FOREX.com offer spread-only and commission-based trading with tight spreads. We were most impressed with their range of trading platforms which comes with great analytical tools
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We look at some of the key features of Forex.com including trading accounts, spreads, trading platforms, CFDs, customer service, funding, and regulation to assess if Forex.com is a broker you should consider.
Overall, we found FOREX.com offers many advantages including an excellent proprietary platform and a wide range of markets. FOREX.com is one of the oldest brokers and also one of the most trustworthy given their global presence and regulation in multiple countries. Their parent company, StoneX Group Inc. is even listed on NASDAQ stock exchange in New York
Most traders with FOREX.com will trade commission-free if you can use their new RAW Pricing account good savings are possible. We also like their rebate program for high-volume traders.
After testing and analysing all the major broker factors, we can particularly recommend FOREX.com for traders of all levels, particularly active traders.
Key Strengths
Note: Trading products in the US use spot, all other countries use CFDs.
Note2: RAW account is not available in the UK and EU
FOREX.com is one of our top-rated forex brokers and like with all brokers there are advantages and some disadvantages. We are of the opinion that the FOREX.com offering overall is genuinely quite solid.
We think FOREX.com have an excellent proprietary trading platform, which competes among the best platforms of its kind. We particularly like FOREX.com’s easy-to-navigate user interface as well as its over 100 pre-defined charting indicators, courtesy of TradingView. And if you are outside Canada and the US, the platform includes a guaranteed stop loss.
You can choose between a standard account and in some countries/regions, the broker’s new RAW Pricing account. Both accounts have good spreads with the RAW account having greater saving potential overall. Further savings are also available if you are a high-volume trader through their active trader rebates program where available.
Trading products vary by region but with 84 forex pairs available, FOREX.com is one of the better choices if this is your preferred trading instrument. Other trading products include stocks, gold and silver. Just note that in the US, you will trade using spot products while in other countries it will be with CFDs. If you are outside the US, other CFD products for trade may include indices, commodities and ETFs.
We can confidently say FOREX.com is a reliable and trustworthy broker. The broker is regulated in six different countries and regions and having a good reputation is very important to us, particularly when the market is saturated with unregulated or unethical online brokers. The fact they are owned by NASDAQ listed StoneX Group Inc. adds to their credibility.
As such, we recommend FOREX.com for both beginners and experienced traders, with a particular benefit for active traders.
A Note About This Review
FOREX.com’s offerings do differ between countries or regions, this might be for regulatory reasons, licencing reasons or demand. While we have tried to ensure our information is correct for all regions, this review may have a slight bias toward US markets as it’s not always practical to deep dive into all regions.
We should also mention that financial instruments in the US use spot, not CFD derivates. So any reference to US products throughout this review should be taken to mean spot (if not specifically stated). Products for all other regions outside the US (i.e. Canada, the UK, EU etc.) are using CFDs not spot products.
Established in 2001, [1]https://www.forex.com/en-us/about-us/ FOREX.com is a popular forex broker that was the number 1 forex broker in the U.S. in 2022, based on client assets. As of 2023, FOREX.com has total customer assets of $8.6 billion. [2]https://www.forex.com/en-us/about-us/why-us/ Globally the broker has over 420k customers across 21 countries.[3]https://www.forex.com/en-ca/about-us/
Now a wholly-owned subsidiary of StoneX Group Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company, FOREX.com is regulated in six Tier-1 jurisdictions proving it a trustworthy broker.
The U.S. broker offers a top trading experience which includes an excellent proprietary platform, in addition to the popular MetaTrader platforms, although MT5 is only available outside the US and the UK.
FOREX.com is also a multi-asset broker, offering over 2500 CFD products to trade, although the offering in the U.S.(as spot) and Canada (as CFDs) is slightly smaller due to regulatory issues.
Lastly, FOREX.com is award-winning, winning several awards in 2020, including Best Forex Provider at the London Trader Show.
FOREX.com ReviewVisit FOREX.com
FOREX.com offers 3 main trading account types for retail traders as follows:
There is also a Corporate account for institutional and retail business clients and a DMA account with tiered commissions for UK and international traders.
There are some important caveats to note with all FOREX.com’s accounts, which we’ve listed at the bottom of the image above. We advise you to be aware of what FOREX.com subsidiary you are signing up to and check what platforms/accounts are offered.
For example, in Australia and Singapore, you can join City Index which shares the same parent company as FOREX.com, StoneX Group Inc.
