Brokers
Competition between online brokers is fierce and this has helped to push down costs whilst services get better. But picking the right brokerage account comes down to your individual priorities. Some investors are willing to pay higher trade commissions for a state-of-the-art platform; others count costs above all else. Some factors to consider in selecting a broker are trading commissions, account minimum, account fees, your trading style and technology needs, ease of fund withdrawals and where the broker is regulated. The United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore have some of the best regulatory environments so we focus on brokers from these countries.
VantageFX is a fully regulated Australian brokerage which offers a wide range of Forex trading options. The company is owned and operated by Vantage Global Prime PTY Limited AFSL, with company registration number 428901.
VantageFX is one of the leading providers of bitcoin trading in Australia and offers competitive spreads. Hedging is allowed and at zero margin. All trading in VantageFX is carried out through Metatrader 4 or 5 trading platforms. Trading can commence as soon as the trading account is funded. Deposit options include Visa, Mastercard, Skrill and PayPal.
Demo accounts are also available to clients as a practice environment.
AvaTrade is incorporated in Ireland, and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (No.C53877). AvaTrade has regulatory licenses in 6 jurisdictions around the world, among the highest in the industry. It is also an official sponsor of Manchester City football club. The company prides itself on its advanced trading tools and a wide range of tradable assets. These include forex, stocks, commodities, indices, ETFs, and bonds.
The trading solutions provided by AvaTrade are geared towards traders of all experience levels. These include the iconic MT4 and MT5 platforms, Vanilla Options trading platform AVaOptions, automated trading solutions including ZuluTrade and DupliTrade and a mobile trading app AvaTradeGo.
Client funds are held in segregated accounts at top-tier global banks, seperate from AvaTrade company accounts.
Plus500UK Ltd is based in the United Kingdom and regulated by FCA (FRN 509909). Plus500UK Ltd itself is a subsidiary of Plus500 Ltd, which is listed on the Main Market for Listed Companies of the London Stock Exchange. Plus500 supports trading of CFDs, including indices, cryptocurrencies (availability subject to regulation), commodities, shares, options, and ETFs.
Combined, there are more than 2,000 trading instruments available via Plus500. There is a complete list of the trading instruments on its website via the Trading Instruments button on the main navigation bar.
The platform is well-designed and fairly straightforward to use and includes 24/7 customer support. It is available in a long list of countries and in 30 languages, helping Plus500 appeal to a range of traders.
Core Liquidity Markets
Core Liquidity Markets is a trading name of CLMarkets Ltd. with registered address at Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre Beachmont, Kingston, St. Vincent and the Grenadines IBC No. 24750-IBC-2018.
Core Liquidity Markets is a provider of over-the-counter (OTC) financial services, offering traders around the world access to a wide range of speculative and hedging products from one single interface. Since 2013, the firm has been servicing retail investors, professional traders and asset managers from over 100 countries. The broker offers two account types. Standard account is the preferred choice for traders looking for low spreads and no commissions, while our ECN account provides traders access to ultra-low, direct raw pricing with no markup and a 3 USD commission cost per trade. This ECN style pricing is test tradable with high-speed execution and a fill rate of 99%.
eToro
eToro is fully licensed and registered by the FCA with reference number 583263. This regulated broker offers a comprehensive set of markets for traders, including cryptocurrency, exchange traded funds, stocks, indices, commodities, and fiat currencies.
eToro offers CopyTrader and Social Trading options to follow and copy the trades of experienced traders.
eToro is unique in the sense that it offers traders a Copyportfolio. This is similar to an mutual fund, except that it contains cryptocurrencies. The Copyportfolio is a weighted fund which tracks the performance of cryptocurrency overall.
eToro accepts a wide range of payments options, including: Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Yandex and others.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.
You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.