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FBS vs OctaFX: Comparison and Analysis

Written by Filippo Ucchino

Fact-Checked by Luca Puddu Publication Date 12 May 2023 Last Updated 2 October 2026

Our verdict · CFD/FX trading

FBS and OctaFX are two good brokers in the UK for scalping and automated trading, however FBS does not operate in the UK and OctaFX holds no licence there. That said, FBS is the better choice if you are looking for more tradable symbols (550 against 270), for high-frequency strategies, for cent accounts and for orders filled in 10 ms against 100 ms, with deposits credited on the same day and withdrawals in 1 day, against 3 days at OctaFX. OctaFX is better because it has a lower EUR/USD cost (6.00 USD per lot against 11.00 USD), runs cTrader next to the MetaTrader platforms both brokers share and opens fixed-spread accounts. Neither FBS nor OctaFX is regulated in the UK, but FBS holds licences from CySEC and ASIC, and OctaFX from CySEC. Both brokers ask for a minimum deposit of 5.00 USD, cover CFDs on commodities, forex, indices and stocks, open micro, raw spread and ECN accounts, allow hedging, expert advisors, VPS hosting and API access, offer copy and social trading, and hold two account base currencies.

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FBS

CFD FX

FBS review ›

79CFD/FX

Not available in the UK

66.43% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

OctaFX

CFD FX

OctaFX review ›

80CFD/FX

Not licensed in the UK

73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

Best for

1 / 12

OctaFX is better than FBS for day traders, high-volume traders and swing traders. Scalpers, news traders and algo traders can choose either OctaFX or FBS.

Best for
Overall score	FBS 79 -1	OctaFX 80
Day trading i
Long-term investing i
Professional traders i
High-volume traders i
Scalpers i
Swing traders i
News traders i
Algo traders i
Stock traders i
Crypto traders i
Futures traders i
Options traders i

Regulation

2 / 12

Neither FBS nor OctaFX is regulated in the UK. FBS and OctaFX are both regulated by top-tier authorities, FBS by CySEC and ASIC (Australia) and OctaFX by CySEC. FBS does not operate in the UK.

Regulation
Section score	FBS 100 Best	OctaFX 85 -15
Tier-1 regulators
ESMA (European Union) i
FCA (United Kingdom) i
ASIC (Australia) i
CFTC (United States) i
NFA (United States) i
SEC (United States) i
CIRO (Canada) i
MAS (Singapore) i
SFC (Hong Kong) i
JFSA (Japan) i
FINMA (Switzerland) i
Tier-2 regulators
FMA (New Zealand) i
CBR (Russia) i
FSCA (South Africa) i
DFSA (Dubai) i
CSRC (China) i
ISA (Israel) i
LFSA (Malaysia) i
JSC (Jordan) i
CMA (Kenya) i
Tier-3 regulators
FSA (Seychelles) i
MMA (Maldives) i
SCB (Bahamas) i
FSC (Mauritius) i
VFSC (Vanuatu) i
FSC (Belize) i
CIMA (Cayman Islands) i
SV FSA (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) i
FSRC (St. Kitts & Nevis) i
BMA (Bermuda) i
BVI FSC (British Virgin Islands) i
EDR (External Dispute Resolution) i

Safety

3 / 12

FBS and OctaFX both offer segregated client funds and two-factor authentication. OctaFX holds no licence in the UK and is not covered by the FSCS.

Safety
Section score	FBS 65	OctaFX 65
Company info
Is it publicly traded i
Is it a bank i
Year founded i	2009	2011
Parent company i	FBS Markets Inc	Octa Markets Incorporated
CEO i	Christos Kakourides	Pavel Prozorov
Money safety
Segregated client funds i
Two-factor authentication i
Investor compensation scheme i
Additional money insurance i
Partner bank i	N/A	N/A
Brand power
Number of customers worldwide i	27,000,000	40,000,000
Annual revenue i
Monthly website search traffic i

Costs

4 / 12

OctaFX is better than FBS for costs, as OctaFX is cheaper on EUR/USD, at 6 USD per lot (against FBS's 11 USD), has tighter gold CFD spreads, at 0.26 points (against FBS's 0.31 points), and does not charge currency conversion fees, unlike FBS. Neither FBS nor OctaFX charges account maintenance fees or deposit fees.

Costs
Section score	FBS 57 -28	OctaFX 85 Best
Broker fees
Deposit fees i
Withdrawal fees i
Overnight fees i
Inactivity fees i
Currency conversion fees i
Discounts on volume i
Real time market data fee i
Dividend withholding i
Account opening fees i
Account maintenance fee i
Portfolio management fee i
Fees on CFDs
Forex commission per lot i	Free	Free
EUR/USD average standard spread i	1.1 pips	0.6 pips
EUR/USD average raw spread i
EUR/USD average fixed spread i
EUR/USD total cost per lot i	USD 11	USD 6
S&P 500 fees (CFD) i	0.6 points	2 points
Gold fees (CFD) i	0.31 points	0.26 points
Bitcoin fees (CFD) i	USD 19.75	USD 29
US stocks fees (CFD) i	Free	Free
Fees on stocks
Stock fee type i	Spread	Commission, Percentage, Spread
US stocks fees (real) i		USD 30
ETF fees (real) i
Management costs i
Connection costs i
Fees on futures
Futures fees per contract i
Platform fees i
Fees on options
Options fees per contract i
Event fees i
Fees on savings plans
IRA opening fee i
IRA maintenance fee i
401k opening fee i
401k maintenance fee i

Available markets

5 / 12

FBS and OctaFX are close on available markets. Both FBS and OctaFX offer CFDs on commodities, crypto, forex, indices and stocks. FBS goes a step further, as it gives access to 550 tradable symbols (against OctaFX's 270).

Available markets
Section score	FBS 75	OctaFX 75
Total tradable symbols i	550	270
Currency pairs i
Indices i
Commodities i
Stocks i
ETF i
Cryptocurrencies i
Bonds i
Interest rates i
Portfolios i
CFDs i	Commodities, Crypto, Forex, Indices, Stocks	Commodities, Crypto, Forex, Indices, Stocks
Futures i
Options i
Assets you can own i

Platform

6 / 12

OctaFX is better than FBS for platforms, given that OctaFX offers cTrader and AutoChartist, which FBS does not. Both FBS and OctaFX offer MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4.

Platform
Section score	FBS 66 -23	OctaFX 89 Best
Proprietary platform i
MetaTrader 4 i
MetaTrader 5 i
cTrader i
Social trading platform i
Copy trading platform i
ZuluTrade i
TradingView i
Duplitrade i
Mirror Trader i
NinjaTrader i
AutoChartist i
Real time pricing i
5 digit pricing i
One-click trading i

Mobile

7 / 12

There is little between FBS and OctaFX on mobile trading, as both offer a proprietary mobile app and the MetaTrader 5 app. OctaFX goes a step further, as it offers the cTrader app.

Mobile
Section score	FBS 100	OctaFX 100
Proprietary app i
Social trading app i
Copy trading app i
MetaTrader 4 app i
MetaTrader 5 app i
cTrader app i
Mobile trading signals i
Mobile alerts i
Mobile charting tools i
Mobile drawing tools i
Mobile watchlist i
Smartwatch app i

Trading features

8 / 12

OctaFX is better than FBS for trading features, because OctaFX offers trailing stops, which FBS does not. Both FBS and OctaFX offer negative balance protection and tier-1 liquidity providers. The leverage shown for FBS is set by its Belize entity and exceeds the retail limit in the UK (30:1 on major currency pairs). The leverage shown for OctaFX is set by its Saint Lucia entity and exceeds the retail limit in the UK (30:1 on major currency pairs).

