In a nutshell, some of the best CFD brokers in the UK are City Index for added value, Forex.com for currencies, Pepperstone for MT4 CFDs and Plus500 for global market access.
CFD brokers offer “contracts for difference” (CFD) trading, which is an over-the-counter (OTC) high-risk type of trading that lets you speculate on the price of underlying financial markets without actually owning the asset by either taking a long (buy) or short (sell) position.
We have tested, ranked, reviewed and compared some of the best CFD brokers for trading contracts-for-difference that are regulated by the FCA in the UK. For each of these CFD broker reviews, I’ve tested the platforms with real money, put live trades on and interviewed the CEOs. I was a CFD broker for ten years and still enjoy trading contracts-for difference on a regular basis for our CFD trading platform reviews. But it’s important to remember that CFDs are for experienced investors only and, becuase of margin and leverage are a high-risk financial product.
| CFD Broker | CFD Markets | Overnight Fees | Customer Reviews | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 13,500 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 124 reviews)
| See Platform 70% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 5,000 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 16 reviews)
| See Platform 75% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 1,200 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 86 reviews)
| See Platform 75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 2,000 | 20% Long / 10% Short | (Based on 144 reviews)
| See Platform 80% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 8,500 | 1.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 934 reviews)
| See Platform 60% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 10,000 | 3% +/- SONIA | (Based on 257 reviews)
| See Platform 64% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 17,000 | 2.5% +/- SONIA | (Based on 678 reviews)
| See Platform 69% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 12,000 | 2.9% +/- SONIA | (Based on 148 reviews)
| See Platform 70% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 9,000 | 2.5% +/- SAXO RATE | (Based on 73 reviews)
| See Platform 65% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 2,976 | 6.4% +/- SONIA | (Based on 277 reviews)
| See Platform 51% of retail investor accounts lose money |
 | 2,100 | 9% Long / 0.4% Short | (Based on 136 reviews)
| See Platform 75% of retail investor accounts lose money |
Methodology: At Good Money Guide, we’ve done the hard work for you, independently testing and selecting the UK’s best CFD brokers. All our recommendations are FCA-regulated, ensuring you get a safe trading experience.
Good Money Guide Shortlisted Our Featured CFD Brokers Based On:
- Over 30,000 votes and reviews in the annual Good Money Guide awards
- Our team’s experiences testing the CFD trading platforms with real money
- In-depth comparison of the features that make these CFD brokers the best
- Exclusive interviews with the CFD brokers CEOs and senior management
- Find out more about our review process in the How We Test Providers page.
City Index: Best CFD Broker For Trading Signals & Post-Trade Analysis
City Index CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: City Index CFD Trading
Description: City Index offers CFD trading on over 13,500 markets including 40 equity indices, 4,700 international shares, ETFs, 19 commodities, 183 forex pairs, government bonds and interest rates giving it one of the largest market ranges of all the major CFD brokers.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is City Index good for CFD trading?
For my latest review of CFD trading on City Index I thought I’d short some Tesla shares, as when I did “How to buy Tesla shares” explainer video on Youtube the other day, someone called me a “bellend” in the comments.
Fair enough, as Tesla is a bit of a political hot potato at the moment. But you can’t argue with sentiment right? Well, you can actually, because that’s what I did. Before trading, I checked out City Index’s sentiment indicators, which are provided by Trading Central and give a really good overview of what stocks are being talked about. Obviously, Tesla is the most popular because people love to hate, but what was odd was that sentiment towards Tesla was generally positive. So being a contrarian investor (sometimes) I’ve gone against the crowd, because I often think that when people are most bullish, that’s when a reversal may appear.
Anyway, that was last night and because of the clocks have not changed yet, I missed the main US trading session so had to short Tesla via City Index’s after-hours contracts that let you trade CFDs when the main market is closed. It’s a little more expensive, but liquidity in Tesla is still good, so the spread was still tight.
One thing you can’t see from the screen shots below is that if you click on the little chart in the far bottom right, you get a chart overlayed with your opening price, stops and limits. Which gives you a really good visualisation of where your CFD positions sit from a technical analysis point of view.
Is City Index CFD Trading DMA (Direct Market Access)?
City Index is an OTC CFD Broker, which means it does not offer DMA CFD trading, you can only trade as an OTC CFD or as a financial spread bet. If you want direct market access to exchanges for equities trading you can compare DMA brokers here. However, City Index CFD pricing is tight enough for the majority of traders who do not want to work orders inside the bid/offer spread. The other advantage of trading CFDs “over-the-counter” is that commission is included in the quote as opposed to DMA brokers like Saxo Markets who add commission after you trade.
Charges and commissions are included in the spread for CFD trading and are very competitive including 0.5 pips for EURUSD, 1 point spreads on the FTSE (UK100 CFDs), 0.8% on UK shares and 1.8 cents per share on USD stocks (2 cents per share being industry standard).
Performance Analytics is a great tool for traders that can help traders improve their CFD profitability. Performance Analytics looks at your CFD trading history and shows you where you do well and when you do not. The idea is to make you a better trader by encouraging you to stick to a trading plan and gives you guidance on when your plan is working and what markets, times and conditions suit your trading style the most.
As well as offering a CFD trading platform and mobile app City Index has always catered to, and still does, to high-value traders over the phone. It is one thing that makes them different from the majority of trading platforms in that you can actually talk to an experienced dealer who knows your account as well as deal electronically.
For new traders, there is a huge amount of educational and informational content from “how-to” videos and articles to more lighthearted CFD, and focussed programming like the Traders Academy.
Overall, City Index offers one of the best CFD trading platforms, on a wide range of markets with low costs and is suitable for large traders who want personal service and new traders how need assistance looking for trading ideas. A good CFD trading platform for traders who want trading signals and post-trade analytics.
Pros
- CFD trading signals
- Post CFD trading analytics
- Wide range of CFD markets
Cons
- No DMA CFDs
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.370% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
FOREX.com: Great CFD Trading Platform For Currencies
FOREX.com Review: Best Forex Broker 2025
Name: FOREX.com
Description: FOREX.com is one of the largest forex brokers operating globally and owned by NASDAQ listed institutional broker StoneX. Forex.com offers traders access to 5,500+ assets including 80+ currency pairs, thousands of stocks, popular commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies (pro accounts only in the UK). Pricing is competitive especially for those on their RAW spread account or active trader program.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Is FOREX.com a good trading platform?
FOREX.com won “Best Forex Broker” in the 2025 Good Money Guide Awards.
