Forex trading in Australia is very interesting for both international trader and Australian citizens themselves. All Australian based brokers must authorise by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). All ASIC regulated brokers must passes a set of standards by the institution. It means all the activities that done by all the forex brokers will be monitored by ASIC and all the investors can conduct their transactions by using their broker’s trading platforms and knowing that Australia government agency has their back if anything happens. ASIC is the financial markets regulator and every forex broker must be authorized by them. ASIC’s website is asic.gov.au. The list below will help you to choosing the right broker that you will work with.
Here are the top ASIC authorised Forex brokers in Australia:
- AvaTrade – Best Overall Forex Broker 2020
- eToro – Best Australian Social Forex Broker
- Plus500 – Best Forex Trading Platform for Advanced Traders
- CMC Markets – Best for High Net-worth Investors
- Saxo Bank – Best Premium FX Broker
- City Index – Best Research Tools
- FXCM – Great Education for Forex Traders
- IG – Best Advanced Features
- Pepperstone – Best Advanced Features
Compare Forex Brokers Australia In Details
| Broker | Available To Australian’s | ASIC Approved | Average Spread EUR/USD | Minimum Deposit | Official Website |
| AvaTrade | YES | YES (licence #406684) | 0.7 | $100 | Visit Website |
| eToro | YES | YES (licence #491139) | 0.75 | $50 | Visit Website |
| Plus500 | YES | YES (licence #417727) | 0.6 | $100 | Visit Website |
| CMC Markets | YES | YES (licence #238054 ) | 0.81 | $0 | Visit Website |
| IG | YES | YES (licence #220440) | Varies | $300 | Visit Website |
| Saxo Bank | YES | YES (licence #280372) | 0.6 | $10,000 | Visit Website |
| City Index | YES | YES (licence #345646) | 1.5 | £100 | Visit Website |
| FXCM | YES | YES (licence #309763) | 1.3 | £300 | Visit Website |
| Pepperstone | YES | YES (licence #414530) | 1.00 – 1.300 | $200 | Visit Website |
1) Avatrade – Best Overall Forex Broker 2020
AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and is regulated by the top tier-1 and tier-2 authorities. AvaTrade is adhering with 8 financial regulatory authorities in 6 jurisdictions for across the globe. AvaTrade is a safe broker for both CFD and forex trading. On top of MetaTrader, ZuluTrade, DupliTrade (great for social trading) AvaTrade also developed their own proprietary web trading platform. A wide variety of forex trading platforms makes AvaTrade one of the best in this aspect. AvaTrade is constantly expanding their range of investment pr reduced their spreads by up to 50%, making it one of the most competitive brokers. All of their spreads are over market. Overall, their fees are great. Avatrade trading fees are low, which is also suitable for traders that trade multiple times per week.
2) eToro– Best Australian Social Forex Broker
eToro was founded in Israel in 2007 and it is one of the most popular brokers in the world due to the company’s significant marketing efforts. This broker is regulated by two tier-1 financial authorities in the United Kingdom and Australia. eToro has popularized the concept of social trading by introducing a social media-like trading platform that allows users to interact with each other and even copy their portfolios. This feature is particularly attractive to traders in Australia who can learn from others while they form their own judgment and gain enough experience to trade by themselves. The simplicity of its trading platform is one of the characteristics that makes eToro so appealing to entry-level traders who can benefit from a user-friendly interface and a collaborative environment. eToro offers 47 currency pairs to trade and nearly 2,000 CFDs covering commodities, cryptocurrencies, and other assets. Toro’s fees and spreads are above the average for forex spot trading and CFDs. This broker charges a fixed rate of 3 pips for EUR/USD trades. The platform also offers a five-level PRO membership that requires minimum balances ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. These accounts entitle the holder to an account manager and lower withdrawal and deposit fees, along with other VIP benefits. The minimum deposit for standard accounts is $200, in line with other Australian forex brokers.
3) Plus500– Best Forex Trading Platform for Advanced Traders
Plus500 is a London-based publicly-traded company and broker that was founded in 2008. It is regulated by three tier-1 regulatory agencies in the UK, Cyprus, and Singapore, which makes it a highly reliable alternative for traders in Australia. Among other Australian forex brokers, this trading platform offers highly competitive spreads and it is considered one of the best alternatives for advanced forex traders. Its trading platform is very user-friendly and that is why it is one of the preferred choices for those starting in the forex trading arena. The company provides a wide range of tutorials and learning materials to help traders in Australia in understanding how the platform works. On the other hand, the platform lacks diversity when it comes to the number of currency pairs it offers. Currently, 50 forex pairs are available through CFDs for traders in Australia, even though Plus500 offers a large selection of CFDs, more than 2,000 to be precise. The spreads charged per trade by Plus500 are regularly adjusted, even though the EUR/USD spread is fixed at 0.6 pips. For other pairs, the spread often ranges from 1 to even 4 pips. It is important to note that Plus500 does not publish a list of average spreads per pair. The minimum deposit for new accounts is €100.
