Between 54-87% of retail CFD accounts lose money. Based on 69 brokers who display this data.
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BrokerDNA™
The BROKERDNA™ score tells you, overall, how reputable, suitable, and affordable a broker is compared to other brokers. This score is algorithmically-generated based on 31 factors. Neither our team, nor the brokers featured on our site, are able to change this without changing their service offering. Learn more here. |
CMS Forex
0
/10
VISIT CMS FOREX
The BROKERDNA™ score tells you, overall, how reputable, suitable, and affordable a broker is compared to other brokers. This score is algorithmically-generated based on 31 factors. Neither our team, nor the brokers featured on our site, are able to change this without changing their service offering. Learn more here. |
XTB
10
/10
VISIT XTB
The BROKERDNA™ score tells you, overall, how reputable, suitable, and affordable a broker is compared to other brokers. This score is algorithmically-generated based on 31 factors. Neither our team, nor the brokers featured on our site, are able to change this without changing their service offering. Learn more here. |
AvaTrade
9.7
/10
VISIT AVATRADE
The BROKERDNA™ score tells you, overall, how reputable, suitable, and affordable a broker is compared to other brokers. This score is algorithmically-generated based on 31 factors. Neither our team, nor the brokers featured on our site, are able to change this without changing their service offering. Learn more here. |
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About |
CMS Forex website is not operational. |
XTB is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. XTB have provided Forex, CFD, and social trading services since 2002. |
AvaTrade is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC (Australia), FSA (Japan), FSB (South Africa) and BVI. AvaTrade have provided Forex trading services since 2006. |
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Why choose them? |
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Headquarters | Level 34, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, E14 5AA, London, UK | Dublin, Ireland | ||
TRADING SERVICES OFFERED |
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Spot Forex | ||||
Forex (CFD) | ||||
CFD | ||||
Spread Betting | ||||
Social Trading | ||||
MARKETS & INSTRUMENTS | ||||
Forex (currency pairs) | 48 | 59 | ||
Commodities Offered | 21 | 16 | ||
Stocks Offered | 1606 | 99 | ||
Bitcoin | ||||
Majors | ||||
Indices | ||||
US Stocks | ||||
Penny stocks | ||||
Energies | ||||
Metals | ||||
Agriculturals | ||||
FTSE | ||||
Dow Jones | ||||
Dax | ||||
Nikkei | ||||
ETFs | ||||
IPO | ||||
See all instruments
Losses can exceed deposits |
See all instruments
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
See all instruments
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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PLATFORM & FEATURES |
See the platforms and features offered by each broker |
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Screenshot |
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MT4 | ||||
MT5 | ||||
MT4 Mac | ||||
WebTrader | ||||
Mirror Trader | ||||
ZuluTrade | ||||
Sirix | ||||
cTrader | ||||
PAMM | ||||
Custom Platforms | VT Trader | Xstation5 | AvaTradeAct, AVAOptions | |
APPS |
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iOS |
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Android |
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Windows |
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Available Languages |
English, Spanish, Czech, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Turkish, Arabic, and Russian. |
English, Italian, German, French, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Malay, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch |
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See platform & features
Losses can exceed deposits |
See platform & features
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
See platform & features
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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ACCOUNT INFORMATION |
From micro accounts to ECN accounts, compare the accounts offered by CMS Forex and XTB |
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Demo account | ||||
Mini account | ||||
Micro account | ||||
Standard account | ||||
ECN Account | ||||
Islamic account | ||||
Zero spread account | ||||
VIP account | ||||
Fixed spreads | ||||
Variable spreads | ||||
See account options
Losses can exceed deposits |
See account options
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
See account options
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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TRADING CONDITIONS |
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Scalping | ||||
Hedging | ||||
Expert advisors (EAs) | ||||
Virtual private server | ||||
Direct market access | ||||
STP broker | ||||
Market maker | ||||
Min trade | Varies | 0.01 Lot | 0.01 Lot | |
Max trade | Varies | 100 Lot | None | |
Min deposit | $1 | $1 | $100 | |
RISK MANAGEMENT |
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Stop losses | ||||
Limit orders | ||||
One-click trading | ||||
Trailing stops | ||||
Price alerts | ||||
Signal trading | ||||
FUNDING METHODS |
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Credit card | ||||
Bank transfer | ||||
Standard account | ||||
Paypal | ||||
Neteller | ||||
Skrill | ||||
Payment processing time | Varies | Same day if requested before 1PM | Varies | |
Withdrawal processing time | Varies | Same day if requested before 1PM | Varies | |
See all funding options
Losses can exceed deposits |
See all funding options
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
See all funding options
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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DETAILED INFO |
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Excluded countries | US,IN,PK,BD,IQ,IR,IL,AF,AU,CA | US,IN,PK,BD,IQ,IR,IL,AF,AU,CA | BE,BR,NZ,US,KE,IN,GH | |
Contact email | Send Email | Send Email | Send Email | |
Phone number | No | 44 2036953085 | (44) (0) 8005200423 | |
Live Chat | ||||
Website | cmsforex.com | www.xtb.com | http://www.avatrade.com/ | |
Spreads: | ||||
EUR/USD (Average: 0.7 pips) | Not offered | 0.1 pips | 0.9 pips | |
GBP/USD (Average: 1.1 pips) | Not offered | 0.1 pips | 1.6 pips | |
USD/JPY (Average: 1.1 pips) | Not offered | 0.1 pips | 1.1 pips | |
AUD/USD (Average: 0.8 pips) | Not offered | 0.2 pips | 1.1 pips | |
USD/CHF (Average: 2.3 pips) | Not offered | 0.2 pips | 1.6 pips | |
USD/CAD (Average: 2.9 pips) | Not offered | 0.3 pips | 2.0 pips | |
NZD/USD (Average: 3.6 pips) | Not offered | 0.3 pips | 1.8 pips | |
EUR/GBP (Average: 2.4 pips) | Not offered | 0.1 pips | 1.5 pips | |
View all spreads
Losses can exceed deposits |
View all spreads
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
View all spreads
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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FEES |
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Inactivity Fee | No | No | ||
Commission | Yes | No | ||
Deposit Fee | Varies | No | No | |
Withdrawal Fee | No | No | No | |
View All Fees
Losses can exceed deposits |
View All Fees
82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
View All Fees
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. |
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Last update |
All information collected from cmsforex.com. Last updated on 01/01/2021. |
All information collected from www.xtb.com. Last updated on 01/01/2021. |
All information collected from http://www.avatrade.com/. Last updated on 01/01/2021. |
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Company |
CMS Forex website is not operational. |
XTB provides hyper fast execution and facilitates seminars with external professional traders, providing personalised education depending on your individual circumstances. |
Since 2006, Avatrade have attracted over 20,000 traders to their platform. While their spreads are not the most competitive, they do offer traders a range of great features, such as guaranteed stop losses, the ability to hedge / scalp, and low margins. |
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Popular comparisons |
Popular comparisons feat. CMS Forex
ETX Capital vs CMS Forex |
Popular comparisons feat. XTB
XTB vs IG |
Popular comparisons feat. AvaTrade
Avatrade vs LCG |
If you’re a trader looking for a broker that offers ECN execution (as opposed to a market maker), CMS Forex is likely the better choice. However, if you want a broker that offers MetaTrader4 as a trading platform, XTB may be more suitable.
You can determine a broker’s reliability & trustworthiness by looking at eight factors:
Based on these eight factors, we consider XTB to be the more reliable broker. We’ve broken down why below:
CMS Forex is regulated by Closed, while XTB is regulated by Financial Conduct Authority.