24-Hour FOREX.com Test
I took FOREX.com out for a 24-hour test drive, trade with real money and try some of their key features on the streets of the City of London. Here’s what happened…
“For FX sake”, I thought to myself when I decided to write a review about a forex broker that offers access to the forex market for forex traders because on the surface, that’s what forex trading platforms do, so I didn’t really think I’d have much to say. I’m not normally a fan of forex trading becuase, a. I’ve never had much success at it and b. I find the nuances of intra-day technical analysis too complicated.
I’m a sort of old-fashioned trader, I like to look at the market and think it’s either overvalued or undervalued and in my mind anyway, that is easier to do when looking at a company’s share price, an index or even a commodity. But for some reason, with forex trading, I’ve never really got the hang of it.
Having said that I have dealt currency for about 20 years now, but more as a broker rather than as a trader. And I know that the currency markets are not only hard to understand, they come with all sorts of complexities. For instance, I used to do some prime brokerage for institutions that would hedge their currency exposure when buying aeroplanes. So we would do deals like buying 50m EURSEK, then roll it forward for delivery in 2 months’ time. A massive headache when trying to market it up. Or dealing in GBPEUR, or was it EURGBP? I remember once, marking up (or down) a forward the wrong way. It would have been a €20k error, but fortunately, the dealer didn’t know what they were doing, so we styled it out. At one point, forex trading for me was a big income generator, but also the type of business I hated most. It was so bad at one point that the broker next to me refused to pick up the phone if he knew it was a big FX trade coming through. He’d get all red and sweaty and pretend to be busy filling another customer.
I was, in fact, so frustrated with how opaque pricing was in currency trading, that I decided to start up my own currency brokerage specialising in high-value currency transfers £250k upwards) and undercutting everyone. It was called Berry FX, you can still see the demo on Youtube. Basically, personal service with the best rates anywhere ever. But alas, I am a better marketer than a salesman, so I now just let other currency brokers compete for clients by trying to offer the best exchange rates.
But you don’t really care about that. You want to know what I think of Forex.com.
24 Hour Test:
I thought I’d try something a little different with this review and have a bit of fun with it. So I took forex.com out for a 24-hour test drive around the City of London, putting some real trades on whilst going about my business to see if I could make any money.
I started out at the Bank of England with £10k on account at 11:30. Lunch was a few minutes walk from the tube station, so I took the opportunity to put some trades on using Forex.com’s trading Signals. I’ve used these for years; back in 2018, they were known as GetGo; it was a stand-alone forex trading app. When I reviewed it back in 2018, I said back that it was the future of forex trading signals but are they still?
There are a couple of things that make these signals better than the rest.
They tell you the success rate
The signal is linked to an order ticket
When I was walking down King William Street to L’Antipasto to meet my contacts at Forex.com for lunch, I put a few traders on. First, I looked at the trades that had a historic success rate of over 50% and followed them. Then I looked at trading signals that had a success rate of less than 50% and traded against them. It’s a pretty simple strategy that generally works (not always, though). Used the classic stop/limit risk/reward ratio to of aiming for twice the potential loss as a potential win. Again, simple forex trading strategies. The market is not hard to call, but if you get a trade right, it often pays to let it run for longer, but if it’s wrong, close it sooner.
Trading Central:
Then after lunch, on the way to my next meeting, I took a few moments on London Bridge, in the glorious sunshine with Tower Bridge in the background, to take a look at some of the other signals on forex.com, Trading Central. Now, Trading Central has been providing technical analysis to brokers for decades and provides a constant stream of manually and automatically updated trading ideas throughout the day to give traders an indication of where the markets may go.
It’s not as fluid as their trading signals, as you have to put the trades in manually, but still gives you a bit of stimulus. This is great for someone like me because I generally have an idea of what I want to do from eyeballing a chart (I did, after all, run a technical analysis division for five years), but it’s nice to get confirmation of your thoughts one way or another.
Execution:
When you are actually trading there are some great other features on the app like:
Swipe to trade: a bit like Tinder (so I hear – I’ve been married for 12 years).
Chart on tickets: with a quick tap, you can bring up a chart when on the order ticket (to double-check)
Working orders on charts: when looking at a chart, you can see your working orders and positions
Position potential: as well as seeing what margin is required when placing a trade you can also see and set your stops and limits as a potential monetary amount instead of pips.
Post-Trade Analytics:
Once you’ve done a bit of trading, you can review your trading history and see where you do well and where you can improve. This is a great feature as it can break down how well you trade by time of day, markets or volatility. You can also set up “Play Maker” if you have a trading strategy and want to stick to it. Obviously, you can’t get that sort of data in a 24-hour test drive, so I’ll have to revisit that another time.
Demo Account:
Forex.com have a pretty good demo account, in fact, it’s hard to tell the difference between the demo and live trading platform. You get the same functionality and as trades are OTC, the same prices.
However, when I opened a demo account to test them, I already had a real account. So after I got my demo account login details, I clicked through to the “webtrader” portal (and this is quite funny or alarming, depending on how you look at it), my live account details were auto-filled in by Google Chrome.
Now, had I not been checking my email, to ensure that they had sent me through my credentials (as Interactive Brokers didn’t for some reason when I tested their demo account), I may not have noticed that I was logging into a live account. It could have been disastrous if I’d started ttrading away thinking it was paper money. Even more so as you get £10k in demo funds and I’d deposited £10k in my live account when I took forex.com on a 24-hour trading signal test drive around The City.
It reminded me of when a trader thought that he was trading on a demo account and put $1bn worth of orders through and then sued his broker because they voided his €10m profits. But, that’s unlikely, to happen to me because even on demo accounts I don’t get thank lucky. And almost certainly won’t happen to you because why would you open a demo account after already having a live one unless you were reviewing it?
TradingView & MetaQuotes
I had a good play about with TradingView, as it’s now the go-to destination for traders. TradingView is a sort of social network for traders where you can view charts (they are excellent) and post trading ideas (a pinch of salt). As TradingView has grown, they have also become an execution venue too, so you can link your Forex.com trading account and deal straight from the charts. This shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for most traders as the charts on the Forex.com app and web-based platform are provided by TradingView (who incidentally are one of the largest financial-based websites in the world now).
You can also trade on MT4, if you are into that sort of thing…
Am I a Forexpert?
I did make money on day one, mainly thanks to putting on a GBPUSD trade that covered most of the losses from some of the other trades. When I used their trading ignals five years ago, I also made money. Day two wasn’t so good, on my way to an investor show, I gave back a few pennies but still ended up on top. But I have to admit my traders were calculated guesses rather than heavily researched positions. I don’t like holding positions overnight, as day trading reduces not only your margin requirements but also increases the amount of sleep you get because you don’t wake up with cold sweats in the middle of the night worrying about Asian interest rates.
Overall would I recommend forex.com? Well, yes, if you are going to trade Forex and don’t know where to start, it’s a massive brand with global reach and owned by a listed brokerage with an institutional pedigree. As far as box-ticking is concerned, they tick the lot. Or should I say pip the lots…
Pros
- Trading Signals
- Post Trade Analytics
- Forex Specialists
Cons
- Limited Market Range
- No DMA
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.975% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Pepperstone: Best Broker For Trading CFDs on MT4 & MY5
Pepperstone CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: Pepperstone CFD Trading
Description: Pepperstone offers CFD traders TradingView as well as two platforms cTrader and MT4 (or 5) which are suited to two different types of traders. cTrader for a more traditional look and click trader and MT4 for automated trading strategies.
75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Pepperstone a good CFD broker?
Overall, Pepperstone offers one of the best MT4 CFD trading packages and is suitable for those wanting to trade the major markets on tight spreads.
I found when testing that Pepperstone’s main proposition is pricing through, either through MT4 or cTrader CFD traders do get some of the most competitive spreads through Pepperstone.
MT4 is a very good trading platform for automated trading strategies and Pepperstone has a suite of exclusive indicators and trading tools for their CFD traders.
cTrader, is more of a traditional trading platform for trading from charts and sentiment indicators. For chartists, you can also trade CFDs through TradingView with Pepperstone.
Pepperstone has a relatively limited range of CFD markets on offer with 1200 in total including 100 FX pairs, 28 commodities, 28 indices and 900+ UK, US and international shares. The list of shares is growing though and Pepeprstone say that if you want to trade CFDs on a stock that is not listed on it’s platform they will add it on request if there is enough volume and liquidity.
Pros
- Good package of MT4 CFD indicators
- Trade CFDs automatically
- Wide range of stock CFDs on MT4/MT5
Cons
- No DMA CFDs
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
475.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex: Best CFD Broker For CFD Trading With Personal Service
Spreadex CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: Spreadex CFD Trading
Description: Spreadex is a CFD broker that has a huge focus on customer services offers trading on a relatively large amount of markets, 10,000 including lots of smaller UK shares. I’ve used them for about 10 years and know some of the staff well.
64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is it better to CFDs with Spreadex or spread bet?
I would say if you are in the UK it is better to spread bet with Spreadex rather than to trade CFDs. Pricing and market access is exactly the same and the only reason Spreadex started offering CFDs in 2017 was so that they could offer financial trading to non-UK customers.
Overall Spreadex is a good CFD broker for traders that want to trade on major and minor shares and put more of a focus on customer service than technology.
Spreadex has been providing trading since 1999, but only recently introduced CFD trading in 2017. The trading platform, whilst quite basic, does represent what Spreadex is good at, which is the major markets and customer service. Being a smaller CFD broker they have a bank of experienced dealers who can work orders for you and provide support for the CFD app and platform.
Recently Spreadex has become much more competently priced, offering UKX CFD trading with 1 pips spreads, 0.6 pips on EURUSD and 0.2% on UK shares. There is no minimum deposit and no inactivity fee.
Pros
- Excellent customer service
- Smaller cap stock CFD trading
- Wide range of CFD markets
Cons
- Limited options trading
- Trading only, no investing
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.264% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Plus500: Great For New Innovative CFD Markets
Plus500 CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: Plus500 CFD Trading
Description: Plus500 offers easy access to CFD trading, including hard-to-borrow shorts with client sentiment indicators. It’s user-friendly but basic, with higher costs and limited features compared to rivals.
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Is Plus500 any good for CFD trading?
Yes, I think Plus500 can be good for CFD trading and I’ll tell you why. Reddit has been annoying me for a long time. Every time I search for something on Google, I get a load of outdated single-opinion forum answers thrust in front of me. When what I actually want is for someone who knows what they are talking about to answer my query initially, they back up their answer with a longer explanation, if I feel the need to read it.
Now, as an SEO, this offends me. As a trader, it offends me even more that Reddit’s IPO coincided with Google giving their forum prominence in search results.
Now, Google is a fickle Master and changes how it’s algorithm works with no notice and from many perspectives no reason. And I expect Reddit will fall foul of a Google update at some point in the future. Or at least I am hoping so, becuase I can’t figure out how to use it and it doesn’t make sense to me.
Which is why I want to short the stock and bet on it going down, which you can do with CFDs. But you can’t do it with all CFD brokers because Reddit is what is known as a “hard to borrow” stock, which means that people won’t lend it to you so you can sell it to someone else with a view of buying it back when it is priced lower to give it back. I tried to short sell it as a CFD on Interactive Brokers, XTB, and even IG, and none of them would let me. So I was delighted to see that it was shortable on Plus500.
I don’t like to go crazy when reviewing platforms so put in £500 and maxed out my leverage which is capped at 20% by the regulators, to take a $2,500 position on Reddit’s demise.
There are some quite cool features on Plus500 for when you are thinking of taking a position. For instance, their +Insights tab tells you where Plus500 clients are positioned in a stock, which in Reddit’s case is 92% long, and amazingly Reddit is number 4 on the list of most profit-making positions in the last 30 days.
So I am significantly going against the grain here. It is, however, not a very popular stock on Plus500 with only 8k views over the last 24 hours from their 30 million users. But you can also see that Reddit has a below-average ESG score, which sort of means I’m a responsible trader by shorting non-sustainable companies???
Anyway, I sold at $90 and put a guaranteed stop on (for an extra $1.19 on the spread) just above $100 in case a bonkers billionaire decides to buy them, and it gaps above. I also put a take profit exit order in at $60, which was triple my stop loss distance.
Compared to other platforms, trading CFDs on Plus500 is pretty simplistic; there are no different order types, so you can’t really work a proper limit order, only trade at market. But that’s fine if you are just tapping away at the market, taking positions. Plus, overnight funding is pretty expensive, at 20% a year for longs and 10% for shorts. Spreads are dynamic which means that it changes based on market volatility and liquidity, so a bit wider (0.5% either side) than the underlying bid/offer, compared to other CFD brokers like IG and IBKR, where the spread is about 0.3%.
But one thing I do quite like about Plus500 is that when you are setting up a trade, it tells you the value in both USD and GBP so you know your exact exposure, which is pretty important so you don’t get any nasty surprises whilst trading on margin in foreign currencies.
