Best Forex Scalping Broker
Vittoria Pretlow
Scalping is a popular style of trading strategy where a trader aims to profit from small price movements in a short period. The goal is to enter and exit trades quickly, taking advantage of small price fluctuations that occur frequently in the market.
From our live testing, we found the live spread for EUR/USD during the US session averaged 0.8 pips with zero commission which is slightly better than the industry average. Scalpers may opt for the Zero Account instead which has lower spreads and a low commission relative to the industry average.
Each account can be opened with a minimum deposit of $200. Both the Raw Spread and Zero Accounts offer market execution, with the Zero Account also offering no requotes on price fills which means your orders will always be filled.
All of the accounts offer access to the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, as well as the Exness mobile trading app and Exness Terminal. The Exness Terminal is a web-based platform that offers 50 drawing tools and 100 indicators. Scalpers may opt for the MT5 platform which provides 21 different timeframes, 38 inbuilt indicators, and 22 analytical tools.
Scalpers can also access level 2 quotes from the MT5 platform. This enables you to see the market depth of orders at different prices. You can also access an inbuilt forex calendar to trade the news and the algo-trading capabilities of MT4 and MT5.
The bank provides the ability to trade from MT4, MT5, and its own Advanced Trader platform which is a web-based trading platform that has 50+ charting tools, 80+ technical indicators, and multiple order types.
In our live testing, we found the average spread for EUR/USD during the London session was 1.5 pips using the Standard Account. This is higher than the industry average. However, when scalping traders may opt for its Prime Account which offers lower spreads.
This means traders can see prices from multiple liquidity providers (typically large financial institutions) which provides a higher level of price transparency, fast trading execution, and tighter spreads starting from 0.0 pips.
From our live testing on the Standard Account, we found the spread for EUR/USD during the London session to average 1.15 pips which is slightly above the industry average. However, scalpers may opt for the Raw Account which has lower spreads and a commission of USD 3 per lot, per side which is better than the industry average.
The FP Markets ECN execution model also means there is no dealing desk intervention and no requotes. For scalpers, having this ability to enter and exit at the exact price you want is essential when trading in and out of small price movements on a frequent basis.
FxPro is a no-dealing desk (NDD) broker. This means there is no broker intervention in your trades with most orders being matched internally due to the high volume of its clients. A great feature provided by FxPro for the suitability of scalping with them is the fact they provide transparency regarding their executions.
From our research, most trades with FxPro are filled in under 14 milliseconds with data showing nearly 80% of market orders in 2021 were executed at the requested price with 10% of client orders receiving either a better or worse price.
Furthermore, 98.59% of trades were not requoted. This means that the broker managed to fill 98.59% of trading orders which is very impressive. Some brokers may requote the price you want to trade at as they cannot fill your order which is likely due to poor liquidity from their liquidity providers or slow technology to fill orders instantly.
Each of the account types available is based on an ECN pricing model in which IC Markets sources pricing from unrelated liquidity provides with no dealing desk intervention. This allows the broker to offer ultra-fast execution speeds as their servers are located in the NY4 and LD5 data centers in New York and London. The three main account types offered all provide access to low spreads and low fees.
The broker is regarded as a top choice for scalping strategies as it provides spread rebates for high-volume traders. If you trade more than $100 million in notional value a month, you can access a 5% spread rebate.
On top of this, the margin rates are very competitive, with EUR/USD only requiring 2%, which is better than what is offered to traders outside of the US. This means you only need to put up 2% of the total trade value to open trade, which is fantastic. In our live fee test, I found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.8 pips, beating the industry average of 1.0 pips for a zero-commission account.
Of the three trading platforms available, tastyfx Web Platform, MT4, and ProRealTime, I found them all suitable for scalping strategies. The tastyfx Web Platform has built-in trading signals on major currency pairs from third-party providers Autochartist and PIA-First. MT4 and ProRealTime are also excellent and are geared toward high-frequency, algorithmic traders.
As scalping involves trading very short-term price movements, using a trusted, well-regulated broker is essential. After all, it is the broker which is executing your trade in the underlying market (depending on their model) and holds your capital.
Since the launch of the MiFID 2 legal act, tier 1 regulated brokers must offer a negative balance protection policy to retail clients and segregate client funds from their own. While some tier 2 and tier 3 regulators may do this, many do not as they are not legally required to.
After choosing a safe broker to hold your trading funds, checking the fees of the broker is the next most important factor when choosing a forex scalping broker. This is because high fees can easily wipe away any profit from small movements in the market, leading to a lot of trading with not a lot of reward.
Scalpers may look to prioritize low spreads to get in and out at the right price. The commission (if any) will act as a business expense but these will be known up front so you can always know your net return on a trade.
In our broker rating reviews, we test the live spread for a range of instruments and then use a scale to determine whether they are in line, better or worse than the industry average. For EUR/USD the average spread for a commission-free trading account should be less than 1.0 pip.
Non-trading fees are those that cover account management. While most brokers will not charge an account maintenance fee there may be fees for periods of inactivity, deposits, and withdrawals. These are worthwhile checking beforehand as deposit and withdrawal fees can differ depending on whether you are using a bank, credit/debit card, or e-wallet.
Nowadays, brokers are starting to accommodate the needs of more advanced trading styles, such as scalping and algorithmic trading. This has led to some brokers offering different account types based on the execution model. These include:
Scalpers tend to prefer DMA and ECN accounts but any type of no-dealing desk execution model will be suitable for scalping. Most brokers will offer a demo trading account and this is the best place to start.
A demo trading account allows traders to execute trades in a virtual environment. This can help to test the execution speeds, and spreads on offer in real-time before making a decision on opening a live account and trading with real money.
Leverage is the driving force behind the accessibility and popularity of trading the forex market. It is the process of borrowing funds to increase your position size so you can control a large position with a smaller deposit.
Brokers offer leveraged-based trading, also known as margin-based trading, by lending you the capital to control a larger position and charging an overnight fee to borrow the capital, which is known as the swap fee. It is like taking out a loan and paying interest for the term of the loan.
Leverage is a double-edged sword as it will not only amplify your gains but also your losses. Since the launch of MiFID 2 regulations, there have been some major changes imposed by tier 1 and some tier 2 regulators regarding the use of leverage for retail clients.
When trading with a broker regulated by a tier 1 regulator such as the FCA, CySEC, or ASIC, traders will need to fill out a questionnaire that will categorize you as a retail or professional client depending on your answers.
It is a regulatory requirement for these brokers to offer a maximum of 30:1 leverage for retail traders trading the currency market. This means you can open a $30,000 position size with only $1,000 of cash in the account.
The cTrader platform was designed specifically for high-frequency traders such as scalpers and algorithmic traders. The platform offers advanced trading capabilities and can be used on desktop, web, and mobile.
Some brokers will offer all three and some may just offer one platform. But a demo trading account can be useful here as it will allow you to test the different platforms to find the right one for your scalping strategies.
To find the best forex broker for scalping, our team of analysts researched over 80 brokers and checked more than 250 data points over nine core categories for each broker. The checklist we use has grown significantly over time as new innovations and regulations also change over time.
The nine core categories that build the 250-point checklist include categories such as trust, fees, platform and tools, tradable instruments, customer service, deposit and withdrawals, account types, research, and education. You can read more about our review process here.
These findings were then further categorized into the best overall broker for scalping, the best for low spreads, ECN accounts, no dealing desk execution, MT4, trustworthiness, and options for US clients where forex brokers are more limited.
The team of forex and CFD writers and editors at FX Empire is composed of trading industry professionals and seasoned financial journalists. Our writers have been published on leading financial websites such as Investopedia and Forbes. In addition, they all have extensive trading experience.
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