Regulated forex brokers ranked by the strength of their licences

A licence only helps if a strong regulator stands behind it. We count Tier-1 authorities first, such as the FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, the CFTC in the US, MAS in Singapore and FINMA in Switzerland.

Publicly listed parents and banking licences add extra weight, since they bring audited accounts and outside scrutiny. Every broker below holds at least 3 Tier-1 licences, and most hold 5 or more. Use the filters to reorder them by cost or entry level.

#BrokerMinimumEUR/USD costMax leverageLicences

1

Interactive Brokers

no minimum deposit, TradingView

MinimumUSD 0

EUR/USD0.626 pips

CIROSFCJFSA+8

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2

IG

listed company backing

MinimumGBP 1

EUR/USD0.82 pips

ASICJFSAMAS+8

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3

Saxo

no minimum deposit, TradingView

MinimumUSD 0

EUR/USD1 pips

ASICSFCJFSA+5

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4

Plus500

listed company backing

MinimumEUR 50

EUR/USD1.3 pips

FCAASICJFSA+4

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5

FOREX.com

listed company backing

MinimumUSD 100

EUR/USD1.13 pips

ASICMASFCA+4

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6

CMC Markets

no minimum deposit, TradingView

MinimumUSD 0

EUR/USD1.15 pips

FCAASICCIRO+3

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7

Pepperstone

small deposits, cTrader

MinimumUSD 10

EUR/USD0.8 pips

SCBASICFCA+4

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8

AvaTrade

copy trading

MinimumUSD 100

EUR/USD0.93 pips

CMAASICCIRO+3

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Strong regulation and low cost can sit together. Interactive Brokers has the longest licence list here and the lowest all-in cost at about 0.63 pips on EUR/USD, while Pepperstone holds 7 regulators and costs about 0.8 pips.

Multiply any pip figure by USD 10 to get the cost per standard lot, so 0.8 pips comes to USD 8. Minimums run from USD 0 at CMC Markets and Saxo to USD 100 at FOREX.com and AvaTrade.

Broker	Minimum	EUR/USD cost	Leverage	Licences
Interactive Brokers	USD 0	0.626 pips all-in		CIRO, SFC, JFSA, FCA
IG	GBP 1	0.82 pips all-in		ASIC, JFSA, MAS, FINMA
Saxo	USD 0	1 pips avg		ASIC, SFC, JFSA, MAS
Plus500	EUR 50	1.3 pips all-in		FCA, ASIC, JFSA, CIRO
FOREX.com	USD 100	1.13 pips all-in		ASIC, MAS, FCA, CIRO
CMC Markets	USD 0	1.15 pips all-in		FCA, ASIC, CIRO, MAS
Pepperstone	USD 10	0.8 pips all-in		SCB, ASIC, FCA, CySEC
AvaTrade	USD 100	0.93 pips avg		CMA, ASIC, CIRO, JFSA

Each entry names the licences that matter and the type of trader who benefits most. These figures come from published regulatory tables, and your own account will sit with just one entity.

Interactive Brokers

MinimumUSD 0

Interactive Brokers holds 9 Tier-1 licences and trades on NASDAQ, and it has been in business since 1977. It costs about 0.63 pips all-in on EUR/USD. New traders can find TWS heavy, so it fits experienced accounts best.

Visit Interactive Brokers

IG

MinimumGBP 1

IG holds 8 Tier-1 licences including ASIC and Japan's JFSA, and it operates a regulated bank. Its London listing adds public accounts to the regulatory checks. EUR/USD averages about 0.91 pips, and its range of platforms suits most trading styles.

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Saxo

MinimumUSD 0

Saxo holds 7 Tier-1 licences and runs as a licensed bank, which is rare among forex firms. Its platform suite is excellent. Spreads average about 1.0 pips, and it suits traders with larger balances who want forex beside shares and bonds.

Visit Saxo

Plus500

MinimumEUR 50

Plus500 holds 7 Tier-1, 4 Tier-2 and 2 Tier-4 licences, and it is publicly traded. Costs run through a spread of about 1.3 pips. Its single in-house platform keeps things simple for new traders, though system traders will miss MetaTrader.

