| Online Broker | Position | Score | Minimum Deposit | Online Trading Platforms | About |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dukascopy | 1 Position | Score 9.3 | $1000 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, JForex Minimum Deposit | Dukascopy provides access to its SWFX ECN, offering MT4, MT5 and cTrader About |
| Deriv | 2 Position | Score 9.2 | $5 Minimum Deposit | MT5, cTrader, Deriv X Minimum Deposit | Deriv offers leveraged CFD trading on platforms including MT5 and cTrader and provides CFDs based on synthetic markets About |
| Pepperstone | 3 Position | Score 9.15 | $200 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView Trading Platforms | Wide range of platforms, rapid order processing and extensive support for automated trading About |
| easyMarkets | 4 Position | Score 9.05 | $25 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, easyMarkets Platform, TradingView Trading Platforms | Fixed spread trading on MT4, its user friendly platform and TradingView and tight variable spreads on MT5 About |
| Plus500 | 5 Position | Score 8.95 | $100 Minimum Deposit | Plus500 Platform Trading Platforms | 2000+ CFDs to trade on an intuitive, user friendly platform with a wide range of integrated tools About |
| IC Markets | 6 Position | Score 8.85 | $200 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView Trading Platforms | IC Markets offers rapid order processing, a wide range of trading platforms and has 2500+ CFD markets to trade About |
| IQ Option | 7 Position | Score 8.85 | $10 | IQ Option Platform Minimum Deposit | User friendly platform with a range of types of markets to trade About |
| RoboMarkets | 8 Position | Score 8.85 | $100 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, TradingView, R StocksTrader Trading Platforms | MT4 and MT5 plus 12,000+ CFDs on R Stocks Trader About |
| AvaTrade | 9 Position | Score 8.8 | $100 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, WebTrader, AvatradeGO, AvaOptions Trading Platforms | AvaTrade provides a wide range of trading platforms, and offers a dedicated mobile app (AvaTradeGO) About |
| Vantage | 10 Position | Score 8.5 | $50 Minimum Deposit | MT4, MT5, ProTrader, TradingView Trading Platforms | Focus on automated trading and scalping, offering a wide range of trading platforms including user friendly ProTrader and TradingView About |
Top 10 CFD Brokers - Online CFD Trading
This table contains 10 well known brokers offering Contracts For Difference (CFD) trading in a range of markets, all providing web traders designed for the human trader. Some also offer online trading platforms which can be used for automated trading, if the trader wants to use trading robots. The FXFinds score is based on 10 components and is indicative only.
The value of a CFD is referenced to the value of the traded market. The trader trades with the CFD provider and does not buy or sell the market. A CFD is a contract between the client the the provider to exchange the difference between the value of the contract at the beginning and end of the trade.
The CFD lets the trader trade on price difference. As the trader neither buys or sells an underlying market, they can go long (speculate on a rising market) or go short (speculate on a falling market). Leverage is also available, but increasing leverage increases risk.
A trade is about speculation based on value over time, and a CFD enables trading on value based on suppositions about how a market will move. The trader can use a provided trading platform, applying charting tools to form a trading plan based on analysis and supplement this with fundamental data about the market and its wider context.
For example, the trader could choose a CFD market and apply technical analysis to the market. CFDs are generally traded on leverage, this has the effect of amplifying volatility. Thus CFD trading is seen as complex.
Additionally, the markets which are the focus of CFDs are also generally complex markets, like Forex. These markets are hard to analyse fundamentally as they don't grow in the way that a Stock might. Stocks are now also traded as CFDs, however when day traded, they can become equally volatile and complex, as small movements are magnified in effect by leverage. The amount of leverage varies from market to market. Generally, Forex, Metals and Indices have the highest. Other markets may have leverage which is considerably lower. Additionally some regions limit maximum leverage overall, and for particular markets.
Technical analysis is important in day traded markets like CFDs. Technical analysis can be seen as a way to find repeating patterns in complex chart data. However as might be expected, these patterns often do not work out in the way expected. Some traders let robots trade on their behalf. Some of the brokers in the table above specialise in automated trading.
Robots are computer programs which have relatively simple rules for managing a trade, from beginning to end. The trader can do this themselves, but may not wish to, or may not be able to do so at the frequency the strategy demands. Robots can produce rapid losses, so they need to be handled with care. Another approach is to copy the trades of more experienced traders. Some CFD brokers do not allow this, but many do, typically by providing a platform which has copy trading functionality. Many CFD brokers offer third party platform like MetaTrader which supports robots, but other provide additionally or solely, a platform built for the self-directed trader.
