10 Best Canadian Forex Brokers in 2024 [CIRO Regulated] (2024)

Written byJustin Grossbard

Edited bySean A'Hearn

Fact Checked byLaura Wolfe

What Changed?

Each month we update average spreads data published by the brokers the retail brokers lose %

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We like OANDA because the broker gives you access to a vast range of markets and trading products, including 69 Forex pairs. OANDA has no minimum deposit, and competitive spreads, with no commissions. Moreover, you can access OANDA from three outstanding trading platforms.

If you’re new to Forex trading, OANDA gives you access to a comprehensive education suite and access to trading support 24/5.

At CompareForexBrokers, we use a strict methodology to rate brokers, and we rank OANDA in the top ten brokers worldwide and the best broker overall in Canada. Based on this methodology, OANDA earned an overall score of 71/100.

OANDA is our Highest Rated Broker in Canada

We liked OANDA because you can choose from 3 excellent trading platforms and trade a solid range of trading products (including 69 Forex pairs) with competitive spreads and no commissions. OANDA also offers a range of technical analysis tools, an expansive education suite and 24/5 trading support. These reasons add up to why we rated OANDA as the best Canadian forex broker overall.

Our rating system uses a strict methodology at CompareForexBrokers, and we’ve ranked OANDA in the top ten brokers worldwide and number one for Canada. Based on this methodology, we gave OANDA a score an overall score of 71/100.

Key Strengths

• A large range of currency pairs
• 3 excellent trading platforms
• Ability to trade with partial lots (with OANDA Trader)
• Rebates with the Elite Trader Program

OANDA Has 3 Excellent Trading Platforms

When you open an account with OANDA you can choose between three excellent trading platforms. We liked that each platform is sufficiently different from the other making them suitable for different types of traders. This is why we gave OANDA a solid score of 7/10 for its trading platforms.

First up, OANDA Trade is the broker’s flagship platform. If, like us, you find the MetaTrader 4 user interface (UI) a bit dated, then you will appreciate the more modern UI OANDA Trade has to offer. This platform is available as a Web Trader and for iOS and Android devices.

When we tested the platform, we found the UI was well designed, presenting extensive charts and 100+ trading indicators without appearing cluttered. This is especially important given that OANDA Trade has charting powered by TradingView and AutoChartist, making it a good choice for traders who like analytics.

We also like the fact that you can control the unit size to a single unit (0.0001 lot), instead of being fixed to the lowest micro-lot.

As an added bonus, you can use TradingView as a standalone platform with OANDA, which is the only broker to offer it to Canadian traders, incidentally.

TradingView is one of the world’s top charting platforms with 15 chart types, over 100 pre-built technical indicators and 90+ smart drawing tools. Given charting is such an important aspect of trading from our experience, having the option of TradingView enhanced our platform experience with OANDA.

Lastly, OANDA offers the ever-popular MetaTrader 4. What makes the broker’s MT4 offering stand out is OANDA’s bespoke MT4 plugins. We found the trade orders feature useful to identify when the price crosses support and resistance levels as it helped us find trading opportunities.

You should also choose MT4 if you prefer automated trading as this is available by using Expert Advisers, which we use extensively when testing trading strategies.

OANDA offers competitive, commission-free spreads

The Standard Account you get at OANDA is spread-based, with competitive spreads for an account of its type, starting at 0.6 pips. In fact, when we looked at published spread results against other brokers, OANDA had the most competitive spreads for a Standard account. OANDA averaged 0.7 pips against the industry average of 1.52 pips for the top 5 most traded currency pairs.

Spread Rebates with the Elite Trader Program

By joining the Elite Trader Program you can earn spread rebates from your trading costs. Rebates range from $5 to $17 depending on the volume you trade. If you are a high-volume trading, this feature does give OANDA a point of difference over its competitors.

