venue review / forex
Five large, long-established retail forex and CFD brokers, compared on the things that can be checked rather than on how they feel to use. Every figure below comes from the broker own published pages or from the regulator register, and every figure we could not verify is marked as such instead of being guessed at.
What we compared and why
01
Which entity
The company on your client agreement, its regulator and its licence number. This decides your protections.
02
Published cost
Spread only or raw plus commission, taken from the broker own pricing page, plus financing and conversion charges.
03
Leverage and protection
The retail cap and whether negative balance protection is stated. The cap is a fingerprint of the rulebook.
04
The loss figure
The regulator-mandated percentage of retail accounts that lose money, published by the firm itself.
| Broker | Main entity checked | Model | Published loss rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG | IG Markets Ltd, FCA 195355 | Spread only | 69% |
| Saxo Bank | Saxo Bank A/S, Danish FSA 1149 | Tiered commission | 64% |
| Interactive Brokers | IB UK Ltd, FCA 208159 | Commission | 57.9% |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Ltd, FCA 684312 | Raw plus commission or spread only | 72.9% UK / 79.6% global |
| IC Markets | IC Markets (EU) Ltd, CySEC 362/18 | Raw plus commission or spread only | 72.52% EU |
Read that last column carefully. Between 57.9 and 79.6 per cent of retail accounts lose money at these firms, by their own published disclosure. That range is the single most useful number on this page.
01 / listed, UK
IG Group
One of the oldest names in the business: IG says it was the first spread betting firm, founded in 1974, and is headquartered at 88 Wood Street in London with more than 1.3 million clients. The UK retail business runs through IG Markets Ltd, authorised by the FCA under firm reference 195355, alongside IG Index Ltd (114059) and IG Trading and Investments Ltd (944492).
| Field | Published figure |
|---|---|
| Main UK entity | IG Markets Ltd, FCA FRN 195355 |
| Founded | 1974, London |
| FX pricing | Spread only: EUR/USD from 0.6 points, USD/JPY 0.7, GBP/USD 0.9 |
| Other charges | FX overnight funding admin fee 1 per cent on CFDs, 1.5 per cent on spread bets; 0.8 per cent currency conversion; share CFD commission from 0.10 per cent or 2 cents per US share |
| Risk warning | 69 per cent of retail investor accounts lose money with this provider |
| Not published on the pages we checked | Minimum deposit, negative balance protection wording, copy trading |
spread onlyfcalisted company
02 / licensed bank, Denmark
Saxo Bank
Saxo is a licensed Danish bank rather than a pure CFD shop, which changes the protections that sit behind an account. Saxo Bank A/S operates under Danish FSA licence 1149, CVR 15731249, from Hellerup near Copenhagen, was founded in 1992, and was designated a systemically important financial institution in Denmark in June 2023. It is a member of the Danish Guarantee Scheme, which covers deposits up to 100,000 euro.
| Field | Published figure |
|---|---|
| Entity | Saxo Bank A/S, Danish FSA licence 1149 |
| Founded | 1992, Denmark |
| Deposit protection | Danish Guarantee Scheme, up to 100,000 euro |
| Pricing | Volume tiers: Classic, Platinum, VIP. Fixed 3 USD commission on FX trades below 50,000 units of base currency |
| Minimum funding | None |
| Retail leverage | 30:1 major FX, 20:1 minor FX and gold and major indices, 10:1 other commodities, 5:1 equities, 2:1 crypto |
| Negative balance | Saxo describes a guaranteed limit on retail client losses |
| Risk warning | 64 per cent of retail investor accounts lose money with this provider |
bank licencedeposit schememulti-asset
03 / multi-entity, institutional heritage
Interactive Brokers
IBKR is a brokerage first and a CFD provider second, which shows in the product range and in the fee structure. The group operates through separately regulated entities: Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited under FCA FRN 208159 at 20 Fenchurch Street in London, Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited under Central Bank of Ireland reference C423427, Interactive Brokers Australia Pty Ltd under ASIC AFSL 453554, Interactive Brokers Singapore Pte Ltd under MAS CMS100917, and a DIFC branch under DFSA F008423.
| Field | Published figure |
|---|---|
| UK entity | Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited, FCA FRN 208159 |
| EU entity | Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, CBI C423427 |
| CFD pricing | Share CFDs from 0.5 cents per US share or 0.05 per cent on other shares; index CFDs 0.005 to 0.01 per cent; gold 0.015 per cent; crude 0.015 per cent |
| Retail margin | 20 per cent initial on share CFDs, 5 to 10 per cent on indices and metals |
| Risk warning | 57.9 per cent of retail investor accounts lose money with IBKR |
| Not published on the pages we checked | FX CFD commission rate, minimum deposit, negative balance protection wording, copy trading |
many entitieslowest published loss ratestocks and options too
04 / raw pricing, copy trading
Pepperstone
Founded in Melbourne in 2010, Pepperstone states that it operates nine licensed entities globally. The UK business is Pepperstone Limited under FCA FRN 684312; the offshore entity is Pepperstone Markets Limited, registered in Nassau and licensed by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas under SIA-F217. The two publish different risk warnings, which is itself a useful illustration of what entity choice means.
| Field | Published figure |
|---|---|
| UK entity | Pepperstone Limited, FCA FRN 684312 |
| Offshore entity | Pepperstone Markets Limited, SCB licence SIA-F217, Bahamas |
| Founded | 2010, Melbourne |
| Razor account | FX from 0.0 points, spot gold from 0.08 points, commission from GBP 2.25 per lot per side |
| Standard account | Spread only from 0.4 points, no commission except UK and EU share CFDs at 0.1 per cent per side |
| Minimum funding | GBP 10 |
| Platforms | Own web and mobile, MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView on Razor and spread betting |
| Copy trading | Yes, copy signal providers via a linked MT4 or MT5 account |
| Risk warning | 72.9 per cent on the UK site, 79.6 per cent on the global site |
raw plus commissionctradercopy trading
05 / the clearest entity split of the five
IC Markets
The group is rebranding towards the name IC, and icmarkets.com now redirects to ic.com. The EU business is IC Markets (EU) Ltd, Cyprus company HE 356877, holding CySEC licence 362/18. The global business is Raw Trading Ltd, trading as IC and IC Markets Global, under Seychelles FSA securities dealer licence SD018. The two sides publish very different account terms, and comparing them is the most instructive thing on this page.
| Field | EU entity | Global entity |
|---|---|---|
| Company | IC Markets (EU) Ltd, CySEC 362/18 | Raw Trading Ltd, Seychelles FSA SD018 |
| Raw spread account | 0.0 pips, 3.50 USD per lot on MT | 0.0 pips, 3.50 USD per lot; Raw Pro from 1.00 USD at 100,000 USD minimum |
| Standard account | 0.8 pips, no commission | 0.8 pips, no commission |
| Maximum leverage | 1:30 retail | Up to 1:5000 advertised |
| Minimum deposit | Published per account type | 0 USD on Raw Spread and Standard |
| Risk warning | 72.52 per cent of retail accounts lose money | Published separately on the global site |
raw spreadctrader copy1:30 or 1:5000
Checks worth doing before you fund any of them
- 01Open the client agreement and find the counterparty name in the first clause. Search that exact name on the regulator register.
- 02Ask in writing how your account type is executed, and keep the answer.
- 03Deposit a small amount, trade it for a month, then withdraw all of it and time the process.
- 04Compare your fills against a second price source for one week, including a data release.
- 05Decline every bonus and every account upgrade offered by phone.
There is no best broker. There is the entity that holds your money, the cost you can measure, and the withdrawal you have already tested.