The best Forex brokers offering Negative Balance Protection (NBP) features, according to our research, are:
- Pepperstone
- AvaTrade
- IG Markets
- eToro
- IC Markets
- Admirals
- FBS
- Axi
- EasyMarkets
- Axiory
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.
| NBP forex brokers | NBP for retail traders | NBP in offshore regulation | NBP for professional traders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | Yes | Yes | No |
| AvaTrade | Yes | Yes | No |
| IG Markets | Yes | No | No |
| eToro | Yes | No | No |
| IC Markets | Yes | No | No |
| Admirals | Yes | No | No |
| FBS | Yes | Yes | No |
| Axi | Yes | No | No |
| easyMarkets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Axiory | Yes | Yes | No |
*These brokers may not offer NBP to retail traders under some of their regulations.
What are the best NBP forex brokers?
Below our curated list of the best forex brokers offering Negative Balance Protection, with details of features and characteristics.
Pepperstone
Pepperstone provides Negative Balance Protection under ASIC, SCB, CySEC, DFSA, CMA, and FCA, excluding professional traders. Pepperstone applies NBP to both standard and razor accounts and offers more than 100 forex pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About Pepperstone
Pepperstone is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. Pepperstone offers trading on currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies through MetaTrader and cTrader platforms. Pepperstone is regulated by multiple authorities including ASIC, FCA, and CySEC. Pepperstone is known for competitive spreads, fast execution, and extensive educational resources. Pepperstone serves clients in over 160 countries worldwide. The Pepperstone CEO is Tamas Szabo.
Pepperstone Features
The features of Pepperstone are listed below.
- Negative Balance Protection is provided by Pepperstone under each entity: ASIC, SCB, CySEC, DFSA, CMA, FCA.
- Even though the NBP is not provided for professional traders.
- Both standard and razor accounts benefit from the Negative Balance Protection.
- More than 100 forex pairs available at Pepperstone.
- Average spreads on razor accounts
- EURUSD: 0.24 pips
- EURGBP: 0.77 pips
- GBPUSD: 0.91 pips
Pepperstone Pros and Cons
Advantages of Pepperstone
The advantages of Pepperstone are listed below.
- Stable raw spreads (0,09 pips on EUR/USD on average)
- Caters for algorithmic trading
- Has won over 30 Forex industry awards
Disadvantages of Pepperstone
The disadvantages of Pepperstone are listed below.
- The demo account is not unlimited
AvaTrade
AvaTrade offers Negative Balance Protection to retail clients across all entities but excludes professional traders. AvaTrade features fixed spreads for over 55 forex pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About AvaTrade
AvaTrade is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2006 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. AvaTrade offers trading on currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, bonds, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. AvaTrade provides proprietary platforms alongside MetaTrader 4 and 5. AvaTrade is regulated by multiple authorities including CySEC, ASIC, and FSA. AvaTrade serves over 300,000 clients worldwide. AvaTrade is known for competitive spreads and extensive educational resources. The AvaTrade CEO is David Dryzin since 2016.
AvaTrade Features
The features of AvaTrade are listed below.
- All AvaTrade entities are able to provide Negative Balance Protection to retail clients.
- Even though, professional traders will lose the NBP provided by AvaTrade.
- Over 55 forex pairs available to trade.
- AvaTrade offers fixed spreads only
- EURUSD: 0.9 pips
- EURGBP: 1.5 pips
- GBPUSD: 1.5 pips
AvaTrade Pros and Cons
Advantages of AvaTrade
The advantages of AvaTrade are listed below.
- Tight fixed spreads from 0.6 pips (0.9 pips for retail traders)
- The mobile apps are well designed
- Can be connected to ZuluTrade and Duplitrade
Disadvantages of AvaTrade
The disadvantages of AvaTrade are listed below.
- High inactivity fees
- The demo account is limited to 30 days
IG Markets
IG Markets provides Negative Balance Protection in every jurisdiction, requiring a Limited-Risk account for NBP. IG Markets excludes professional traders and supports trading on over 90 forex pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About IG Markets
IG Markets is a global online trading provider founded in 1974, offering access to over 17,000 financial markets including forex, stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. IG Markets provides proprietary trading platforms alongside MetaTrader 4 and ProRealTime. IG Markets is regulated by multiple top-tier authorities worldwide, including the FCA and ASIC. IG Markets is known for competitive spreads, extensive educational resources, and innovative features like weekend trading. The IG Markets’ parent company “IG Group” CEO is Breon Corcoran.
