Before we drill down in depth about the largest forex brokers by volume, we first need to understand what a forex company, or broker is. So what exactly is a forex broker? Well a forex broker is a financial services company that offers traders access to a specific platform in order for them to be able to buy and sell foreign currencies.
The global foreign exchange market is ultimately a 24-hour market, since global currencies are traded on this timescale. Most of the foreign exchange transactions that take place on the global market are between the 10 most popular pairs, which belong to the 10 countries that make up the G10.
Such countries and their currencies include; United States (USD), Europe (Euro), United Kingdom (GBP), Japan (JPY), Australia (AUD), New Zealand (NZD), Canada (CAD) and Switzerland (CHF). Although these are the most popular pairs that forex brokers offer, there are other less popular currencies that are available to trade as well.
Who Are The Biggest Forex Brokers?
When it comes to Forex brokers, there are so many brokers out there but for this section I will only be talking about the biggest brokers on the planet, and how they differ from others.
In order to make this clearer, I will be breaking it down into different areas of the world.
The largest Forex brokers in the world are:
- IC Markets – 19 Billion
- Forex.com – 15 Billion
- XM Group – 13.4 Billion
- Saxo Group – 12 Billion
- Hot Forex – 12 Billion
Based on daily trading volumes
| Broker Type | ECN |
| Regulations | ASIC |
| Min Deposit | $200.00 |
| Account Base Currency | USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, JPY, NZD,CHF, SGD, HKD |
| Max Leverage | 500:1 |
| Trading Platforms | Metatrader 4/5, cTrader, Webtrader, API Trading, MAM / PAMM |
| Broker Type | Market Maker |
| Regulations | NFA, CFTC, RFED, FCM |
| Min Deposit | $50.00 |
| Account Base Currency | USD CAD GBP |
| Max Leverage | 50:1 |
| Trading Platforms | FOREXTrader, Metatrader 4 |
| Broker Type | Market Maker |
| Regulations | IFSC, CySec, ASIC |
| Min Deposit | $5.00 |
| Account Base Currency | USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, RUB, PLN, HUF, SGD, ZAR |
| Max Leverage | 888:1. *Leverage depends on the entity of the group and the financial instrument traded. |
| Trading Platforms | Metatrader 4/5, Webtrader |
| Broker Type | Market Maker |
| Regulations | ASIC, FINMA, FCA, JFSA, ACPR |
| Min Deposit | $10,000.00 |
Account Base Currency | AED AUD CAD CHF CNH CZK DKK EUR GBP HKD HUF ILS JPY MXN NOK NZD PLN RON RUB SEK SGD ZAR TRY USD |
| Max Leverage | 50:1. |
| Trading Platforms | SaxotraderGO/PRO, Webtrader |
| Broker Type | Market Maker |
| Regulations | CySec, FSC |
| Min Deposit | $5.00 |
| Account Base Currency | USD, EUR |
| Max Leverage | 1-1000, EU Clients 1:30 |
| Trading Platforms | Metatrader 4, webtrader, HOTFOREX FIX/API |
Largest Forex Brokers By Volume 2020
United States:
The United States is one of the largest foreign exchange markets in the world as we know it.
However because of incredibly restrictive and stringent regulations, it has been on a downward spiral for some time now.
As well as being one of the largest, it is also the most isolated market. This is because the traders in the U.S. are unfortunately unable to open any account with offshore forex brokers, due to FATCA regulations that are enforced on foreign financial institutions.
These tough regulations means that it has become too expensive for anyone to accept U.S. clients.
Due to the harsh rules and protection from outside competition, this has led to the consolidation of local brokers. One notable development is that of the acquisition of FXCM by Gain Capital (also known as Forex.com).
Currently in the U.S. there are only three forex brokers, and one of them is pretty much just an institutional broker.
Because of these regulations which increasingly limits the amount of leverage a trader can use, these U.S. based brokers haven’t been able to gain the traction they need in the foreign exchange arena.
The biggest U.S. brokers in the United States are:
Daily Transactions | Market Cap | Broker |
$15 Billion | $95 million | Forex.com |
$10.1 Billion | $161 million | Oanda |
$3.9 Billion | $20.36 Billion | Interactive Brokers |
Europe: Europe is where a lot of the foreign exchange platforms are housed, and this is where you’ll find the majority of them in the world.
The vast diversity featured in Europe meant that local brokers had to shift and adapt very different markets, as well as competition.
