At InvestinGoal, we adhere to strict standards to ensure an unbiased review process. We conduct our reviews by examining each broker’s offering and performance across 4 key categories. A final rating is produced for each forex broker based on a total of 187 data points. Learn more about our review process and methodology.
In this article we have grouped some of the best brokers that offer low spreads.
We have taken the following factors into consideration to compile the ranking:
- Spreads without mark-ups
- Low fees per lot
- The broker’s minimum deposit
- The overall quality of the broker
- The trading platforms offered
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
Low spread FX brokers | Avg. EUR/USD spreads | Fee per lot (round-turn) |
---|---|---|
Pepperstone | 0.09 pips | 7 USD |
IC Markets | 0.10 pips | 6 USD |
XM | 0.10 pips | 7 USD |
Fusion Markets | 0.09 pips | 9 USD |
FxPro | 0.45 pips | 9 USD |
FBS | 0.50 pips | 6 USD |
FXTM | 0.10 pips | 4 USD |
FP Markets | 0.45 pips | 6 USD |
Vantage | 0.50 pips | 6 USD |
Axiory | 0.30 pips | 6 USD |
Review
1. Pepperstone
- Pepperstone offers low spreads as low as 0 pips with fees per lot of $4.
- Low spreads on Pepperstone are offered especially on the Razor account which requires a minimum deposit of $200.
- Traders on Pepperstone can trade forex on MT4, MT5, and cTrader.
- Trading costs on Pepperstone can be further limited with the active trader program available for professionals.
Visit Pepperstone
(75.9% of retail CFD accounts lose money)
2. IC Markets
- IC Markets allows trading forex pairs with low spreads as low as 0 pips.
- Low spreads are available on all three account types offered by IC Markets.
- IC Markets offers its traders MT4, MT5, and cTrader to trade through.
- Commissions per lot on IC Markets start at $6 on cTrader and $7 on MetaTrader.
Visit IC Markets
(74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money)
3. XM
- XM’s spreads start at 0 pips on forex.
- XM charges an additional $7 commission for each lot traded.
- XM requires a minimum deposit of only $5 to begin trading with its Zero Spread accounts.
- Low spreads on XM are also ensured by excellent order management that makes the percentage of requotes minimal.
Visit XM
73.57% of retail CFD accounts lose money
4. Fusion Markets
- Fusion Markets does not charge a mark-up on the spread and charges a fee of $9 per lot.
- Fusion Markets’ various low spread accounts require no minimum deposit.
- The trading platforms offered by Fusion Markets are MT4 and MT5.
Visit Fusion Markets
Your capital is at risk
5. FxPro
- At FxPro you can trade forex with low spreads on cTrader.
- Spreads on FxPro’s cTrader account start at 0 pips, with fees per lot starting at $9.
- The minimum deposit is the same for all FxPro account types and starts at $100.
Visit FxPro
72.87% of retail CFD accounts lose money
6. FBS
- FBS offers several account types with low spreads, but these are not available in Europe.
- FBS’s Standard account has spreads starting at 0.5 pips with no additional fees.
- FBS’s Zero account does not charge spreads, but has fees per lot starting at $20.
- FBS’s ECN account, has negative spreads starting at -1 pip with fees per lot starting at $6.
- The minimum deposit for a low spread account with FBS starts at $100 with the standard account. The minimum deposit rises to $500 for the Zero account, and to $1000 for the ECN account.
- The platforms offered by FBS are MT4 and MT5.
Visit FBS
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
7. FXTM
- FXTM offers spreads as low as zero pips and over 45 forex pairs to trade on.
- The minimum deposit at FXTM is very low, however, for zero spread accounts the minimum deposit is $500.
- Commissions per lot on FXTM start at $4 on forex.
- On FXTM it is possible to trade on MT4.
Visit FXTM
81% of retail CFD accounts lose money
8. FP Markets
- FP Markets offers low spreads from 0 pips due to its ECN execution.
