What is the best forex trading platform? Find out our top picks of the best places to trade forex, including the best forex trading platform for beginners.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.Between 61%-70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Forex trading involves exchanging one currency for another in an attempt to make a profit from the change in price of a currency against another in what’s known as a currency pair. This can be quite difficult to pull off consistently, but it’s a popular form of trading because it can be done around the world, around the clock, and it’s a market in constant motion.
If you’re looking for the best forex trading platform for currency trading, we’ve dug into the details of some of the top options available here in the UK to bring you our top picks. Whether you’re looking for a forex trading platform with the lowest spreads, advanced charting and tools, or simply the best forex trading platform for beginners – we’ve got you covered.
Finder’s best forex trading platforms in the UK for 2026
Typically, when choosing the best trading platform for forex, investors need to think about a few factors when searching for the right platform, here are some of the key things to consider:
Leverage and margin. If you’re a beginner, you’ll want limited access to margin and leverage, but experienced investors will want these levers to pull.
Commission and trading fees. Forex platforms don’t usually charge commission for trades, but check for other fees like currency conversion and overnight funding fees.
Spreads. If the spreads are quite wide (the difference between the buy and sell prices), this will reduce any profits for successful trades.
Minimum trade size. If you only want to start trading with a small amount, you’ll want to check if the forex trading platform supports smaller deposits and trades.
Choice of currency pairs. All the best forex trading platforms will have the major pairs, but only some will have minor or exotic pairs.
What's a currency pair?
A currency pair is two currencies placed together for a trade. By trading a pair, the investor is predicting that one will be worth more after a given period. The two currencies are referred to as the base currency and the counter currency.
When trading a pair, you buy the one that you think will go up in value and sell the one you think will decrease against the other. When closing the position, you’ll do the opposite. You can use various trading order types to help automate your forex trading.
What are the best forex pairs to trade?
The best forex pair to trade really depends on the current economic climate. Currencies are constantly changing value based on a huge range of things, such as how much tourism a country has, current interest rates, the country’s political position and trade flows. This means that the best one to trade is changing all the time – try keeping an eye on current affairs to try to get a grasp on what impact certain events might have on a currency and choose which pairs to trade based on your findings.
Is forex trading free?
It can often seem that forex trading is free as a lot of forex trading platforms tend to offer their services commission free, but there’s a cost built into the price of the currencies that you’ll pay when you make a trade, known as the spread. The spread is the difference between the “buy” and “sell” prices, so once you’ve opened and closed a position, you’ll have paid the difference between them in fees. The spread is measured in “pips”. Spreads will vary across forex brokers and can depend on market volatility, liquidity and the volume of trades taking place at any given time.
A pip is the smallest movement that an exchange rate can make. It stands for “percentage in point”. As most currency pairs are priced to 4 decimal places, 1 pip is equal to one-hundredth of 1%. This is equal to 1 basis point. For example, if the GBP/EUR exchange rate moved from 1.1510 to 1.1511, it moved by 1 pip. To work out the spread, you minus the sell price from the buy price. Next steps
If you’ve chosen the best forex trading platform for you, you can go ahead and click through to the site to check out the platform. When signing up, make sure you have some ID handy, as well as your bank details and national insurance (NI) number. If you still don’t think you’ve found the one for you, we have a guide where you can learn more about forex trading.
Bottom line
The best forex trading platform for you to use will depend on your level of experience and how you plan to trade currencies. Each forex broker will have unique benefits and drawbacks, some are better for beginner traders and others more suitable if you’ve got some experience.
Be careful because forex trading can be volatile and if you start trading using margin or leverage, you’re going to be increasing your level of risk and market exposure. When looking for the best forex trading platform, key things to compare will be the spreads, commissions or fees, number and types of currency pairs, access to leverage, and what it’s like to use each platform. Most forex brokers will let you test the platform for free with a demo or virtual account, so that’s a useful option, especially for beginners.
Frequently asked questions
Unfortunately, there’s no overall best platform for forex trading. The key is to find the right platform that suits your level of experience and trading strategy.
For example, if you’re a beginner forex trader, you’ll likely need a brokerage with a much simpler interface compared to an experienced forex trader who’ll want an array of tools and charts at hand.
Overall, we think eToro is the best forex trading platform for beginners because it’s straightforward to use the platform and there’s excellent features like CopyTrader which lets you copy the trades of more experienced forex traders.
Another platform suitable for beginners is Trading 212, however, most of the best forex trading platforms we’ve mentioned here offer demo accounts and have plenty of learning resources for beginners.
There’s no single best broker because each brokerage has its own pros and cons. It’s better to think about how you plan to trade, your trading experience, and your budget – then narrow down your options to find the best forex broker for your goals and strategy.
There’s no single best broker because each brokerage has its own pros and cons. It’s better to think about how you plan to trade, your trading experience, and your budget – then narrow down your options to find the best forex broker for your goals and strategy.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
George is a deputy editor at Finder. He has previously written for The Motley Fool UK, Nasdaq, Freetrade, Investing in the Web, MoneyMagpie, Online Mortgage Advisor, Wealth, and Compare Forex Brokers.
He's focused on making personal finance and investing engaging for everyone. To do this he draws from previous work and his Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA), sharing what he’s learnt. When he’s not geeking out about money, you’ll find him playing sports and staying active.
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