.svg){kind=logo}
Why Australians need a different broker list
Most forex broker comparison sites are written for a global audience. That works fine until you want to actually open an account in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth and discover the broker doesn’t accept Australian clients, or worse, accepts them through an offshore entity with none of the protections you’d expect.
This site only covers brokers that hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. That’s a deliberate choice. ASIC sets some of the toughest retail trading rules in the world. Leverage on major forex pairs is capped at 30:1 for retail clients. Negative balance protection is mandatory. Bonuses to retail clients are banned. The standardised risk warning showing the percentage of accounts losing money is required. None of that is true if you sign up with a broker regulated only in Vanuatu, the Seychelles, or Saint Vincent.
A little history. CompareForexBrokers was founded in November 2014, originally launching at compareforexbrokers.com.au. As we expanded into international markets, the main site moved to compareforexbrokers.com in 2019. We've relaunched the .com.au domain in May 2026 as a dedicated Australian site, focused exclusively on ASIC-regulated brokers.
We’ve tested every broker on this list with our own funds. Where a broker offers multiple entities globally, we’ve reviewed the Australian ASIC-regulated entity specifically, because that’s the one that matters for the trading conditions you’ll actually receive.
How we compare brokers
Five things drive the rankings on this site: trading costs, regulation and trust, platforms, execution speed, and the range of markets. Each broker’s score is built from over 100 data points collected during account testing. Our writers open live accounts, fund them, place trades, and record the results. No broker pays for placement. Some pay an affiliate commission when readers open an account through the site, which is disclosed on every review and never affects scoring.
Spread testing
We record minimum, maximum and average spreads on six major pairs (AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY) using the IceFX SpreadMonitor tool on MT4. Tests run for 24 hours starting at 2 PM Brisbane time, capturing the Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York sessions. The Australian dollar pair matters here. Some global brokers price AUDUSD competitively for AU clients; others widen it because it’s not their core flow.
Execution testing
Market and limit order execution is tested across 15+ ASIC brokers using two purpose-built MT4 expert advisors. We strip out network latency to make results comparable regardless of where the test machine sits. AU traders connecting to Sydney-based servers (most ASIC brokers route to LD4 London or NY4 New York) will see different real-world numbers, but the relative ranking holds.
ASIC rules every Australian retail trader should know
Three protections matter most.
Leverage cap 30:1 on majors
Under ASIC's Product Intervention Order (in force since 29 March 2021), retail clients of any AFSL-holding CFD issuer get the same caps. 20:1 on minor pairs, gold and major indices. 10:1 on other commodities. 5:1 on shares. 2:1 on crypto CFDs. If a broker advertises 500:1 to you in Australia, you're either dealing with an offshore entity or being classified as a wholesale client.
Negative balance protection
You cannot lose more than your account balance on a retail account. The flash crashes that wiped out small accounts in the EU pre-2018 produced these rules in the first place. Your downside is capped at whatever you've deposited — no margin calls past zero.
Bonuses banned, risk warnings published
Brokers can't offer cash bonuses or trading credits to retail clients to entice deposits. They must publish the percentage of retail accounts that lose money, updated quarterly. That number sits between 65 and 85 per cent for most brokers on this site.
If something goes wrong, your dispute resolution path is the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which is free for retail clients and binding on the broker up to AFCA’s monetary limits. Trading losses themselves are not compensated.
How to choose a broker if you’re new to this
Pick the broker that matches the job, not the broker with the most ads.
What do you want to trade?
If you only need forex and a handful of indices, almost any broker on this list will do. If you want share CFDs, ETFs, treasuries or crypto CFDs, the field narrows fast. CMC, IG and Interactive Brokers are the broadest. Plus500 and eToro lean retail and lighter on niche markets.
Which platform do you already know?
MT4 traders should look at Pepperstone, IC Markets, FP Markets, Eightcap, Fusion Markets, ThinkMarkets or Axi. cTrader users have a smaller list. TradingView native integration is offered by a small group including Pepperstone, OANDA and Capital.com. Proprietary platform fans gravitate to CMC's Next Generation, IG's web platform, or Plus500's WebTrader.
How much do you plan to deposit?
Several brokers list a $0 minimum (Pepperstone, OANDA, IG, CMC, Fusion Markets, Trade Nation). Others sit at $100 to $200. Fund what you can afford to lose. ASIC's risk warning isn't a marketing line.
We’ve broken these paths down on dedicated pages: best brokers for beginners, lowest spread brokers, ECN account brokers, and demo accounts.
A note on costs
Spreads are the headline cost on a forex trade. Commission is added on RAW/ECN accounts. Add the two together to get your real cost.
RAW account
Wins for active traders
Standard account
Wins for occasional traders
A typical RAW account on EUR/USD might run 0.1 pips spread plus AUD 7 round-turn commission per standard lot. At an AUDUSD rate of 0.65, that AUD 7 commission converts to roughly USD 4.55, or 0.45 pips equivalent.
FAQs
Is forex trading legal in Australia?
What leverage can Australian retail traders use?
Which forex broker is best for beginners in Australia?
What's the lowest-spread broker in Australia?
Is my money safe with an ASIC-regulated broker?
Do I pay tax on forex profits in Australia?
Related pages
About the author
Justin co-founded CompareForexBrokers in 2014 and has traded forex since 1998. Based in Melbourne, he has tested every ASIC-regulated broker on this site personally and has written for Forbes, Kiplinger, Finance Magnates, the Australian Financial Review and The Age. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and a Master's in Marketing from Monash University. Justin is the Strategic Head of Research for the site.