Best forex brokers in Austria

• 28 forex brokers with a verified licence serve residents of Austria: 28 serve under an EU passport.
• Top pick by Coinish Score: IG (78/100, Editor Rating 4.2/5).
• Lowest advertised EUR/USD all-in cost: 0.1 pips (Deriv), across 16 brokers that publish one.
• No minimum deposit: Deriv.

Ranked by Coinish Score: half the Editor Rating for the entity that serves residents of Austria, half Market Signal. Brokers without enough verified data for a rating are placed by Market Signal and labelled; brokers with neither are listed last. How we rate

Of the 28 forex brokers on this list, 21 serve Austria from a CySEC licence in Cyprus (FxPro, FOREX.com, Capital.com and 18 more), 2 serve Austria from a BaFin licence in Germany (IG and CMC Markets), 2 serve Austria from a CBI licence in Ireland (Interactive Brokers and AvaTrade) and 1 serves Austria from a Bank of Latvia licence (Dukascopy); 2 more are licensed by MFSA and CMVM.

ESMA's product intervention measures cap retail CFD leverage at 30:1 on major currency pairs, down to 2:1 on cryptocurrencies. In Austria, FMA (Austria) applies them through its own product-intervention rules. The 4 that publish the regulator-required loss figure report that 55% (Swissquote) to 75% (XM) of retail CFD accounts lose money; the median is 73%.

Advertised all-in EUR/USD costs on this list run from 0.1 pips (Deriv) to 1.5 pips (Orbex) across the 16 that publish one.

• Search the company name on the FMA (Austria) register (fma.gv.at); for a firm licensed elsewhere, on its home regulator's register too (CySEC, BaFin and CBI for most of this list).
• Check which company your contract is with. IG, for example, onboards residents of Austria through IG Europe GmbH (BaFin licence 148759), and the name on the account-opening documents should match the list.
• Look for the percentage-of-accounts-that-lose-money warning on the broker's site. A firm marketing CFDs to residents of Austria without it is probably not using its regulated entity.

Yes, with a licensed provider. Brokers need MiFID II authorisation from an EEA regulator; firms authorised elsewhere in the EEA may serve residents under the European passport. Retail forex is offered as CFDs, which the FMA restricts under its product-intervention regulation (FMA-PIV).

Sources: fma.gv.at, bafin.de

By Coinish Score, IG (78/100, Editor Rating 4.2/5), through IG Europe GmbH (BaFin licence 148759). FxPro (72) and CMC Markets (70) follow. The score rates the company that would serve you in Austria, so the same brand can rank differently in another country.

They do, as long as the broker sells to Austrian clients. Since 30 May 2019 the FMA's product intervention regulation (FMA-PIV) has applied to CFDs marketed, distributed or sold in or from Austria. That covers foreign brokers with Austrian customers as well as Austrian firms selling abroad.

None of the 28 brokers here is licensed in Austria, and none withholds Austrian KESt, so you report your forex gains in your own return.

Sources: fma.gv.at, bmf.gv.at

Yes. A firm authorised under MiFID II in one EEA country can serve residents of the others once its home regulator has notified them. All 28 on this list reach Austria that way, most from Cyprus (21), Germany (2) and Ireland (2).

The home regulator supervises the firm and its compensation scheme applies, while FMA (Austria) can still set conduct rules for clients in Austria.

Source: bafin.de

If a broker fails, the compensation scheme of the regulator that licenses it applies, not one chosen by where you live. For this list: Investor Compensation Fund (Cyprus): 90% of covered claims, up to €20,000 for clients of CySEC-licensed investment firms (21 on this list); Entschädigungseinrichtung der Wertpapierhandelsunternehmen (EdW): 90% of the claim, up to €20,000 per investor for clients of BaFin-licensed investment firms (2 on this list); Investor Compensation Company (ICCL): 90% of the loss, up to €20,000 per investor for clients of CBI-licensed investment firms (2 on this list); Latvian investor protection (Latvijas Banka): up to €20,000 per investor for clients of Bank of Latvia-licensed investment firms (1 on this list). Compensation covers missing client money and assets after a firm's failure, never trading losses.

Sources: cysec.gov.cy, e-d-w.de, investorcompensation.ie, bank.lv

Investment income, including trading gains, is taxed at a special flat rate of 27.5%. Income paid through a foreign broker has no Austrian KESt taken off, so it goes in your tax return on form E 1kv. Losses only offset gains in the same year, because Austria doesn't let you carry them forward.

Coinish isn't a tax adviser: check your own situation with the tax authority or an accountant.

Sources: bmf.gv.at, formulare.bmf.gv.at