IG Markets Features
The features of IG Markets are listed below.
- IG Markets offers negative balance protection in all jurisdictions: FCA, BaFiN, ASIC, FINMA, FSCA, MAS, FMA, DFSA, JFSA.
- Even where it’s not mandatory by law you can find NBP if you open a Limited-Risk account.
- Eligible professional traders with IG Markets will lose the NBP.
- Forex trading on more than 90 pairs.
- Average spreads
- EURUSD: 0.85 pips
- EURGBP: 1.40 pips
- GBPUSD: 1.40 pips
IG Markets Pros and Cons
Advantages of IG Markets
The advantages of IG Markets are listed below.
- Low spreads from 0.6 pips on Forex
- Wide range of financial instruments
- 40 years of experience in the Forex industry
Disadvantages of IG Markets
The disadvantages of IG Markets are listed below.
- No copy trading features
- No social trading features
eToro
eToro offers Negative Balance Protection under CYSEC, FCA, and ASIC regulations, excluding professional traders. eToro supports trading in more than 45 currency pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About eToro
eToro is a global multi-asset investment platform founded in 2007, offering trading on stocks, ETFs, Crypto CFDs, commodities, and forex. eToro provides a proprietary web and mobile platform with social trading features. eToro is regulated by multiple authorities including FCA, ASIC, and CySEC. eToro is known for its user-friendly interface, copy trading functionality, and commission-free stock trading. eToro serves over 30 million users worldwide. The eToro CEO and co-founder is Yoni Assia.
eToro Features
The features of eToro are listed below.
- NBP is available on eToro under CYSEC, FCA and ASIC regulation.
- You will miss out the negative balance protection if you apply for professional trading.
- eToro provides more than 45 currency pairs.
- Average spreads on
- EURUSD: pips
- EURGBP: pips
- GBPUSD: pips
eToro Pros and Cons
Advantages of eToro
The advantages of eToro are listed below.
- Great copy trading and social trading features
- Wide range of asset classes
- It allows to buy fractional stocks from $10
Disadvantages of eToro
The disadvantages of eToro are listed below.
- The eToro spreads can be high
- Offers only USD accounts
- Transferring cryptocurrencies to other platforms can be hard
IC Markets
IC Markets offers Negative Balance Protection where regulations require it, under CySEC and ASIC, excluding professional traders. IC Markets includes both standard and raw accounts for NBP.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About IC Markets
IC Markets is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2007 and based in Sydney, Australia. IC Markets offers trading on over 2,250 instruments including currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. IC Markets provides MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader platforms. IC Markets is regulated by multiple authorities including ASIC and CySEC. IC Markets is known for its ECN execution model and low spreads. The IC Markets CEO is Andrew Budzinski.
IC Markets Features
The features of IC Markets are listed below.
- IC Markets provides the Negative Balance Protection only where mandatory as under CySEC and ASIC.
- This applies to both the standard and the raw spread accounts.
- However professional traders won’t benefit from the Negative Balance Protection.
- IC Markets offer more than 60 currency pairs.
- Average spreads on the Raw Account
- EURUSD: 0.06 pips
- EURGBP: 0.25 pips
- GBPUSD: 0.26 pips
IC Markets Pros and Cons
Advantages of IC Markets
The advantages of IC Markets are listed below.
- Low-latency trading environment
- Institutional level liquidity
- MT4, MT5, cTrader platforms are all available
Disadvantages of IC Markets
The disadvantages of IC Markets are listed below.
- Small amount of educational tools for new traders
- Small range of tradable assets compared to other CFD/Forex brokers
Admirals
Admirals provides Negative Balance Protection to retail clients under CySEC, FCA, and ASIC, excluding professional traders. Admirals does not offer NBP on Invest accounts.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About Admirals
Admirals, formerly Admiral Markets, is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2001. Admirals offers trading on currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies through MetaTrader platforms. Admirals is regulated by multiple authorities including CySEC and FCA. Admirals is known for competitive spreads and extensive educational resources. Admirals recently halted onboarding of new EU clients to comply with regulatory standards. The co-founder of Admirals and CEO of Admirals Group is Alexander Tsikhilov.
Admirals Features
The features of Admirals are listed below.
- Admirals offers Negative Balance Protection to all retail clients under CySEC, FCA, and ASIC regulations.
- You won’t find Negative Balance Protection on the Invest account as leverage is not provided for real stocks.
- Unfortunately, professional traders are unable to benefit from the NBP.
- More than 45 forex trading pairs.
- Average spreads on
- EURUSD: 0.7 pips
- EURGBP: 0.6 pips
- GBPUSD: 1.1 pips
Admirals Pros and Cons
Advantages of Admirals
The advantages of Admirals are listed below.
- Extensive Forex Options
- Strong Regulatory Framework
- Advanced Educational Resources
Disadvantages of Admirals
The disadvantages of Admirals are listed below.
- Charges Inactivity Fee
- Mobile App Limitations
- Higher Average Spreads for Some Assets
FBS
FBS offers Negative Balance Protection to retail clients under CySEC, ASIC, IFSC, and FSCA, excluding professional traders. FBS protects all account types with NBP.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About FBS
FBS is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2009, offering trading on currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. FBS provides MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and proprietary platforms. FBS is regulated by multiple authorities including CySEC, ASIC, and IFSC. FBS serves over 27 million clients in 150+ countries. FBS is known for low minimum deposits, extensive educational resources, and copy trading services.
FBS Features
The features of FBS are listed below.
- FBS offers Negative Balance Protection to all retail clients in four different regulations: CySEC, ASIC, IFSC, and FSCA.
- Standard, Cent, ECN, Crypto, Zero Spread, and Micro accounts are all protected by the NBP.
- Professional trading does not include the Negative Balance Protection at FBS.
- You can trade over 35 forex pairs at FBS.
- Average spreads on ECN accounts
- EURUSD: 0.0 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
- EURGBP: 0.6 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
- GBPUSD: 0.5 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
FBS Pros and Cons
Advantages of FBS
The advantages of FBS are listed below.
- Low minimum deposit
- User-Friendly Platforms
- 90 international awards
Disadvantages of FBS
The disadvantages of FBS are listed below.
- Limited Financial Instruments
Axi
Axi offers Negative Balance Protection to retail clients under FCA and ASIC, including every account type in NBP but excluding professional traders. Axi features more than 70 forex pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About Axi
Axi, formerly known as AxiTrader, is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2007 and headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Axi offers trading on currencies, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, and stocks through MetaTrader 4 and proprietary platforms. Axi is regulated by multiple authorities including ASIC, FCA, and DFSA. Axi is known for competitive spreads, fast execution, and extensive educational resources. Axi serves clients in over 100 countries worldwide. The Axi CEO is Rajesh Yohannan.
Axi Features
The features of Axi are listed below.
- Axi only offers Negative Balance Protection to retail clients under FCA and ASIC regulations.
- NBP is available on every account type.
- Axi doesn’t provide Negative Balance Protection to professional traders.
- Axi offers more than 70 forex pairs.
- Average spreads on Pro accounts
- EURUSD: 0.1 pips with a $7 commission per round turn
- EURGBP: 0.5 pips with a $7 commission per round turn
- GBPUSD: 0.7 pips with a $7 commission per round turn
Axi Pros and Cons
Advantages of Axi
The advantages of Axi are listed below.
- Low Forex Fees
- No Deposit/Withdrawal Fees
- Regulatory Assurance
Disadvantages of Axi
The disadvantages of Axi are listed below.
- Limited Platform Options
- Lack of Advanced Educational Resources
EasyMarkets
easyMarkets provides Negative Balance Protection under CySEC, ASIC, BVI, and FSA, extending NBP to all account types. easyMarkets allows professional traders to retain NBP.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About EasyMarkets
EasyMarkets is a global forex and CFD broker founded in 2001, offering trading on currencies, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, and stocks. EasyMarkets provides proprietary web and mobile platforms alongside MetaTrader 4 and 5. EasyMarkets is regulated by multiple authorities including CySEC and ASIC. EasyMarkets is known for innovative features like dealCancellation and fixed spreads. EasyMarkets serves clients worldwide and has received numerous industry awards. The EasyMarkets CEO is Nikos Antoniades.
EasyMarkets Features
The features of EasyMarkets are listed below.
- easyMarkets offers Negative Balance Protection to all retail clients under CySEC, ASIC, BVI, and FSA regulations.
- Each easyMarkets account type benefits from the NBP.
- Professional traders with easyMarkets still retain the Negative Balance Protection.