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FOREX.com

MinimumUSD 100

FOREX.com holds 7 Tier-1 licences through StoneX Group, including CFTC registration in the US. Spreads average about 1.0 pips, and its Trading Academy is strong. The USD 100 minimum is fair for a broker with this much regulatory cover.

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CMC Markets

MinimumUSD 0

CMC Markets is listed in London and holds licences from the FCA, ASIC, MAS, CIRO, BaFin and FMA. It lists more currency pairs than any other broker here. Its FX Active account costs about 1.15 pips all-in.

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Pepperstone

MinimumUSD 10

Pepperstone holds licences from ASIC, the FCA, CySEC, the DFSA and Kenya's CMA, among others. That list gives it unusual reach, including a local licence in East Africa. Razor costs about 0.8 pips all-in, and the listed minimum is USD 10.

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AvaTrade

MinimumUSD 100

AvaTrade holds licences in Australia, Ireland, Japan, Canada and South Africa, with FSP 45984 on the South African side. Spreads sit near 0.93 pips. Its structured courses and copy tools make it a sound regulated choice for beginners.

Visit AvaTrade

Regulators sit on a rough ladder. Tier-1 covers the FCA, ASIC, CFTC, MAS, FINMA, JFSA and CIRO, which enforce capital rules and act on complaints. Tier-2 covers bodies such as the DFSA, FSCA and Kenya's CMA, which run real supervision on a smaller scale.

Tier-4 covers offshore permits from places like Seychelles, Mauritius, the BVI and St Vincent. Those bodies register companies and do far less checking. A firm with only a Tier-4 permit gives you very limited recourse when a withdrawal stalls.

Many groups hold both. Exness, for example, holds Seychelles and Curaçao permits along with FSCA and CMA licences, so your protection depends on which arm accepts you.

Start with the broker's website footer and copy the full legal company name and the licence number. A brand name alone proves nothing, because groups run many companies under one logo.

Next, open the regulator's own register in a new tab: the FCA register, NFA BASIC in the US, ASIC's professional registers, or the CMA's list in Kenya. Search the company name, and confirm that the number and permissions match.

Finally, check your client agreement. Scammers clone real firms, so make sure the web address on the register matches the site you are using. Regulators also publish warning lists of known clones, and those take 30 seconds to search.

Good regulation gives you segregated client money, capped retail leverage and a complaints route. In the UK, the FSCS adds cover of up to GBP 85,000 per eligible person. In Canada, CIPF covers up to CAD 1 million per eligible account type.

Negative balance protection is standard in the UK, the EU and Australia, so you cannot lose more than your deposit under those rules.

Your trading losses stay yours in every country. Published broker disclosures show that between 51% and 89% of retail CFD accounts lose money, and no licence changes those odds. Regulation guards you against a dishonest firm, and your risk rules guard you against yourself.

The right licence depends on where you live. UK residents should use FCA firms, US residents need CFTC and NFA registration, and Australians need an AFSL. Our country guides cover each market in detail, with local register links.

See the guides for the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada and the UAE. In Africa, Kenya and South Africa run active licensing regimes, and we cover CMA licensees in Kenya and FSCA firms in South Africa.

Nigeria's SEC published draft rules in September 2026, and our Nigeria guide tracks them. Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania have no equivalent licence yet, so traders there rely on foreign regulators.

Offshore entities exist because they allow what strict regulators forbid: leverage of 1:1000 or more, bonus offers and looser account rules. For many traders in Africa and Asia, those arms are also the only ones that will accept them.

If you end up with one, reduce your exposure. Keep your balance small, withdraw profits regularly, and pick a group that also holds Tier-1 licences elsewhere. A group with its reputation at stake in London or Sydney has more to lose than a stand-alone brand.

Deriv, Exness and XM all serve many clients through offshore arms, and each carries a larger public profile than most offshore firms. Treat a USD 10,000 balance there very differently from USD 100.

Costs and entry levels for the wider market sit on our best forex brokers page.