Best Day Trading Platforms and Brokers
Explore our selection of the best day trading platforms. Every broker has been evaluated by our UK-based testing team and delivers an optimal environment for active day traders.
Top Day Trading Platforms in the UK
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Founded in Australia in 2010, Pepperstone is a highly regarded broker specialising in forex and CFDs. Serving more than 400,000 clients globally, it provides access to over 1,300 financial instruments through popular platforms like MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView. Its fee structure is both low and transparent. With regulation by reputable bodies such as the FCA, ASIC, and CySEC, Pepperstone guarantees a safe trading environment for traders at every level.
Minimum Deposit: $0
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, AutoChartist, DupliTrade, Quantower
Regulators: FCA, ASIC, CySEC, DFSA, CMA, BaFin, SCB
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Established in Poland in 2002, XTB caters to over a million clients worldwide. This forex and CFD broker offers a robust regulatory framework, a diverse range of assets, and prioritises trader satisfaction. It provides an intuitive proprietary platform equipped with excellent tools to support aspiring traders.
Minimum Deposit: $0
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: xStation
Regulators: FCA, CySEC, KNF, DFSA, FSC, SCA, Bappebti
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Founded in 1989, CMC Markets is a reputable broker publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. It holds authorisation from top-tier regulators such as the FCA, ASIC, and CIRO. The brokerage, which has received multiple awards, boasts a global membership exceeding one million traders.
Minimum Deposit: $0
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: Web, MT4, TradingView
Regulators: FCA, ASIC, MAS, CIRO, BaFin, FMA, DFSA
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FXCC, a well-established brokerage since 2010, offers cost-effective online trading. Registered in Nevis and regulated by CySEC, it is distinguished by its ECN conditions and absence of a minimum deposit requirement. The account opening process is efficient, taking under five minutes.
Minimum Deposit: $0
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5
Regulators: CySEC
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IC Markets is an internationally acclaimed forex and CFD broker, admired for its competitive pricing, diverse trading instruments, and superior technology. Established in 2007 and based in Australia, the firm is under the regulation of ASIC, CySEC, and FSA. It has successfully drawn over 180,000 clients from more than 200 nations.
Minimum Deposit: $200
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, TradingCentral, DupliTrade, Quantower
Regulators: ASIC, CySEC, FSA, CMA
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Founded in 2006, FxPro has built a reputation as a reliable non-dealing desk (NDD) broker, providing trading access across more than 2,100 markets to over 2 million clients globally. It has received over 100 industry awards, reflecting its favourable conditions for active traders.
Minimum Deposit: $100
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: FxPro Edge, MT4, MT5, cTrader, AutoChartist, TradingCentral, DupliTrade, Quantower
Regulators: FCA, CySEC, FSCA, SCB, FSA
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Founded in 1974, IG is a part of IG Group Holdings Plc, a publicly listed brokerage (LSE: IGG). The company provides spread betting, CFD, and forex trading, offering access to over 17,000 markets. Its platforms and investing apps are notably user-friendly. Over the past 50 years, IG has consistently been an industry leader, excelling in all essential areas for traders.
Minimum Deposit: $0
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: Web, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer, MT4, TradingView, AutoChartist, TradingCentral, ProRealTime
Regulators: FCA, ASIC, NFA, CFTC, DFSA, BaFin, MAS, FSCA, FINMA, CONSOB, AFM
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IC Trading belongs to the reputable IC Markets group. Designed for dedicated traders, it offers highly competitive spreads, dependable order execution, and sophisticated trading tools. However, it operates from Mauritius, an offshore financial centre, allowing high leverage but within a less regulated environment.
Minimum Deposit: $200
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, AutoChartist, TradingCentral
Regulators: FSC
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Eightcap, an acclaimed broker regulated by the FCA, offers exceptionally low trading costs. Recognised as the top-rated brand by TradingView's vast user base of 100 million, traders can directly access the platform. UK traders can open a live account with a minimum deposit of just £100.
Minimum Deposit: £100
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5, TradingView
Regulators: ASIC, FCA, CySEC, SCB
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Established in 1999, FOREX.com is now integrated into StoneX, a prominent financial services entity catering to more than one million clients globally. The broker is regulated in numerous jurisdictions, including the US, UK, EU, and Australia. It offers a vast array of markets beyond forex, delivering competitive pricing on state-of-the-art trading platforms.