- More than 100 forex pairs are available to trade with easyMarkets.
- Average spreads on
- EURUSD: 0.7 pips (fixed), 0.5 pips (variable)
- EURGBP: 1.5 pips (fixed), 1 pip (variable)
- GBPUSD: 1.3 pips (fixed), 0.9 pips (variable)
EasyMarkets Pros and Cons
Advantages of EasyMarkets
The advantages of EasyMarkets are listed below.
- Innovative Risk Management Tools
- User-Friendly Platform
- Regulatory Trust
Disadvantages of EasyMarkets
The disadvantages of EasyMarkets are listed below.
- Limited Tradeable Symbols
- Higher Spreads on Some Accounts
- Outdated User Experience
Axiory
Axiory provides Negative Balance Protection under IFSC regulation. Axiory does not offer professional trading and applies NBP to Nano, Standard, Max, and Tera accounts, supporting more than 60 forex pairs.
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Regulations:
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Avg. EUR/USD Spread:
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Platforms:
About Axiory
Axiory is a global online broker founded in 2012, offering trading on forex, CFDs, stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Axiory provides MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader platforms. Axiory is regulated by the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize. Axiory is known for competitive spreads, fast execution, and extensive educational resources. Axiory offers various account types including ECN accounts. The CEO of Axiory is Roberto d’Ambrosio.
Axiory Features
The features of Axiory are listed below.
- Axiory provides Negative Balance Protection to all its traders under the IFSC regulation.
- Professional trading is not available at Axiory but you can still use high leverage.
- You can benefit from the Negative Balance Protection if you open a Nano, Standard, Max, or Tera account.
- Over 60 forex pairs available with Axiory.
- The average spread on Nano accounts.
- EURUSD: 0.3 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
- EURGBP: 0.5 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
- GBPUSD: 0.8 pips with a $6 commission per round turn
Axiory Pros and Cons
Advantages of Axiory
The advantages of Axiory are listed below.
- Competitive Spreads
- Diverse Account Types
- Robust Educational Resources
Disadvantages of Axiory
The disadvantages of Axiory are listed below.
- Limited Regulation
- High Inactivity Fees
- Withdrawal Fees
What is negative balance protection?
Negative Balance Protection (NBP) is a protection that safeguards traders from owing more than their account balance to their trading broker. In short, Negative Balance Protection ensures that the trader’s accounts equity won’t drop below $0.
This means that if a trader has a $1000 forex trading account, they will only be able to lose $1000 even in times of extreme volatility that would normally cause the balance to go negative.
Not all trading platforms offer negative balance protection. NBP is in fact standard only in a few areas of the world, including Europe, the UK, and Australia.
Negative balance protection was first made mandatory in 2017 with the European MiFID II legislation, following the CHF/EUR crisis of 2015 that caused losses and debt in the accounts of thousands of forex traders.
The goal of the Negative Balance Protection is to protect less experienced traders from making mistakes that could lead them into debt, protect them from any moments of high volatility, and at the same time push Fx brokers to more virtuous behaviors in educating their traders on risk management.
How does Negative Balance Protection work in trading?
When using leverage in trading, at times of high volatility it is possible to lose more money than what is in the trading account.
For example, if on the trading account, the equity is $1000, there is a 1 mini lot ($10000) forex position in 1:1000 leverage on EUR/USD, which means that in case of a loss of 150 pips, the equity should drop to -$500.
When there is negative balance protection, the broker makes the equity go to $0 and pays out of his own pocket the negative deficit of $500.
Negative balance protection is closely related to Margin Call, which is an automatic tool used by brokers to automatically close an account’s trading positions if equity is in danger of going negative.
There are instances when an account’s equity can go negative, and that is the presence of two or more trading accounts at the same broker.
If in one account the equity is $200, and in the other is $1000, the equity of the first account can go as low as -$1000. In this case, the equity of the second account will go to zero.
Do all regulated forex brokers provide Negative Balance Protection?
Negative balance protection is not offered by all regulated brokers, in fact, its availability depends on the entity with which the forex broker is regulated, and the status of the trader.
For example, if a forex broker has two branches, one CySEC regulated and the other SCB regulated, it is highly likely that traders registered under CySEC will have Negative Balance Protection, while traders registered under SCB will not.
So if you are interested in the NBP you have to choose the forex brokers branch well.
The Negative Balance Protection policy may also change depending on the broker and the trader. For instance, where it is available, it is often not mandatory to be offered to professional traders.
In fact, experienced traders are less likely to incur a negative account balance with CFD trading, as they know how to protect their capital on the trading platform.
Summary table of regulations and availability of Negative Balance Protection for retail clients.
| Forex regulator | Country/Area | NBP for retail traders |
|---|---|---|
| FCA | United Kingdom | Yes |
| ESMA-compliant regulators (e.g. CySEC) | Europe | Yes |
| ASIC | Australia | Yes |
| NFA/CFTC | United States of America | No |
| IIROC | Canada | No |
| MAS | Singapore | No |
| SCB | Bahamas | No |
| CIMA | Cayman Islands | No |
| FSCA | South Africa | No |
| JFSA | Japan | No |
| FINMA | Switzerland | No |
| CMA | Kenya | No |
| FSC of BVI | British Virgin Islands | No |
| IFSC | Belize | No |
| DFSA | Dubai | No |
If a forex broker is regulated in a country where this is not required, it may still decide to offer Negative Balance Protection to its traders.
Is it possible to still get access to the NBP when not available?
If you are based in a country where forex trading is not regulated or where the local regulator does not make negative balance protection mandatory, you can request the forex broker of your choice to place your trading account at an in-house branch that has this feature.
For example, if you are based in Vietnam, the forex broker will probably place you by default at the offshore branch, which normally never has NBP because the regulation does not make it mandatory.
You can ask the forex broker to move your account to CySEC or another entity that offers NBP.
You have to be careful, however, because switching institutions for NBP can lead to other problems and limitations such as:
- Higher deposit/withdrawal fees because the bank the broker relies on may change
- High latencies, because the servers the broker relies on may change
- Reduced leverage, because generally mandatory NBP is available under regulations with maximum leverage of 1:30
- Limited services, because generally, the range of services and assets offered among different broker branches may vary.
Does the NBP affect forex trading in some way?
Negative Balance Protection positively affects forex trading, as it is an extra layer of protection from adverse market events.
NBP does not affect the cost, spread, or other features and/or analysis tools. Anything you can do without NBP, you can also do with NBP.
The only big difference is for forex brokers: in fact, if before the Negative Balance Protection came into being they could ask traders for money in case they owed money (and thus had every interest in pushing traders to invest more than they had to) now they have to make up the losses out of their own pockets.
Therefore, along with the other MiFID II regulations, now the environment in which forex traders operate is more professional and risk-aware than before.
Trading Abuse with Negative Balance Protection
Brokers must recover the losses caused by traders with their own money if they exceed the amount of money invested by the trader.
For this reason, forex brokerages may punish traders who abuse this protection.
In fact, the NBP may not be applied if the forex broker is sure that the loss was caused voluntarily.
For example, if the market is waiting for news from a central bank, and a trader goes all-in with 1:500 leverage without knowing the nature of the news, and the market takes a big beating that causes the forex broker to lose much more money than the money the trader has lost (who was protected by the NBP), the forex broker may decide to retaliate against the trader for abusing this protection system.
This is an extreme case, and retail forex brokers evaluate on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, regardless of Negative Balance Protection, it is important to manage trading risk.
Is trading without NBP dangerous?
Trading without Negative Balance Protection is very dangerous for inexperienced traders (especially when using high leverage), while for professional traders it remains risky only in cases of extreme volatility (as in the case of the SNB on the Euro-Swiss franc exchange rate in 2015).
When the NBP is not present, it is therefore important to know what to do to manage the risk.
For example, you can:
- Learn how to properly set stop loss orders (or GSL if the broker offers it).
- Do not go all-in, but use a maximum of 2% of your capital per trade.
- Use margin responsibly, not opening 1:500 leverage trades at times of extreme volatility.
- Do not trade at times of extreme volatility unless you have sufficient experience.
- Do not trade in low liquidity financial markets, as it can be difficult to successfully close out your trading positions.
- Constantly monitor your trading robots if you use algorithms, or you can create an automatic rule that simulates Negative Balance Protection and closes all positions instantly if the balance goes to zero.
- Learn how to set TP and SL, or to create your own risk management tool.
Pros and cons of the Negative Balance Protection
Pros
- You cannot lose more than you deposit
- You are protected in case of adverse market events
- It is in the interests of the forex broker to educate its traders so that they do not trigger the Negative Balance Protection
Cons
- No cons