The Standard Account and MetaTrader accounts are spread-only accounts, the only difference being the trading platforms you can choose. For the Standard account, you’ll have access to the FOREX.com trading platform, while to use MT4 or MT5, you’ll have to open a MetaTrader account.
As we mentioned, earlier, average spreads may vary depending on what country you’re in and what market you’re trading. If you are in the U.S. for example, the absolute minimum spread you can obtain is 1.2 pips but remember, the U.S. is trading with spot not CFDs. Minimum spreads outside the US using CFDs range from 0.8 to 1 pip for EUR/USD.
Please note, that the MetaTrader accounts FOREX.com offers may vary between MT4 and/or MT5 depending on your region. For example, in the U.S. only the MT4 account is offered as MT5 is not available as a platform.
The RAW Pricing account is commission-based, meaning you pay the spread plus commission charges on top. With the RAW account, you can generally choose any trading platform that FOREX.com offers. This account is only available for clients in Canada, the US and for clients outside the UK and EU.
This account has lower spreads than the Standard account, as low as 0 pips but you will also need to pay a commission. The RAW Pricing account charges $7 USD per $100K USD each way for clients in Canada and the US (i.e. $14 in total) which is relatively standard for these markets.
If you are trading outside the UK or the US such as in Asia or Africa then the commission is $5 each way ($10 round-turn per lot) which compares well with other competing brokers that typically charge $6 or 47 round-turn.
If you are in the UK, the RAW Pricing account is not available but there is a DMA account (short for Direct Market Access). Like the RAW Pricing account, spreads can be as low as 0 pip and you will pay a commission. Unlike the RAW Pricing account, these commission costs are not fixed, meaning the more you trade, the lower your commission costs will be.
Note: This account is also available for customers outside the EU, Canada and the US such as in Asia.
| Monthly volume | Commissions per USD million traded | Reduction Standard Commission |
|---|---|---|
| $0M - $100M | $60 | 0% |
| $100M - $250M | $40 | -33% |
| $250M - $500M | $35 | -42% |
| $500M - $1B | $30 | -50% |
| $1B - $2B | $25 | -58% |
| $2B+ | $20 | -67% |
Our verdict on the FOREX.com account
Overall, while FOREX.com combines the benefits of a spread-based and commission-based account, there are more cost effect brokers from our observations.
Like all top brokers, FOREX.com offers a demo account to practice trading before you open a real account.
When opening a demo account, we found the process quick and simple as you only need to provide your phone number and email address. This isn’t always the case with a lot of brokers that we’ve opened demo accounts with.
FOREX.com also don’t ask for funding details like a credit or debit card which we particularly like as it takes away another annoying barrier, making it easier to ‘try before you buy.’
One slight drawback is that FOREX.com only offer demo accounts with their Standard account, not their Raw account.
To open a demo account, you simply need to provide your name, phone number and email address before creating a username and password for your account.
From there, you will have to choose your preferred trading platform, FOREX.com’s WebTrader (their proprietary platform) or MetaTrader 4. Please note that you can only choose one platform NOT both.
Another downside to FOREX.com’s demo account is that you can’t easily switch from the broker’s proprietary platform (WebTrader) to MT4. You have to request separate demo accounts for each platform. We found this a hassle, particularly if you want to test FOREX.com WebTrader AND MT4.
Despite this minor setback, we found opening a demo account with FOREX.com was quick, easy and convenient.
To open an account with FOREX.com, you only need to deposit $100 USD (or £100). This is unless you are transferring via bank wire/bank transfer in certain countries (highlighted below). In that case, there is no minimum deposit. Having said that, I generally open a new account with a minimum deposit of $200.
Again, funding methods with FOREX.com vary according to the region you’re based. The traditional methods of bank wire/transfer and Visa debit are accepted by all countries. Digital wallet providers such as Skrill and Neteller are only accepted in Europe and selected countries, while PayPal is only available in the UK.
We find that having inconsistent funding methods across different countries relatively inconvenient. If you are based in the U.S. and prefer online funding methods, FOREX.com may not be for you.
