BEST BROKER for CFD trading
? We recommend IronFx for FOREX and CFD trading, for it’s flexible leverage types (up to 1:1000) and local support.
Summary
parameter |
Pros ? |
Cons ? |
Rate |
Overall |
- Prompt Account Opening & D/W
- Local Support
- Third Party Extensions
|
- Limited to forex & cfd
- No volume discounts
- Basic Research & Education
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Fees |
- Zero Spread on some accounts
- No withdrawal fee
|
- Inactivity Fee
- Convoluted Fees Structure
|
⭐⭐⭐ |
Trading Instruments |
- Spread Betting (UK only)
- Forex
- CFDs on Indexes, Commodities, Metals, Stocks
- Futures
|
- No Bonds, Options
- No Stock & ETFs
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Account Opening |
- Fast On-boarding (fully digital)
- Customer-friendly
|
- Unclear how to select proper legal entity
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Deposit & Withdrawal |
- Quick D/W
- No Wire Transfer Fees
- Multiple Payment Methods
|
- High electronic wallet fees
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Platform & Trading |
- Native MetaTrader for macOS
- PMAM Software
- MT4 Advanced
|
- Limited Web Trader Functionality
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Customer Service |
- Phone Support
- Live Chart
- Professional & Relevant
- Support in Local language
|
- No weekend support
- Sometimes Slow email support
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Research & Education |
- Research Application (iOS, Android)
- Economic Calendar
- Beginner-friendly tutorials and ebooks
- Daily Fundamental overview
|
- Basic Technical Analysis
- No Advanced Education
- Webinar page but no webinars scheduled
- No wave analysis
- No full scale technical analysis
|
⭐⭐⭐ |
Regulation & Safety |
- Highly Regulated (FSCA, FCA, ASIC & Cysec)
|
|
⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
Fees ⭐⭐⭐
Affordable, but depending on execution type, trading fees may increase.
Pros? |
Cons ? |
- Zero Spread on some accounts
- No withdrawal fee
|
- Inactivity Fee but only if trader deposits and withdraws without trading
- Convoluted Fees Structure
|
Typical Fees
Assets |
Fee Level |
Terms |
CFD on US Stock |
Average |
0.10%; Swap Long: €0.01042; Swap Short: €0.00125 (swaps are regularly changing) |
EURUSD |
Average |
Long: 9.8; Short: €5.35 + spread (depending on account type) |
Inactivity FEE |
Above average |
3% of “deposited funds” (but only if trader deposits and withdraws without trading) |
Let’s first go through the fess terminology:
- Trading Fees occur when you trade (spreads, commissions)
- Financing or overnight rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than 24 hours. Leveraged position means that you borrow money from the broker to trade.
- Non-trading fees are withdrawal fee or inactivity fee, hidden fees.
To put things in a proper context we compare IronFX with the competing services.
Trading Fees
Depending on the account type and execution you will need to pay commissions, swaps and/or spreads.
Comparing trading fees among CFD brokers may get convoluted pretty quickly, for the purpose of making things more straightforward, we’ve decided to showcase all fees for trading the most common set of products.
|
IronFX |
XM |
XTB |
Apple benchmark fee |
-6.88 USD/10 Lots/5 Trading Days |
|
$18.1 |
Vodafone benchmark fee |
-3.15 USD/10Lots/5 Trading Days |
|
$24.4 |
EURUSD benchmark fee |
-94.95/1 Lot/5 Trading Days |
|
$17.1 |
|
|
|
|
The Forex trading fees are low on market maker accounts, while things become more pricey when you move to “pure ECN” accounts.
For example, the average listed EUR/USD spread is 1.2 pips, but the number can vary significantly depending on the account type.
Despite spreads dropping significantly on VIP & Micro accounts, you won’t find much variation on cross and minor pairs.
We define a typical trade as a €2,000 and €200,000 buy position for stock & forex respectively, held and sold after 7 days.
The commissions are calculated for Market Maker Account.