Our Verdict on OANDA

In Canada, very few brokers can match up to the industry experience OANDA has gained over the last 25 years. Pioneering the technology to make trading accessible to retail traders has allowed OANDA to provide a cost-effective trading account with great customer service. The range of trading platforms will suit most traders while offering advanced tools, such as the Open Order Indicator, making OANDA our recommended best broker overall.

View OANDA ReviewVisit OANDA

By our strict standards, we identified FP Markets as the best ECN broker, with competitive spreads (average 1.1 pips for EUR/USD) and some of the swiftest market execution speeds (96 ms for market orders) we’ve assessed so far. All these are available with MT4, MT5 and cTrader trading platforms.

This ideal combination of FP Markets’ economical fees and fast execution speeds cuts your trading costs, especially for scalp trading.

FP Markets has the Fastest Market Execution Speed of 96ms

We rated FP Markets as the best ECN broker, providing low trading fees and one of the fastest market execution speeds we have tested. FP Markets’ low fees and fast execution speeds reduce your trading costs, which will be a good match if you are a scalper. With FP Markets, you can enjoy all the benefits of ECN pricing with a solid choice of trading platforms.

Key Strengths:

• Low commissions and competitive spreads
• Good choice of trading platforms
• Fast market execution speeds
• Free access to Trading Central and AutoChartist

FP Markets Has The Fastest Trade Execution Speeds in Canada

We tested 20 brokers to determine which has the fastest execution speeds and found that FP Markets ranked the highest in Canada. Our tests are done with an average execution speed recorded over 20 trades on the MT4 platform. FP Markets scored an average market order speed of 96ms, which is one of the fastest execution speeds we recorded.

In our table below, we have shown how FP Markets compares with other brokers in Canada for their execution speeds:

FP Markets has the best ECN/RAW account spreads

FP Markets offers both a commission-based (Standard) and spread-based (RAW) account. When we tested spreads on both accounts, FP Markets was fairly competitive against the industry average. FP Markets’ RAW account had some of the tightest spreads we measured, averaging 0.22 pips for the top 5 most traded currency pairs. The industry average was 0.45 pips for the RAW/ECN accounts we tested. For the Standard account, the broker had an average of 1.30 pips vs the industry average of 1.52 pips for the top 5 most traded currency pairs.

FP Markets’ competitive spreads along with its fast execution speeds is why we rated the broker as the best ECN Forex broker for Canadian traders.

Our Verdict on FP Markets

With their low spreads and fast execution speeds through their ECN network, we recommend the trading services from FP Markets if you are a scalper. With an average market order execution speed of 96ms, that’s why we recommend FP Markets as the best ECN forex broker.

In all our research so far, only FOREX.COM offers up to 91. Besides that, FOREX.COM also has its native trading platform, but it also supports MetaTrader 4 and 5.

All these platforms are available on your PC, Android and Apple devices.

Besides that, FOREX. COM also offers comprehensive education materials to new and intermediate traders and responsive customer support.

FOREX.com has over 80 currency pairs to trade

Of all of the brokers offering trading services in Canada, FOREX.com offers the most currency pairs we’ve seen, with 80. We also scored FOREX.com highly in its trading platform offering (8/10), education (9/10) and trust (7/10).
Key Strengths:

• Solid proprietary platform
• 91 forex pairs to trade
• TradingView advanced charting
• Good educational resources

FOREX.com’s Standard and RAW pricing accounts

As a Canadian forex trader, you are granted access to both a zero commission (Standard or MetaTrader account) and a commission-based trading account (RAW Pricing account).

For its Standard account, FOREX.com’s published spreads are slightly higher than the industry average at 1.66 pips compared to 1.52 for the top 5 most traded currency pairs from our analysis.

FOREX.com’s RAW pricing account is similarly expensive. While you can obtain spreads as low as 0.0 pips, commissions are steep at $7 per side ($14 round-turn), compared to the industry average of $3.50 per side.

We think FOREX.com has a large range of products, particularly the broker’s 2200+ stock CFDs and 80+ forex pairs. For a Canadian broker, this is one of the better product ranges we’ve come across. View our best CFD trading platform Canada page to compare the best CFD brokers, including FOREX.com.

FOREX.com’s excellent platform experience

FOREX.com has a great range of platforms, including the popular MetaTrader 4 and its upgrade, MetaTrader 5 as well as its own excellent proprietary platform.

While we are avid users of MT4 at CompareForexBrokers, FOREX.com’s proprietary app is where the value add is. What stands out to us is the combination of an intuitive user interface with advanced charting, which is not an easy mix to achieve. You can either access 80, 100 or 200 charting indicators depending on whether you use the mobile app, web trader or desktop platform. As such, we recommend the platform for all levels of trading.

Final Verdict on FOREX.com

All in all, FOREX.com has much to offer Canadian traders to our eyes. In addition to the broker’s huge range of 80 currency pairs, FOREX.com has an excellent range of platforms with advanced charting through TradingView and great educational resources.

From our extensive tests, we’ve established that Fusion Markets offers the lowest spreads when trading currency pairs.

As such, Fusion Markets makes your access to the market affordable by maintaining industry-low commission fees, low spreads and cutting additional charges.

Fusion Markets have the lowest spreads

Canadian traders looking for the lowest-cost broker should choose Fusion Markets. The broker achieves low costs through industry-low commission costs, tight spreads, and low ancillary fees.

Key Benefits:

• Lowest commissions
• Tightest forex spreads
• High leverage of 500:1
• Fast execution speeds

Fusion Markets Has Low Commission

Fusion Markets offers low commissions of $3 CAD commission per side for its ‘Zero’ Trading account. These are some of the lowest commission costs in the market. Whether you are a high-volume trader or a casual trader, these low commission costs will help you reduce your overall trading costs.

Fusion Markets Has Tight Spreads Based on our Testing

Fusion Markets has some of the tightest spreads in the market based on our testing. With an average spread of 0.12 for EURUSD, you will pay $1.20 on the spread each way for a CAD $10 trade. We recommend trading with the Fusion Markets Zero Account rather than the Standard Account, as this will save you on costs.

While the Standard account has no commission costs, 0.8 pip is added to the spread. Using EURUSD as an example, if the round trip cost is $2.40 spread cost is ($1.20 each way) + commission of $6.00 = $8.40. The standard account average spread is 0.12 + 0.8 = 0.92 so you will pay $9.20 to in trading costs.

Fusion Markets Saves You On Costs

Overall, Fusion Markets is 36% cheaper than other regulated forex brokers based on their low spread and lowest commission rates.

Use the forex brokerage calculator below to compare Fusion Markets to other global forex brokers (some don’t accept Canadian forex traders) to see how much you will save on a trade. We base this on published average spreads, commissions, and live forex pair crosses.

Fusion Markets Offers High Leverage

Fusion Markets accepts Canadian traders but is not CIRO-regulated. The broker’s offshore, Vanuatu (VFSC) regulated branch offers leverage of 500:1 on currency trading, while the Australian (ASIC) branch is limited to 30:1. Leverage involves a high level of risk, so it is important to select the level that is right for you.

Final Verdict On Fusion Markets

We recommend Fusion Markets for Canadian forex traders based on their low fees, forex trading platform, and high leverage. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced trader, Fusion Markets has something for everyone.

CMC Markets has good education for beginners.

CMC Markets is the best Canadian forex broker for beginner traders who want access to great educational resources. In addition, the broker also offers some of the most competitive spreads we’ve tested, along with a huge range of forex and CFD products to trade.

CMC Markets has good education for beginners

CMC Markets is the best Canadian forex broker for beginner traders that want access to great educational resources. In addition, the broker also offers some of the most competitive spreads we’ve tested, along with a huge range of forex and CFD products to trade.

Key Benefits:

• Over 9500 instruments available
• Great education for beginners
• Competitive spreads
• Proprietary platform – Next Generation

CMC Markets Excellent Educational Resources

CMC Markets offers Canadian traders outstanding educational resources and an excellent trading experience thanks to its learning center. CMC Markets’ education offerings include extensive written content, trading guides, webinars and events and video lessons.

eBooks

CMC Markets offers a list of 8 different well-structured eBooks that are available for anyone to download in PDF format. The trading eBooks are designed to help novice traders build their trading skills, as well as guides on how to trade using trendlines and how to recognize patterns or essential guides to day trading.

Trading Guides

CMC Markets offers easy-to-use trading guides that cover topics ranging from basic concepts like what is forex, support and resistance trading, how to trade on news and so much more. Some lessons will be provided in video format which we think makes the learning experience more powerful.

Webinars

The engaging webinars offered by CMC Markets are hosted by an experienced team of market analysts led by Michael Hewson. Anyone can register and join the webinars for free. The webinars cover a wide range of topics like trading strategies, trading tips and tricks, news breakdowns and live coverage of the most important economic data.

CMC Markets Ultra Competitive Spreads

CMC Markets offers the second-most competitive Standard account spreads we’ve tested, with average spreads of 1.11 pips. You can also open an FX Active, commission-based account if you are a high volume FX trader. The $5 commissions you pay per round turn are competitive from what we’ve observed, compared to the industry average of $7 round-turn.

As a forex trader, you can access +331 currency pairs with CMC Markets – one of the most diverse lists of FX offerings by a Canadian forex broker – and over 9,500 CFDs across commodities, indices, shares, treasuries, metals and energies.

You can trade this extensive product range on the all-popular MetaTrader 4 trading platform, as well as the broker’s excellent Next Generation platform. We found CMC’s Next Generation platform to be fast, reliable on any device (mobile, web trader or desktop) and packed with features, including rich charting with up to 80 technical indicators.

Final Verdict on CMC Markets

Overall, CMC Markets is not only great for beginners for its educational resources, but also for its ultra low spreads and reliable trading platforms, MT4 and Next Generation. We also think CMC Markets is useful for experienced traders, with discounts for active trading, a huge range of products and advanced trading tools.

Eightcap has 86 crypto pairs to trade with.

Eightcap offers the best range of cryptocurrency products for Canadian clients that we’ve encountered. This is because a lot of brokers regulated by CIRO don’t offer crypto products. Eightcap, on the other hand, is not regulated by the Canadian regulator, instead, by an offshore regulator, SCB in the Bahamas.

We also scored Eightcap highly for its diverse range of platforms (8/10), good range of products (7/10) and useful educational resources (9/10).

Eightcap has 86 crypto pairs to trade with

Eightcap offers the best range of cryptocurrency products for Canadian clients that we’ve encountered. This is because a lot of brokers regulated by CIRO don’t offer crypto products. Eightcap, on the other hand, is not regulated by the Canadian regulator, instead, by an offshore regulator, SCB in the Bahamas.

We also scored Eightcap highly for its diverse range of platforms (8/10), good range of products (7/10) and useful educational resources (9/10).

Key Benefits:

• Best crypto broker for Canadians
• 5 excellent trading platforms
• Solid range of financial instruments
• Good educational resources

Eightcap has Competitive Published Spreads

Both of Eightcap’s account types offer mid-range spreads from our testing, with average spreads of 1.51 pips for its Standard account and 0.5 pips for its RAW account. When looking at published spreads, however, Eightcap beats the industry average for both Standard (1.06 pips Vs 1.52 pips) and RAW (0.30 pips Vs 0.45 pips) accounts.

All this means is Eightcap’s spreads can vary wildly depending on the trading conditions: very competitive at their best, average at their worst.

You can also fund your account using Tether (USDT) or BitCoin (BTC) cryptocurrency, giving Eightcap a point of difference as the top crypto broker.

Wide Range of Stocks and Cryptos

In terms of products, Eightcap really stands out in its crypto and stock offering, with over 95 Cryptocurrencies and 400 stocks available to trade. With Eightcap’s crypto range, you can trade 20 cross-currency products against USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP and MXN, easily the biggest range for Canadian traders. You can even cross-pair these 20 cryptos against Bitcoin.

