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Best Crypto Brokers of 2024

BrokerNotes.co

Written by BrokerNotes.co

March 14, 2024

What are Cryptocurrencies

The word "Cryptocurrency" is thrown around a lot these days, but what is it really? Some say it's the greatest technological breakthrough of our time, while some say it's the biggest scam of our time. But few people can actually explain what it is. In this article, we help shed light on the topic of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that use cryptography to secure and verify transactions so that they work as a medium of exchange. Cryptography is also used to control the number of units and prevent changes to the Cryptocurrency's code unless certain conditions are fulfilled.

As well, cryptocurrencies have three characteristics that they all share in common.

They are trustless. Meaning no third party is involved by replacing trust verification with a peer to peer network. Individuals can directly send cryptocurrencies to one another without permission or control from corporate institutions or governments.

They are immutable. Cryptocurrency transactions cannot be undone, reversed, double spent, or altered. Therefore, Cryptocurrencies are far more transparent and effective than traditional fiat currencies.

They are decentralized. A Cryptocurrency is controlled via its distributed ledger technology, known as the blockchain. The creation of new units is coded into the system and no one entity controls it.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Best Cryptocurrency Forex Brokers

Here are the best forex brokers for trading cryptocurrency.

  • Interactive Brokers - 9.9/10 Overall
  • eToro - 8.8/10 Overall
  • Swissquote - 8.8/10 Overall
  • OANDA - 8.5/10 Overall
  • MultiBank - 7.5/10 Overall
Interactive Brokers
9.9/10 Overall
Minimum Deposit$0
Tier-1 Licenses9
Tradeable Symbols (Total)8500

Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted broker regulated across the globe that delivers access to over 100 markets, including forex and CFDs. Its Trader Workstation (TWS) platform offers a variety of advanced trading tools for experienced traders, and IBKR's web-based platform is great for beginner forex traders.

Apple iOS AppYes
Android AppNo
Proprietary PlatformYes
Desktop Platform (Windows)Yes
Web PlatformYes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)No
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)No
eToro
8.8/10 Overall
Minimum Deposit$10-$10,000
Tier-1 Licenses3
Tradeable Symbols (Total)3479

Best known for its copy trading platform suite, eToro is a highly trusted broker offering a large selection of cryptocurrency products, CFDs, shares, forex pairs, and a wide range of powerful trading tools. It’s worth noting that eToro is not a discount broker (though it offers zero-dollar commissions for U.S. stocks).

Apple iOS AppYes
Android AppNo
Proprietary PlatformYes
Desktop Platform (Windows)No
Web PlatformYes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)No
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)No
Swissquote
8.8/10 Overall
Minimum Deposit$1000
Tier-1 Licenses5
Tradeable Symbols (Total)472

Swissquote delivers a balanced offering of easy-to-use proprietary trading platforms and popular third-party platforms like MetaTrader and TradingView. Swissquote also offers a staggering 3 million financial products. It’s worth noting that Swissquote's pricing is more expensive than what you'd find with low-cost forex brokers.

Apple iOS AppYes
Android AppNo
Proprietary PlatformYes
Desktop Platform (Windows)Yes
Web PlatformYes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)Yes
OANDA
8.5/10 Overall
Minimum Deposit$0
Tier-1 Licenses7
Tradeable Symbols (Total)1744 info

OANDA is a highly trusted broker that delivers strong market research and support for a range of third-party plug-ins and platforms (like MetaTrader 4 and the wildly popular TradingView). OANDA’s Trade desktop platform is good, not great, but the mobile version is easy to use and boasts a great balance of features.

Apple iOS AppYes
Android AppNo
Proprietary PlatformYes
Desktop Platform (Windows)Yes
Web PlatformYes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)Yes info
MultiBank
7.5/10 Overall
Minimum Deposit$50
Tier-1 Licenses3
Tradeable Symbols (Total)1042

Apple iOS AppYes
Android AppNo
Proprietary PlatformNo
Desktop Platform (Windows)Yes
Web PlatformYes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5)Yes

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is the underlying technology of Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies.

In its essence, it is a growing list of recorded data, called blocks, which are linked together using cryptography. All of the recorded data is referred to as a "ledger", and every time there is a data exchange, a "transaction", a new block is added to the ledger or "blockchain".

Therefore, the blockchain or ledger can have information added onto it, but it is always added on in the form of a new block. Previous blocks in the blockchain can never be changed, edited, or adjusted.

Another important aspect of blockchain is that they are consensus driven. Meaning a large number of computers in a distributed system are needed to verify each transaction. This is also known as a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

What is Mining?

Cryptocurrency mining is a process in which miners use powerful computers and hard drives to solve complicated mathematical problems. These mathematical problems have cryptographic hash functions which are associated with a block containing transactional data. While solving these problems, the miner is competing against other cryptocurrency miners and the first one to solve the mathematical problem is rewarded with small amounts of cryptocurrency.

The reward is too incentivise miners to continue mining and thus securing the network. The mining award comes from the transaction fees users pay as well as newly released crypto.

What is a Cryptocurrency Wallet?

A cryptocurrency wallet is a digital wallet used to store, send, and receive cryptocurrency. A big misconception of crypto wallets is that the cryptocurrency is stored within the wallet's software or hardware. However, this is not the case. Crypto wallets simply store a cryptocurrency's public and private keys, while the crypto itself remains on the blockchain. So essentially, a crypto wallet stores the information in which gives you access to your crypto assets.

There are 3 different types of cryptocurrency wallets you can use.

  • The most secure being a hardware wallet such as a Ledger Nano S, Keepkey, or Trezor (all data is kept safely offline)
  • Another secure wallet but quite inconvenient is a paper wallet.
  • A wallet more focused on convenience is a software wallet that sits on your desktop computer's hard drive or in your smartphone, examples are Jaxx, Exodus, and Electrum. (These are also known as hot wallets where your cryptos are not kept in cold storage eg. are kept online.)

What is an ICO?

An ICO (initial coin offering) is a method of fundraising that new Cryptocurrency projects use to build start-up capital. They work by selling their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for Bitcoin or Ethereum. Investors buy these crypto tokens during the projects ICO if they think the project will succeed.

An ICO is similar to an IPO (initial public offering) in which investors purchase shares of a company when they go public. Both ICOs and IPOs allow investors to get in at an early stage and make a profit if the company succeeds.

The biggest difference between an ICO and an IPO is that anyone from anywhere in the world can participate in an ICO. This has led to anexplosion of ICOs with over $6 billion being raised in 2017 and over $7 billion so far in 2018.

What is a Token?

The term "token" has taken on a few different meanings in the cryptocurrency space. Tokens are a kind of cryptocurrency that represent an asset or a utility. While cryptocurrencies are primarily used as a means of exchange like a currency, crypto tokens actually represent a specific asset or are actually meant to be used for something.

The topic of crypto tokens is a deep one, but we will give some examples here.

  • A crypto token can be used as customer loyalty points in which they can be redeemed to receive a discount on a product, or even used to pay for the product.
  • A crypto token can be used to represent something. For instance, a token could be used to represent 5 bitcoins per token.
  • A crypto token might be used in order to watch a video on a tokenised video streaming service.

The examples go on and on and they are always up for debate as the concept of crypto tokens is still very new.

What is a Smart Contract?

A smart contract is a self executing contract that's built using a computer protocol running on top of a blockchain. The contract itself is built into the code along with the terms of the agreement between two parties. The smart contract code can facilitate, verify, and enforce the terms of an agreement or transaction. Essentially, smart contracts are the simplest form of decentralised automation.

The idea behind smart contracts is to provide a superior contract to traditional contract law by increasing security and lowering expenses involved in a contract. Smart contracts can facilitate trusted transactions and agreements between dishonest and anonymous parties without the need for external enforcement such as legal systems, central authorities, etc.

What is a Cryptocurrency Exchange?

A cryptocurrency exchange is a business that allows customers to buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies. Some exchanges only allow crypto to crypto trading while others allow crypto to fiat and vise versa.

The largest and most popular crypto exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume is the Binance exchange. Binance only facilitates crypto to crypto trading with no support for fiat currencies. Traders on Binance can trade various cryptos against bitcoin, ethereum, Binance Coin (BNB), or Tether (USDT).

Another popular exchange is Coinbase. Coinbase differs from Binance because they accept the on and off boarding of fiat currencies. Currently, users can trade Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), 0x (ZRX) and Basic Attention Token (BAT). Coinbase has plans to add hundreds if not thousands more cryptocurrencies in the near future. The fiat currencies accepted at Coinbase include USD, EUR, and GBP.

A cryptocurrency exchange that differs from the ones already mentioned is LocalBitcoins. This exchange facilities over-the-counter trading of local currency for Bitcoin. Users post their Bitcoin for sale on the website along with their exchange rate and payment methods.

The Volatility of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is the most volatile asset class of our time. It's not uncommon to see price swings 50%+ in any direction within a given day. The volatility is largely due to the highly speculative market of cryptocurrencies. As well, cryptocurrencies do not follow any regulatory oversight, have thin order books, lack institutional capital, and currently have no intrinsic value.

To give an example of the volatility apparent in cryptos, look at the graph below of the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

As you can see in the price chart above, the price of Bitcoin went from $6300 in November to $20,000 in December. That's a price rise of over 68% in the span of a month, and at the of this writing, roughly 10 months from its high, the price is back to where it was a year ago.

Image source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitconnect/

An example of a crypto that went to zero and is no longer available is Bitconnect.

As you can see in the chart above, when people finally realized Bitconnect was a Ponzi scheme, it dropped from a price of over $400 to 0 in a matter of days. Therefore, it is important to understand the project you buy into as there are many scams in crypto with false promises.

What are the Top Cryptocurrencies for Traders

The top cryptocurrencies for traders are generally the ones with the highest market cap. For example, several brokers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK like City Index, IG, eToro, and XTB all offer the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and Lite coin for traders.

All five of these coins are in the top 10 cryptocurrencies based on market cap according to CoinMarketCap as of the 16th of November:

1. Bitcoin (BTC) is by far the most popular cryptocurrency for traders as it has the largest market cap, was the first successful cryptocurrency, is available on nearly every exchange, and has the most liquidity.

2. Ripple (XRP), known for its relationship with the banking industry and speculation for potential.

3. Ethereum (ETH). A popular cryptocurrency that is widely available across exchanges, and it is also highly speculative.

4. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Cash was created to all an increase the block size to 32MB from the original bitcoin in an attempt to improve the usability of the cryptocurrency.

5. Litecoin (LTC), is a cryptocurrency that provides instant and low-cost payments globally.

Differences Between Trading Cryptocurrencies as a CFD and Through an Exchange

When trading cryptocurrencies on an exchange, the trader is actually buying and selling the crypto asset. When a trader places a buy order and it's fulfilled, they actually gain possession of the crypto asset and can send it to their personal wallet, spend it, transact it, etc.

When trading cryptocurrencies by using contracts for difference (CFDs), the trader is simply speculating on the price movements. They do not actually buy or sell the crypto asset itself, but rather a contract on the price of the crypto asset.

For example, when XTB review, a CFD broker, buying 1 bitcoin would require the nominal value of 1 lot with 1:2 (50%) leverage. Essentially, the trader only has to put down a fraction of what 1 bitcoin costs in order to speculate on its price.

While buying 1 bitcoin on a cryptocurrency exchange, they would require the full price amount of 1 bitcoin, say $6500. Upon buying this bitcoin, it will be transferred to the trader's exchange wallet. The trader can then choose to trade it again or send it to their own personal wallet.

Also, if the price of Bitcoin went up 10% when trading a Bitcoin CFD on leverage, the trader would receive a larger profit on their money than a trader who actually bought the Bitcoin on an exchange. However, the same is true if the price of Bitcoin drops 10%, the CFD trader can lose more money than the exchange trader because they are using leverage to trade.

BrokerNotes.co 2023 Overall Rankings

To recap, here are our top forex brokers for 2023, sorted by Overall ranking.

Company Overall Rating Minimum Deposit Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard Trust Score Tradeable Symbols (Total) Read Review Visit Site
eToro logoeToro 8.8 $10-$10,000 1 info 90 3479 eToro Review
Swissquote logoSwissquote 8.8 $1000 N/A info 99 472 Swissquote Review
Capital.com logoCapital.com 8.7 $20 info 0.67 info 87 3007 Capital.com Review
Interactive Brokers logoInteractive Brokers 9.9 $0 0.63 info 99 8500 Interactive Brokers Review
Eightcap logoEightcap 7.5 $100 1.0 info 85 736 Eightcap Review
XTB logoXTB 9.1 $0 1.07 info 96 6010 XTB Group Review
Saxo logoSaxo 9.7 $0 1.1 info 99 70000 Saxo Review
IG logoIG 9.9 £250.00 0.98 info 99 19537 IG Review Visit Site
CMC Markets logoCMC Markets 9.6 $0 0.61 info 99 12074 CMC Markets Review
FOREX.com logoFOREX.com 9.4 $100 1.4 info 99 5500 FOREX.com Review Visit Site
TD Ameritrade logoTD Ameritrade 9.3 $0 1.25 info 99 0 TD Ameritrade Review
City Index logoCity Index 9.3 £100.00 1.4 info 99 13500 City Index Review
AvaTrade logoAvaTrade 8.7 $100 0.92 info 94 1260 AvaTrade Review
Plus500 logoPlus500 8.6 €100 0.8 (August 2021) info 99 5500 info Plus500 Review
OANDA logoOANDA 8.5 $0 1.57 info 93 1744 info OANDA Review
FXCM logoFXCM 8.5 Starts from $50 0.74 info 95 440 FXCM Review
Admirals logoAdmirals 8.5 $100 0.8 info 93 8702 Admiral Markets Review
Pepperstone logoPepperstone 8.4 $200 0.77 info 95 2342 Pepperstone Review
XM Group logoXM Group 8.4 $5 1.6 info 88 1429 XM Group Review
FP Markets logoFP Markets 8.3 $100 AUD 1.1 info 87 10000 FP Markets Review
FxPro logoFxPro 8.1 $100 1.51 info 90 2249 FxPro Review
IC Markets logoIC Markets 8.1 $200 0.62 info 84 3583 IC Markets Review
Markets.com logoMarkets.com 8.1 $100 1.9 info 96 2179 Markets.com Review
Tickmill logoTickmill 8.1 $100 0.51 info 83 725 Tickmill Review
Fineco Bank logoFineco Bank 8.0 $0 N/A info 94 9770 Fineco Bank Review
BlackBull Markets logoBlackBull Markets 8.0 $0 0.827 info 77 26000 BlackBull Markets Review
Vantage logoVantage 8.0 $50 1.30 info 90 1000 Vantage Review
HYCM (Henyep Capital Markets) logoHYCM (Henyep Capital Markets) 7.9 $20 0.6 info 88 1199 HYCM Review
HFM logoHFM 7.9 $0 1.2 info 86 3500 HFM Review
ThinkMarkets logoThinkMarkets 7.8 $0 info 1.1 info 92 4000 ThinkMarkets Review
FlowBank logoFlowBank 7.7 $0 N/A info 80 408600 FlowBank Review
DooPrime logoDooPrime 7.8 $100 N/A info 83 10000 DooPrime Review
Trading 212 logoTrading 212 7.7 €10 1.9 info 79 8025 Trading 212 Review
BDSwiss logoBDSwiss 7.7 $10-$5000 info 1.6 info 76 1081 BDSwiss Review
Trade Nation logoTrade Nation 7.6 $0 0.6 85 601 Trade Nation Review
TMGM logoTMGM 7.6 $100 N/A info 83 12000 TMGM Review
Moneta Markets logoMoneta Markets 7.5 $50 1.27 info 72 1016 Moneta Markets Review
MultiBank logoMultiBank 7.5 $50 N/A 84 1042
ACY Securities logoACY Securities 7.4 $50 1.2 info 75 2200 ACY Securities Review
RoboForex (RoboMarkets) logoRoboForex (RoboMarkets) 7.3 $100 1.4 info 71 12000 Roboforex (RoboMarkets) Review
VT Markets logoVT Markets 7.3 $100 1.2 info 70 1000 VT Markets Review
easyMarkets logoeasyMarkets 7.3 $50 0.9 info 80 199 easyMarkets Review
IronFX logoIronFX 7.2 $50 1.2 83 340 IronFX Review
Spreadex logoSpreadex 7.2 $0 0.81 info 71 10000 Spreadex Review
IFC Markets logoIFC Markets 7.2 $1 1.44 info 67 630 ATFX Review
Trade360 logoTrade360 7.2 $250 N/A info 76 1062 Trade360 Review
Octa logoOcta 7.2 $25 0.9 info 70 230 OctaFX Review
Axi logoAxi 7.1 $0 N/A info 81 175 Axitrader Review
TeleTrade logoTeleTrade 7.1 $100 N/A 71 500 Teletrade Review
GKFX logoGKFX 7.0 $0 N/A info 65 354 GKFX Review
Exness logoExness 7.0 $1 0.9 info 71 112 Exness Review
Vestle logoVestle 7.0 -1 N/A 78 750 Vestle Review
FXOpen logoFXOpen 7 $100 N/A info 80 87 FXOpen Review
FXPrimus logoFXPrimus 7.0 $100 N/A info 71 140 FXPrimus Review Visit Site
Forex4you logoForex4you 6.9 $0 N/A info 61 150 Forex4you Review
GBE brokers logoGBE brokers 6.8 $500 N/A info 71 500 GBE Brokers Review
Alpari logoAlpari 6.8 $20 N/A info 68 105 Alpari Review
TopFX logoTopFX 6.7 Depends on payment method N/A info 67 655 TopFX Review
Libertex (Forex Club) logoLibertex (Forex Club) 6.7 $10 N/A info 73 300 Libertex Review
LegacyFX logoLegacyFX 6.7 $500 N/A 67 425 LegacyFX Review
FXGT.com logoFXGT.com 6.6 $5 N/A 69 117 FXGT Review
ATFX logoATFX 6.5 $500 N/A info 73 150 ATFX Review
Xtrade logoXtrade 6.5 $250 N/A info 80 142 Xtrade Review

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At BrokerNotes.co, our data-driven online broker reviews are based on our own extensive testing of each broker's products and services as well as the qualified observations of our expert editorial team. In conjunction with our sister site, ForexBrokers.com, we’ve published well over 100,000 words of research and collected thousands of data points across hundreds of variables. Our online trading guides are created with the same rigorous, data-driven approach.

The online brokers on our site provide the ability to trade forex in one or more ways, such as non-deliverable spot forex (i.e., rolling spot contracts), contracts for difference (CFD), or other derivatives such as futures. The availability of specific markets or features will depend on your country of residence and the broker's applicable brand or entity that services your account(s). Our proprietary Trust Score rating system tracks data from over 100 regulatory jurisdictions to help forex traders understand the regulatory status of their forex broker and choose a broker that they can trust.

Our editorial team is led by Steven Hatzakis, an industry veteran with decades of experience and a deep understanding of the forex market. Our team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of brokers, platforms, products, technologies, third-party trading tools, and mobile apps. We also test for the availability of high-quality educational content, actionable market research resources, and the accessibility and capabilities of mobile platforms. All of our ratings and rankings are based on the collection and validation of thousands of data points and our in-depth product testing.

Part of our testing process involves in-depth research into commissions and fees. We dive into each broker’s trading costs, such as VIP rebates, inactivity fees, custody fees, bid/ask spreads (we always strive to determine the average spreads for each broker to better serve our readers), and a variety of other fee-based data points.

All websites and web-based platforms are tested using the latest version of the Google Chrome browser. Our Desktop PCs run Windows 11, and we use MacBook Pro laptops running the latest version of macOS to test trading on the go.

When testing mobile apps or mobile products, we test on both Apple and Android devices. For Apple, we test with the iPhone XS running iOS 16, and for Android we use the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra devices running Android OS 13.

All of the content on BrokerNotes.co is researched, fact-checked, and edited by members of our editorial team. Our ratings and rankings are driven by our independent data collection. We may use generative AI tools to assist in some of the rote aspects of our content production processes, but the substance of our content, as well as our opinions and evaluations are based on our extensive research and product testing. Read our Generative AI policy to learn more.

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Forex Risk Disclaimer

There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Learn more about foreign exchange risk.

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