4) CMC Markets– Best for High Net-worth Investors
CMC Markets is a popular forex broker regulated by ASIC and three other tier-1 authorities. Additionally, CMC Markets is a publicly-traded company with over 30 years of experience in the online trading industry, making it a low-risk choice for traders in Australia. This broker specializes in providing low-cost trades for both amateur and professional traders, offering 180 spot forex currency pairs and nearly 10,000 different CFDs covering a wide range of financial instruments and assets. Trading forex pairs with CMC Markets is usually cheaper compared to other brokers and this is one of the platform’s most important competitive advantages. CMC Markets provides great research tools for traders including news feeds, market insights, and third-party content from Reuters and Morningstar. Its mobile app also features a wide range of tools that are not usually available in other platforms including 29 out of 81 of the technical analysis indicators featured by its desktop app. The quality of its customer support ranked 6th out of 22 brokers surveyed. Trading EUR/USD through this broker costs 0.7 pips, which is a highly competitive rate, while the average spread for other pairs is around 0.71 pips. VIP accounts are available for clients in Australia who have spent over $3,000 in commissions or have an account balance of over $2.5 million. This platform offers a great feature known as Guaranteed Stop-Loss, which reduces execution risks for active investors, even though it comes at a cost of $8 per 100,000 units of EUR/USD. No minimum deposit is required to open an account with this broker.
5) IG– Best Advanced Features
IG was founded in 1978 and it is supervised by regulatory bodies in six different tier-1 jurisdictions around the world, making it one of the most reliable forex trading platforms in the globe. IG is registered and regulated by ASIC as well. This broker offers more than 17,000 financial instruments for traders, while it specializes in forex trading and CFDs. IG offers traders 93 different forex pairs and the possibility of engaging in forex spot trading. Additionally, the platform also offers CFDs for its forex pairs and for cryptocurrencies as well. The latest information on IG indicates that the average spread for forex trades is around 0.73 pips (they vary widely depending on the pair), while the minimum spread for a EUR/USD pair is 0.6 pips. This applies to mini and standard size contracts. There’s a minimum initial deposit of £250 to open an account with IG. Meanwhile, for active traders and professionals who qualify, IG offers discounts on its standard spreads but requires a minimum deposit of £1,000.
6) Saxo Bank– Best Premium FX Broker
SaxoBank’s trading platform is regulated by ASIC and other five tier-1 jurisdictions and it also counts with the support of its banking unit to further strengthen its credibility. This Danish bank was founded in 1982 and it offers investors the possibility of trading more than 40,000 different instruments including 182 forex currency pairs and 35,000 CFDs. That said, SaxoBank is not a platform designed for entry-level traders as its minimum initial deposit is well above the average compared to other regulated brokers in this article. However, its trading software is one of the best in the industry, featuring all the tools that experienced investors need to conduct their analyses. SaxoBank fees start at 0.4 pips, including a fixed rate of 0.6 pips for EUR/USD trades. Meanwhile, high-volume trades offer an attractive rate of 0.5 pips. For clients in Australia, the bank’s Classic account demands a minimum deposit of USD $10,000 while other premium alternatives require more than USD $200,000.
7) City Index– Best Research Tools
City Index is backed by one of the world’s largest retail brokers, GAIN Capital, and this makes it a great choice for investors in Australia seeking competitive spreads and premium research tools from a leading force in the trading industry. This broker is regulated by three tier-1 financial authorities in the UK, Australia (ASIC), and Singapore, and it offers investors the possibility of trading 84 currency pairs and 4,500 different CFDs, including cryptocurrency CFDs. Among other Australian forex brokers, City Index stands out due to its low-cost approach, which is particularly enticing for traders who are on a tight budget. At 0.8 pips, the spread charged on EUR/USD is slightly higher compared to other brokers, yet its average spreads for all other forex pairs are fairly low, especially if compared among premium alternatives. Meanwhile, the spreads are significantly higher for professional traders using MT4 platforms. The minimum deposit required to open an account with City Index in Australia is £50.00.
8) FXCM– Great Education for Forex Traders
FXCM is a subsidiary of New York-based Jefferies Financial Group, an American publicly traded company founded in 1968 with a market capitalization of nearly $4bn. The company possesses a license from three tier-1 jurisdictions – Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom – and its main advantage compared to other brokers is that it caters to a wide range of traders going from day traders to algorithmic traders and quant funds. This broker offers just 39 currency pairs and 32 CFD contracts, which is a fairly limited number of instruments, yet its advanced features make it attractive to sophisticated players. Research tools provided by FXCM are decent and should be good enough for the audience it serves. They include premium content from Trading Central and a news feed from Investing.com. Traders who are new to the sophisticated trading strategies supported by FXCM can also gain from its educational materials on algorithmic trading and quant trading. For standard accounts, the cost of trading some of the most popular pairs, such as EUR/USD, is 1.3 pips. Which is almost twice what other platforms charge to entry-level users. On the other hand, PRO users can benefit from lower spreads starting at 0.45 pips. The minimum deposit for standard accounts is £300 while pro users must deposit at least £25,000 to enjoy the lower spreads.
Pepperstone– Best Advanced Features
Pepperstone offers a somehow limited number of products to trade but it excels in its competitive spreads, customer support, and varied selection of copy trading alternatives. This broker has more than 10 years in the industry and it is regulated by ASIC (Australia) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom. Pepperstone focuses on serving sophisticated traders by providing MetaTrader and cTrader platforms along with other premium features. It offers 59 currency pairs and 86 different CFDs. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, can only be traded through CFDs. The cost of trading through Pepperstone varies depending on the type of account the trader selects, yet its pricing is among the most competitive compared to other forex brokers in Australia. The Razor account is a commission-based account while the standard account incorporates commissions within the spreads. Fees vary between each of these accounts as well, but not significantly. For Razor accounts the cost of trading EUR/USD is 0.91 pips on average, including a 0.753 flat commission, while the standard account does not charge a commission, even though the spread is higher – 1.13 pips on average. The minimum initial deposit to open an account with Pepperstone is $200.