These European brokers are situated in many different countries and multiple trading licenses, but if you don’t know already, the main location for foreign exchange brokers is in Cyprus (CySEC) and the United Kingdom (FCA).
Thanks to financial regulations, you’ll commonly see that brokers are regulated either by the CySEC or FCA. Even the likes of Swissquote will be regulated and use a CySEC or FCA license.
Whilst all European regulation differs from country to country, they are all MIFID compliant. This gives traders another layer of protection when it comes to their money.
Below are the largest foreign exchange brokers in Europe:
Daily Transactions | Market Cap | Broker |
$13.4 Billion | N/A | XM Group |
$12 Billion | N/A | Saxo Group |
$8 Billion | N/A | Ava Trade |
$7 Billion | $2.93 Billion | IG Group |
$6.5 Billion | N/A | FX Pro |
$5 Billion | $1.14 Billion | Swissquote |
$4.6 Billion | $1.56 Billion | Plus500 |
$5 Billion | N/A | eToro |
$4.7 Billion | N/A | Markets.com |
$4 Billion | 948.31 Million | CMC Markets |
$3.8 Billion | N/A | FXCM |
Some European brokers have managed to go global, as well as their base of operations spanning different continents.
The European brokers are specifically used by countless traders all around the world in places such as Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, and have attracted a lot of growth due to their international operations.
Australia: Australian brokers have their own regulatory standards under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
These brokers are incredibly well represented outside of Australia, and the jurisdiction is very tight and solid, with some brokers offering some of the best conditions and liquidity.
Largest foreign exchange brokers in Australia
Below are the three major Australian foreign exchange brokers that generate some of the largest average daily volumes:
Daily Transactions | Market Cap | Broker |
$19 Billion | N/A | IC Markets |
$7 Billion | N/A | Pepperstone Markets |
$6 Billion | N/A | AxiTrader |
Rest Of The World: There are a number of large, high volume foreign exchange brokers that are located in other parts of the world.
Since these large brokers are spread across the globe and aren’t concentrated in a specific region, they are in this category instead.
Brokers in this list come from countries like St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Belize or the Cayman Islands.
The brokers in this list follow a different set of regulatory guidelines and can vary a lot when it comes to reliability. Although, having said this, it doesn’t mean they aren’t good brokers.
Daily Transactions | Market Cap | Broker |
$12 Billion | N/A | Hot Forex |
$10 Billion | N/A | Vantage FX |
$9.1 Billion | N/A | IFC Markets |
$8.5 Billion | N/A | Exness |
$6.1 Billion | N/A | Instaforex |
$4.2 Billion | N/A | Roboforex |
$3.5 Billion | N/A | IQ Option |
$3.3 Billion | N/A | FX Open |
Overall Who Are The Largest Brokers
Whilst traders in the United States will have to settle for a U.S. based broker, since they aren’t allowed to any accounts with companies outside of U.S. jurisdiction.
Whereas traders from other parts of the world are free to open accounts with offshore foreign exchange brokers.
Typically, Europeans will settle for European brokers and Australians will choose a broker in their region. But what about the rest of the world.
They make up approximately 85% of the world’s population, so they must choose a broker to trade with. So what options do they have?
Forex brokers will accept people from almost anywhere, but only a small number of brokers have the power to be able to handle a diverse client base.
In order to support people from various countries and continents, a broker must be able to easily handle deposits and withdrawals with a vast number of internationally used payment methods.
These brokers must also allow for accounts in different local currencies, have multilingual websites and dedicated customer support for many countries and languages.
The brokers targeting a worldwide audience may hold a number of licenses and operate in different parts of the world in order to provide the best trading conditions for people in different regions.
While many of the big forex companies are specialized in serving more than one demographic, below we have selected a set of brokers which have a truly global presence and are well suited to handle traders from any corner of the world.
Daily Transactions | Broker | Location | |
$19 Billion |
| IC Markets | Australia, Seychelles |
$14 Billion |
| XM Group | Cyprus, Australia, Belize |
$13 Billion |
| Saxo Bank | Denmark |
$12 Billion |
| Hot Forex | Cyprus, South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius |
$9.1 Billion |
| IFC Markets | British Virgin Islands |
$7.8 Billion |
| Ava Trade | Ireland |
$6.5 Billion |
| FX Pro | United Kingdom |
$5.8 Billion |
| Instaforex | British Virgin Islands |
About This Article
Author: Mark Prosz
Sources of information and credits for this post include: Various brokers as listed in this article.
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