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Richard Berry
- Updated
We have ranked, compared, and reviewed some of the best FCA-regulated CFD trading platforms for US stocks to help you choose the most appropriate stock broker for your investment objectives. US stock trading platforms let you buy and sell US companies via CFDs or financial spread betting so you can potentially profit when they go up or down and trade on leverage to maximize your risk capital.
Compare US Stock Trading Platforms
In our comparison of US stock trading platforms, you can see how much a broker charges when you go long or short US stocks as well as how much they charge for holding positions overnight. You can also compare how many US stocks are available on their platform as well as if they offer access to US stocks through CFDs, spread betting, have direct market access and also offer longer-term investing accounts.
| US Stock Trading Platform | US Stocks Available | US Stock Trading Costs | GMG Rating | More Info | Risk Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2,000 | 1.8¢ per share | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 890 | 2¢ per share | See Platform | 75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 2,110 | 0.15% (max $3.5) | See Platform | 64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 993 | 0.7% | See Platform | 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | |
 | 6,352 | 0.1% | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider. | |
 | 1,000 | 1¢ per share | See Platform | 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 4,968 | 2¢ per share | See Platform | 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 1,080 | 0.08% | See Platform | 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 3,500 | 0.003% | See Platform | 60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 2,019 | 0% | See Platform | 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 | |
 | 500 | 0% | See Platform | 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider | |
 | 2,000 | 1.8¢ per share | See Platform | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | |
 | 3,007 | From 0.03c | See Platform | 66.95% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider |
Our picks of the best brokers for trading US stocks
❓Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best US stock trading platforms based on:
- over 17,000 votes in our annual awards
- our own experiences testing the US stock trading platforms with real money
- an in-depth comparison of the features that make them stand out compared to alternatives.
- interviews with the US stock trading platform CEOs and senior management
City Index: US stock trading signals and post-trade analysis
- Costs & spreads: 1.8¢ per share
- US stocks available: 2,000
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
City Index 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.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Why we like them:
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.
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
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.3Pepperstone: US stock trading on MT4
- Costs & spreads: 2¢ per share
- US stocks available: 890
- Overnight financing: 2.9% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone 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.
Why we like them
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
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.1Spreadex: US stock trading with personal service
- Costs & spreads: 0.15% (max $3.5)
- US stocks available: 2,110
- Overnight financing: 3% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex Review
Name: Spreadex
Description: Spreadex is a financial spread betting broker that has been in operation since 1999. It was founded by ex-city trader Jonathan Hufford and unlike many of its peers, it is not based in London, but instead is headquartered in St Albans Hertfordshire. Spreadex offers both financial spread betting and CFD trading from the same account. The company has some 60,000 account holders and offers access to more than 10,000 financial instruments, including UK small-cap shares, where it is something of a specialist.
64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Spreadex a good broker?
Spreadex is one of the most established spread betting brokers. They focus on providing excellent customer service through experienced dealers and a trading platform built from scratch in-house. A good choice for those that like to spread bet.
Pros
- Spread betting & CFDs
- Smaller cap stock trading
- Great customer service
Cons
- Not publically listed
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.4Plus500: Global CFD Trading Platform for Major Indices
👍Featured👍
- Indices available: 39
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Account types: CFDs
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Plus500 Review
Name: Plus500
Description: Plus500 is an online trading company that 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?
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.
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.2IG: Deep US stock trading liquidity & market range
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
IG 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.
69% 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
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.7Interactive Brokers: Discount US stock trading & investing
- Costs & spreads: 0.003%
- US stocks available: 3,500
- Overnight financing: 1.5% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs, DMA & investing
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers Review
Name: Interactive Brokers
Description: Interactive Brokers is a major US online automated electronic broker company. The financial broker is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange with ticker IBKR. The firm operates in 150 electronic exchanges in 34 countries, and offers trading in 28 currencies. Interactive Brokers has more than 3.19 million institutional and retail customers.
Why we like them
Interactive Brokers is an exceptional trading platform that offers institutional-grade trading capabilities to private clients around the world. IBKR has some of the lowest trading and investing fees and the widest market range in the industry.
Pros
- Very low dealing fees
- Wide market range
- Direct market access
- Complex order types
Cons
- Customer services can be slow
- No financial spread betting
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Apps & Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.8CMC Markets: High-tech US stock trading platform
- Costs & spreads: 2¢ per share
- US stocks available: 4,968
- Overnight financing: 2.9% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets 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 legit?
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
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.6XTB: Good US stock trading educational material
- Costs & spreads: 0.08%
- UK shares available: 1080
- Equity overnight financing: -0.02341% / -0.00159% DAILY
- Account types: CFDs
81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
XTB Review
Name: XTB
Description: XTB is a CFD and forex broker headquartered in Poland and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE:XTB) valued at over $1bn. XTB was founded in 2003 and offers forex, indices, commodities, ETF and stock CFD trading. XTB has historically used celebrity endorsements to promote it’s brand including Jose Mourinho, Conor McGregor, Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Jiří Procházka.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Summary
XTB, are a decent all-round trading platform and a good choice for most small-to-medium sized CFD traders. They are publically listed in Poland and offer, competitive spreads on a fairly wide range of markets.
The key things to focus on when considering trading with XTB are:
- They have their own proprietary trading platform. When I interviewed Omar Arnaout, the XTB CEO Omar Arnout, he said “I’m really proud of our platform and honestly believe it’s one of the best in the market.” Rightly so.
