IronFX vs Alpari 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.

IronFX has a Trust Score of 83, giving it a "Trusted" Trust Score Label.

Alpari has a Trust Score of 68, giving it a "High Risk" Trust Score Label.

Founded in 2010, IronFX is a trusted forex broker that holds licenses in multiple reputable regulatory jurisdictions, boosting its overall Trust Score. Traders at IronFX gain access to MetaTrader 4 and the broker's proprietary TradeCopier platform for social copy trading. The broker has also done a nice job putting together decent educational materials for beginner forex traders. That said, spreads at IronFX are higher than the industry average.

Founded in 1998, Alpari is one of the oldest MetaTrader brokers (and offers both MT4 and MT5) and an early pioneer of social copy-trading. Best known in Eastern Europe, Alpari offers a small but growing selection of CFD markets and platform tools. That said, Alpari's overall Trust Score rating is weighed down by its lack of significant regulatory licenses.

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. IronFX holds regulatory licenses in the following Tier-1 jurisdictions: Australia (ASIC Authorised) and United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). Alpari, on the other hand, is licensed in these Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions: none. Neither have Canada (CIRO Authorised), 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, IronFX is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), while Alpari is none.. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised), South Africa (FSCA Authorised), Thailand (SEC Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses IronFX is Bermuda (BMA Authorised), while Alpari is Mauritius (FSC Authorised).. Neither have Bahamas (SCB Authorised), Belize (FSC 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 IronFX offers a Desktop Platform (Windows), whereas Alpari supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows). Neither have cTrader, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade

For MetaTrader IronFX provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while Alpari 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.

IronFX requires a minimum deposit of $50, while Alpari requires a minimum deposit of $20. You'll also want to make sure that your broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. In our testing, we've found that both IronFX and Alpari offer Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for deposits. Neither have PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw)

When choosing a forex broker, it’s important to consider each broker’s available investment products and tradeable asset classes. We’ve researched each broker’s individual offering of investments to help you pick the right broker for what you want to trade. During our testing, we found that IronFX delivers a more diverse selection of investment options than Alpari, offering tradeable asset classes and investment types such as Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Neither have Spread Betting, Agriculturals and ETF.

We also keep track of each broker’s total number of tradeable symbols; IronFX offers 340, and Alpari offers a total of 105 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 IronFX nor Alpari 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. IronFX delivers the following research tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. Alpari, on the other hand, provides the tools listed here: Autochartist, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Social Trading / Copy Trading

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