In the US, the following funding methods are available:
| Funding Method | Currency |
Min/Max |
|---|---|---|
| Debit Card (Visa, MasterCard) | USD, GBP, EUR | $100/$10,000 |
| Bank Transfer (ACH) | USD | $100/$10,000 |
| Wire Transfer | No min/max |
In Canada the following funding options are possible:
| Funding Method | Currency |
Min/Max |
|---|---|---|
| Debit Card (Visa) | $100 | |
| Wire Transfer | No min/max |
In the UK the following funding methods are available:
| Funding Method | Currency |
Min/Max |
|---|---|---|
| Debit/Credit Card (Visa) | GBP, USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, CHF, AUD | £100/£99,999 |
| Bank Transfer (ACH) | USD | $100/$10,000 |
| Wire Transfer | No min/max |
Your account currency can be one of the following: United States Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR) and Great British Pound (GBP).
In Europe you can choose from the following funding methods and account base currency options:
| Funding Method | Currency |
Min/Max |
|---|---|---|
|
Debit/Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro) |
GBP, USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, CHF, AUD | £100/£99,999 |
| Bank Transfer | GBP, USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, CHF, AUD | |
| Skrill | USD, EUR and GBP | $100/$10,000 |
| NETELLER | USD, EUR and GBP | $100/$10,000 |
Funding methods with FOREX.com emerging markets (ie. outside Europe, UK, Canada, The US and Singapore)
| Funding Method | Currency | Min/Max |
|---|---|---|
| Debit/Credit Card (Visa) | USD, EUR and GBP | $100/$10,000 |
| Wire/Bank Transfer | USD, EUR and GBP | |
| Skrill | USD, EUR and GBP | $100/$10,000 |
| NETELLER | USD, EUR and GBP | $100/$10,000 |
Like a lot of top brokers out there, FOREX.com offers an Active Trader Program for high-volume traders.
You don’t have to apply to be an Active Trader, you simply need to deposit $10,000 or trade a certain amount of volume in a calendar month. In the U.S., this is $25K per month for an existing client and $50K per month for a new client.
The major benefit of the Active Trader Program is that you receive cash rebates for being an active trader (I.E. trading in high volume).
These rebates are tiered depending on how much volume you trade. The more you trade, the higher rebates you receive. Your rebates will also depend, again, on what country you are based in. We have only covered the U.S. (and Canada) here.
As an example:
If your monthly FX volume is US $200m, you qualify for Level 2 FX rebates and receive $5 for every $1m traded in the month
Your monthly volume rebate is $1000 (200 x $5).
If you live outside the U.S. or Canada, we recommend you check what specific cash rebates the Active Trader Program offers for you. We didn’t notice one for UK and EU markets.
With their Active Trader Program, we found FOREX.com a great choice if you trade in large volumes, which will apply to more experienced traders.
FOREX.com offers 5 main trading platforms, meaning they have one of the best brokers for choice of platforms. These platforms are:
What platform you choose will depend on your market preference and what additional trading tools you like to use (for charting/algorithmic etc.).
FOREX.com’s proprietary platform is offered on desktop, as a WebTrader and via mobile app. In our opinion, the broker’s mobile app is one of the best as it is easy to use, with a fluid user interface and simple design. Highlights include powerful charts from TradingView with over 80 indicators, complex order types and an economic calendar.
FOREX.com’s desktop platform, meanwhile, is designed for experienced traders with sophisticated trading features such as 100 pre-defined charting indicators and a fully customizable dashboard.
The platform also comes with a guaranteed stop-loss provided you are not trading with the US or Canadian FOREX.com subsidiaries.
We, tested the broker’s WebTrader platform with our results reported below.
As you can see from the FOREX.com WorkSpace below, the WebTrader has a simple layout that is fairly easy to navigate. Your total balance and margin are displayed at the top of the window, with a 1-click trading toggle you can switch on and off. We particularly liked the ease at which you can browse through markets and place a trade.
There is also an economic news tab at the bottom right corner which has live market updates while you trade. We found this useful to gain market insights on the fly.
FOREX.com’s WebTrader also grants you access to Trading Central, which can be directly integrated into the platform, for more technical market analysis. From the window below, we have a tab for Trading Central as well as an economic calendar, which shows a list of bank holidays. We found this both useful and easy to have a quick glance at more technical market insights before switching back to trading.
While trading, you can maximise your window to just focus on one market. When we were trading AUD/USD, we found it simple to navigate market details such as margin and minimum spread (on the left-hand side). We also liked having the ability to customise our dashboard with news and an economic calendar on the right.
Making a trade is simply a matter of pointing and clicking, green to buy, red to sell. As mentioned earlier, you can toggle on 1-click trading, which will automatically buy or sell the desired market once you click. We prefer to leave this off, as you can set an associated stop or limit order in the trade ticket. There are also other useful details such as price tolerance and margin requirements which we found was a nice touch.