- They really push client education, XTB won “Best Trading Platform Education” in our 2023 awards (although they didn’t show up to collect the trophy, they never do). You can read their Q&A on forex education here.
- Customer service is paramount. Omar said that “first and foremost is the customer service”. I really agree with this as I think it’s important to have a few different trading accounts (diversify, diversify, diversify) and you’ll trade more with the broker that treats you best.
Pros
- Publically listed
- Mulitple platform choices
- Innovative order types
Cons
- Not UK based
- No DMA
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4Saxo Markets: Professional grade US stock trading platform
- Costs & spreads: 1¢ per share
- US stocks available: 1,000
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SAXO RATE
- Account types: CFDs, DMA & investing
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo 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.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.6eToro: Copy other people’s US stock trading
- Costs & spreads: 0%
- US stocks available: 2,019
- Overnight financing: 6.4% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs & investing
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
eToro Review
Name: eToro
Description: eToro is a social trading platform that lets their users share new and existing CFD positions and their investment portfolios. eToro was founded in 2007 in Tel Aviv, Isreal and has grown to offer investing and trading on 3,000 global assets (including real cryptocurrencies) to 30 millions users worldwide.
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
Is eToro a good broker?
Yes, eToro does have its flaws for experienced investors, but if you are just getting started eToro is a great introduction to financial markets. eToro is actually a very innovative trading platform offering copy trading, social networking and unleveraged CFDs.
Pros
- Really simple to use
- Social and copy-trading
- Set your own leverage
- Pre-built sector portfolios
Cons
- Can only trade and invest in USD
- No SIPPs or ISA
- No direct market access
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.2How to choose the best US stock trading platform:
If you are trading US stocks from the UK the main things you need to consider when choosing a trading platform are:
- Market range – do they offer access to lots of US stocks or just the most heavily traded?
- Foreign exchange fees – every time you buy a US stock you have to convert GBP to USD and again when you sell.
- Overnight financing – how much will your broker charge you for holding US stock positions overnight?
- Account types – can you buy physical US stocks or do you want to trade them as a CFD or spread bet?
- Dealing charges – how does it cost every time you trade a US stock and in what way does the broker charge you?
Advantages of trading US stocks
- Going long and short – you can speculate on whether a US stock will go up or down via a CFD, so you can potentially profit in bear markets as well as bull markets.
- Margin – trading us stocks on margin means that you can put down a small deposit for a trade meaning you can multiply your profits if you call the market right. However, if you call the market wrong it will increase your losses.
- Short-term speculation – if you want to make short term bets on US stocks CFDs can be a more efficient way of doing it as the cost for buying and holding physical US shares in the UK can be quite expensive. With US stock CFDs, you are speculating on the opening and closing price of a trade and reducing admin and costs.
Disadvantages of trading US stocks
- Higher volatility – large US stocks are notorious for their high volatility, especially in the tech sector
- Time zone – US stocks trade in the US time zone, so there will be periods when the stocks are being traded heavily outside of UK normal trading hours
- Leverage – trading US stocks on margin enables you to buy and sell more shares than you have funds on account. This can maximize your profits on winning trades, but it also multiplies your losses on losing trades.
US Stock Trading FAQs:
eToro is one of the best trading platforms for trading US Stocks as are easy to use, have access to the most heavily traded stocks like Tesla and Meta which are commission free. All accounts are based in USD so you reduce the amount of foreign exchange conversions you make. Also, they have quite a large community of social traders so you can see what other traders are buying and selling.
Interactive Brokers is the best platform for professional and sophisticated US stock traders. They are US based and have access to the widest amount of US stocks to trade as a CFD or physically. IBKR also have some of the most advanced algorithmic order entry tools for working large orders over a set time period.
City Index offers one of the best spread betting accounts for trading US stocks. In addition to a wide market range, they also have trading signals, news and analysis, plus post trade analytics so you can see which stocks you are best and worst at trading. You can even drill down in to what time of day you trade profitably.
Saxo Markets has the best US CFD trading platform as you can deal OTC or on exchange. Commission are also low, and the SaxoTraderGo is used by institutions, hedge funds as well as private clients.
No, FCA-regulated brokers will not allow US citizens to open an account. Regulation in America is very different to the UK and as such if you want to trade CFDs on US shares you need a CFD broker. CFD trading in the USA is illegal.
Out-of-hours trading on US Stocks is when a broker allows their clients to trade in US shares when the underlying stock market is closed. However, most main market US stocks can be traded outside of normal US stock market hours. But the bid/offer spread will vary depending on liquidity and what is offered in the secondary markets.
There are three major costs to trading US stocks on CFDs:
- Commission/Spreads – this is the charged per deal and is either commission as a percentage or cents per share. It is either charged post-trade or included in the spread you are quoted when you trade.
- Overnight financing – this is the charge a US CFD trading platform levies for holding a position overnight. As CFDs are a margin product, the broker is essentially lending you money to trade and charges interest according.
- Currency conversion – when you trade CFDs on US stocks the trade is settled in USD. So if you have deposited GBP into your account you will be subject to margin and profit and loss currency conversions.
Overall, Interactive Brokers has the cheapest commission for US stock trading.
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 US stock trading via a non-affiliate link, you can view their stock trading pages directly here:
