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Reviews By
Richard Berry
- Updated
Use our comparison tables and reviews to compare the best Australian CFD brokers and switch to a CFD trading platform that offers the most markets, best pricing and client security. Trading CFDs in Australia is no different from trading CFDs anywhere else in the world. But it’s important to understand what CFDs are in Australia. A CFD is a contract for difference that enables traders to speculate on the price of a FX pair, stock index or commodity. When you trade CFDs in Australia, you don’t actually own the stock or commodity; you instead enter into a contract based on the difference between the opening and closing price of the position.
| AU CFD Broker | Markets Available | Customer Reviews | GMG Rating | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 12,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 5,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 7,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 17,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 2,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 9,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 2,976 | See Platform | ||
 | 12,000 | See Platform | ||
 | 1,200 | See Platform |
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 Australian CFD trading platforms with real money
- In-depth comparison of the features that make these AU 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: Great CFD trading signals for Australian traders
👍Featured👍
- CFD markets available: 5,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
- City Index has an excellent CFD trading platform with 12,000 markets 25 commodities, with spreads as low as 0.8 for gold trading and 0.3 for crude oil.
- Australia Address: City Index (StoneX): Suite 28/01 264 George St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
City Index Expert Review
Name: City Index
Description: City Index is one of the oldest spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They were founded in 1983 and offer trading in over 13,500 financial markets, to around 126,000 active clients. City Index is currently owned by StoneX, a US brokerage listed on the NASDAQ valued at $1.75bn.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is City Index a good broker?
City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders.
They are one of the oldest and most established trading platforms offering CFDs and financial spread betting, with a huge range of markets to trade, post execution analytical tools and trading signals.
Pricing: Always competitive.
Market Access: Excellent coverage, especially for small-cap stock and exotic currency pairs.
Platform & Apps: Some excellent added value trading signals and portfolio analytics (even though the desktop version can be a bit fiddly).
Customer Service: Lots of experienced dealers to help with any issues.
Research & Analysis: City Index excel here, lots of education, signals and analysis.
Pros
- Excellent trading tools
- Post-trade analytics
- Publically listed (part of StoneX)
Cons
- Trading only, no investment account
- Limited options markets
- No direct market access
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Pricing
(5)
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Market Access
(5)
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Online Platform
(4.5)
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Customer Service
(5)
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Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.8Pepperstone: Great Australian CFD trading platform for automated trading
👍Featured👍
- CFD markets available: 1,200
- Minimum deposit: $1
- Pepperstone has a very comprehensive package of automated trading tools on MT4.
- Australia Address: Pepperstone Group Limited, 727 Collins St Level 16, Tower One, Docklands VIC 3008, Australia
Expert Review
Name: Pepperstone
Description: Pepperstone were founded in 2010 in Australia and have since then grown to be a global brokerage with international offices and around 400,000 active clients. They offer spread betting and CFDs on 1,200 major market instruments, which means they focus on the most heavily traded assets, mainly forex and indices trading. Of those 900 are shares on the major stocks on international exchanges.
75.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Is Pepperstone a good broker?
Pepperstone is a great trading platform for traders who want low costs, wide market access and wide range of trading platforms, including one of the best MT4/MT5 packages available to retail traders worldwide.
Pricing: Razor tight pricing (on their Razor account).
Market Access: Mainly FX, but lots more stocks are being added.
Platform & Apps: Hopefully we will see an own brand platform but their MT4 and cTrader packages are top notch.
Customer Service: Local offices around the world and personal account managers for large active traders
Research & Analysis: Lots of education and technical and algo indicator documentation.
Pepperstone is a good choice for traders that want to automate their trading strategies through MT4. As far as MT4 brokers they are one of the biggest and best and offers so good EA packages.
Pros
- Tight pricing
- Wide range of MT4 markets
- Pre-built MT4 indicator packages
Cons
- Limited market access
- Only third-party platforms
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Pricing
(5)
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Market Access
(3.5)
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Online Platform
(4)
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Customer Service
(4)
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Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.1IG: Best AU CFD broker for large traders
- CFD markets available: 17,000
- Minimum deposit: $250
- One of the largest global brokers operating in Australia with a vast selection of markets to trade with great liquidity.
- Australia Address: IG, 15/55 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia.
Expert Review
Name: IG
Description: Founded in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, then IG Index, now just “IG” is one of the world’s largest margin trading brokers. IG offer CFDs, FX and Spread Betting (in the UK) alongside share trading and prime brokerage to over 313,000 active clients and offers 17,000 tradable markets. IG also recently introduced physical share dealing and smart portfolios for longer-term investors.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Is IG a good trading platform?
Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.
Pros
- Vast range of markets
- Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange
Cons
- Customer service can be slow
- No DMA futures trading
- Still charges inactivity fee
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Pricing
(4.5)
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Market Access
(5)
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Online Platform
(5)
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Customer Service
(4)
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Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.7Plus500: AU CFD Trading on Major Markets
👍Featured👍
- Markets available: 2,000
- Minimum deposit: $100
Expert Rating
Name: Plus500
Description: Plus500 is one of the largest online trading platforms and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. Founded in 2008, it has more than 26 million customers today.