Trading features
Section score	FBS 79 -4	OctaFX 83 Best
Trade execution
Broker type i	NDD	NDD
Average execution time i	10 ms	100 ms
Slippage occurrence i
Requotes occurrence i	0%
Tier-1 liquidity providers i
PFOF i
Leverage
Major FX pairs leverage i	3000:1	1000:1
Minor/Exotic FX pairs leverage i	3000:1	1000:1
Major indices leverage i	500:1	400:1
Minor indices leverage i	200:1	400:1
Gold leverage i	500:1	1000:1
Commodities leverage i	500:1	400:1
Equities leverage i	100:1
Cryptocurrency leverage i		200:1
Risk management
Stop losses i
Take profits i
Limit orders i
Trailing stop i
Margin call i
OCO orders i
Guaranteed stop loss i
Negative balance protection i
Minimum trade size (FX) i	0.01 lots	0.01 lots
Minimum trade size (stocks) i	USD 0	USD 0
Fractional stocks i
Trading compliance
Scalping strategies allowed i
Hedging strategies allowed i
Automated trading strategy allowed i
EAs use allowed i
HFT strategy allowed i
VPS use allowed i
API use allowed i
Price scraping allowed i
FIFO rule applies i

Account types

9 / 12

FBS and OctaFX are equally good for account types, as FBS offers a copy trading account and a cent account while OctaFX offers an unlimited demo account and a fixed spread account. FBS and OctaFX both offer a demo account and a managed account.

Account types
Section score	FBS 70 -2	OctaFX 72
Demo account i
Unlimited demo account i
Standard account i
Micro account i
Cent account i
Nano account i
Raw spread account i
ECN account i
Swap-free account i
Islamic account i
Professional traders account i
Fixed spread account i
Spread betting account i
Copy trading account i
Corporate account i
Managed account i
Stock investing account i
Margin investing account i
Savings account i
Retirement account i

Account opening

10 / 12

OctaFX is better than FBS for account opening, as OctaFX offers a bonus program, which FBS does not. Both require a minimum deposit of 5 USD. FBS does not operate in the UK and OctaFX holds no licence there.

Account opening
Section score	FBS 75 -5	OctaFX 80 Best
Minimum deposit i	USD 5	USD 5
Minimum withdrawal i	USD 0	USD 0
Wire transfers i
Credit cards i
Debit cards i
eWallets i	Neteller, Skrill	Neteller, Skrill
Local payment methods i
Account base currencies i	EUR, USD	EUR, USD
Deposit waiting time i	Instant	up to 3 business days
Withdrawal waiting time i	up to 1 business days	up to 3 business days
Bonus program i

Customer care

11 / 12

FBS is better than OctaFX for customer care, because FBS has a website in 15 languages (against OctaFX's 11), and offers a dedicated account manager and priority support, which OctaFX does not. FBS and OctaFX both offer phone support and live chat.

Customer care
Section score	FBS 82 Best	OctaFX 67 -15
Number of languages supported i	15	11
Website languages i	Arabic, German, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Chinese	Bangla, German, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Chinese
Website available in English i
Customer support languages i	Arabic, English, Indonesian, Malay, Spanish, Thai, Turkish	Bangla, German, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Chinese
Customer support in English i
Call back request i
Email support i
Phone support i
Live chat i
Priority customer support i
Dedicated account manager i
Cash sweep i
Stock lending i
Distributes proceeds i
Tax withholding agent i
Tax assistance i

Learning

12 / 12

FBS is better than OctaFX for learning, given that FBS offers daily market commentary, which OctaFX does not. Both FBS and OctaFX offer education for advanced traders and webinars.

Learning
Section score	FBS 83 Best	OctaFX 75 -8
Education
Education center i
Education for beginners i
Education for advanced traders i
Webinars i
Tutorials i
Glossary i
Research
Economic calendar i
Traders' sentiment i
Daily market commentary i
Daily trading ideas i
News via social media i
Professional reports i
Watchlist i

FBS

Not available in the UK 66.43% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

OctaFX

Not licensed in the UK 73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

Our verdict

FBS vs OctaFX: which one should you choose?

FBS

CFD/FX Choose FBS if you want a CFD and forex broker with fast execution and cent accounts and live in a country where it accepts clients.

Not available in the UK 66.43% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

OctaFX

CFD/FX Choose OctaFX if you want an online CFD broker with low trading costs, cTrader and fixed-spread accounts and live in a country where it is licensed to operate.

Not licensed in the UK 73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

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