Forex.com or Trading212 – which is better for UK traders 2024? Compare Forex.com and Trading212 in this detailed breakdown of their platforms, features and fees.
Founded in 1999, FOREX.com is now part of StoneX, a financial services organization serving over one million customers worldwide. Regulated in the US, UK, EU, Australia and beyond, the broker offers thousands of markets, not just forex, and provides excellent pricing on cutting-edge platforms.
Trading 212 is a European and UK-regulated CFD broker that also offers stock investing and ISAs. It’s best known for its commission-free trading model and beginner-friendly app, which has helped it attract 2.5 million users and £3.5 billion in client assets.
Pros
With over 20 years of experience, excellent regulatory oversight, and multiple accolades including runner-up in our 'Best Forex Broker' awards, FOREX.com boasts a global reputation as a trusted brokerage.
The in-house Web Trader continues to shine as one of the best-designed platforms for aspiring traders with a slick design and over 80 technical indicators for market analysis.
Alongside a choice of leading platforms, FOREX.com offers a superb suite of supplementary tools including Trading Central research, SMART Signals pattern scanner, trading signals, and strategy builders.
FOREX.com offers industry-leading forex pricing starting from 0.0 pips, alongside competitive cashback rebates of up to 15% for serious traders.
There’s a wealth of educational resources including tutorials, webinars, and a stacked YouTube channel to help you get educated in the financial markets.
One of the standout features of Trading 212 is its commission-free trading, meaning you can buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and other financial instruments without incurring traditional brokerage fees
Trading 212 has an intuitive and user-friendly platform that is especially accessible for beginners, with a straightforward layout and a reasonable range of tools for analysis
The platform offers a good suite of instruments, including stocks, indices, ETFs, currencies, commodities, and CFDs. This variety can help you to create a diversified investment portfolio
A sleek mobile app lets you trade on the go. It’s well-designed and offers features similar to the web platform, making it convenient if you prefer mobile trading
Up to 5.1% interest on uninvested cash is available, appealing to hands-off investors
Cons
Despite increasing its range of instruments, FOREX.com's product portfolio is still limited to forex and CFDs, so there are no options to invest in real stocks, real ETFs or real cryptocurrencies.
FOREX.com's MT4 platform offers approximately 600 instruments, significantly fewer than the over 5,500 available on its non-MetaTrader platforms.
Funding options are limited compared to leading alternatives like IC Markets and don’t include many popular e-wallets, notably UnionPay and POLi.
There’s no negative balance protection for US clients, so you may find yourself owing more money than your initial deposit into your account.
Demo accounts are frustratingly time-limited to 90 days, which doesn’t give you enough time to test trading strategies effectively.
Experienced traders who rely on sophisticated technical analysis tools will find Trading 212’s charting features to be somewhat basic, especially compared to alternatives like IG
While Trading 212 offers leveraged trading through CFDs, there are restrictions on leverage for certain instruments. If you want high leverage for your strategies, you will find these limitations constraining
There’s no copy trading, a significant drawback given Trading 212's client base is largely beginners and brokers like eToro offer this feature
There is no support for algorithmic or automated trading, nor third-party apps like MetaTrader 4, which will deter advanced traders. IC Markets ticks these boxes
Awards
Best CFD Broker 2022 - Rankia
Best HNW Service 2022 - Dubai Forex Expo
Best US Broker 2020 - DayTrading.com
Best US Broker 2019 - DayTrading.com
Runner-Up - Best Forex Broker 2019 - DayTrading.com
Running alongside the MT4 and Web Trader platforms, the FOREX.com app offers full trading capabilities on a user-friendly, compact platform. Integrated news and analysis, plus real time trade alerts, are two mobile specific features that set this app above the crowd. Additionally, it beats out MT4 when it comes to mobile charting tools, with over 80 indicators and 11 chart types, not to mention a slicker design that we love.
Trading212 have positioned themselves at the front of the mobile trading movement. Their platform is based on a ‘mobile-first’ model, so they prioritize this type of trader. The app offers 1800+ instruments, zero commissions and a free practise account. Download the app risk free and try it out.
iOS App Rating
3.6
Android App Rating
3.8
Margin Trading
Yes
Yes
MetaTrader 4
Yes
No
MetaTrader 5
Yes
No
cTrader
No
No
AlgoTrader
No
No
OmniTrader
No
No
TradingView
Yes
No
Autochartist
Yes
No
eSignal
Yes
No
Trading Central
Yes
No
STP Account
Yes
Yes
ECN Account
Yes
No
DMA Account
Yes
No
MAM Account
No
No
PAMM Account
No
No
LAMM Account
No
No
Demat Account
No
No
AI / Machine Learning
Yes
No
Robo Advisor
No
No
Negative Balance Protection
Yes
Yes
Market Maker
No
Yes
P2P Trading
No
No
Spot Trading
Yes
No
Auto Trading
Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader
AutoInvest Portfolio
Copy Trading
No
No
Social Trading
No
Yes
Trade Signals
SMART Signals
VPS Hosting
Yes
No
Tournaments
No
No
Demo Competitions
No
No
Ethical Investing
No
Yes
Custodial Account
No
No
Guaranteed Stop Loss
No
No
Inactivity Fee
$15
Islamic Account
Yes
No
Account Currencies
USD
EUR
GBP
CAD
AUD
JPY
CHF
PLN
USD
EUR
GBP
CAD
SEK
NOK
DKK
CHF
PLN
CZK
HUF
Commodities
Gold
Oil
Silver
Cotton
Livestock
Soybeans
Coffee
Natural Gas
Sugar
Wheat
Orange Juice
Gold
Silver
Gasoline
Oil
Copper
Palladium
Coffee
Cotton
Platinum
Corn
Sugar
Cocoa
Livestock
Wheat
Soybeans
Natural Gas
Lead
CFD
With the ability to take both long and short positions on 5,500+ CFDs across forex, stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies, FOREX.com excels. Its exclusive Web Trader platform offers an excellent trading experience, equipped with over 80 technical indicators and average execution speeds of just 20 milliseconds, ensuring an optimal environment for serious traders.
Engage in leveraged CFD trading across a wide array of instruments, encompassing forex, stocks, commodities, and indices. Yet while the selection of asset classes is satisfactory, the charting software and floating spreads for short-term traders fall behind that of competitors.
Leverage
1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)
1:30
FTSE Spread
1.0
2.5
GBPUSD Spread<
1.3
0.00028
Oil Spread
2.5
0.4
Stocks Spread
0.14
0.2% Var
Forex
FOREX.com continues to uphold its stature as a premier FX broker, offering over 80 currency pairs and boasting some of the most competitive fees in the industry. With EUR/USD spreads dipping as low as 0.0 and $5 commission per $100k, it stands out. Moreover, its SMART Signals help to identify price behaviors across numerous major currency markets.
Trade over 180 major, minor, and exotic forex pairs on the Trading 212 platform, featuring floating spreads and leverage up to 1:30. It’s important to note, though, that the forex broker has a history of adjusting margin requirements without providing adequate notice. As a result, CMC Markets is a better pick for forex traders with more currency pairs and a cleaner record.