FOREX.com also offers the MetaTrader 4 platform which is still one of the most popular forex platforms on the market. As a platform, it still ticks all of the boxes, without lashing out on features or trading tools.
Key features we like include the 30 technical indicators and 24 analytical objects available to analyse the markets. Additionally, the platform is robust and simple to use, hence its longevity (and popularity).
Overall, however, we think FOREX.com’s proprietary platform outshines it in nearly every way, from usability to features. Nowadays, MT4 is starting to look a little primitive compared to more advanced platforms like MT5.
In most countries other than the U.S. and the UK, FOREX.com also offers MT4’s upgrade, MetaTrader 5. As is well documented, MT5 updated virtually every aspect of MT4 to deliver a superior platform performance in every way. We tend to agree.
Key highlights of MT5 include more indicators (44 technical indicators and 38 analytical objects), more order types (6 vs 4) and the ability to trade on centralised exchanges. The latter point means you can trade more products, including shares, as MT4 only allows trading on decentralised exchanges.
Overall, if MT5 is available to you, we think it stands up to the best platforms in the market.
As a FOREX.com client, you have the benefit of TradingView charts integrated into the platform. TradingView is a powerful charting platform that gives you access to useful trading tools for further technical analysis of the markets.
Having TradingView charts powering FOREX.com’s platform not only means you get access to more charting tools, it’s also easy-to-use, adding to a smooth trading experience.
Capitalise.ai is a platform that allows you to automate your trading code-free. I.E. if you know nothing about coding, but want to learn about algorithmic trading, this platform is for you. This allows you to develop your own trading strategies in plain English without understanding the complexities of technical code.
While it’s an extremely useful add-on, unfortunately, Capilatise.ai is only available for U.S. traders right now.
Before deep-diving into the products, we think it important to emphasise that the brokers offerings do differ between regions. In the US, as we’ve mentioned a few times, you can only trade using spot products, all other countries have CFDs products.
Overall, we think it is fair to say FOREX.com is a forex specialist, which shows in its huge offering of 84 forex pairs. Most brokers only offer 40 to 65 pairs so FOREX.com do have one of the larger range of pairs we have covered.
Unfortunately, if you are in the US, the other spot products for trading are gold and silver and we should note these particular products are not leveraged. While the broker’s overall offering in the US might seem limited, we should note that this seems to be the norm for similar brokers in the US market.
The variety of products outside of the U.S., such as in Canada, the UK and the EU is much larger (and you will be trading with CFDs not spot). The range of CFD products includes Shares, Indices, commodities, gold and silver metals and if you are in Canada ETFs.
Overall, while we think the amount of forex products (and shares) is impressive, there are definitely brokers out there with better product ranges.
While FOREX.com don’t make it that clear, the broker uses margin in place of leverage. This may sound a little confusing but margin and leverage are basically the same thing.
As an example, if you have leverage of 50:1, that would equate to 2% leverage. So to place a trade of $1M USD/CAD, you’d only need $2000 to open that position.
In FOREX.com’s case, they use step margin which basically means the higher the trade size, the more margin is required to open that position.
Most of the margin requirements range from 3-5%, especially for major forex pairs. Again, it’s important to be wary of trading with higher volumes as the margin size could go up.
Step margin is not, however, present in the case of MT4 and MT5.
Overall, we like FOREX.com’s use of step margin as trading with high leverage (or low margin) is risky as you could incur significant losses. It’s easy to get carried away, trading large volumes with little actual capital so having a step margin in place is a good safeguard.
As a sign of trust, FOREX.com is regulated in multiple jurisdictions all over the world. These regions include Europe, Canada, the UK and, of course, the U.S. A large reason for such a strong presence globally is FOREX.com’s parent company, StoneX Group Inc., a publicly traded company.
What this all means is that FOREX.com is a reputable and trusted brand, all over the world. In our own assessment, FOREX.com scores highly with a 7/10 for trust.
As one of the oldest forex brokers, FOREX.com is also one of the most trusted, especially given how many jurisdictions the broker offers trading services in.
| FOREX.com Safety | Regulator |
|---|---|
| Tier-1 | FCA CIRO NFA/CFTC CySEC |
| Tier-2 | JFSA |
| Tier-3 | CIMA |
FOREX.com offers solid educational online resources, suited for beginners and experienced traders alike. This is separated out into education (courses, lessons and tutorials), news and analysis and webinars.