Minimum Deposit: $100
Reliable Execution: Yes
Charting Platforms: MT4, MT5, TradingView, eSignal, AutoChartist, TradingCentral
Regulators: NFA, CFTC, CIRO, FCA, CYSEC, ASIC, SFC, FSA, MAS, CIMA
Comparing Day Trading Platforms
With over 40 years of collective experience and more than a thousand hours spent testing brokers annually, we know exactly what makes a good day trading platform, and critically, what doesn’t.
These are the areas we compare day trading brokers in, and recommend you do, too:
Trust
Choosing a trusted broker is a non-negotiable first step. This will help protect you from trading scams, with reports estimating Brits have lost £27 million in recent years.
Our recommendation is to pick an established and well-regulated broker – this is the best sign a day trading platform can be trusted.
In the UK, this means a firm licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a top-tier regulator with excellent safeguards for retail traders, notably:
- Negative balance protection to prevent traders from losing more than their account balance.
- Leverage trading is limited to 1:30 to help protect against large losses in fast-moving markets.
- Financial Services Compensation Scheme with up to £85K in the event of broker insolvency.
Plus500 – FCA License
We regularly verify that brokers are authorised on the FCA’s Financial Services Register and consider their years of experience alongside their reputation for treating day traders fairly and paying withdrawals.
Above you can see that I checked Plus500 holds a license from the FCA by running its company name (listed in the footer of its website) through the Financial Services Register.
If you want a broker you can trust, Plus500 is a stand-out choice.Active traders in our UK testing team have used Plus500 for real-money trading and praise the dependable platform with zero withdrawal issues. The FCA-regulated firm is also listed on the London Stock Exchange, ensuring high standards of financial transparency.
Markets
Selecting a broker that offers day trading on the financial markets you’re interested in is key, whether that’s stocks, indices, forex, commodities, futures, ETFs or another.
Note cryptocurrency derivatives marketed at retail traders in the UK were banned by the FCA in 2020, a stance they reaffirmed in 2024.
For beginners who may not know all the assets they want to speculate on, considering a broker with wide-ranging market access is sensible.
Importantly, day traders often look for assets with high volatility as significant price movements in the near term provide opportunities to enter and exit profitable trades quickly.
As a result, active traders in the UK may want to speculate on:
- Currency pairs with a GBP component, such as the GBP/USD, EUR/GBP and GBP/JPY. We’ve seen significant volatility in the British Pound in recent years, driven by events like the Brexit referendum, a string of new prime ministers, and the economic impact of COVID-19.
- Stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The UK market is particularly good if you’re interested in the banking sector with major financial institutions such as Lloyds and Barclays frequently dominating the top British stocks by volume.
- The FTSE 100 index, which is composed of the largest, publicly traded companies in the UK. That said, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) features smaller companies that typically exhibit higher levels of volatility, appealing to many day traders.
We log in to the day trading platform of every broker we evaluate, investigating the investment offering and considering its suitability for different types of investing, especially short-term trading.
BlackBull Markets still can’t be beaten with its superior selection of 26,000+ instruments catering to diverse strategies.
Notably, UK traders can take positions on 35+ currency pairs with the GBP, the FTSE 100, UK oil, and thousands of shares.
BlackBull also caters specifically to short-term traders with contracts for difference (CFDs), providing opportunities to speculate on up and down price movements with leverage to amplify results (profits and losses).
Pricing
We’ve found the best day trading brokers ensure investors can carry out a high volume of trades without significant transaction costs cutting into profit margins.
To help beginners understand the main charges they will incur making day trades, we’ve broken down the various costs below.
Example Day Trading Fees
To identify the cheapest brokers for intraday traders we record and assess fees on popular markets, including the GBP/USD, FTSE 100, UK oil, and stocks.
We then balance these against the overall day trading environment because we’ve discovered it can be worth paying more for tools that help with identifying short-term opportunities and fast execution speeds that support locking in optimal prices in volatile markets.
Pepperstone continues to deliver excellent pricing for day traders at every level.
Its Standard account offers spread-only pricing from 1.0 on majors like the EUR/USD, keeping costs straightforward for beginners with no inactivity charges catching out casual traders.
However, it really stands out for serious day traders, with its Razor account offering spreads from 0.0 on the GBP/USD, alongside a £2.25 commission, plus rebates of 25%+, and lightning-fast execution speeds of 30 milliseconds that are ideal for day trading.
Charting
Opening an account with a broker that offers excellent charting tools is vital, as many day traders use technical analysis to find short-term trading opportunities.
