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Best Forex Brokers in Australia

Looking for the best forex broker for Australian traders? You are in the right place! There is a large variety of Forex brokers available to the Australian Forex trader of today. Forex trading is always evolving with new FX brokers emerging all the time and competition evolving at a rapid pace making it difficult for the Australian forex trader to stay on top of things. The 5 best forex brokers in Australia are:

1. AvaTrade Forex Broker
2. Plus500 CFD Provider
3. easyMarkets Forex Broker
4. NSB Forex Broker
5. BlackBull Markets Forex Broker

However, the best Forex broker for one trader may not be the best broker for another. It depends on your trading style, what you want to trade and your support needs. Some Forex broker offerings are general, whilst some aspects might appeal to a trader’s individual style and needs.

Forex broker regulation, however, is very important for any trader when choosing a broker, since one of the key features in the choice of broker is how safe your investment will be. In Australia, the governing body regulating brokers is the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). Some traders from Australia prefer to trade with fx brokers regulated by ASIC, and other Australian traders, however might choose to trade with other internationally regulated brokers because they offer advantages the trader is looking for. As you will see in the top list below most of the brokers we recommend are regulated by ASIC, but a few are regulated with other strong European regulators. A list of trusted European Financial Regulators can be found on this link.

Below, we review various forex brokers, both internationally regulated and ASIC regulated forex brokers well suited for Australian traders. Our reviews are done on regulation, usability, platforms, minimum deposit, spreads, customer support and many other criteria. Start by browsing our top list of recommended and trust worthy fx brokers below and continue by reading the individual reviews of each broker on the respective review pages that are linked from the top list. All forex brokers below accept traders from Australia and you can easily see in the “Pros” if the broker is also regulated by ASIC.

Broker	Pros	Features
Founded: 2006 Reg: Central... more HQ: Ireland... more 4.9/5 97/100	- Regulated by ASIC. - 20% New Member Bonus. - Global regulated broker across 5 continents within 6 jurisdictions - Superior trading conditions for short selling/scalping - Ultra low spreads with fast and reliable order execution - Wide range of educational materials - Innovative trading mobile apps  (AvaTradeGo, AvaOptions, AvaSocial)	Min. Deposit: $100 Pairs Offered: 45+ Leverage: EU - Up to 30:1, Professional Client/ROW up to 400:1 Withdrawal Process Time: 1-2 business days. Trust Score: 97/100	Read AvaTrade Review Free Demo Sign Up
Founded: 2008 Reg: Plus500... more HQ: Israel... more 4.7/5 94/100	- Regulated by ASIC - Advanced risk management tools - 24/7 online support. - 2000+ instruments. - 30+ languages. - All devices. - 0 commissions. - Tight spreads.	Min. Deposit: $100 Pairs Offered: 70+ Leverage: 1:30 Withdrawal Process Time: 1-3 Business Days Trust Score: 94/100	Read Plus500 Review Free Demo Sign Up 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Founded: 2001 Reg: ASIC, C... more HQ: Cyprus... more 4.6/5 91/100	- Regulated by ASIC - 24/5 Shares Trading - 0% Commission - 300 plus trading instruments. - Deal cancellation feature. - Fixed spreads.	Min. Deposit: $100 Pairs Offered: 200+ Leverage: Up to 1:30 Withdrawal Process Time: 1 day Trust Score: 91/100	Read easyMarkets Review Free Demo Sign Up
Founded: 2011 Reg: MFSA, F... more HQ: Malta... more 4.5/5 90/100	- More than 70 assets available for trading - Licensed and Regulated by the MFSA, FCA, BaFin, ACP, CNMV, FINANSTILSYNET under the MIFID directive - Leverage up to 1:100 for professional traders - Negative balance protection	Min. Deposit: $250 Pairs Offered: 70+ Leverage: 1:50 Withdrawal Process Time: 1-3 days Trust Score: 90/100	Read NSB Review Free Demo Sign Up 54.6% of retail investor accounts lose money
Founded: Reg: FMA, FS... more HQ: Ne... more 4.5/5 90/100	- 1:500 leverage - Multi award-winning New Zealand broker - Institutional-grade spreads from 0.0 pips	Min. Deposit: $200 Pairs Offered: 300+ Leverage: 1:500 Withdrawal Process Time: Within 24hrs Trust Score: 90/100	Read BlackBull Markets Review Free Demo Sign Up
Founded: 2010 Reg: ASIC, F... more HQ: Austral... more 4.6/5 91/100	- Regulated by ASIC - Segregated client funds in tier 1 banks. - Awarding-winning client support from our team 24/5. - Low latency, fast execution in under 30ms. - Get consistently competitive spreads and low commissions from 0.0 pips.	Min. Deposit: $200 Pairs Offered: 180 Leverage: Up to 1:500 Withdrawal Process Time: 2-3 business days Trust Score: 91/100	Read Pepperstone Review Free Demo Sign Up
Founded: 2008 Reg: FCA, AS... more HQ: Cyprus... more 4.6/5 92/100	- Regulated by ASIC - Beginner Friendly - Well established - Leverage up to 1:300	Min. Deposit: $250 Pairs Offered: 3,000+ assets, including forex, indices, commodities, shares and cryptos Leverage: Up to 1:300 Withdrawal Process Time: 2-8 days Trust Score: 92/100	Read Markets.com Review Free Demo Sign Up

Top 10 Tips for Picking an FX Broker in Australia

Here we look at ten different factors that we believe are of significant importance when you, as a trader from Australia, consider choosing a Forex Broker, whether you are a beginner or advanced trader. The significance of each will differ depending on your needs, which in turn will depend on your trading style, your knowledge level and your type of trading.  Let’s begin with the regulation that we briefly touched upon earlier on this page.

