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A scalping forex broker refers to a Forex (foreign exchange) brokerage firm that allows and is particularly suitable for the trading strategy known as scalping.

Scalping is very popular first in Forex, but is also used by many traders in trading CFDs (Contract For Difference), Cryptos and Stocks.

Forex scalping is a strategy used by traders to profit from very small price changes in currency pairs. A scalper will place anywhere from 10 to a few hundreds trades in a single day, with the aim of gaining a few pips per trade. These trades are typically opened and closed within a short time frame, often just a few seconds or minutes.

Not all forex brokers allow scalping. Some brokers consider it against their policy due to various reasons like the added cost of supporting such high-frequency, low-latency trading, or the potential for manipulation and abuse.

In this article we have grouped together some of the best scalping forex brokers, which not only allow it, but where the trading conditions are most favourable for this particular strategy.

To choose the brokers we have taken into consideration a number of factors:

  • The orders execution speed of the broker
  • The maximum leverage allowed on forex
  • The overall commissions when scalping on forex
  • The platforms made available from the brokers
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.

FOREX BROKER FOR SCALPING SPREADS ON FOREX FROM FEE PER EVERY $100.000 TRADED EXECUTION SPEED
Pepperstone 0 pips $7 ~30 ms
IC Markets 0 pips $6 ~66 ms
HF Markets 0 pips $6 ~600 ms
Admirals 0 pips $3.60 ~150 ms
Vantage 0 pips $6 ~100 ms
FP Markets 0 pips $6 ~30 ms
OctaFX 0.2 pips $10 ~100 ms
Forex.com 0.2 pips $10 ~40 ms
AvaTrade 0.9 pips N/A ~300 ms
Roboforex 0 pips $10 ~100 ms

What are the best scalping brokers?

Below is our curated list of the best scalping brokers both for forex and CFDs. Included in this listing are ECN, low-spread non-ECN brokers, and fixed spread brokers.

All of these support scalping and are the top broker choices we have found in the industry.

  • Pepperstone with its Pepperstone Razor account offers an excellent and very liquid environment for scalping.
  • Pepperstone charges spreads on forex as low as 0 pips with a per-side commission of $3.5 per lot.
  • The Pepperstone Razor account allows traders to open and close positions with an average of 0.35ms
  • Scalpers on Pepperstone can open positions with leverage up to 1:500 depending on their country of residence.
  • In addition to MT4 and MT5, Pepperstone also offers cTrader as a platform for scalping.
  • For scalpers who are able to achieve substantial volumes, there is the Pepperstone active trader program that further reduces trading costs.
74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs
  • IC Markets allows scalping on MT4, MT5, and cTrader.
  • IC Markets’ Raw Spread accounts allow scalpers to access minimum forex spreads with a $6 fee per lot
  • IC Markets maximum leverage for scalpers is up to 1:500 depending on country of residence.
  • IC Markets executes its clients’ orders in ~0.35ms
  • Scalpers on IC Markets can implement automated trading strategies
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • HF Markets allows scalpers to use leverage up to 1:1000 depending on the broker’s branch.
  • Spreads on HF Markets start at 0 pip, with an additional fee of $6 per lot traded.
  • Scalpers on HF Markets can use either MT4 or MT5.
70.51% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • Admirals offers a flexible trading environment, with 4 different accounts for scalping.
  • The maximum leverage for traders on Admirals is 1:500 depending on the country.
  • On Admirals, 18 forex pairs can be traded with forex spreads as low as 0 pips and a $6 commission per lot.
  • Admirals offers a cashback service for traders who manage to achieve high trading volumes.
  • Scalpers on Admirals can trade on MT4 or MT5, with an average order execution speed of 150ms.
76% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • Vantage is the scalper broker that charges the lowest commissions, with forex spreads of 8 pips and $1.8 per side each lot traded.
  • Vantage offers numerous ECN account types and offers an execution speed of 100ms on average.
  • The maximum leverage that can be found on Vantage is 1:500, however it may be less depending on the country of residence.
  • On Vantage, scalpers can trade over 40 forex pairs on MT4 and MT5
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • FP Markets with its efficient ECN execution is a good broker for scalping.
  • FP Markets spreads start at 0 pips, with an additional commission of $6 per lot traded.
  • Order execution is extremely efficient with an average of 0.30ms for opening or closing a trading position.
  • Maximum leverage for scalpers at FP Markets varies depending on the trader’s country of residence, but can be as high as 1:500.
  • With FP Markets, scalping can be done on both MT4 and MT5.
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • OctaFX is a very versatile broker for scalping
  • OctaFX allows you to trade on MT4 or MT5.
  • Forex spreads for scalpers are not the lowest, in fact they start at 0.2 pips, with a fee of $10 per lot traded
  • Maximum leverage for OctaFX scalpers is up to 1:500
  • OctaFX has fairly efficient forex order execution, averaging 100ms per order.
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
  • Forex.com is an excellent broker for scalping forex in the US.
  • Forex spreads on this broker start at 0 pip with a fairly low per-lot commission of $4.
  • Forex.com’s order execution speed is equally efficient, with 40ms on average.
  • Although the best Forex.com account for scalping (DMA account) requires a minimum deposit of $25,000, you can still start with a Forex.com Standard account.
73% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • AvaTrade is a good broker for all scalpers looking for fixed spreads.
  • AvaTrade charges fixed forex spreads starting at 0.9 pips, which drop further to 0.6 pips for professional clients (with no additional commissions)
  • Allows trading over 60 forex pairs, and scalping its on MT4 and MT5
  • To offer fixed spreads AvaTrade acts as a market maker, which is also reflected in the reduced execution speed compared to its competitors, which on average takes 300ms.
79% of retail investor accounts lose money
  • RoboForex offers a good number of accounts for forex scalping.
  • RoboForex’s leverage goes up to 1:300
  • Scalpers on RoboForex can open an ECN account with as little as $10
  • The execution speed of orders on RoboForex is about 100ms.
  • On RoboForex, traders can easily use automated trading strategies that can be implemented on MT4, MT5, cTrader, or the broker’s proprietary platform.
61.41% of retail CFD accounts lose money

