contracts for Difference (CFDs), forex, and spread betting (for UK residents). Boasting over 35 years of industry expertise, City Index offers a diverse range of tradable assets tailored to both individual and institutional traders.
Why We Picked It: City Index has facilitated over 1 million traders in accessing the forex, shares, and indices markets with a multi-award-winning platform and 40-year history of success. They offer personalized performance analytics and expert market analysis, giving you access to exclusive tools designed to maximize trading potential.
6. 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.
Why We Picked It: Saxo offers the sleek and responsive SaxoTraderGO app to enjoy the convenience of executing trades with the same efficiency and speed as on your desktop. SaxoTraderPro members 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 and user-friendly trade tickets engineered for speed and productivity, ensuring swift order placement with just a click.
Forex Regulations and Leverage
The National Futures Association (NFA) is a self-regulatory organization that regulates U.S. derivatives, including the foreign exchange market. It imposed limits on the maximum leverage allowed on forex positions for U.S.-based forex traders, though the exact limits vary depending on the currency pair. As a result, many international forex brokers stopped accepting clients from the U.S. Also, because of the restrictions, international forex brokers increased in popularity relative to American brokers because they typically give traders better terms than U.S.-based forex brokers.
For example, forex brokers in the United States only allow a maximum leverage ratio of 50:1, while some international brokers offer client leverage up to 500:1 on major currencies. This high amount of leverage, while extremely profitable when you’re on the right side of the market, could be disastrous if you hold a losing position, especially if you have limited capital.
Another example is the FIFO regulation. FIFO stands for “first in, first out,” and this rule requires you to liquidate positions in the same currency pair in the order they were established instead of choosing which opposing transaction to liquidate.
New U.S. legislation also banned hedging a forex position by taking an opposing position in the same currency pair as one already established. Doing this means you effectively hedge the original position and can trade out of both sides individually, which is no longer allowed for U.S.-based forex traders.
Do International Forex Brokers Accept U.S. Clients?
If you’re U.S.-based and trade forex through an international broker licensed in the United States, your account will be subject to CFTC and NFA rules and restrictions. Regardless of the amount of leverage or other features offered by the international broker, you must adhere to the 50:1 U.S. leverage limit, the FIFO rule, the no-hedging rule and any other relevant U.S. forex account restrictions.
But just because you live in the United States doesn’t mean you can’t trade forex.
Although many international brokers don’t accept U.S. traders because of the additional regulations, several brokers still service the U.S. client base. Many top-tier forex brokers, such as FOREX.com or Trading.com, are based in the United States and also fully comply with the relevant regulations of the NFA and the CFTC.
Keep in mind that when a forex broker lacks oversight from a reputable financial regulatory agency, you run a considerable risk when you open an account with it. You could lose your entire deposit without even making a trade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the biggest forex broker in the world?
This metric can be ranked differently based on various criteria, such as trading volume, number of clients and regulatory status. Some of the largest forex brokers in terms of trading volume and market share include FOREX.com IG Group, IC Market, Oanda and CMC Markets.
Which country has the most forex traders?
It is difficult to determine which country has the most forex traders because there is no central data on the number of traders in each country. Some countries with the largest forex markets include the United States and the United Kingdom.
Which app is best for international trading?
Different forex apps may better suit traders because of needs, preferences and strategies. Two of our favorite apps for international trading include FOREX.com and City Index mobile and MetaTrader mobile apps.
Get a Forex Pro on Your Side
FOREX.com, registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), lets you trade a wide range of forex markets with low pricing and fast, quality execution on every trade.
You can also tap into:
- EUR/USD as low as 0.2 with fixed $5 commissions per 100,000
- Powerful, purpose-built currency trading platforms
- Monthly cash rebates of up to $9 per million dollars traded with FOREX.com’s Active Trader Program
Learn more about FOREX.com’s low pricing and how you can get started trading with FOREX.com.
About Anna Yen
Anna Yen, CFA is an investment writer with over two decades of professional finance and writing experience in roles within JPMorgan and UBS derivatives, asset management, crypto, and Family Money Map. She specializes in writing about investment topics ranging from traditional asset classes and derivatives to alternatives like cryptocurrency and real estate. Her work has been published on sites like Quicken and the crypto exchange Bybit.