For an added benefit, the broker’s Forex and commodities products are available with leverage of up to 500:1. Given there is more risk in taking on higher leverage, Eightcap uses a tiered system that restricts higher leverage for larger accounts, ensuring an element of protection should movements not go in your favour.

To trade Eightcap’s full range of products, however, you must use MetaTrader 5.

Diverse Range of Trading Platforms

Eightcap offers 5 excellent and diverse trading platforms, including the full MetaTrader suite.

While we think Eightcap is one of the best MetaTrader 4 brokers in Canada, you can access other great platforms including TradingView, Cryptocrusher and The Amazing Trader. This diversity in platforms doesn’t only give you great variety, it also gives you the ability to specialise in crypto with Cryptocrusher, charting with TradingView or prop trading with the Amazing Trader.

Final Verdict on Eightcap

Overall, we think Eightcap has the best crypto offering for Canadian traders. Other key benefits include a great range of trading platforms, a good range of stocks and a solid educational offering.

Interactive Brokers Have Low ECN Trading Costs.

Interactive Brokers is the only ‘true ECN’ broker on our list, offering low ECN trading costs. The broker does this through direct access to interbank quotes, with spreads as low as 0.1 pips. IB particularly caters to both professional and institutional traders with a huge range of asset classes and derivatives as well as its own advanced forex trading platforms.

Interactive Brokers Have Low ECN Trading Costs

Interactive Brokers is the only ‘true ECN’ broker on our list, offering low ECN trading costs. The broker does this through direct access to interbank quotes, with spreads as low as 0.1 pips. IB particularly caters to both professional and institutional traders with a huge range of asset classes and derivatives as well as its own advanced forex trading platforms.

Key Benefits

• Low trading costs
• Huge range of markets
• Unique proprietary platforms
• Highly regulated broker

Low-cost Stock Trading

Interactive Brokers (IB) allow Canadian citizens access to a range of small-cap, mid-cap and large-cap domestic and international stocks from a single retail investor account at low brokerage fees.

The broker offers three types of pricing plans including Transparent Volume-Tiered Pricing, Fixed-Rate Pricing and Zero Commission US Stock Trading (IBKR Lite).

IB’s Tiered Pricing plan features low commissions, which diminish based on trade volume. Please note, however, that the plan also includes exchange, regulatory, and clearing fees.

IBKR Lite pricing plan allows for unlimited trading of US-listed stocks and ETFs with no commissions charged.

Advanced Trading Platforms

IB allows for direct market access to financial markets through a range of platforms:

• Client Portal – suitable for new clients and traders who prefer to access all the resources they need to monitor and manage their accounts with a single login to one website,
• Desktop Trader Workstation (TWS) – the broker’s flagship platform suitable for traders who operate with a range of trading instruments and for those who require in-depth news, technical research and advanced algos and trading tools,
• IBKR Mobile for iOS or Android devices,
• IBKR WebTrader – suitable for traders who prefer a less sophisticated interface. The platform offers similar functions and tools as Desktop TWS,
• IBKR TWS Application Programming Interface (API) – suitable for clients who prefer to create trading software or automated trading programs of their own.

Best Order Execution Engine

Canada-based traders can have their orders executed at the best possible price via IB’s SmartRouting engine. The latter explores the best stock, option and combination prices available at the moment you place your order and looks to immediately fill those orders electronically.

Last year, the brokerage insured average savings of $6.70 per trade for its clients, and after considering average commissions charged, the average net benefit for clients amounted to $4.42 per trade.

Final Verdict on IBKR

Overall, Interactive Brokers is a broker we recommend for more experienced traders, with low online trading costs for active traders, an unparalleled library of products and advanced trading platforms.

Friedberg Direct powered by AvaTrade has spreads from 0.6 pips.