So it’s a bit more expensive and not quite as advanced as other platforms, but at least if you want to short a stock, you can when other brokers won’t let you!
I also should say that I have massive respect for Plus500 from a marketing point of view. They obviously looked at the online trading industry and thought to themselves, “this is ripe for disruption” and to be fair, they did disrupt the CFD trading (not the financial spread betting) industry.
Before Plus500 came along, most CFD platforms asked you to deposit a minimum of £5,000 to open an account. You had to prove that you had the relevant experience to trade high-risk derivative products, pass credit checks and wait at least a week before compliance, accounts and sales had checked your account and allocated you an account number. And in some cases, you didn’t even get an account number until you’d BACS’d money over to fund your account.
But, that was about 15 years ago and Plus500 asked me during their compliance checks of my review to point out that “the information regarding the account opening gives the impression that the process is simple and fast, which could be misleading. Due to the document approval procedure and the questionnaire, the creation of the account can take some time. Also, if the approval requirements are not met, some users are unable to create a real trading account”.
Which, of course, is true because, now for AML, you have to submit some personal documents, there are several term documents to read and you have to answer (and pass) a suitability questionnaire.
It’s not now harder to open an account because a. CFDs have become more appealing to the mass market and b. CFDs are definitely not a mass-market product.
Innovation
What Plus500 did was create a basic trading platform that offered the major instruments that people wanted to trade. After all, the majority of revenue generated for CFD trading platforms is from the top ten traded instruments like FTSE, Wall Street, EURUSD, Gold and Oil.
Then they made the account opening process the most simple it could possibly be. Instead of having to get a notarised copy of your passport and post in bank statements, Plus500 clients could open an account online and start trading with real money relatively quickly (in less than a few minutes for a demo account). For other brokers, it was still taking a week. They could do it because normally new clients have to provide ID when opening an account to prevent money laundering. Because the rules at the time were generally geared towards withdrawals, not deposits, you didn’t have to provide ID until you wanted to take money out. Plus500 eventually got ticked off for it and had to start front-loading ID checks. But it completely turned the industry on its head making it very simple for anyone to open a trading account. Cough cough, the mega marketing machine that is eToro.
Soon after that, all the other trading platforms tried to catch up but legacy technology still makes them a lot slower than Plus500 to this day.
Disruption
But, whilst Plus500 have disrupted the CFD industry, it’s not necessarily for the good. Trading is a high risk, most people lose money. Just because you can do something, should you?
I know that things that are bad for you are often enjoyable, this isn’t a debate about whether or not CFDs are good or bad. I have been in the CFD industry for 20 years and I think they are good, but then I have always dealt with professional clients, hedge funds, and traders who understand the risk. CFDs can be used to hedge portfolios, increase diversification, build a stake in a company without declaring it, making money when the markets fall by shorting stocks.
The debate is more about who they are appropriate for, and CFDs are not appropriate for everyone, but they are there if you want them.
Pros
- Easy account setup
- Shorting availability strong
- Client sentiment insights
Cons
- Limited order types
- Higher trading costs
- Basic trading tools
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
App & Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.480% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
IG: Best CFD Trading Platform For Liquidity & Market Range
IG CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: IG CFD Trading
Description: IG Index (as they were then called) was one of the originators of retail CFD trading and offers access to the widest range of markets with the best liquidity. I’ve used them for over 20 years and regularly test the platform. In fact, CFD liquidity on major instruments is often better with IG than the underlying exchanges does to IG’s symmetrical hedging policy and order flow.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Is IG a good for CFD trading?
Yes, IG is one of the best CFD trading platforms as they offer a huge range of markets to trade and DMA access for more sophisticated traders. Also, because IG offers CFDs globally (with the exception of the US) they have a huge amount of volume and liquidity meaning that sometimes you can place bigger orders via IG’s order book than you could do on the underlying exchanges like the LSE or NYSE. Because of the sheer volume of CFD trades, IG is able to internally match up orders for quicker and larger fills.
CFD costs are included in the spread for retail traders, but you also have the option of trading with direct market access (DMA) on level-2 prices. This enables CFD traders to place orders within the bid/offer spread and get better prices. The commission is then charged post-trade. DMA CFD trading is often must more cost-effective for high-volume larger traders as fills are quicker and at better prices.
You can trade over 17,000 CFD markets with IG including 51 forex pairs, 38 commodities, 34 indices and over 10,000 stocks. You can also trade CFDs on IPO through their grey market. The CFD trading platform is constantly evolving due to customer feedback and IG has a wide range of news, sentiment and analysis that is based on the analytics from the platform on what traders are trading. So for example, if there is a lot of order flow around a particular stock or market, research is created to help traders better understand market moves.
The main thing though that makes IG stand out is it’s size and coverage. As a public company valued at over £3.5bn April 2022) they cater for new, experienced, professional as well as institutional CFD traders.
One key disadvantage of trading CFDs through IG is that you have to pay tax on profits. However, CFDs are not the only product that IG offer. You can also trade financial spread bets, where you do not have to pay capital gains tax on profits.
Overall, IG offers one of the best CFD trading platforms around and provides excellent educational guides and market access for every sort of trader.
Pros
- Wide range of CFD markets
- Excellent CFD liquidity
- DMA & level-2 CFD trading
Cons
- Some CFD pricing is not competitive on smaller caps
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.370% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Saxo: Best CFD Broker For Professional Traders
Saxo CFD Trading Expert Review: Best CFD Broker 2025
Account: Saxo Markets CFD Trading
Description: Saxo Markets won the “best CFD broker” in our 2025, 2023 and 2022 Awards as it offers the widest range of account types, market access and tradable assets.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Saxo good for CFD trading?
Overall, Saxo Markets is the best CFD trading platform suitable for traders with experience who need access to a wide range of markets and order types.
When I tested the CFD platform with Saxo Markets, I traded CFDs and a few options. But, what makes Saxo Markets different though is how you can trade CFDs compared to other brokers. You can trade CFDs with direct market access (DMA) through the main trading platform or app. This means you can place OTC CFD orders directly on the exchange order book, getting better fills and better prices. You can also trade options as a CFD.
Saxo Markets is more of a professional CFD trading platform, so best suited to CFD traders who are graduating from a simple trading platform to something with more order types and support for higher-volume and sophisticated traders. The CFD trading platform is backed up with excellent support from personal dealers and experienced back-office staff, who cater for individual traders, professionals, and institutions like hedge funds and banks.
There is a huge amount of research data and analysis available on the trading platform that can help traders seek out trading opportunities and some very good post-trade analytics that will show you where you trade profitably and which markets you lose in, and therefore can potentially avoid.
Pros
- Excellent CFD market coverage
- DMA CFD trading
- Robust CFD trading platform
Cons
- High minimum deposit
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.465% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers: Best CFD Trading Platform For Advanced Order Execution
Interactive Brokers CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: Interactive Brokers CFD Trading
Description: IBKR offers CFD trading on around 8,500 markets including 100 forex pairs, 20 commodities, 13 indices, and thousands of international stocks. I’ve traded through IBKR a fair bit and there is no doubt that Interactive Brokers CFD offering is one of the best around.
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Can you trade CFDs with Interactive Brokers (IBKR)?
Yes, you can trade CFDs or contracts for difference with Interactive Brokers, but you have to go through some quite arduous suitability tests to ensure that you understand the risks involved.
But once you are in, I found Interactive Brokers to be one of the best CFD brokers, most appropriate for experienced and sophisticated CFD traders. However, it also has lighter versions of its Workstation downloadable trading platform on the portal for newer traders who may want to stick with one platform as they become more experienced.
Trading Platforms: There are two different platforms, which I tested by short-selling Travis Perkins as a CFD. We discussed TPK in our podcast, and the general consensus in the comments on TikTok was that everyone hates them and that it’s too expensive. You can see below examples of both trading platforms and how different they look.
The downloadable platform Workstation lets you trade CFDs with the most types of order execution with IBKR, for instance, VWAP, pairs trading, time and price-sensitive order entry. These tools are most suited to professional and very high-volume traders, or hedge funds that are working very large orders and don’t want to scare the market. Most retail CFD traders will have no need for them, but it is representative of IBKRs overall service in that it provides an exceptional institutional-grade CFD platform to retail clients.
There is also an excellent pairs trading feature where you can simultaneously trade one CFD stock against another as a percentage. IBKR is the only CFD broker that lets you do this. With other trading platforms you have to do two separate orders.
As you can see from when I shorted TPK on the Portal web-based version it is much simpler. But you still get some good order execution types, but it’s very much for retail CFD traders compared to IBKR Workstation which is for professionals.
Market Access: Whilst Interactive Brokers does not offer the most CFD markets, they do offer one of the best ways to trade them. With IBKR CFDs you can trade with direct market access (DMA) on the exchange so you can place your orders directly on the order book at better prices than the bid/offer.
In reality, CFD brokers with the most markets are those that offer access to small or illiquid stocks which are probably not suitable for CFD trading anyway. But, IBKR offers access to the majority of stocks and markets most traders could need.
CFD Fees: The commission is charged post-trade so you get clean prices with no mark-up and IBKRs commission rates (added post trade) are the best around. Commission on UK stocks is 0.02% and 0.003% on US stocks.
Out-of-hours Trading: IBKR lets you trade CFDs on US stocks, indices, commodities and currencies overnight and on some parts of the weekend. Overnight trading starts from 8pm US ET time on Sundays and for those with US stock trading permission you get access to free overnight data.
CFDs on restricted ETFs: You can also trade ETFs as a CFD that you otherwise would not be able to invest in if based in the UK. One of the major drawbacks of ETFs listed in the US is they do not provide a Key Information Document (which tells you what is in them and how risky they are), so the UK regulators won’t let UK investors buy them as they are not transparent. However, with IBKR you can trade these as a CFD (which is an OTC product).
Pros
- Low-cost CFD trading
- Wide market range of CFD markets
- DMA CFD trading
Cons
- Better for advanced CFD traders
- Complex desktop platform
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
App & Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.760% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets: Best CFD Broker For Sentiment Tools
CMC Markets CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: CMC Markets CFD Trading
Description: CMC Markets is one of the original CFD brokers launched in 1989. They offer access to over 12,000 markets and are known for tight pricing and good trading platform tech.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is CMC Markets a market maker for CFD trading?
Yes, CMC Markets is a CFD market marker in more ways than one. CMC operates a b-book dealing desk model where you are trading against them. CMC also provide liquidity as a market marker for smaller brokers to use their trading volumes.
Overall, CMC Markets is an excellent CFD trading platform with good market coverage and very competitive pricing. It’s most suited to short-term CFD traders speculating on the major markets.
One of the main features I like when trading through their platforms that makes CMC Markets stand out is how they present their CFD client sentiment indicators. Most brokers provide sentiment indicators based on what their clients are trading, but CMC enables CFD traders to break down what long and short positions their clients have by time frame and profitability. So you can filter in more profitable traders or longer-term positions.
CMC charges a bid-offer spread on CFDs on indices, commodities, FX and interest rates etc but charges a commission on CFDs over individual stocks and ETFs. Commissions start at 0.10% of the notional value of the trade for UK and European stocks, and at 2 cents per share for CFDs over US equities. Spreads vary by product and contract but are competitively priced relative to peers such as IG and Saxo Markets.
There are some excellent other features as well like thematic indices, share baskets, a wide range of order types, and the ability to enter, work and move orders direct from the charts.
Pros
- Excellent CFD trading platform
- Client CFD sentiment indicators
- Tight CFD spreads and pricing
Cons
- No DMA CFDs
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.170% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
eToro: Best CFD Broker For Controlling Your Leverage
eToro CFD Trading Expert Review
Account: eToro CFD Trading
Description: eToro lets you trade CFDs on major indices, forex pairs and stocks. One advantage of trading CFDs with eToro is that you can set your own leverage and reduce the amount of risk you take on per trade. A good option for new traders who want to see what other investors are trading through their social trading feature.
51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
Does eToro have CFD trading?
Yes, you can trade CFDs on eToro (but not if you are in America). As a CFD broker, eToro has a fairly basic offering, but that’s fine because I’d say that eToro is mainly geared towards beginner investors whose CFD trading is not really suitable as it’s a leverage product and you can lose money quickly. But, having said that, it’s really easy to use for new CFD traders who want to take on some risk, but not too much you can reduce leverage on CFD positions.
Pros
- Social and copy CFD trading
- Easy-to-use CFD platform
- Can change your CFD leverage
Cons
- Accounts must be in USD
- High FX conversion charges
- Limited market range
-
Pricing
(3.5)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
3.851% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
What is a CFD Broker?
A CFD broker offer contracts-for-difference via trading platforms so you can speculate on the price of a financial market or asset going either up or down with leverage.
CFD brokers have been around for decades, and were originally used by institutional and professional investors to hedge portfolio exposure or build up large positions in listed equities anonymously.
However, over the years, as retail investors have become more sophisticated, private clients are now able to trade CFDs on global markets.
In my view, CFD brokers are one of the cheapest and easiest ways for retail investors to speculate on the markets, and as they are heavily reagulted in the UK, the CFD brokerage industry is set to grow, especially as the world embraces tokenisation and off exchange trading.
For more information on what CFD broker do, watch this video of me interviewing, Ryan O’Doherty from CMC Markets (one of the largest globally operating CFD trading platforms).
Should You Trade With A CFD Broker?
CFD brokers offer a higher risk form of trading, so contracts for difference are not suitable for everyone. Here is a round-up of the advantages and disadvantages of using a CFD trading platform:
Pros
- Potential for high returns: Financial markets can be volatile, meaning that prices can rise and fall quickly. That creates opportunities for high returns if you are able to make accurate predictions about the direction of the markets
- Access to a wide range of assets: Many brokers offer access to more than 10,000 trading instruments so you should always be able to find trading opportunities
- Liquidity: The financial markets can be very liquid, meaning that there are usually always buyers and sellers. That liquidity makes it easier to quickly trade in and out of your positions, so you can move quickly and take advantage of trading opportunities as you spot them
Cons
- High risk: The financial markets are risky, and there is always the potential to lose money. This is especially true if you’re not experienced in trading, or if you make bad decisions and are led by your emotions
- Volatility: Prices in the markets can fluctuate very quickly and sometimes randomly. This can make it difficult to make accurate predictions about the direction of the market and that can mean trading losses
- Fees: Such as commissions and spreads. These fees can eat into your profits and your capital, so it is important to understand what these fees are and to factor them into your trading decisions
What Is The Best CFD Trading Platform For Beginners?
City Index is one of the best CFD trading platforms for beginners as they offer trading signals, lots of analysis and educational materials. City Index has a feature called Performance Analytics. This is a great tool that analyses your trading and tells you where you are more successful and which markets you should avoid, based on your trading style.
| Beginner Features: | Trading Signals | Educational Webinars | Client Sentiment | Leverage Control | Low-Risk Products | Investment Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Interactive Brokers | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Plus500 | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| CMC Markets | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Pepperstone | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Spreadex | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Saxo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| IG | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| XTB | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| eToro | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Remember – CFD trading is a high risk form of investment and if you’re completely new to investing it isn’t suitable. It’s less risky to invest through tax-efficient stocks and shares ISAs.
⚠️ All CFD Brokers Good Money Guide Recommends Are FCA Regulated
The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK CFD trading platforms are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only feature CFD platforms that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme).
Which CFD Broker Is Best For Advanced & Professional Traders?
Saxo Markets is one of the best brokers for professional CFD trading, mainly because their client base is generally more sophisticated than other CFD brokers. As such, their trading platform has been designed with professional traders in mind with DMA access, physical trading on a robust, institutional-grade platform.
Likewise, IG and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) both offer DMA trading and physical investing.
Whilst both IG and IBKR both offer institutional trading for hedge funds and professional traders, IBKR (as with Saxo Markets) also offers on-exchange futures and options trading, so comes in second and IG, third.
| Advanced Features: | Voice Brokerage | Corporate Accounts | Level-2 & DMA | Algo/API Trading | Prime Brokerage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Interactive Brokers | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Plus500 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| CMC Markets | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Pepperstone | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Spreadex | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Saxo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| IG | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| XTB | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
For more information on professional trading accounts, see our dedicated pro trader comparison page.
IG tops this list as they are a publicly listed CFD broker and offer DMA CFD trading and a personal service for larger clients.
Saxo Capital Markets is another good CFD broker for HNWs, as you can trade DMA, buy physical shares, bonds, and trade all sorts of exotic derivative products. They also have professional brokers available over the phone for trading if you want to work VWAP or other algo orders that may otherwise move the market if you did them yourself.
Which CFD Broker Has The Cheapest Commission & Spreads?
Saxo Markets and Interactive Brokers have the cheapest commission for CFD trading. City Index and CMC Markets often have the highest spreads.
| Trading Costs | FTSE 100 | DAX 30 | DJIA | NASDAQ | S&P 500 | EURUSD | GBPUSD | USDJPY | Gold | Crude Oil | UK Stocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | 1 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.008 |
| IG | 1 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.28 | 0.001 |
| CMC Markets | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 3 | 0.001 |
| Pepperstone | 1 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.09 | 0.28 | 0.14 | 0.05 | 2 | 0.001 |
| Saxo | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0005 |
| Interactive Brokers | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.02% |
| Spreadex | 1 | 1.2 | 4 | 2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 3 | 0.002 |
| XTB | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.35 | 3 | 0.0008 |
CFD trading platforms can offer either fixed or variable spreads. Fixed spreads stay constant regardless of market conditions, while variable spreads adjust based on factors like volatility and liquidity. For example, major economic events, such as non-farm payroll announcements, often increase market volatility, leading to wider spreads. On the other hand, during high-liquidity periods, like market open or close, spreads tend to tighten.
Typically, brokers set spreads slightly wider than the underlying bid/offer price to include their commission, which is how they earn their fee.
What Is The Best CFD Trading Platform For Market Access?
IG offers the best market access with 17,000 instruments available to trade on it’s CFD trading platform. Plus you can trade CFDs with DMA (direct market access) and work orders inside the bid/offer spread.
| Market Access: | Total Markets | Forex Pairs | Commodities | Indices | UK Stocks | US Stocks | ETFs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | 12000 | 84 | 25 | 21 | 3500 | 1000 | n/a |
| IG | 17000 | 51 | 38 | 34 | 3925 | 6352 | 2000 |
| CMC Markets | 11000 | 338 | 124 | 82 | 745 | 4968 | 1084 |
| Pepperstone | 1200 | 62 | 32 | 28 | 192 | 880 | 107 |
| Saxo | 9000 | 182 | 19 | 29 | 5000 | 2000 | 675 |
| Interactive Brokers | 5233 | 100 | 20 | 13 | 500 | 3500 | 1100 |
| Spreadex | 10000 | 54 | 20 | 17 | 1575 | 2110 | 160 |
| XTB | 2,100 | 57 | 22 | 25 | 230 | 1080 | 138 |
Why choosing a CFD broker based on what markets you can trade is important.
The more market access the better, as you want flexibility when trading to give you as many opportunities as possible.
The major markets for CFD trading are:
- Forex
- Indices
- Shares
- Commodities
- Treasuries
While you can trade more things with Saxo Markets overall, IG has one of the widest choices of markets to trade CFDs on. If you want to trade something unusual, Spreadex will also look at markets on request.
Which CFD Broker Offers The Most Account Types?
IG offers the most account types with CFD trading, spread betting, DMA access, CFD options, and also general and ISA accounts for your longer-term investing.
Choosing a CFD broker that offers DMA CFDs
| Account Types: | CFD Trading | Spread Betting | DMA | Pro Accounts | Investments | Futures & Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Interactive Brokers | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| CMC Markets | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Pepperstone | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Spreadex | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Saxo | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| IG | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| XTB | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
There are two types of CFD trading DMA, where you execute your trades directly on the exchange order book or OTC where you are trading on your broker’s bid/offer prices. Whilst technically all CFD trading is OTC (over-the-counter) because you are entering into a contract between the opening and closing difference in price with your broker, DMA CFD trading is when your OTC CFD orders are routed directly to the exchange.
The main advantage of DMA (direct market access) CFD trading is that you get better prices.
For DMA CFD trading your CFD broker will charge a commission after you execute a trade, but for OTC CFD trading, the commission is included in the spread.
Being able to buy at the bid rather than the offer and sell at the bid rather than the offer can make a big difference to when you enter and exit positions. However, many traders prefer OTC CFD trading where commission is included the spread as it makes calculating P&L and exit points simpler.
Which CFD Broker Trading Platform Has The Best Added Value?
City Index provides the best trading signals through Smart Signals and post-trade analytics through Performance Analytics.
| Added Value: | Trading Ideas | Client Sentiment | Post-Trade Analytics | News & Analysis | Web-Based Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Interactive Brokers | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| CMC Markets | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Pepperstone | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Spreadex | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Saxo | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| IG | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| XTB | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| eToro | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Get added value from your CFD broker with trading tools
Most CFD brokers provide some kind of research and analysis on the markets for their customers. But generally, the better the broker, the better the research, tools and analysis. For example, some brokers like IG will provide lots of analysis tools, economic calendars, stock screeners and technical analysis signals. Whereas, others like Plus 500 will only provide a trading platform with no added value. It costs a lot of money to hire analysts and provide data to clients, and some of it (if you know how to use it) can be exceptionally useful.
Technical analysis provides a good overview of the markets, based on charts and historical data
- Fundamental analysis uses company financial releases to evaluate the health of a share price.
- Economic data and calendars show when important announcements are due that could result in a price move.
Which CFD Broker Offers The Most Account Base Currencies?
Interactive Brokers let you have complete control over your FX and you can have an account in almost any major currency.
Whereas other brokers like Saxo Markets will give you the choice of a few currencies and automatically convert your P&L into whatever base currency you are trading. So you can run three separate subaccounts in GBP, USD and EUR, depending on what you trade.
Whilst other more retail focussed CFD provides like eToro only let you trade in USD, so it doesn’t matter if you deposit GBP and trade GBP stocks and have GBP P&L, your account base currency will always be in USD.
Managing your foreign exchange exposure
When you trade CFDs the trade is usually settled in the contract currency. So, if you trade the FTSE, your P&L is in GBP, when you trade the US30, your P&L is in USD and when you trade USDJP your P&L is in JPY. This can result in lots of different currency conversions racking up FX fees, or it can result in you running a deficit in a currency and being charged interest. This is one area where CFD trading differs from financial spread betting where no matter the currency of an instrument your P&L is always in your base currency.
What Is The Best CFD Broker For Indices Trading?
IG offers the most (80) global stock market indices for trading, as well as ETFs. Spreads are competitive and IG also offer index trading at the weekend on European, UK, Asian and US indices.
IG offers CFD trading on over 80 global indices, as well as ETFs. Index trading is fairly straightforward and is second only to forex trading in popularity, and CMC Markets comes in a close second as their primary focus is Forex. Saxo Markets are also a good choice for trading indices via CFD, and for more information, you can compare all brokers for trading indices here.
What Is The Best CFD Broker For Stocks & Shares?
Saxo Markets has a great offering for UK CFD trading and also the option (as with IG) to trade UK stocks via DMA.
| CFD Broker | UK CFD Shares | US CFD Stocks |
|---|---|---|
| CMC Markets | 745 | 4,968 |
| IG | 3,925 | 6,352 |
| Pepperstone | 192 | 890 |
| Saxo | 3,500 | 1,000 |
| City Index | 5,000 | 2,000 |
| Spreadex | 1,575 | 2,110 |
| IBKR | 500 | 3,500 |
| XTB | 230 | 1,080 |
Spreadex is also worth a look as they have recently launched CFDs (in addition to spread betting). Spreadex are a much smaller broker but offer personal traders who can work CFD orders on smaller stocks on request.
If you are trading UK stocks via CFD then IG is your best option because they offer some unique trading features that others don’t. For instance, you can trade CFDs on the grey market price of an IPO before it lists. IG offer weekend and out-of-hours trading on UK stocks, as well as CFD trading on smaller cap UK stocks.
If you are going to trade US stocks via CFD, you may as well do it with a US broker, and the best of the bunch is Interactive Brokers, AKA IBKR for short. IBKR was the pioneer of electronic trading (read up on them in our interview with Thomas Peterffy, the founder and CEO). While the Americans are not allowed to trade CFDs themselves, IBKR offer CFD trading through their UK office.
Saxo and IG are a close second and third as both brokers offer round the clock CFD trading on US shares. Both brokers offer DMA and out of hours trading, although IG pips Saxo to second place because of their presence in the US (albeit for forex trading only).
For more information on trading shares as a CFD read our how to choose an equity CFD broker.
What Is The Best CFD Broker For Commodities Trading?
CMC Markets has one of the broadest ranges of commodities trading via CFDs. If you want the simplicity and flexibility of trading commodities via CFD then CMC have an excellent offering.
The below rankin shows how many commodities markets a CFD broker offers:
- CMC Markets: 100+
- IG: 35+
- Pepperstone: 28
- Saxo: 25
- ThinkMrakets: 25
- Plus500: 22
- XTB: 22
- City Index: 20
- Forex.com: 20
- Interactive Brokers: 20
- Spreadex: 20
- eToro: 15
Most CFD trading platforms and CFD brokers offer access to gold, silver and crude oil, a good CFD trading platform for trading commodities should also include the lesser traded softs and exotic commodities.
For a full breakdown of CFD brokers that offer commodities trading, view our comparison table.