Over the years we’ve used every major charting platform, from MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 to the increasingly popular cTrader and TradingView. We’ve also followed the shift towards using apps for day trading with now mobile-optimized charting packages.
FOREX.com WebTrader
What we’ve learned is that all the popular third-party platforms and the vast majority of in-house software deliver in the tooling department, with multiple chart types (e.g. line, bar, candlestick) various short-term intervals (e.g. from 1 minute) and dozens of indicators and drawing tools (e.g. EMA, MACD, RSI), meeting the needs of most active traders.
However, increasingly what separates average charting platforms from the very best, is the user experience. The MetaTrader suite, for instance, sports a dull and frankly outdated design that I really don’t like, especially compared to the dynamic and ultra-sleek TradingView.
Demo accounts, offered by virtually every broker we’ve evaluated, are the best way to test-drive charting platforms before real-money trading.
Alongside industry favourites like MT4, MT5, and TradingView, FOREX.com provide a web-accessible platform with a clean design that we love.You can easily add, amend and clear the workspace, while it’s packed with useful extras, notably Trading Central insights into UK markets like the FTSE with sentiment data, relevant news, technical summaries and analyst insights.
FOREX.com have clearly spent time getting the charting platform right, and it shows. It now delivers for absolute beginners through to advanced day traders seeking a fast and dependable solution.
Funding
Brokers with secure, low-cost and hassle-free deposits mean you can quickly fund your account and place short-term trades.
Debit cards remain the most popular payment method in the UK, according to Statista, and are supported by virtually every day trading platform we’ve used.
However, many brokers also offer PayPal and increasingly digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, facilitating mobile deposits while aligning with the growing trend towards using day trading apps.
Brokers with GBP accounts allow you to make deposits, withdrawals and trades in the British Pound, cutting conversion fees and ensuring a smooth day trading experience for British investors.
As part of our comprehensive review process, we record every payment method available to UK traders, alongside typical processing times, any fees, and the minimum deposit (you’ll normally need to deposit between £0 and £250 to open an account).
Year after year IG impresses with its GBP-trading account that features no minimum deposit (great for beginners) and its choice of fee-free payment methods, including debit cards, PayPal and wire transfers.Our UK experts have also made real-money deposits and withdrawals at IG with no issues while deposits by card and PayPal have typically been available for trading straightaway.
Support
Finding a broker with dependable support is vital, especially for day traders who may encounter issues in fast-moving markets.
We’ve found the best day trading brokers for British investors will offer UK-based support, typically a local phone number with English-speaking representatives.
Most platforms also offer live chat, preferably integrated into the platform or app. That said, we’re finding the rise in automated chatbots incredibly frustrating – we’ve spent countless hours trying to get answers to urgent trading queries only to be met with stock answers and a painful process to get through to a real human.
XTB leads the pack with its superb UK support team, available 24/5 through multiple channels (phone, email, live chat, dedicated account manager).
I’ve spoken to the XTB team countless times over the years and I’m always impressed with their account and product knowledge, plus industry-leading response times of less than 2 minutes during testing.
Methodology
To list the best day trading brokers and platforms in the UK, we took our extensive database of online brokers, confirmed they accept British traders and ranked them by their overarching rating, which considers key factors for short-term traders.
FAQ
Which Is The Best Day Trading Platform In The UK?
We’ve listed the best day trading platforms in the UK following our 2025 tests.
Many of our top-rated platforms cater specifically to day traders in the UK with authorisation from the FCA, accounts based in GBP, and excellent access to British financial markets, from stocks to currencies. Use our rankings to find the right platform for your needs.
Who Regulates Day Trading Brokers In The UK?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the authority responsible for brokers that offer day trading services in the UK. Choosing an FCA-regulated broker will provide the strongest safeguards for active British traders.
That said, day trading remains inherently risky regardless of the platform you choose – most traders lose money. Only risk what you can afford to lose.
How Much Capital Do I Need To Start Day Trading In The UK?
Our analysis of close to 300 UK brokers shows you will normally need up to £250 to open a day trading account.
However, some brokers stand out with no minimum, catering to budget traders. The highest-rated following our tests is XTB, which also offers terrific educational tools for aspiring traders, notably integrated videos in the charting platform.
Article Sources
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Financial Services Register – FCA
2018/19 Investment Scams Report – FCA
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
FTSE 100: Top 20 By Volume – Hargreaves Lansdown
Cryptocurrency Derivatives Ban 2020 – FCA