Best forex brokers in the United Kingdom

• 17 forex brokers with a verified licence serve residents of the United Kingdom: 17 hold a local licence (FCA).
• Top pick by Coinish Score: Saxo (79/100, Editor Rating 4.5/5).
• Lowest advertised EUR/USD all-in cost: 0.5 pips (CMC Markets), across 10 brokers that publish one.
• No minimum deposit: Saxo, IG, XTB and City Index.

Ranked by Coinish Score: half the Editor Rating for the entity that serves residents of the United Kingdom, 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

All 17 forex brokers on this list hold a licence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (Saxo, IG, FxPro, XTB, OANDA and 12 more).

FCA rules limit retail leverage to between 30:1 and 2:1, depending on the market. The 8 that publish the regulator-required loss figure report that 60% (Saxo) to 74% (XTB) of retail CFD accounts lose money; the median is 70%.

Advertised all-in EUR/USD costs on this list run from 0.5 pips (CMC Markets) to 0.7 pips (Pepperstone) across the 10 that publish one.

• Search the company name on the FCA register (register.fca.org.uk).
• Check which company your contract is with. Saxo, for example, onboards residents of the United Kingdom through Saxo Capital Markets UK Ltd (FCA licence 551422), 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 the United Kingdom without it is probably not using its regulated entity.

Yes, with a licensed provider. Providers must be FCA-authorised. FCA rules cap retail leverage (30:1 to 2:1) and require a standardised warning showing the share of retail accounts that lose money.

Sources: fca.org.uk, fca.org.uk

By Coinish Score, Saxo (79/100, Editor Rating 4.5/5), through Saxo Capital Markets UK Ltd (FCA licence 551422). IG (78) and FxPro (74) follow. The score rates the company that would serve you in the United Kingdom, so the same brand can rank differently in another country.

Yes, even on the same currency pair. HMRC treats a financial spread bet as a bet. You don't acquire or dispose of an asset, so there's no chargeable gain, and a winning spread bet is outside Capital Gains Tax. A retail CFD counts as a financial future, so its result falls under the capital gains rules, unless your trading amounts to trading income.

That cuts both ways. A spread-bet loss can't be used as an allowable loss, whereas a closed CFD gives you a net chargeable gain or allowable loss, with commission and interest-type charges included in the sum. HMRC's statement SP03/02 explains when this kind of activity becomes trading income.

Sources: gov.uk (1), gov.uk (2)

If a broker fails, the compensation scheme of the regulator that licenses it applies, not one chosen by where you live. For this list: Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS): £85,000 per person, per firm (investments) for clients of FCA-licensed investment firms (17 on this list). Compensation covers missing client money and assets after a firm's failure, never trading losses.

Source: fscs.org.uk

Capital Gains Tax is due only on overall gains above the tax-free allowance, which is £3,000.

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

Source: gov.uk