We particularly liked the courses that are split into beginner, intermediate and advanced for all levels of trader. There are also platform tutorials, which is particularly useful for newbies or even those wanting a good overview of FOREX.com’s trading platforms.
The lessons section includes almost a hundred written articles which, like the courses, are organized by experience level, from beginner to intermediate, and advanced users. I found these to be highly insightful and useful for general market analysis.
For more current market analysis, there are a range of research articles and trade ideas from the research team.
Lastly, there are a series of webinars, both old and new that you can register for. Each of these also specify how much trading experience is recommended for the webinar.
FOREX.com offers a decent coverage of customer support, from email, to phone to a chat bot. You can contact the support staff 24 hours a day via the chat bot, although you have to go through a few prompts before being transferred to a real person. We found the support staff knowledgeable and helpful, with relatively quick response times.
While support is available 24 hours a day, this is only between 3pm on Sunday (GMT) and 10pm Friday (GMT). As such, you won’t be able to speak with anyone on Saturday. While this is a slight downside, it’s wider coverage than a lot of brokers offer.
When emailing, we found most queries were addressed within 24 hours which is fairly standard. If your query is fairly typical, there is also a FAQ section to cover most major topics.
Lastly, for those that don’t speak English, support is also available in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Russian, Hindi and Japanese.
We opened an account with FOREX.com in the U.S. to test out the account opening experience for ourselves.
We’ve listed the process, step-by-step below:
Step 1: Select a platform
To begin, you must select a trading platform, either FOREX.com’s proprietary software or MetaTrader 4.
Step 2: Select a Product
Next, you must choose what account (FOREX.com call it a product, but it is an account) you’d like. For U.S. clients, you can choose either the Standard or Raw Pricing account.
Step 3: Account Information
Then comes the account information, which includes basic personal details as well as your home address.
Step 4: Home Address
In addition to your home address, you’ll have to provide your identification and citizenship details. If you are a U.S. citizen, you’ll need to provide your social security number. Otherwise, if you are not a U.S. citizen, you’ll have to provide your ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number).
Step 5: Financial Details
Next, FOREX.com asks you for your basic financial details, which aren’t too intrusive. Key information required includes your annual income, employment status and trading experience.
Step 6: Verify Personal Information
After that, you’ll have to verify your personal information. This is simply to go over the information you’ve provided and ensure it is all accurate.
Step 8: Review Agreements
Once you ensure all your personal information is accurate, you’ll have to review FOREX.com’s customer agreement, which includes agreeing to IRS Tax requirements.
Step 8: Processing Your Application
FOREX.com will then briefly process your application.
Step 9: Account Verification
Once your application is processed, you’ll have to upload 3 documents to properly verify your account.
Step 10: Upload Documents
These 3 documents include a proof of identity, proof of address and proof of social security number. You’ll have to make sure each document meets the specific requirements that FOREX.com stipulate.
These three documents can be uploaded via your MyAccount portal using the username and password you created on the application. You cannot fund your account until this is provided.
Overall, we think FOREX.com is a solid forex broker, offering an excellent proprietary platform, a wide range of forex products and rebates for high volume trading.
Most clients with FOREX.com will be directed to their Standard account which offers good spreads, just make sure you choose the right trading platform for your needs.
And FOREX.com is one of the few brokers to offer commission based trading in the US and Canada through its RAW Pricing account. This account can result in some good savings given spreads are far lower than with a Standard account. Unfortunately, there is no RAW Pricing account in the EU or the UK. In the EU you can only trade using a standard account, while a DMA account is an alternative to the RAW Pricing account if you are in the UK but this is best for high volume traders rather than the average retail trader.
Last we should note that if you are outside the UK and EU, further savings are available with their Active Trader rebate program.
We thought the FOREX.com product range was solid. We especially liked their range of 84 forex pairs to trade. This is far above the industry average for forex brokers, who offer between 40-60 pairs.
Platform-wise, we found trading with FOREX.com’s platform to be smooth and user-friendly, with excellent charting tools. FOREX.com’s additional platforms such as TradingView and Capitalise.ai (US only) are nice add-ons to enhance your trading experience.
We also found opening an account with FOREX.com a smooth process and approved relatively quickly.
Lastly, FOREX.com is a trusted broker, regulated in multiple jurisdictions, which is a big tick for us. This proves the broker is committed to a safe trading environment for everyone.
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