- Trading costs are kept low with a $6 fee per lot.
- The minimum deposit at FP Markets is $100.
- FP Markets accounts that offer low spreads are offered with MT4 and MT5.
Visit FP Markets
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
9. Vantage
- Vantage offers low spreads on all account types.
- The minimum deposit to trade low spreads on Vantage is $200.
- Spreads on Vantage start at 0 pips with fees per lot starting at $6.
- With Vantage you can trade forex on MT4 or MT5.
Visit Vantage
74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money
10. Axiory
- At Axiory you can trade forex with low spreads on two trading accounts.
- Axiory’s Nano account allows you to trade low spreads on MT4 and cTrader, while the Tera account offers MT5.
- Both of Axiory’s accounts offer spreads as low as 0 pips with fees per lot from $6.
- Axiory’s minimum deposit is $10.
Visit Axiory
Your capital is at risk
What is a low spread in forex?
The spread is a mark-up commission applied by a forex broker to a forex pair.
Considering that the forex market’s average spread is between 1 and 3 pips on major forex pairs, a low forex spread is considered to be any value below that average.
Nowadays, the best low spread forex brokers offer extremely tight spreads with the lowest spread available on forex starting from 0 pips.
Are low spreads worth it?
Since the spread is effectively a commission from the broker, lower spreads are always to be preferred. Low spreads are also necessary if you want to employ trading strategies such as scalping.
With that said, while a lower spread is always better, it’s important to ensure you examine the broker offering closely to avoid any other types of commission put in place of a spread.
How are forex spreads calculated?
The spread is the difference between the bid/sell prices of an asset.
This price difference is calculated in “pips” (Percentage In Points), where 1 pip is a 1 point movement in market value based typically on the fourth decimal place of a currency pair.
For example in the case of EUR/USD:
- bid/ask of 1.08335/1.08340 (0.5 pips spread)
- bid/ask of 1.08335/1.08345 (1 pip spread)
- bid/ask of 1.08335/1.08485 (5 pips spread)
JPY forex pairs: the exception to the rule
The Japanese Yen (JPY) doesn’t follow the same rules. Spreads on JPY forex pairs are measured on the second decimal place instead of on the fourth.
Here’s how to calculate the spread on USD/JPY:
- bid/ask of 110.099/110.109 (1 pip spread)
- bid/ask of 110.102/110.114 (1.2 pips spread)
- bid/ask of 110.094/110.108 (1.4 pips spread)
Forex spreads and commissions per lot: what you should expect?
In many cases, where you see a regulated forex broker offering a 0 pips spread, what they are in fact offering, is a spread that starts from 0 pips. This is still desirable, although you should be prepared for it to vary depending on the volume and volatility of the forex market at any given time. These variations can mean that your spreads can be significantly higher so it is something to look out for.
Since the spread is the main revenue for a broker, you should also take care to note any commission that may apply to low spread, or zero spread trading. If such commissions do apply, this will typically be calculated on a per lot ($100,000) of currency traded basis and is usually below $5 depending on the market.
How to estimate forex trading fees when opening a trade
Choosing a forex broker with the best spreads to offer can be valuable, however, you should also consider and be able to estimate how much the spread will cost you overall. Despite a broker having the lowest forex spreads, you should also be mindful of any commission in place.
Here’s how you can calculate currency trading commissions easily:
Forex spread
So, let’s take an example. The lowest spread forex broker you can find is offering a spread of 0.1 pips. This number translated onto a currency pair price would take effect as 0.00001.
This means that you could be looking at a situation for example, where the bid/ask would look something like, 1.08335/1.08336.
Here you can see the 0.1 pip spread has moved the ask price up to 1.08336. With a higher spread, of course this price will climb further in the same way.
Translating this number into an actual percentage, and real cash value shows us just how small it really is. In this example case, a 0.1 pip spread is equal to just 0.00092% (0.00001 / ask price), or $0.92 per standard lot traded.