AvaTrade are regulated by Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC, IIROC, FSA, FSB, UAE and BVI
If a broker has been around for a long period of time, they’re likely to be more reliable (in comparison, most scam brokers only exist for several years before they disappear).
This also suggests that a broker has good risk management processes that have prevented them being caught out by major financial events, as was the case with Alpari UK going bust when they were there was a policy reversal of capping the Swiss Franc against the Euro.
CMS Forex has been around for 22 years, while XTB have been around for 19 years. Our third alternative broker, AvaTrade, have been around for 15 years.
You wouldn’t want your broker paying their staff out of the same bank account account that you’re depositing your trading funds into, would you?
Fortunately, all regulated brokers must use segregated bank accounts to hold client money. This is one of the reasons why we only feature regulated brokers here on BrokerNotes.
All three brokers above will hold your money in a separate bank account.
Most tier-1 banks like Barclays and HSBC have been around for over 100 years and manage trillions of dollars of assets, proving that they have stood the test of time.
CMS Forex does not use tier one banks as their banking partner. XTB uses tier one banks as their banking partner.
If a broker has been penalised by a regulator in the past five years, it may mean that they were caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing - which may be of concern to you as an end client.
While not always the case, the number of traders a broker has can be a good metric for understanding how reputable a brokers is.
XTB is more popular with over 230,000 traders.
Companies that are publicly listed on a stock exchange tend to be considered more reputable as they will be required to disclose their financials, and aspects of their operations, to the public.
Both CMS Forex and XTB are privately owned companies.
Most reputable brokers tend to be headquartered in a major capital city or a financial hub such as Cyprus.
CMS Forex are based in , while XTB are based in Level 34, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, E14 5AA, London, UK .
Assuming the brokers you’re choosing between are reputable, the next point to consider is whether they offer all of the features you require to trade.
This can be broken down into three categories:
If you’re looking to trade currency pairs, XTB have a slightly larger variety of currency pairs with 48 pairs, compared to offered by CMS Forex. Also, if you’re looking to trade cryptocurrencies, XTB offers a handful of cryptocurrency CFDs to trade, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.
If you’re looking to trade commodities like gold, silver or oil, CMS Forex may be a better fit as XTB does not offer commodity trading.
In addition to the platform, you’ll also want to ensure that the broker you choose offers the account type best suited to your needs. XTB, for example, offer a mini account, standard account and VIP account.
If you have a certain trading style (e.g. scalping, hedging, or using EAs), you’ll want to double check that the broker you choose allows this, as not all of them do.
CMS Forex does allow scalping but doesn't allow hedging. While XTB also allows scalping and hedging. You can't trade with EAs (expert advisors) on CMS Forex but you can trade EAs (expert advisors) with XTB.
In terms of risk management tools, CMS Forex doesn't offer negative balance protection, but XTB does. Negative balance protection prevents you owing your broker more than you’ve deposited.
XTB accept Paypal.
Comparing the fee structures of different brokers can be a minefield at times. The important thing to consider is what the spreads & fees are on the specific instruments and account type that you will be using.
For trading EUR/USD, CMS Forex charges points, while XTB charges 0.20 points. Therefore, CMS Forex is the more affordable for this instrument. If you want to compare their spreads across more instruments, You can jump back up to our comparison of their currency pair & indice spreads above.
Another consideration is whether or not your broker charges inactivity, deposit/withdrawal fees, or commissions on trades. If you’re a frequent trader, inactivity fees are unlikely to be an issue.
There’s no such thing as a perfect broker, but some are going to be a better fit for you than others.
Objectively, XTB is more reliable based on our criteria above. XTB has a wider range of instruments to trade. XTB offer lower spreads on popular forex instruments like EUR/USD and are used by more traders.
Most brokers offer demo accounts, allowing you to test their platforms to see which is suitable for you. You can test drive their demos using the links below:
Finally, if you’re really not sure you can always use our free tool (takes 15 seconds) that will help you find a suitable broker based on your precise requirements here.