Financing Rates (SWAPS)
These fees occur when you decide to hold your position. The longer you stay in CFD or FOREX trade, the more fees will accumulate, making the final amount rather hefty.
YEARLY FINANCING RATES ON $2,000
|
IronFx |
XM |
XTB |
Apple financing rate |
Long- 0.00967 USD short – 0.00117 USD |
|
6% |
Vodafone financing rate |
Long – 0.00046 GBP short – 0.0005 GBP |
|
6% |
EURUSD financing rate |
Long – 9.85 points short 5.35 points |
|
4.1% |
Non-Trading Fees
There is a possible charge of up to 3% of deposited funds. But it only is applied if a trader adds capital but withdraws without ever entering one trade, which seems very unlikely and is very unusual.
IRONFX NON-TRADING FEES
|
IronFx |
XM |
XTB |
Account fee |
3% (only if one never traded) |
|
No |
Inactivity fee |
No |
|
No |
Withdrawal fee |
Varies depending on the method |
|
$0 |
Trading Instruments ⭐⭐⭐
Primarily focused on Forex & CFD IronFx will let you trade CFDs on commodities, indexes and most popular US Stocks.
Pros? |
Cons ? |
- Forex
- CFDs on Indexes, Commodities, Stocks
- Futures
- Cryptos
|
- No Bonds, Options
- No Stock & ETFs
|
CFDs, Forex & Crypto
You can trade CFDs on US, UK, French, German & Spanish stocks (shares according to IronFX), as well as most popular commodities and indexes.
|
IronFx |
XM |
XTB |
Currency pairs |
83 |
|
48 |
Stock CFDs |
124 |
|
1,600 |
ETF CFDs |
x |
|
87 |
Commodity CFDs |
3 |
|
21 |
Metals |
6 |
|
|
Cryptos |
7 |
|
16 |
Stock Index CFDs |
16 |
|
34 |
Future contracts |
27 |
|
|
Account Opening ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The account opening is one of the fastest in this category of brokers. You account should be good to go in a matter of one business day.
Pros ? |
Cons ? |
- Fast On-boarding (fully digital)
- Customer-friendly
|
- Unclear how to select proper legal entity
|
Account Eligibility
You are fine as long as you don’t currently reside in the following countries:
- USA
- North-Korea
- Iran
- Syria
- Cuba
- Sudan
IronFx Min Depo
IronFX requires a $100 deposit for the basic account, $500 on “Zero Fixed”, $1,000 and $10,000 on “Premium” and “VIP” respectively.
Account Types
There are four accounts types that differ mainly based on execution type, leverage and commission types. Depending on your trading style, you should find a suitable option depending on your trading style.
- Micro
- VIP Basix Zero
- Premium
- VIP
How to Open Account with IronFX
You’d need to:
- Select the platform of choice MetaTrader 4
- Answer questions about your trading experience
- Verify identity (depending on your country of residence it may not apply )
Keep in mind that if you trade with IronFX using our reference, you will receive a sponsorship in the form of a discount on our tools.
Deposit & Withdrawal ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available through several options the process is as quick as it gets, albeit pricey for digital wallets.
Pros ? |
Cons ? |
- Quick D/W
- No Wire Transfer Fees
- Multiple Payment Methods
|
- High electronic wallet fees
|
Deposit Fees & Options
With an exception of electronic wallets (≈ 2% of the amount) the fees are free. Among the popular transfer options are:
- Bank transfer
- Credit/Debit card
- Skrill
- Neteller
- China Union
|
IronFx |
XTB |
XM |
Bank transfer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Credit/Debit card |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Electronic wallets |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
You can only d/w from entities on your name. The debit/credit card and digital wallets deposits arrive instantly, whereas wire transfer might take up to 3 business days.
IronFX client portal is quite flexible and will be tailored to your needs based on your location and choice of operating company. IronFX recently waved the fees on all methods of the clients withdrawals.
Platform & Trading Experience ⭐⭐⭐
Despite a lack of to many in-house addons, IronFX packs a native MetaTrader 4 for Mac experience, as well as access to MyFXbook copy trading & standalone PMAM functionality.
