Futures brokers let you speculate on the financial markets going up or down with the safety of on exchange standardised futures contracts. We’re here to make choosing the right futures broker easy.
The Good Money Guide team has carefully researched and ranked the top futures brokers in the UK, helping you find the perfect platform to match your trading style and goals.
| Futures Broker | Markets | Exchanges | Commission | Customer Reviews | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 330+ | 35 | $0.25-$0.85 per lot | (Based on 934 reviews)
| Visit Broker |
 | 100+ | 5+ | $0.49-$0.89 | (Based on 144 reviews)
| Visit Broker |
 | 300+ | 20 | $1-4 per lot | (Based on 73 reviews)
| Visit Broker |
Plus500 futures trading is available to US residents only
Best Futures Brokers In The UK Reviewed
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Methodology: Good Money has shortlisted the best futures brokers based on:
- User feedback: We analysed over 30,000 votes and reviews in the prestigious Good Money Guide annual awards
- Unbiased, real-world testing: Our team tests each futures broker with real money to ensure you have an easy and user-friendly experience
- In-depth feature comparison: We do a thorough comparison of features, highlighting those that make each futures broker stand out from the competition
- Exclusive industry insights: Good Money Guide’s interviews with futures brokers CEOs have insider perspectives and valuable information to help you make the right choices
Interactive Brokers: Best Futures Broker Overall
🏆Award Winner🏆
- Futures markets available: 330+
- Futures exchanges: 35
- Minimum deposit: £2,000
- Commissions: $0.85-0.25 per lot
Visit Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers Reviews
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Plus500: Futures Trading For US Residents Only
- Futures markets available: 100+
- Futures exchanges: 5
- Minimum deposit: $100
- Commissions: $0.49-$0.89 lot
Plus500 is based in Israel, but for US residents, it offers futures trading instead of CFDs.
Saxo: Excellent Futures Trading Platform For Professional Traders
- Futures markets available: 300+
- Futures exchanges: 20
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Commissions: $4-1 per lot
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo Futures Trading Review: Professional grade market access
Account: Saxo Futures Trading
Description: Yes, Saxo is one of the best futures brokers we compare. I would say their major competitor for futures tradering is Interactive Brokers, which is much cheaper, but Saxo offers a better personal service. Smaller retail brokers like Plus 500 are moving into the futures trading industry (as opposed to CFDs) but that is only to capture the US market. One key advantage of Saxo is that they are one of the few TradingView brokers that let you execute trades as DMA futures.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Is Saxo good for futures trading?
Saxo Markets won “best futures broker” in our 2022 awards as they offer a very robust futures trading platform, dedicated dealers and low costs. Overall Saxo Markets offer the best futures trading platform for the majority of semi-professional and institutional traders in the UK. They also offer access to the markets via CFDs and options for traders that want a more rounded service as well as investment options like physical shares dealing and investment bonds.
Pros
- Professional futures trading platform
- Advanced research and analysis
- UK office with voice brokerage
Cons
- High minimum deposit
- No futures spread betting
- No US customers
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Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(5)
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App & Platform
(5)
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Customer Service
(5)
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Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.8
What Is A Futures Broker?
Futures brokers provide direct market access to futures exchanges so their clients can trade futures contracts. These contracts obligate traders to purchase or sell a specific quantity of an asset at a predetermined price on a set future date.
Regulation: All futures brokers in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. You can check the status of what a futures broker is regulated to do on the FCA register. Most futures brokers will have an office or exposure to the London futures markets, as the UK offers one of the most robust financial infrastructures for trading futures.
Pros
- Low margins and high leverage
- On-exchange trading (reducing counter-party risk)
- Very low costs for high-volume traders
- Go long or short the market
- Standardised contract values
- Direct market access
Cons
- Some brokers may insist clients close positions before delivery
- Trade in lots of preset amounts that are inflexible for exact accounting
- Mainly traded on US-based exchanges and are USD-denominated
- They trade in large amounts that cannot be partially closed
- Only professional traders get the full benefits
How To Choose A Futures Broker
Want to get started with futures trading? Here are the main things you should consider:
- Experience match: Are they right for your level of experience?
- Exchange access: How many futures exchanges are they connected to?
- Costs: What are their commissions and fees?
- Account options: Do they offer any other account type other than futures?
- Added value: What added value does the broker offer?
What Is The Best Futures Broker For Beginners?
Saxo is a great choice for new futures traders due to its very easy to use web-based platform. To help you find the right broker, check out our comparison tables, where we’ve ranked what our experts think are the top futures brokers.
You can compare key factors like commissions, market access, and the types of accounts available to find the right broker for you.
| Beginner Features: | Trading Signals | Webinars | Leverage Control | Investment Account | Mini Contracts | Micro Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Saxo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Plus500 | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Futures trading is a high-risk form of speculation and not suitable for complete beginners. If you’re a beginner and looking for a futures broker, these are the main things you consider:
- Do you fully understand the risks?
- Do you have enough risk capital to diversify your exposure?
- If you don’t have the relevant experience, you’ll be classified as a retail client and not allowed to trade futures
- If you can demonstrate the relevant experience, you’ll be classified as a professional trader and your futures broker will not be obliged to explain how the markets work. You’ll also lose some of the protection the FCA offers retail traders.