1. Regulation and how trustworthy are they?

You wouldn’t put a large amount of your savings in a bank account if you did not know that the bank was secure and regulated, would you? So similarly why would you deposit with an FX Broker unless you were confident your funds and potential profits are ok?
In Australia, brokers are regulated by ASIC. However, it is still legal for an Australian trader to trade with a broker that is not regulated by ASIC. You would still look for a broker regulated by one of the other major regulators in the world. In the UK, this would mean looking for a broker that is regulated by the financial conduct authority (FCA). In the USA, the equivalent would be a broker regulated by the National Futures Association (NFA) and/or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
A major advantage of opening an account with an ASIC regulated broker with an AUD account is that you will not take any exchange losses when depositing with the broker. Opening an account with a broker regulated by any of the above brokers should allow for protection if you as a depositor/trader have an issue or grievance with the broker. As already said, the top list above includes many brokers regulated by ASIC and a few other brokers, all regulated by major regulatory bodies, and therefore you can feel ok about trading with them.

2. Spreads and/or Commission

Brokers do not provide their services for nothing, so they charge either commission per trade or more likely by the spread between the bid and offer prices. The wider the spread, effectively the more the trader has to pay to get into and out of each trade. So the narrower the spread, effectively the better off for the trader. Sometimes brokers offer fixed spreads, but often the spread will be variable depending on the volatility of the market.

3. Withdrawals and deposits

Most FX Brokers today offer very low requirements to open an account (from as little as AUD50). Brokers have differing policies with regard to depositing, funding and withdrawals. Are you able to fund the account from a bank account via wire transfer, via credit card, via PayPal? When withdrawing, is this done via wire transfer, back to your bank account or credit card? Are there any withdrawal fees? Any initial deposit requirements?

4. Rollover interest (credit/debit)

Some brokers charge a debit (or give a credit) for daily interest. This would be a consideration for any traders thinking of holding open positions over night.

5. Margin and Leverage

Many FX Trading accounts are based on the concept of margin and leverage. Leverage is basically the ability to increase the possible return on an investment or trade. A margin account allows the trader to use leverage by trading larger amounts than deposited in their account. This is because only the potential short term losses on the accounts need to be covered, not the full amount of the underlying asset. How much leverage any forex broker offers and the margin requirements may be a consideration when opening an account with a particular forex broker. Some international regulators impose restrictions on the leverage their brokers can offer. However, currently, ASIC does not impose such leverage restrictions with its regulated brokers, this might change over time though.

6. Types of forex accounts

There are different types of FX trading accounts which include more traditional cash exchange accounts, spread betting type accounts or CFDs (Contracts for Difference). The choice of which account to open will depend on your very specific needs and potentially even depend on your tax liabilities.

7. What markets can you trade?

All FX brokers in the top list above for Australia offer trading in the major currency pairs, including EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD and also AUDUSD, EURAUD, AUDNZD etc. Most also offer currency cross rates, ability to trade a large selection of currency pairs against each other.
In addition, many brokers offer the opportunity to trade other financial markets and assets. These would include equity indices, government bond markets and commodities (such as oil, gold and copper).

8. Trading platforms supported by the broker

Practically all brokers offer a trading platform, whereby the trader can access the various markets available to trade. Some brokers provide their own developed trading platforms, whilst others suggest downloading free platforms offered by third-party providers. There are many different factors to consider when looking at differing trading platforms including; ease of use, accessibility, trading tools on offer, charting packages, mobile/tablet access etc. Please see our list of best trading platforms in Australia here.

9. Customer support

Many markets are now open 24 hours a day, five days during the week. So a strong customer support service would be open at all times during this time. Also, the speed of access to a live individual rather than an automated service should certainly be considered. Inevitably, when calling customer service it is usually with an issue, which as a trader you will likely want resolved as soon as possible. Opening hours may be especially important when you’re located in Australia and the broker’s headquarters might be located in a completely different time zone.

10. Demo account available?

Most, but not all, Forex Brokers offer demo trading accounts to practice on. A demo account allows you to test the trading platform and evaluate some of the above-mentioned factors. All forex brokers useful to traders from Australia in the top list above will offer demo accounts to new traders.

In the top list above you will find links to our reviews of the best forex brokers for Australian traders. In these reviews, we’ve covered most of these ten tips to make your choice of a broker as easy as possible.

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