How to choose the best broker for scalping

It is necessary to find a broker presenting the following basic features to best suit scalping:

  • Choose a broker with extremely low spread on forex, raw spreads from 0 pips are best.
  • Check the availabilityty of high liquidity assets
  • Possibility to analyze markets with several indicators, possibly customizable and/or using custom coded indicators
  • “Market depth” visibility is optional, but very useful. cTrader platform has this feature
  • No dealing desk execution such as the one offered by ECN and STP brokers is best because it’s faster and with lower spreads compared to the dealing desk one
  • High leverage (above 1:30 if possible) can be useful to amplify the market exposure, but it will make scalping even more risky than it already is. Only professionals should think about using high leverage, especially when scalping
  • Choose a forex broker regulated by regulations such as FCA, NFA, ASIC or european watchdogs such as CySEC

Given the peculiarities of scalping, not all forex brokers encourage it. Some even forbid it.

How does forex scalping work?

Forex scalping aims to capture small price movements in the currency market by holding positions for very short durations, often minutes or seconds.

Forex scalpers need quick decision-making, concentration and psychological solidity as scalping strategies require the traders to open many trades throughout the day, with the goal of staking tiny profits from each and cutting losses to a minimum.

To take advantage of the continuous price variations, scalpers must dedicate several hours of activity to graphs, keeping a steady and constant focus and carrying out many operations. It isn’t rare to see scalpers performing even more than 100 operations in just a day’s trading.

Forex Scalping: ECN vs Non-ECN vs Fixed Spreads

As mentioned, the listing of top brokers for scalping above includes some ECN, non-ECN, and fixed spread brokers. Here is a look at some of the positives of each, and who they may suit best for trading with.

The positives of an ECN broker are that you will typically find lower spreads. These will often be combined with deeper liquidity making it fast and easier to execute trades at good prices.

On the downside, the low spreads are floating so there can be some uncertainty as to the exact cost when opening and closing your positions. This can be a challenge in scalping. 

Best choice: The best choice for scalping with an ECN broker from us is Pepperstone.

