Lowest Spread Forex Brokers in Australia (2026)

The lowest spread in Australia depends on what kind of account you trade. On a raw or ECN account, IC Markets and Eightcap tied at 0.15 pips on the eight-pair average, with Axi at 0.16, Blueberry Markets at 0.19 and GO Markets at 0.24 rounding out the top five. On a no-commission standard account the leaderboard changes: Axi, CMC Markets and Mitrade come out tightest. Both tables below; spread captures are from Noam Korbl’s May to June 2026 spreadsheets and re-verified against each broker’s current AU disclosure.

Quick verdict: lowest-spread raw accounts in Australia right now

IC Markets and Eightcap tie for the lowest spreads in Australia at 0.15 pips across our eight-pair raw average, with IC Markets placed first on liquidity depth. Axi Pro sits third at 0.16 pips. EUR/USD headline spreads start near zero, so total cost comes down to the commission column in the table below.

1. IC Markets Raw Spread: tied tightest, 0.15-pip average.
2. Eightcap Raw: tied tightest, tighter on EUR/USD alone.
3. Axi Pro: third on the eight-pair average.
4. Blueberry Markets Direct: 0.19-pip average, fourth tightest.
5. GO Markets GO Plus+: 0.24-pip average, A$6.00 round-turn.
6. Global Prime ECN: 0.30-pip average with trade receipts.
7. Fusion Markets Zero: lowest all-in cost, A$4.50 commission.
8. ThinkMarkets ThinkZero: 0.36-pip average, A$7.00 round-turn.
9. Forex.com RAW: 0.39-pip average, StoneX-backed.
10. MultiBank Group ECN: 0.40-pip average, multi-regulator oversight.

The IC Markets / Eightcap tie at 0.15 pips is real. IC Markets is placed first as a deliberate tie-break on liquidity depth (25+ named LPs), not because the spread number is different. Eightcap is marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone, so credit IC Markets with liquidity, not a tighter spread.

Raw spread is only half the ledger. The same table carries the commission that completes each broker’s real cost.

Raw account spreads: main table

Eight-pair raw average across EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, AUD/JPY and USD/CHF. Captured May to June 2026 by Noam Korbl (RG146) using IceFX SpreadMonitor on a London VPS connected to each broker’s MT4/MT5 server. AUD-base accounts where available; commission shown separately so the all-in cost is a fair comparison.

Reviewed ASIC-regulated brokers only. OANDA’s Raw account launched after the May to June window, so its row comes from a July 2026 capture whose eight-pair basket used USD/CAD in place of USD/CHF. Read its 0.44 as indicative against the rows above it rather than a like-for-like result.

Watch: Lowest spread forex brokers Australia.

1. IC Markets Raw Spread: tied tightest, placed first on liquidity depth

IC Markets posted an eight-pair raw average of 0.15 pips, level with Eightcap, and is placed first as a deliberate tie-break on liquidity depth: 25+ named Tier-1 banks and dark pools, the deepest stack on this list. Eightcap was marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone (0.00 vs 0.01) so the difference is in liquidity rather than the spread number itself. Commission at AUD 9.00 round-turn is the highest in the raw set, so this is a spread-led pick, not the cheapest all-in cost; pair it with the lowest-commission guide for that view.

2. Eightcap Raw: tied tightest, slightly tighter on EUR/USD alone

Eightcap posted the same 0.15 pips eight-pair raw average as IC Markets and is marginally tighter on EUR/USD alone (0.00 vs 0.01). Commission is AUD 7.00 round-turn (A$2.00 less per round-turn than IC Markets), so on EUR/USD alone Eightcap is the all-in winner. The tie-break call goes to IC Markets on liquidity depth, not spread.

3. Axi Pro: third on the eight-pair raw average

Axi's Pro account posted 0.16 pips on the eight-pair raw average, 0.01 pips off the leaders. EUR/USD averaged 0.00 pips, level with Eightcap. Axi is an MT4 specialist (no native MT5 or cTrader trading on the AU entity at time of publish), so this fits a forex-only EA-driven workflow rather than a multi-asset trader.

Standard account spreads: secondary table

Standard accounts roll the broker’s cost into a wider spread with no commission. For lower-frequency traders this can work out simpler than a raw account. Captured May to June 2026; sorted by overall average across the same pairs.

Axi, CMC Markets and Mitrade lead the standard-account table across our ASIC-regulated shortlist.

How we measure spreads

Marketing pages quote the tightest five seconds of London-session pricing. Real trading sits in the 23 hours that aren’t London open. Spread data collected by Noam Korbl, RG146. How the test runs:

• Tool: IceFX SpreadMonitor EA, running on a London VPS connected to each broker’s MT4 or MT5 server. cTrader-only brokers are tested via the cTrader spread report.
• Window: rolling 24-hour captures across a six-week May to June 2026 window. Each table date-stamps the capture period.
• Pairs: EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, AUD/JPY, USD/CHF; the eight-pair average is the ranking key.
• Account type: RAW or ECN equivalent on each broker for the main table; Standard (no commission) for the secondary table.
• Reported: average pip spread for the window, with commission broken out separately so total cost is a fair comparison.

We don’t strip outliers. If a 5 PM rollover spike pushed the maximum to 4 pips, that figure stays in the underlying data. Average is the practical number, but the maximum tells you what your worst-case stop will look like during news or rollover.

For full details, see the methodology page.

Spread is half the cost: the other half is commission

The headline spread is a marketing number. The number that actually leaves your account is spread plus commission. The maths:

• No-commission account: total cost = spread (in pips)
• RAW account: total cost = spread + (commission / pip value)

Our forex broker cost calculator runs that spread-plus-commission total across all 29 ASIC brokers at whatever monthly volume you trade.

For a standard lot of EUR/USD with the account base in AUD and AUD/USD trading at 0.65, the commission-to-pip conversion works out roughly as follows:

Two takeaways. First, an Eightcap quote of “0.00 pip spread” is really 0.45 pips at the till. Second, the gap between Fusion Markets and the AUD 7 commission group is roughly 0.15 pips per round-turn. On 100 standard lots a month, that’s around AUD 250 in saved commission, which matters more than 0.04 pips of spread difference.

For the commission-led view of the same accounts, see lowest commission forex brokers.

When spreads widen, and how much it matters

Headline averages cover the calm hours. Real spreads move with liquidity. The four windows worth knowing about:

News releases. Non-Farm Payrolls, FOMC, RBA, ECB, BoE: the major releases blow spreads out for 30 to 90 seconds. EUR/USD on a RAW account that averages 0.15 pips can hit 5 to 10 pips at the print. Slippage on stops gets ugly. If you trade through these events, model your worst-case spread, not the average.

Asian session quiet. The handover between New York close and Tokyo open (roughly 5 to 7 AM AEST) is the thinnest liquidity window of the day for most pairs. EUR/USD spreads can drift to 0.5 to 1.0 pips on a RAW account during this hour. AU traders trading the Sydney open should expect this and not size up.

Weekend gap-open. Sunday afternoon AEST when forex reopens for the trading week, spreads can sit at 1 to 3 pips for the first 15 minutes while liquidity returns. Avoid market orders at the open.

Rollover (5 PM New York, 7 AM AEST in southern winter). Every broker reports brief widening at rollover when banks recalculate swap. The tighter raw brokers typically recover within 30 seconds. Some brokers stretch this to several minutes. The size of the swap charge itself depends on the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the pair.

The point isn’t to avoid these windows. It’s to know they exist and not to choose a broker on a 5-second average that ignores them.

AUD-base account vs USD-base: what actually changes

Most ASIC-regulated RAW accounts let you choose your base currency. The two practical options for AU traders are AUD or USD. The tradeoff:

AUD-base account. Your account balance, P&L and commission are quoted in Australian dollars. No currency conversion when you deposit from an Australian bank. Commission is quoted in AUD (e.g. Pepperstone AUD 7 round-turn). Position sizing on AUD-quoted pairs feels native because the quote currency matches your base.

USD-base account. Account balance and commission in US dollars (e.g. USD 7 round-turn, at AUD/USD 0.65 that’s roughly AUD 10.77, materially more than the AUD 7 you’d pay on an AUD-base equivalent at the same broker). Useful only if you trade USD-quoted pairs almost exclusively and want to avoid one layer of currency conversion on your P&L.

For most AU retail traders, AUD-base is the right choice. Lower effective commission, no FX conversion on deposits and withdrawals, native sizing on AUD pairs.

ASIC fee transparency: what brokers must disclose

ASIC’s design and distribution obligations and the Corporations Act both require ASIC-licensed CFD brokers to publish a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) that discloses the cost structure of every account. For RAW account spread disclosure, this means:

• Typical spread: the broker’s representative average for each instrument
• Maximum spread: the cap above which the broker won’t quote (rare in practice, but disclosed)
• Commission rates: round-turn cost per standard lot, by base currency
• Swap rates: overnight financing on long and short positions
• Currency conversion fees: where applicable

The PDS sits alongside a Target Market Determination (TMD), introduced under ASIC’s Design and Distribution Obligations regime in October 2021, which states the type of retail client the product is suited to. Both documents must be linked from the broker’s homepage and presented before account opening.

Where ASIC oversight matters here: if a broker quotes “0.0 pip spreads” in marketing but the PDS lists a typical EUR/USD spread of 0.3 pips, the marketing is non-compliant. AFCA has heard several complaints on this point in recent years, and the broker has been required to refund the difference. The PDS is the document of record. Read it before you fund.

Compare brokers by the factor that decides it

Each shortlist below re-ranks the market for one decision factor, tested the same way as this page.