Best Low Spread Forex Brokers

Wide forex spreads can have a significant negative impact on the profitability of trading, and choosing a broker with tight spreads will save you a lot of money

When trading forex, the spread is the difference between the rate at which an asset is being sold and the rate at which it is being bought. In other words, it is the difference between the bid and ask prices. The bid price is the price at which the broker or market maker is offering to buy the base currency, while the ask price is the price at which the broker or market maker is offering to sell the base currency.

Brokers themselves can also widen their bid-ask spread as a way to make money. Even if a broker advertises no-commission trading, their spreads might be wide enough that you would be better off trading with a broker that charges a commission but has tighter spreads.

In order to make a profit on a forex trade, you need to cover both the spread and any applicable fees. When trading forex, you want to choose a broker with low spreads in order to save on transaction costs.

Now that we have a basic understanding of how the spread works in the forex market and why a narrower spread is a better deal for traders, let’s take a look at each broker that made our shortlist of the best low spread forex brokers.

1. CMC Markets

CMC Markets has earned its reputation as a leader in forex trading. The CMC Markets platform provides traders comprehensive research and market analysis tools, making it a good option for traders who rely on data-driven decisions.

This broker provides low spreads for some of the most popular forex trading pairs – 0.5 pips on EUR/USD, 0.9 pips on GBP/USD and 0.7 pips on USD/JPY. Traders who want to trade with zero spread on CMC Markets can create an “FX Active” account, which has 0.0 pip spreads with a fixed commission of $2.50 per $100,000 in notional value traded. FX Active can be accessed on MetaTrader 4 or on the CMC Markets proprietary web trading platform.

On top of its low spread offering, CMC markets also provides a fully-featured trading interface, which allows traders to benefit from charting tools and advanced order types (including orders such as partial closure and trailing stop loss).

In addition, the CMC Markets mobile application is one of the best in the business, providing forex traders the ability to trade efficiently even when on the go.

2. Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is a renowned trading platform that’s usually favored by experienced traders who require advanced functionality.

Interactive Brokers distinguishes itself with its FXTrader feature, which a specialized platform designed for forex traders. FXTrader features a modern user interface, real-time quotes, a large number indicators and other advanced tools.

On FXTrader, traders get access to interbank-quality spreads, which can be as low as 0.1 pips. The platform supports more than 20 order types, allowing traders to implement sophisticated trading strategies.

Interactive Brokers is a trading platform that’s best suited for those who already have experience in the markets and are looking for powerful features. However, it’s difficult to recommend for beginners, who might find the platform too overwhelming.

3. IC Markets

IC Markets is a forex and CFD broker that offers well over 2,000 instruments for trading. This broker supports MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader platforms, has a relatively low $200 minimum deposit requirement, and has competitive spreads.

IC Markets offers competitive spreads on its Standard account, often outperforming the industry average across various asset classes, including forex, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. This makes it an attractive option for traders who are looking for cost-efficient trading.

In addition to its favorable spreads, IC Markets gives day traders a way to stay on top of the latest trading opportunities with the Trading Central and Autochartist tools.

Notably, IC Markets gives users the option to open a Raw Spread account, which offers very low spreads and a fixed commission of $3.50 per lot (per side). The account is designed to suit the needs of day traders, scalpers and other types of traders who require maximum efficiency.

4. IG

IG is a well-established online trading platform that’s suitable for both beginners and advanced traders. Beginners will appreciate the platform’s educational resources, unlimited forex demo trading mode and streamlined web trading platform. Meanwhile, advanced traders will be able to take advantage of competitive spreads, robust selection of indicators, a good range of available order types, support for MetaTrader 4 and much more.

In addition to its proprietary web-based trading platform, IG offers ProRealTime, a top-tier platform for dedicated traders. IG enhances its MT4 with 18 add-ons and Autochartist, offering an impressive range of features for demanding traders