What Is The Best Futures Broker For Advanced & Professional Traders?
Interactive Brokers is an excellent choice for experienced futures traders as their fees are very low for high frequency trading. IBKR also has a huge range of execution types for algo trading and API strategies.
| Advanced Features: | Voice Brokerage | Corporate Accounts | Level-2 | Algo Trading | Prime Brokerage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Plus500 | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Saxo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Most UK futures brokers require you to be classified as professional and have a clear understanding of the risks and workings of futures trading before you can have an account. The UK regulator, the FCA, requires all clients to either be classified as retail, professional, or ECP (Exchange Counter Parties).
Retail clients tend to trade more accessible products such as financial spread betting or CFDs through a CFD broker, which often require smaller trade sizes. Futures brokers in the UK have their margin and trade size levels set by the underlying futures contracts, and the margin is set by the exchanges where the futures are traded.
For advanced and professional traders Saxo offers futures trading over the phone. All futures brokers offer online futures trading through their own or third-party trading platforms. Most futures trading is done online through futures brokers, although there is still demand for telephone-based broking, known as voice brokerage. Our comparison table of online futures brokers in the UK shows you which brokers offer voice and online trading, as well as prime and API access.
Best Futures Broker For Scalping
Interactive Brokers is the best futures broker for scalping because they charge the lowest commission. They also have an excellent order execution tool that lets you trade the market as a percentage of volume, automatically entering and pulling orders. The best futures brokers for scalping will offer direct market access to the futures exchanges, so traders can work orders inside the market prices.
Scalping is a type of trading where futures traders buy and sell quickly with the intention of taking advantage of small moves in bid-offer prices.
If you’re planning on scalping you should let your broker know so they can negotiate lower trading costs, as the lower the cost of trading futures, the higher the returns on a scalping trading strategy will be. You can read more on why some brokers don’t allow scalping here.
Which Is The Best Futures Broker For Mini & Micro Lot Trading?
Interactive Brokers provides an excellent range of micro contracts for futures traders who want to start small. e-Micro futures are mini versions of full-size futures contracts. They were introduced to allow futures traders to have more control over their exposure by trading in small contract sizes.
They are particularly helpful for smaller futures traders or beginners, as e-mini futures contracts require a lower margin and have less exposure to the markets. Due to their popularity over full size futures contracts, they are also more liquid contracts and are therefore more accessible to trade.
For example, the full-size S&P 500 futures contract is worth $250 times the S&P 500 index, whereas the e-mini S&P 500 futures contract is worth $50 times the S&P 500 index.
What Is The Best Future Broker For US Citizens?
Our analysis shows that Interactive Brokers is the best futures broker in the US. You can also trade futures in the US with Plus500.
Even though Saxo Markets has won the award for best futures broker more often, Saxo Markets is not able to take on US clients. However, Saxo Markets can offer futures trading on US products to non-US residents.
US futures traders are not allowed to trade futures through a UK-based futures broker. US regulations require that US residents trade futures through US futures brokers.
However, most UK-based futures brokers will have an office in the US and our comparison tables will redirect users to US futures broker entities if they are based in the US. UK futures traders are allowed to open futures trading accounts with US brokers.
As with the UK, the criteria for determining the best US futures brokers are the same. However, in the US, as there are no other derivatives products like spread betting or CFD trading, private (retail) traders are more likely to trade futures and options as a way to get leveraged exposure to the financial markets.
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All futures trading platforms that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK futures brokers are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place.
Good Money Guide only features futures platforms that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Futures Broker FAQs:
How do futures brokers make money?
Futures brokers mainly make money through commissions. But they also have a few additional revenue streams including:
- Commission- this is charged on a per-lot basis for every lot traded.
- Exchange fees- this is a fee charged by the exchange that the broker either includes in the commission or passes on to the client.
- Foreign exchange- futures are settled in various different currencies, so if you are trading USD-denominated futures and your account is in GBP, there will be a cost to convert USD P&L into GBP.
- Account interest- if you are running an account overdraft in either your base currency or other currencies, your account will be charged interest every day that it is overdrawn.
Do futures brokers also offer options?
Futures brokers are often referred to as futures and options brokers, as futures brokers also provide access to the options markets. Options contracts are traded on the same exchanges as futures options. For example, a futures broker will provide access to FTSE futures as well as FTSE options. It is possible to trade futures and options strategies that offset the exposure of futures and options. For example, buying call options and selling FTSE futures to speculate on, or protect against volatility. For more information on options brokers, please refer to our guide on options trading or compare options brokers here.
What is a discount futures broker?
A discount futures broker offers clients significantly reduced fees for online trading and algorithmic trading. For futures traders that trade in significant volume, futures brokers will reduce commission and the exchanges will also reduce exchange fees. Futures brokers are able to negotiate these discounts on behalf of their clients, based on the volume of trades that are placed.
Can a futures broker roll a position for me?
Yes, if you want to keep a futures position past expiry, you roll the position into the next month by closing and opening existing and new positions simultaneously. You can either do this online, or if you can’t figure out which way the spread works, give them a call and ask them to do it for you. That way, if they get it wrong too, they have to cover the loss.
This article contains affiliate links which may earn us some form of income if you go on to open an account. However, if you would rather visit the futures brokers via a non-affiliate link, you can view their futures trading pages directly here:
