Tight spreads and low fees so more of your money goes into the trade, not the broker's pocket.
6 regulated brokers ranked for this, each with a free demo. Rankings reflect our editorial criteria — verify the details before you deposit.
Ultra-fast withdrawals and tight spreads, huge in Asia.
Raw spreads and deep liquidity for cost-sensitive traders.
CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money rapidly.
AI-assisted CFD platform with a $20 start and great education.
CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money rapidly.
Low-cost trading with local funding loved across SE Asia.
Trading involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for everyone.
Beginner-friendly with generous education and micro accounts.
Simple, regulated CFD trading on a clean web & mobile platform.
CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money rapidly.
The spread on the banner is a marketing number: it is the average on the tightest account type, on the most liquid pair, during the most liquid hour. Your cost is spread plus commission plus overnight financing, on the instrument you trade, at the time you trade it. This page ranks the low-cost brokers and explains how to compare them so the comparison means something.
A standard account advertises no commission and recovers the cost in a wider spread. A raw or ECN account shows a near-zero spread and charges a commission per lot. Which is cheaper depends entirely on your size and frequency: for anyone trading regularly or in decent size, raw plus commission is typically cheaper, sometimes by half. For someone trading a micro lot twice a week, the difference is noise. The only fair comparison is total cost per standard lot round-turn — work that single number out for each broker and ignore the account names.
If you hold positions past the daily cutoff, swap can easily exceed all the spread you negotiated so carefully, especially on gold, indices and any pair with a wide interest-rate differential. People compare spreads to the second decimal place and then lose more than that to a financing charge they never looked up. Open the instrument specification on the demo, read the long and short swap figures, and multiply by the nights you expect to hold. If you want a swap-free account, find out what replaces the charge — usually a fixed administration fee after a few days, not zero.
Quoted averages come from the London–New York overlap. Trade the Asian session, the first minutes after a major economic release, or the Sunday open, and spreads widen — sometimes many times over for a few seconds, which is exactly when stops get hit. Leave a demo running for a week and record the spread at the hours you actually trade. That is your number, and it is the only one worth comparing.
The tightest spread in the world does not compensate for money you cannot retrieve. Before moving an account to a cheaper broker, fund the smallest amount it allows and withdraw the whole balance. If a firm drags its feet on a $20 test, that is your answer about a $2,000 one — and no spread saving covers it.
Low spreads matter in direct proportion to how often you trade. For someone placing a few positions a month, the difference between a 0.2 pip and a 1.0 pip spread is noise next to position sizing. For a scalper placing twenty trades a day, it's most of the P&L.
The important thing is that the headline spread is only half the price. Raw-spread accounts advertise near-zero spreads and charge a separate commission, typically around $7 per standard lot round turn. Compare the all-in figure — spread plus commission — or you're comparing two different things.
The tightest raw spreads come with commission and often a higher minimum deposit. Below roughly one standard lot a week, a commission-free account with slightly wider spreads usually works out cheaper overall.
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