Plus500 is headquartered in Israel, however, it’s listed in the UK on the London Stock Exchange (it’s a member of the FTSE 250 index). Here in Britain, its platform is operated by Plus500UK Ltd, which has offices in London.
In the UK, you can only trade CFDs with Plus500. CFDs are financial instruments that allow you to profit from the price movements of a security without owning the underlying security itself.
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 a good broker?
Yes, Plus500’s trading platform has evolved nicely over the years from a simple interface to an intuitive execution venue for CFDs on the major markets and stocks.
Pricing: It’s dynamic so moves with the market for minimum spreads
Market Access: Very good, Plus500 are always first to try new asset classes
Platform & Apps: Basic execution, but it does the job well
Customer Service: Plus500 doesn’t have a phone option, but its live chat is sufficient
Research & Analysis: Some sentiment, but limited education and analysis.
Overall, Plus500 is a good online trading platform for traders who do not want to do anything more complicated than buy and sell CFDs. The broker does provide sentiment indicators and are quite transparent with costs and fees. In summary:
- Plus500 is a trading platform that offers CFDs.
- You can trade a range of assets on Plus500 including stocks, indices, and currencies.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on the Plus500 platform but there are some other fees to be aware of.
- The platform offers a range of features including a demo account, alerts, market news, and an economic calendar.
- There are platforms that offer more markets than Plus500.
Pros
- With Plus500, you can trade CFDs on a range of assets including shares, currencies, indices, and ETFs.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on Plus500’s platform.
- Plus500 offers a range of features to help traders navigate the markets and capitalise on opportunities including charting tools, alerts, an economic calendar, and market news.
Cons
- Other platforms offer more markets than Plus500.
- You can only trade CFDs on the platform (you can’t invest in stocks directly).
- You can’t contact the company by telephone if you require support.
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Pricing
(4.5)
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Market Access
(5)
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Online Platform
(5)
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Customer Service
(4.5)
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Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.6CMC Markets: Best Australian CFD broker for forex trading
- CFD markets available: 12,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
CMC Markets has good CFD sentiment tools and over 388 forex pairs to trade. Australia Address: Level 20, Tower 3, International Towers, 300 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000, Australia
CMC Markets Expert Review
Name: CMC Markets
Description: CMC Markets is one of the original spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They have been providing forex trading services since 1989 and are now listed on the London Stock Exchange. The broker has over 300,000 active clients trading online and is operated from 13 global offices, with headquarters in The City of London.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is CMC Markets a good broker?
Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still does one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.
Pros
- Excellent trading platform
- Good liquidity
- Unique sentiment tools
Cons
- Trading only, no investing account
- Limited smaller cap stocks
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Pricing
(5)
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Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(5)
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Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.6Saxo: Best CFD broker for AU DMA access
- CFD markets available: 9,000
- Minimum deposit: $1
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
- Saxo Markets provides OTC & DMA (direct market access) trading for gold and oil.
- Australia Address: Saxo Markets, Suite 1, Level 14/9 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Expert Review
Name: Saxo
Description: Saxo is one of the largest CFD brokers worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Saxo Markets a good broker?
Yes, Saxo is a good choice for more sophisticated traders. The platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.
Saxo Markets is an excellent trading platform for retail traders and investors who want institutional grade pricing, robust execution and wide market coverage.
Awards: Saxo won best investing app and best DMA/Professional account in 2024. Before that ,in our 2023 awards, Saxo won ‘Best CFD Broker’, and ‘Best DMA & Professional Trading Account’. In 2022 Saxo also scooped ‘Best Bond Broker’.
- Pricing: Commissions have just been reduced further making Saxo one of the cheapest brokers
- Market Access: Saxo offers a huge range of markets for both derivatives trading and physical investing
- Platform & Apps: Saxo has an industry-leading robust workhorse of a platform
- Customer Service: Experienced dealers for active larger customers
- Research & Analysis: Some of the best opinions on the markets around.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
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Pricing
(4.5)
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Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.9Australian CFD Broker FAQs:
Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions by people searching for the best Australian CFD broker.
There are a lot of Australian CFD brokers that offer MT4 (Pepperstone is one of the best), however, the more established brokers like IG have their own trading platform. MT4 is a universally recognised CFD platform but can be a little complicated for beginners.
As CFDs are an OTC product, you need a big account to get direct market access. Having DMA CFDs enable you to get better pricing by placing orders inside the bid and offer. However, unlike CFDs where the broker sets the price rather than the exchange, there is commission added to DMA CFDs as opposed to it being built into the price.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulates all CFD brokers in Australia. We only feature CFD brokers that are regulated by ASIC and you should never trade with a broker that is not locally regualted.
Yes, for reviews of the best CFD brokers in Australia like Pepperstone, City Index and IG, use our comparison tables then click on the “reviews” link. Traders can review their CFD brokers by pricing, customer service, market range, trade speed and added value. We have also interviewed many of the CEOs which you can read in our interview section.
When comparing Australian CFD brokers it’s important to ensure that they are properly regulated. Never trade with a broker that is not regulated by the appropriate regulatory body. In Australia, it is ASIC.
The main things to consider when choosing an Australian CFD broker are:
- Range of markets
- Regulator status
- Commission and pricing
- Educational tools
- Margin and leverage
