Pepperstone
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74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs
10 Best Forex Brokers for Professional Traders for 2023
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IC Markets
Visit IC Markets74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money -
FxPro
Visit FxPro72.87% of retail investor accounts lose money -
IG Markets
Visit IG Markets70% of retail CFD accounts lose money -
Forex.com
Visit Forex.com73% of retail investor accounts lose money -
eToro
Visit eToro77% of retail investor accounts lose money -
AvaTrade
Visit AvaTrade79% of retail investor accounts lose money -
Oanda
Visit OandaCFDs are not available to residents in the United States -
Interactive Brokers
Visit Interactive Brokers74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money -
Saxo Bank
Visit Saxo Bank72% of retail investor accounts lose money
A “forex broker for professional” refers to a forex (Foreign Exchange) brokerage firm or platform that caters specifically to experienced and professional traders.
These brokers typically offer a suite of advanced forex trading platforms and tools, features, and services designed to meet the nuanced needs of professional traders.
In this article, we have grouped the best forex brokers for professional trading.
To make this list, we have taken the following elements into consideration:
- the availability of a professional account
- the leverage available
- the advantages you get with pro trading
- the protections you give up
Table of Content
Round-Up
Warning
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
| Brokers for Professional traders | Minimum Deposit | Max Leverage for PRO Customers |
|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | 0 USD | 1:500 |
| IC Markets | 0 USD | 1:500 |
| FxPro | 100 USD | 1:500 |
| IG Markets | 300 USD | 1:222 |
| Forex.com | 100 USD | 1:200 |
| eToro | 50 USD | 1:400 |
| AvaTrade | 100 USD | 1:400 |
| Oanda | 0 USD | 1:100 |
| Interactive Brokers | 0 USD | 1:400 |
| Saxo Bank | 500 USD | 1:66 |
What are the best forex brokers for professionals?
Below our curated list of the best forex brokers for professional traders, with details of features and characteristics.
- As a professional trader with Pepperstone under CySEC, FCA, ASIC, DFSA, and SCB, you will find leverage of up to 1:500 available on forex.
- Under CMA regulation, Pepperstone doesn’t offer a pro account to traders in Kenya.
- WIth Pepperstone you can trade on more than 1,200 CFDs including more than 60 forex pairs.
- You will not find any negative balance protection as a pro trader but they do offer a free VPS and excellent rebate program (up to 15%) known as Pepperstone Active Trader Program.
- Pepperstone Razor accounts are the only ones available to earn rebates for pro traders with a spread from 0 pips on EUR/USD and a commission of $3.50 per side.
- Professional traders can find the Pepperstone Razor account an ideal place for scalping as orders are processed fast at approximately ~30 milliseconds.
- Professional traders with Pepperstone will benefit from a dedicated relationship manager and a priority service.
74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs
- Professional traders with IC Markets will have leverage of up to 1:500 available.
- IC Markets offers access to more than 2000 tradable instruments including more than 60 currency pairs.
- Trading with an IC Markets Raw Spread account, pro traders can avail of 0 pips spread with a commission of $3.50 ($3.00 on cTrader).
- By qualifying as an IC Markets wholesale client you will waive some retail benefits such as the Negative Balance Protection.
- IC Markets does not offer any dedicated rebates program to pro traders.
- FxPro offers a professional account with leverage up to 500:1.
- FxPro makes available over 2100 CFDs to trade including more than 70 forex pairs.
- Most client orders are filled in under 14 milliseconds by FxPro.
- Pro traders here will also continue to retain the benefit of negative balance protection while having access to use VPS
- Up to 30% discount on spreads and up to 30% lower commission on cTrader accounts for professional traders with FxPro.
- There are no rebates available for high-volume traders with FxPro.
- Pro traders with IG Markets will find leverage of up to 1:222 available.
- Under ASIC oversight, IG Markets offers two different levels of Pro accounts with leverage up to 250:1 on major forex pairs (or up to 100:1 on Pro Level 1 with Negative Balance Protection available).
- IG Markets offers more than 17,000 CFDs to trade together with over 90 currency pairs.
- Pro traders have access to more assets such as Digital100 and options CFDs with IG Markets.
- Access to several exclusive services that retail customers do not have and a three-month free trial with IG Markets ProRealTime’s advanced graphics.
- IG Markets offers monthly spread rebates to professional traders up to 20% according to trading volume on forex, indices, and commodities.
- Negative balance protection is something you will lose as a professional trader with IG Markets.
- Professional traders benefit from prioritized speed and likelihood of execution with IG Markets, rather than price and cost of the transaction.
- IG Markets also offers a Select account for premium features such as no Friday night sweep, reduced margins, and dedicated support for closing positions.
- With Forex.com you will have access to a professional account with leverage of up to 1:400, if you are trading under FCA oversight.
- Forex.com offers trading on over 4500 CFDs including more than 80 forex pairs.
- Forex.com Pro account under FCA doesn’t provide for Negative Balance Protection, but you will be eligible for monthly cash rebates instead.
- Experienced traders only can access a Forex.com DMA account with no spread, only a standard commission which may get reduced according to your trading volume.
- Under CFTC regulation, Forex.com active traders can open an STP Pro Trading account with no additional mark-ups and volume discounts the more you trade.
- Forex.com’s STP Pro account gives you access to very deep liquidity as an advanced trader displayed in real time
- You will also be able to benefit from their Active Trader program and get cash rebates up to $10 per lot traded.