What Is The Best Broker For CFD Options Trading?
Saxo Markets stands out, with an excellent options board on a wide range of markets that can be traded as a CFD. CFD trading on options has grown in popularity as brokers try to compete on market coverage.
Most CFD brokers offer a smattering of CFD options on the most popular traded instruments like US stocks and major indices and forex pairs.
Below we have ranked how many CFD options markets the main CFD trading platforms offer:
- Saxo Markets: 1,200
- IG: 50
- City Index: 40
- Spreadex: 5
- CMC Markets: 0
For more information on brokers offering options trading, view our options broker comparison table.
Which CFD Broker Has The Best Leverage & Margin Rates?
For retail clients CFD margin is standard across brokers since ESMA and the FCA introduced caps on what margin is available to retail CFD trading. Current margin rates for retail CFD traders are:
- Indices: 20%
- Major Forex pairs: 3.33%
- Commodities: 10%
- UK & US shares: 20%
Choosing a CFD broker based on margin and leverage
Professional trader margin rates vary from broker to broker and the lower the margin requirements, the more exposure you can have with the least funds on the account. You can compare professional CFD trading margin in our comparison table, but beware, the lower the margin, the riskier a trade, as you are leveraging your money sometimes up to 500 times.
So, if you have £1,000 on account, you could have £500,000 of exposure. If a price moves 10%, you have lost £50k, meaning that you owe the broker £49k. CFD brokers now required to offer no negative equity protection, which means that you can never lose more than your account balance. Of course, this means that the leverage on offer will be reduced.
| Professional Trading Account | Average Margin (Leverage) | FX Margin (Leverage) | Index Margin (Leverage) | Commodities Margin (Leverage) | Equities Margin (Leverage) | Cryptocurrency Margin (Leverage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Index | 1.80% (211:1) | 0.25% (250:1) | 0.25% (250:1) | 0.5% (200:1) | 5% (20:1) | 3% (30:1) |
| CMC Markets | 4.78% (248:1) | 0.2% (500:1) | 0.2% (500:1) | 0.5% (200:1) | 3% (33:1) | 20% (5:1) |
| Pepperstone | 3.24% (186:1) | 0.2% (500:1) | 0.5% (200:1) | 0.5% (200:1) | 5% (20:1) | 10% (10:1) |
| IG | 3.15% (110:1) | 0.45% (222:1) | 0.45% (222:1) | 1.35% (158:1) | 9% (11:1) | 4.5% (22:1) |
| Saxo | 4.5% (35:1) | 1.5% (66:1) | 2.5% (40:1) | 4% (25:1) | 10% (10:1) | ❌ |
| Spreadex | 4.80% (128:1) | 0.45% (222:1) | 0.45% (222:1) | 0.6% (166:1) | 4.5% (22:1) | 18% (5:1) |
CFD Broker FAQ
Yes, as long as you are using a CFD broker that is regulated by the FCA they are legal in the UK and a portion of your funds are protected by the FSCS. However, it’s important to note that CFD trading is a high risk form of investing, and riskier than buying investments outright through a stock broker.
Yes. If you have a professional CFD trading account, you can lose more than your account balance. However, for CFD traders classified as retail clients, there is negative balance protection, which means that your CFD trading account is guaranteed to not go into negative equity.
- Further reading: If you want a safer way to trade, try comparing share dealing accounts
The most popular traded markets on CFD trading platforms are forex, indices and stocks as these have the most liquidity and news flow. You can see why they are so popular in our guide to the best markets for CFD trading.
In theory, you can keep a CFD trade open indefinitely. However, as overnight financing charges can add up quickly, CFD trading is more of a short-term speculation tool or hedge rather than a product for long-term investing.
- Further reading – what are overnight financing charges?
Yes. You have to pay capital gains tax on CFD trading profits. You can offset CFD trading losses against other investment profits.
STP means Straight Through Processing, which means that when you put an order in, it goes into the market and the broker buys or sells on your behalf. The alternative is where a broker matches up with other traders or does not hedge your positions at all. In the grand scheme of trading, it does not matter whether your broker is STP or uses a B-Book. You make money if you call the market right. You can’t blame the broker if your trades are not profitable.
Here’s more about ECN brokers and STP brokers which may be of interest to more experienced traders
When you are trading CFDs the tighter the spread, the better, as this reflects what your trading costs are. The CFD spread is usually a fixed amount per share and for things like Forex and Index trading and is comparable to a percentage.
For example, if on your CFD trading platform the spread on Vodafone shares could be 0.25% from the actual price, and this represents a commission of 0.25% on the value of the trade. Or if you are trading the FTSE 100 and the market price (or bid/offer) is 5801 (to sell), 5801.5 (to buy), a CFD broker may offer a spread of 5801 (to sell) and 5802 (to buy), which means they have widened the spread by 0.5.
The size of the bid-offer spread quoted by a CFD broker is important because it has a big impact on the cost of your trading. If a CFD platform quotes spreads that are 0.5 points wide and you are trading 1,000 CFDs, the cost of each trade will be £5. So, if you trade 100 times over a year, you will have paid £500 in dealing costs. But, if that spread is 1 point instead of 0.5 points, you will have paid £1,000 in spreads. The difference of £500 can have a significant impact on your profit and loss.
- Want to know how much your trading costs over a year? Try our trading cost calculator.
Yes, you can scalp with CFD brokers like IG, City Index and Saxo Markets.
If you are scalping the market and trying to make lots of small, profitable trades, the tightness of a spread can make all the difference between success and failure. Essentially, narrower spreads mean quicker potential profits and wider spreads mean greater price changes needed to make a profit.
- Further reading: what is scalping and what brokers allow it?
Some CFD brokers in the UK offer financial spread betting as well because CFDs are fairly similar in some respects but very different in others.
The key similarities for both financial spread betting and CFD trading are:
- You can go long and short
- You can trade on margin
- Both are OTC derivative products
- Both are regulated by the FCA
- Both are a high-risk investment product
The key differences between CFD trading and financial spread betting are:
- Spread betting is free from capital gains tax, CFDs profit and losses are taxable
- With spread betting, you bet a certain amount per point move
- With CFDs, you buy an equivalent amount of CFD as you would shares
CFDs are available to international clients - Financial spread betting is unique to the UK
Yes, you can trade cryptocurrency CFDs in the UK if you have a professional trading account. If you are not an experienced trader and are classified as retail, the FCA has banned crypto derivatives, so you cannot trade cryptocurrency.
CFD Trading Platform Guides