Forex commission per lot
Another point you need to consider when looking at forex brokers with low spreads and low deposit minimums, is to double-check any commission per lot charges they have in place.
This typical commission charge, even for brokers with the lowest forex spreads, is usually around $7 per lot. Using this as our benchmark, it means that if you open a position for 0.5 standard lots, you will have a commission of $3.50 on opening. This is one way to charge the fee which is sometimes referred to as “per-side, per lot” commission.
In other cases with some brokers you may see commission written as “round turn”. In these cases, a round turn commission of $7 means $3.50 on opening of the trade, and $3.50 on closing. These are important details since you need to check beyond just the lowest forex spreads with all brokers.
Best low spread brokers for scalpers
Finding low spread forex brokers can be great for many traders, however, for day trading forex traders like scalpers, a forex broker with low spreads and commissions is not quite enough.
Scalpers will also need fast order execution and the ability to harness leverage to make money due to their style of trading relying on a high number of trades.
You should also remember that within the EU and UK, as well as under ASIC regulation, the highest leverage available to retail traders from any regulated forex broker is 30:1. Among these brokers, one regulated forex broker offering high leverage is IC Markets.
IC Markets, along with some others mentioned in our high leverage forex brokers top ten, can offer 500:1 leverage to some traders outside the EU, UK, and Australia. If you are a professional trader in these countries, there are also many brokers offering high leverage and the lowest forex spreads.
Which broker offers the lowest forex commissions per lot?
In addition to seeking forex brokers with low spreads, traders should also look out for those offering low commissions.
One broker offering this is FXTM through their ECN account. This account charges traders just a $4 round turn commission, which means you pay a $2 commission on opening and when closing a trade.
FXTM is a popular choice for their low forex spreads, which start from a highly competitive 0.1 pips. Again, the trusted MT4 and MT5 platforms are available for you to trade with, and the minimum deposit on this account type is $500.
Forex brokers with zero pip spreads: which is the best one?
If you are looking for the best broker with a zero fixed spread, the FBS Fixed Zero Spread account type remains fixed at 0 pips and does not increase.
Despite this, FBS is only available under IFSC regulation in Belize and is not accessible to Europeans regulated within Europe. The only downside of this account type is the huge $20 commission per lot traded.
Forex broker with the lowest fixed spread
With fixed spreads you won’t have to worry about the market volatility of liquidity in order to find the best spreads to send a buy/sell order to the broker. Spreads, in fact, tend to widen depending on a number of factors when using floating spreads brokers.
The broker offering the lowest fixed spread in the market currently is AvaTrade. They offer CFD trading on forex from a fixed spread of 0.9 pips with no commissions per lot to worry about.
You can open a forex trading account with AvaTrade with a minimum deposit of only $100.
AvaTrade also offer a wide range of the top forex trading platforms including both MT4 and MT5. For more in-depth information on this broker, and a round-up of the lowest forex spreads, benefit from our top 10 brokers with the lowest fixed spread.
Forex brokers with the lowest spreads comparison
There are a lot of forex brokers in the industry with many of these offering low spreads. Here you can find a list of brokers offering tight spreads, but if you’re interested in ECN brokers, visit our round-up of the best ecn brokers.
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
Broker | Minimum deposit | EUR/USD avg. spread | Fee per lot |
---|---|---|---|
Pepperstone | $200 | 0.09 pips | $7 |
IC Markets | $0 | 0.10 pips | $6 |
XM | $100 | 0.10 pips | $7 |
FxPro | $100 | 0.45 pips | $9 |
FBS | $500 | 0.00 pips | $20 |
FXTM | $200 | 0.40 pips | $4 |
FP Markets | $100 | 0.09 pips | $6 |
Vantage | $200 | 0.50 pips | $4 |
OctaFX | $25 | 0.50 pips | $10 |
HotForex | $200 | 0.30 pips | $6 |
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