Non-ECN: When it comes to a non-ECN broker these will vary. This depends on the individual broker with some offering ECN characteristics on liquidity and costs. With that said, though they may be similar in these areas, they do not often match up as well as ECN brokers but can still provide very fast trade execution at a low cost.

Best choice: Forex.com is a DMA broker and our favored choice if you are looking to scalp with a non-ECN broker.

Fixed spreads: These brokers will often have higher spreads than floating spread brokers. The upside though is that since fixed spreads do not change, they can provide you a good degree of certainty over cost when opening and closing trades. Fixed spreads are usually offered by market makers brokers and you should also take note of any other costs or fees they may have. 

Best choice: AvaTrade is a well-known market maker broker and our top choice if you are looking to scalp with fixed spreads.

BEST BROKER FOR SCALPING PEPPERSTONE FOREX.COM AVATRADE
Broker Type ECN DMA Market Maker
Minimum deposit $0 $100 $100
Avg EUR-USD spread 0,09 pips 0,30 pips 0,90 pips
Deep liquidity Yes Yes Yes
Algo Trading Yes Yes Yes
VPS Yes Yes Yes

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.

How to choose the best broker for scalping

It is necessary to find a broker presenting the following basic features to best suit scalping:

  • Choose a broker with extremely low spread on forex, raw spreads from 0 pips are best.
  • Check the availabilityty of high liquidity assets
  • Possibility to analyze markets with several indicators, possibly customizable and/or using custom coded indicators
  • “Market depth” visibility is optional, but very useful. cTrader platform has this feature
  • No dealing desk execution such as the one offered by ECN and STP brokers is best because it’s faster and with lower spreads compared to the dealing desk one
  • High leverage (above 1:30 if possible) can be useful to amplify the market exposure, but it will make scalping even more risky than it already is. Only professionals should think about using high leverage, especially when scalping
  • Choose a forex broker regulated by regulations such as FCA, NFA, ASIC or european watchdogs such as CySEC

Given the peculiarities of scalping, not all forex brokers encourage it. Some even forbid it.z

How does the Scalper Trader profit from the market?

Scalpers profit from the market by finding trading opportunities through technical analysis and extremely advanced risk-return ratio risk analysis.

Professional traders aim at having a good risk/returns ratio (from 1:2 up), which allows them to sustain even smaller percentages of success, even below 50%, still generating profits. However, this isn’t the case for scalpers. Taking profits after such short times, the risk/returns value tends to be quite low, which forces scalpers to keep an extremely high percentage of winning trades to constantly generate profits.

This activity isn’t for anyone. Besides having solid technology assets (such as PC, monitors, etc.) and a fast, stable connection, scalping requires extremely high self-discipline and concentration.

Furthermore, obviously, it is necessary to work with a good scalping forex broker, preferably one from the list.

How much money does scalping require?

Scalping forex brokers typically require $200 to open a trading account, however, much less money can be used to open scalping orders.

To open a scalping order, a base amount of $1000 (equivalent to 1 micro lot) is usually recommended. But, the actual money needed depends on the broker’s offered leverage. For instance, with a leverage of 1:100, you’d only need $10 ($1000 divided by 100) to open an order.

The best financial assets for scalping

For scalping to be effective, trading assets that offer high liquidity are essential. High liquidity ensures swift entry and exit from the market and reduces chances of slippage or requotes. The best assets for scalping include Major forex pairs, major indices and derivatives such as CFDs.

Scalping forex brokers FAQs

Which forex broker is best for scalping?

The best broker choice, if you are interested in scalping, is Pepperstone. They can offer a great combination of low spreads, excellent rebates for professional scalpers, and really deep liquidity to ensure your orders are executed quickly at the best prices.

What type of account is best for scalping?

The type of account you will find suitable is really an individual choice that will depend on your trading needs and goals. With that said, many find ECN forex scalping accounts to offer the best environment and conditions.

Which MT4 forex broker is the best for scalping?

When it comes to MT4 scalping forex broker choices, IC Markets is considered one of the best. They are a very popular choice among algo-traders in particular and provide an extremely low spread trading environment which, when combined with their ECN liquidity, makes them an ideal choice.


filippo ucchino

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.

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