FXCM vs ActivTrades 2024

Trust Score is a data-driven rating system that provides an at-a-glance rating of a broker’s overall trust by tracking 60+ brokers and over 100 regulatory jurisdictions across the globe. To make things clearer for everyday traders, we’ve created a five-tier system for regulators and Trust Score rating labels. Learn more about Trust Score, and check out our country guides to see the most trusted brokers in your country of residence.

FXCM has a Trust Score of 95, giving it a "Highly Trusted" Trust Score Label.

ActivTrades has a Trust Score of 81, giving it a "Trusted" Trust Score Label.

Founded in 1999, FXCM (a Jefferies Group company) is a long-standing brand that caters to global forex and CFD traders. FXCM offers multiple trading platforms for algorithmic trading and social copy trading, along with a proprietary platform suite (and access to MetaTrader 4). FXCM is also a great option for beginners due to its wide range of educational materials and easy-to-use platforms (including integration with the popular TradingView platform). Though the range of markets available at FXCM has increased following the addition of its share trading feature, it's worth noting that pricing at FXCM is just average.

ActivTrades has been around for over 20 years and holds multiple Tier-1 regulatory licenses. Traders gain access to the broker's proprietary trading platform, ActivTrader, along with a decent offering of third-party platforms. Though ActivTrades boasts above-average spreads and several innovative platform features, its selection of tradeable symbols is below-average and there are no active trading accounts or volume-based discounts.

Tier-1 is reserved for the strictest, most stringent regulatory jurisdictions in the world. Tier-1 regulators impose additional capital requirements and require a tougher initial screening process. FXCM holds regulatory licenses in the following Tier-1 jurisdictions: Australia (ASIC Authorised), Canada (CIRO Authorised) and United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). ActivTrades, on the other hand, is licensed in these Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions: United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). Neither have Hong Kong (SFC Authorised), CBI Authorised (Ireland), Japan (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), New Zealand (FMA Authorised), Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, FXCM is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised) and South Africa (FSCA Authorised), while ActivTrades is none.. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised), Thailand (SEC Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses FXCM is none, while ActivTrades is Bahamas (SCB Authorised) and Mauritius (FSC Authorised).. Neither have Belize (FSC Authorised), Bermuda (BMA Authorised), British Virgin Islands (FSC Authorised), Cayman Islands (CIMA Authorised) and Vanuatu (VFSC Authorised).

Whether your broker develops its own proprietary platforms or provides access to popular third-party platforms, you should make sure you can use your preferred type of trading platform. In our testing, we found that FXCM offers a Proprietary Platform, Desktop Platform (Windows) and ZuluTrade, whereas ActivTrades supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows). Neither have cTrader and DupliTrade

For MetaTrader FXCM provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while ActivTrades provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.

FXCM requires a minimum deposit of Starts from $50, while ActivTrades requires a minimum deposit of 0. It's also important to ensure your broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. In our research, we've found that FXCM supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for funding and deposit methods, whereas ActivTrades supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw)

When choosing a broker, it’s important to check the availability of your preferred investment products and asset classes. We’ve tested each broker’s individual offering of investments to help you pick the right broker for what you want to trade. We found that both FXCM and ActivTrades offer Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Spread Betting, Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies, Agriculturals and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Neither have ETF.

We also keep track of each broker’s total number of tradeable symbols; FXCM offers 440, and ActivTrades offers a total of 1267 tradeable symbols.

Crypto trading has become popular among forex traders across a range of international jurisdictions. As a result, many forex brokers now offer crypto products to their clients; most crypto assets are offered either as an underlying physical asset (such as when you own actual bitcoin assets, for example) or as a derivative product like a CFD. If you are looking to trade physical cryptocurrencies, you’ll find that neither FXCM nor ActivTrades allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

Market research plays a huge role in any forex trader’s ability to conduct analysis within the global forex market. We test each broker’s research offering to help you decide which broker is right for your technical or fundamental analysis needs. FXCM delivers the following research tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. ActivTrades, on the other hand, provides the tools listed here: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. Neither have Autochartist

Broker Reviews