Canadian traders looking to use fixed spreads for their trading should turn to Friedberg Direct, powered by AvaTrade. AvaTrade is a reputable forex and CFD broker running the Friedberg Direct trading platform technology. Friedberg Direct was founded in 1971 and forms one of the largest independent brokers in Canada.

Key Benefits of Friedberg Direct with AvaTrade

• Competitive spreads
• Solid proprietary platform – AvaTradeGo
• Unique options platform – AvaOptions
• Good risk management tools

Friedberg Direct’s Fixed Spreads Analysis

Friedberg Direct stands out by offering you the ability to trade forex using fixed spreads (with zero commissions). Having fixed spreads has advantages over floating spreads, which fluctuate when economic conditions become unfavorable, thus leading to large losses. As such, Friedberg Direct, through AvaTrade, offers competitive fixed spreads from 0.6 pips, which is better than the industry average of 1 pip for a market maker broker.

Friedberg Direct Offers Trading Platform Features

If you are looking to trade options, then AvaTrade might be the best broker around. AvaTrade offers AvaOptions trading app/platform, which will help you make the most of your options trading. Few CFD brokers offer tools specially designed for options trading. This broker offers 42 forex pairs plus gold and silver for options trading.

AvaTrade’s large choice of trading platforms makes it easy to benefit from more ways to trade. As well as both MetaTrader platforms, we like AvaTrade’s range of copy trading and social trading platforms, which include its own AvaSocial as well as the popular ZuluTrade and DupliTrade.

Advanced Protection With AvaProtect

If you desire a higher level of risk management beyond the standard stop losses, AvaTrade offers AvaProtect™. If you are using AvaTradeGo, for a small premium, you can buy time to reverse your trade. This means that if your trade moves in an unfavorable direction during this set period of time, you can pull out of the trade.

AvaTrade allows hedging your position to offset the risk associated with complex instruments such as CFDs.

Final Verdict On Friedberg Direct With AvaTrade

As a reputable broker, Friedberg Direct with AvaTrade offers competitive fixed spreads, a great range of trading platforms and good risk management tools. For these reasons, we think the broker is better suited for beginner traders.

TMGM has leverage of 500:1

Key Benefits:

• Competitive Spreads
• Trading platforms (MT4, MT5 and IRESS)
• Good range of markets
• Customer service based in 10 locations

Competitive spreads on Classic and Edge accounts

Based on our testing, TMGM offers competitive spreads across both its Classic (Standard) and Edge (RAW/ECN-style) accounts. For its Classic (no commissions) account, TMGM offers an average spread of 1.21 pips, while the broker had an average spread of 0.32 pips for its Edge (commission-based) account. These spreads were both top-4 of the cheapest brokers we tested, out of a list of 15.

The IRESS account is for traders using the IRESS Viewpoint. This platform is only suitable for traders wishing to trade shares. Using this account/platform gives you access to TMGM’s full range of 12,000 shares (many of which are not available with MT4) across US, AU, UK, HK, CN and SG exchanges.

TMGM’s trading platforms

TMGM offers the popular MT4, but not MT5 yet (although the broker promises it’s coming soon) as well as IRESS ViewPoint.

For those interested in shares trading, IRESS ViewPoint offers professional-grade shares trading, including Direct Market Access (DMA) trading execution and Depth of Market (DoM) pricing.

TMGM offers a high leverage of 500:1

TMGM offers a high leverage of 500:1 due to being more relaxed trading restrictions by the offshore regulator, VFSC for Canadian traders. You can trade 61 forex pairs with this leverage, in addition to a decent range of over 1200 CFDs and a huge range of 12,000 stocks, as mentioned above.

Final Verdict On TMGM

We rated TMGM highly based on high leverage, range of products and competitive spreads across the board. We also like the broker’s trading tools, including Trading Central and Hubx, the latter designed for fund managers. Saying all this, TMGM tries to satisfy both beginners and experienced traders and does so quite competently in our opinion.