Pros? |
Cons? |
- Native MetaTrader for macOS
- PMAM Software
- Advanced MT4 Experience
|
|
User Experience & Functionality
IronfX WebTrader packs a basic MT4 functionality without the need to run additional software.
PAMM Software
You will be able to use dedicated PMAM solution to control your portfolio by overseeing a trading activity of the selected traders.
Despite, MYFXbook was spotted to be only available in sometimes clunky MT4/5 software, you still have access to the ample of lucrative solutions available via one of the biggest third party copy trading services.
Placing orders
IronFX MT Built supports standard order types, including: :
- Limit
- Market
- Stop loss
- Trailing Stop
Alerts and Notifications
IronFX allows you to configure the following notification:
- Margin Call
- Deposits & Withdrawals
- Orders
- And other order types
Customer Service ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
IronFX overreaching local client service makes it one of the best options for novice traders around the globe.
Pros? |
Cons? |
- Phone Support
- Live Chart
- Professional & Relevant
- Support in Local language
|
- No weekend support
- Sometimes Slow email support
|
Available in many languages, the IronFX’s support is available to you 24/5, over the phone, live chat, and email.
Random cheek of IronFxs UK support chat via phone and live chat, left us satisfied in terms of response time, quality of answers and general tone of communication.
Local customer service may vary in quality, hence, we encourage you to share your experience with us.
Research & Education ⭐⭐⭐
While experienced trades might find IronFX education and analysis a bit stale, novice traders should have enough materials to get the ball rolling.
Pros? |
Cons? |
- Research Application (iOS, Android)
- Economic Calendar
- Beginner-friendly tutorials
- Daily fundamental commentary
|
- Basic Technical Analysis
- No Advanced Education
- No webinars planned at the time of the review
- No daily technical analysis videos
|
IronFX seems to concentrate on core brokerage services, only catering to traders with basic tools like Economic Calendar and quotes.
You will find basic analysis, daily fundamental commentary, and briefing for the week ahead. But no daily technical analysis, wave analysis, trading videos, and no live webinars scheduled when doing the review.
When it comes to education, you will find a decent trading course for beginners. Unfortunately, no advanced courses were available at the time of the review.
Despite the availability of a research application, the position of the company on that part of business is clear – you might find better luck mastering your trading skills elsewhere.
Hence, we suggest you to browse our analysis and education. Furthermore, if you open an IronFX through our reference, you will have access to premium services for free or with a large discount.
Regulations & Safety ⭐⭐⭐⭐
You should be safe with IronFx, as it’s regulated by 4 reputable authorities around the globe.
Pros? |
Cons? |
- Highly Regulated (FSCA, FCA, ASIC & Cysec)
|
|
IronFx legal entities & background
Established in Cyprus in 2010, IronFx currently operates in over 180 locations under Australian (ASIC), Cyprus (Cysec) & UK (FSCA, FCA) licenses.
Contact your local branch to ensure the level of protection you will be getting under your regulation.
IronFx legal entities |
Client country |
Investor protection amount |
Regulator |
Legal entity |
United Kingdom |
£85,000 |
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) |
IronFx |
Cyprus |
€20,000 |
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) |
IronFx |
In a nutshell
Despite its limitations in product offering and pale education and analysis, IronFx offers versatile Forex & CFD trading conditions, through it’s legal entities and local customer support throughout the globe.
It’s commission structure, several execution types & low deposit/withdrawal fees puts it the pole position among European brokers.
IronFx Brief Overview
? Country of regulation |
UK, Australia, Cyprus, South African Republic |
? Trading fees class |
Average |
? Inactivity fee charged |
Yes (only with deposit and no trading) |
? Withdrawal fee amount |
$0 |
? Minimum deposit |
$100 |
⏰ Time to open an account |
1 day |
? Deposit with credit card |
Available |
? Depositing with electronic wallet |
Available |
? Number of base currencies supported |
14 |
? Demo account provided |
Yes |
? Products offered |
CFDs on Stocks, Commodities, Metals, Forex, Futures, Cryptos |