- eToro professional account is available only to clients under FCA and CySEC regulations.
- You will find leverage of as much as 1:400 as a pro trader with eToro.
- You can trade over 3,000 CFDs on eToro including more than 45 forex pairs.
- eToro doesn’t offer negative balance protection to professional traders, You can find instead a volume-based rebate and leveraged crypto trading.
- The eToro Popular Investor Program is designed for experienced investors to gain an annual-base income by being copied on the social trading platform.
- There is no opportunity to use a VPS with eToro even for pro traders.
- You can also reduce trading costs through the eToro Club Program.
- AvaTrade pro account is available for EU, UK, and Australian clients.
- You will find leverage of up to 1:400 available to professional clients with AvaTrade.
- You can find over 1000 tradable assets with AvaTrade including more than 55 forex pairs.
- Pro traders can still benefit from fixed spreads offered by AvaTrade and boost trading with reduced spread from 0.6 pips on EUR/USD.
- AvaTrade professional traders are not covered by the negative balance protection.
- There are no rebates offered to high-volume traders with AvaTrade.
- Professional traders can access leverage of up to 1:100 with Oanda.
- You can trade over 100 CFDs with Oanda, including more than 70 forex pairs.
- Oanda offers professional traders an additional 50% margin relief when placing a guaranteed stop-loss order, stop-loss order, or trailing stop loss
- You will not benefit from negative balance protection as a professional trader with Oanda.
- Professional traders with Oanda under NFA regulation also have access to the Oanda Advanced Trader program for up to a $15 per million rebate or a $15 per million commission reduction.
- Rebates and reduced commissions are only available for pro traders on Oanda Core pricing account with a spread from 0.1 pips + a $3.5 commission per side.
- A VPS for pro traders is also provided for free through the Oanda Advanced Trader program.
- Trading with Interactive Brokers as a professional trader, you can expect leverage of up to 1:400.
- Interactive Brokers provides access to over 10,000 tradable CFDs with more than 100 forex pairs.
- Costs of trades are lower as a professional trader with Interactive Brokers up to 0.08 pips on forex according to your trading volume.
- You will though miss out on negative balance protection if you are trading as a pro with Interactive Brokers.
- US traders with Interactive Brokers, under SEC regulation, have access to the IBRK Pro account for active traders with no minimum deposit nor inactivity fees.
- With an IBRK Pro account you can access the exclusive IBKR API with IB Smart Routing enabled for the best execution.
- Saxo Bank provides a professional account to elective professional clients.
- Elective professional clients with Saxo Bank have leverage available up to 1:66 on major forex pairs (with the exception of traders from Singapore with a leverage up to 50:1 and in Australia is up to 67:1).
- You can trade on over 40,000 CFDs including more than 180 forex pairs, even though the amount may change according to the Saxo Bank’s entity you register with.
- Professional traders are still protected with a Guarantee Fund with Saxo Bank.
- Negative Balance Protection is not in place for professionals at Saxo Bank.
- As a Professional client, you can use a percentage of your shareholdings as collateral for margin trading with Saxo Bank.
- Certain products and risk-management features are only available to Professional Investors and you may be invited to give feedback to Saxo Bank on new products.
How to become a professional forex trader
In every major regulatory area, including the EU, UK, Australia, Canada, and others, there are requirements you will need to meet to be designated a professional trader. These typically relate to trading in high volumes, having experience with managing large amounts of money, and having professional financial work experience in the forex/CFD area.
Using ESMA for EU regulations as an example, you must meet at least two of the following requirements:
- Have working experience in the field of forex or CFD (or related fields) of at least 1 year
- Opened at least ten significantly sized transactions per quarter during the past year
- Have a financial portfolio exceeding 500,000 EUR in value
How long does it take to become a professional forex trader?
An average forex trader takes at least 2 years of continuous practice, time and dedication to become a professional forex trader.
Forex traders must:
- Control emotions while trading to avoid closing positions out of fear
- Know how to control risk to earn more than they will lose
- Know the market to understand how a certain thing can move the prices
- Know when and how to stop to avoid being too greedy or keep trading on a bad day
The best steps to follow for getting started are listed below:
- Open a forex demo account to get a grasp of forex trading in a risk-free environment.
- Start studying and trading at the same time. You can apply for a forex trading course or use online content such as babypips and lots of other great educational forex content.
- Open a low-budget trading account so you are not risking huge amounts of money. You can use cent accounts for this purpose.
- Open a regular brokerage account with a forex broker when you feel ready to engage in full live trading.
How much do professional forex traders make?
Professional forex traders on average try to achieve a profit of 5-15% per month. This means that on a $10,000 account, they try to generate between $7,000 to $36,500 per year taking into account the compound income.
However, being a professional in no way guarantees that you will make a profit. Being a professional only refers to the trading methodology used, not to the amount of profits, which are never guaranteed.
About The Author
Filippo Ucchino
Co-Founder - CEO - Broker Expert
Filippo is the co-founder and CEO of InvestinGoal.com. He has 15 years of experience in the financial sector and forex in particular. He started his career as a forex trader in 2005 and then became interested in the whole fintech and crypto sector.
Over this time, he has developed an almost scientific approach to the analysis of brokers, their services, and offerings. In addition, he is an expert in Compliance and Security Policies for consumers protection in this sector.
With InvestinGoal, Filippo’s goal is to bring as much clarity as possible to help users navigate the world of online trading, forex, and cryptocurrencies.
10 Best Forex Brokers for Professional Traders for 2023
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