FOREX.com is a trusted brand that delivers an excellent trading experience for forex and CFDs traders across the globe. It offers a wide range of markets and provides an impressive suite of proprietary platforms – alongside limited access to MetaTrader.
Though it’s not a discount broker unless you trade larger volumes, FOREX.com’s multi-asset offering will appeal to forex traders of all experience levels.
Offering of investments
The products and services available to you at FOREX.com will depend on your location, and on which of its regulated entities holds your account. For example, while CFDs are not available in the U.S. due to regulatory issues, FOREX.com offers an impressive selection of over 4,500 CFDs for traders living outside of the U.S. FOREX.com offers CFDs for commodities and metals, though spot metals (like gold and silver) are unavailable to traders in the U.S. Also, knock-out options are now available at FOREX.com in Japan, Singapore, and Australia.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available at FOREX.com through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g., buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker’s U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.
The following table summarizes the different investment products available to FOREX.com clients.
Commissions and fees
FOREX.com offers multiple execution methods and account types (FOREX.com is one of my top picks for market maker brokers), as well as transparent execution statistics. That said, our research found that FOREX.com is slightly expensive when compared to the industry average, unless you are trading outside of the US, where spreads averaged 0.74 for the EUR/USD in July 2023 (using a time-weighted average), whereas its Raw account spreads are lower but feature a per trade commission.
Standard account: FOREX.com’s Standard account is the only option available for MetaTrader clients – and would not be my ideal choice. Average spreads are high at 1.4 in the U.S. on the EUR/USD, based on typical spread data provided to us by FOREX.com (July 2023). The Standard account will appeal to traders who are willing to pay a premium (in the form of a higher spread) for the benefits of market-maker execution.
Active trading accounts: The DMA account has been replaced by the RAW account offering in the U.S, which features typical spreads on the EUR/USD of 0.13 pips (calculated using data collected in February 2024). RAW accounts are commission-based and (unlike DMA accounts) and are eligible for active trader discounts on FOREX.com’s proprietary Advanced Trading platform suite, with spreads nearing zero before commission.
- Very high volume active traders that turn over more than $2 billion per month (Tier Six) would realize effective spreads comparable to what IC Markets or Tickmill offer.
RAW Spread account: FOREX.com’s recently launched RAW Spread account delivers commission-based pricing (similar to its STP account) and volume-based rebates for active traders. The RAW account (along with MetaTrader 5) is now available to FOREX.com’s clients in Canada and the U.S. Learn more about forex trading in Canada by checking out our Canada forex guide.
- There are six volume tiers with rebates ranging from $2 per million at the base tier to $9 per million at the highest tier (level five). Note: Rebates are not available to DMA accounts.
- The base commission for the lowest tier on the Raw account is a bit expensive at $10 per Standard lot ($5 per side), which adds about one pip to the typical spreads of 0.13 pips for the EUR/USD (based on February 2024 spread data).
- After factoring in the $2 discount (equivalent to 0.2 pips), the effective spread is 0.93 pips – this total includes the typical spread of 0.13 pips based on February 2024 data, and the 1.0 pip round-turn commission equivalent (minus the 0.2 pip discount).
- Bottom line: unless you trade more than $50 million per month, the all-in costs for FOREX.com’s Commission account are practically the same as the Standard account for U.S. residents, the only differences being execution method and available platforms.
Mobile trading apps
Overall, FOREX.com’s mobile offering competes among the best brokers in the industry.
Apps overview: FOREX.com offers its proprietary mobile app alongside the full suite of MetaTrader mobile apps, including MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Ease of use: Trading and managing positions within FOREX.com’s mobile app is easy and straightforward, thanks to its fluid user interface and minimalist design. Highlights include an economic calendar, an integrated suite of modules from Trading Central, alerts, market updates, and news headlines from Reuters. The app also supports complex order types such as OCOs, trailing-stops, and a “close all” button which allows traders to exit multiple positions quickly for a given instrument.
Charting: The FOREX.com app automatically syncs watchlists, and includes easy-to-use charts powered by TradingView that feature over 80 indicators and a vast array of drawing tools. Your chart settings won’t sync automatically with the web version, but I found the “load chart layout” function can be used to manually load your saved templates.
Other trading platforms
FOREX.com goes above and beyond to provide forex traders with everything they need to trade effectively. FOREX.com’s platform suite has historically been – and continues to be – robust.
Platforms overview: FOREX.com provides its own flagship Advanced Trading (desktop) and Web Trading platforms, alongside TradingView, the full MetaTrader suite (MT4 and MT5), and NinjaTrader.
Charting: FOREX.com’s flagship desktop platform, Advanced Trading, is best suited for seasoned traders and comes with a robust charting package loaded with a large selection of over 200 technical indicators (this number includes automated strategies that are indicator-based), as well as drawing tools and over a hundred predefined automated strategies.
That said, charts on the FOREX.com desktop platform are not as smooth as its Web Trading web platform counterpart, which features charts powered by TradingView. TradingView is adored by technical analysis enthusiasts for its powerful charting capabilities; learn more by checking out our TradingView guide.
Web trading: Best suited for casual traders, FOREX.com’s Web Trading platform makes browsing through markets, conducting research, and placing trades a breeze. Charts are powered by TradingView, and come loaded with nearly 100 indicators, 14 timeframes, and ten chart types.
The Advanced Trading platform features advanced order types, deep customization, and plenty of subtle-but-useful features – such as the ability to set price tolerance from within the trade ticket. I found the layout well-designed, easy to use, and rich with features. For the sake of comparison, I found the Advanced Trading platform similar to FXCM’s own impressive proprietary platform.
Trading Analytics: The PlayMaker module, part of FOREX.com’s Trading Analytics suite of tools (formerly known as Chasing Returns) stands out for its innovative approach to helping traders manage their risk, and helped FOREX.com win our award for #1 Risk Management Tool in 2024.
Market research
FOREX.com does a great job of centralizing its research within the Advanced Trading platform and keeping it organized for easy accessibility. The only downside to FOREX.com’s research offering is the low quantity of available video content, although the amount of available content continues to improve each year.
Research overview: Multiple news channels, automated pattern-recognition modules from Trading Central, and blog updates from FOREX.com’s global research team are all available within the Web Trading platform. Headlines stream from Reuters and a Trading Central-powered economic calendar is integrated across the site and platforms.
Market news and analysis: FOREX.com produces a variety of good-quality written content each day, covering multiple markets and sector themes. Content includes weekly posts such as its “Week Ahead” series, daily articles produced by FOREX.com’s in-house analysts, as well as integrated resources from third-party providers. For example, research tools powered by Trading Central are directly integrated throughout its suite of platforms, such as its popular Market Buzz, Technical Insight, and Analyst Views modules.
Video content: Market-based research in video format continues to improve at FOREX.com. For example, FOREX.com features daily market updates as well as a weekly video on the broker’s YouTube channel. I’d love to see FOREX.com expand this coverage with additional video series.
