Searching for the top forex trading app in Europe? Based on our hands-on analysis, we’ve identified the 5 best options tailored to various trading needs. Practical tips from our experts are included.
*82% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Our team of experts has identified each broker’s strengths and weaknesses using FX Empire’s comprehensive methodology. Here’s how we test.
Now let’s go through the selected brokers.
Established in 2008, Plus500 is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It offers over 2,800 leveraged financial CFD instruments to trade commission-free from an intuitive proprietary mobile app.
Trading App Features:
The Plus500 mobile app is a breeze to use. Forex, stocks, indices, options, commodities, and other CFD price charts are easy to view, with basic charting capabilities. The +Insights Sentiment tool reveals how many of Plus500’s clients are long or short in a market. This can be useful in helping to identify overbought or oversold markets susceptible to a reversal.
The Plus500 News and Markets Insights blog is a helpful resource for understanding more about current events in the financial markets. Regularly updated articles include The Week Ahead, Earnings Reports, and analysis of economic data releases. Several articles in the education section also cover the basics of CFDs and trading terminology.
Our live fee test revealed an average spread of 0.8 pips for EUR/USD. Beating the industry average of 1.3 pips for a commission-free trading account.
Established in 2006, AvaTrade is a multi-regulated broker that provides its services in Europe. Over 1,250 tradable instruments are available to trade commission-free from five mobile trading apps.
Trading App Features:
AvaTrade offers an excellent range of forex trading apps. Beginner traders will enjoy the user-friendliness of AvaTradeGO and the specialized app for social and copy trading app AvaSocial. Advanced traders can access forex options from the AvaSocial app, while the MT4/MT5 mobile apps can be synced to third-party copy trading plugins from ZuluTrade and DupliTrade.
The AvaProtect tool is available in AvaTradeGO and allows you to get your money back on losing trades – up to $1 million – by paying an upfront premium. The Guardian Angel tool for MT4/MT5 offers insights into your trading to help your risk management. Personally, I enjoy using the AvaOptions app as options contracts require no-stop losses, which are helpful in more volatile market conditions.
During our live fee test, I found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.9 pips during the London and New York trading sessions. Beating the industry average of 1.3 pips for a commission-free trading account and making AvaTrade a top broker to consider.
Established in 2007, eToro is the leader in social and copy trading solutions, with over 30 million members using its platform. eToro’s web trading platform and mobile trading app are feature-rich and offer over 3,500 instruments, sentiment data, commission-free trading, copy trading tools, and a social trading community.
Trading App Features:
The eToro app and web platform provide an impressive range of social trading and copy trading tools. Each tradable instrument has a news feed where traders can post their ideas and comments. Using the CopyTrader feature, you can view the performance of individual traders and copy their trades directly to your account.
The app also offers excellent charting tools powered by TradingView. Stock market research from TipRanks is also provided. This includes analyst ratings, stock price forecasts, news, and director dealings. Forex sentiment data is also provided, which is helpful for identifying overbought and oversold market conditions.
During our live fee test, I found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.95 pips during the London and New York trading sessions. This beats the industry average of 1.08 pips for a commission-free trading account.
Established in 1992, Saxo offers an excellent range of trading tools and over 40,000 instruments. Its professional-grade trading platform and mobile app provide one-click trading tickets, account value stop losses, built-in market research, and trading signals from Autochartist.
Trading App Features:
Saxo provides an impressive array of trading tools, accessible from both its desktop platforms and mobile app. I found the Autochartist trading signals particularly useful for traders of all levels. These signals cover forex pairs, stocks, and indices, highlighting well-known chart patterns and Fibonacci setups that are either emerging or breaking out. The addition of a probability score adds further confidence to a signal. Moreover, users can access a wide range of in-depth market research directly through the app.
From my experience, Saxo boasts one of the most extensive market selections in the industry, offering over 40,000 instruments across forex, shares, options, mutual funds, indices, commodities, bonds, warrants, and more.
The spread on EUR/USD averages at 0.85 pips, outperforming the industry average of 1.3 pips. However, there is a $6 round-turn commission on orders under 50,000 units of the base currency.
Established in 2004, Dukascopy is an online Swiss bank that offers an excellent range of products and tools for professional traders. In addition to trading, bank, and wealth management accounts, Dukascopy provides over 1,000 instruments from its proprietary, feature-rich JForex platform.
Trading App Features:
Dukascopy offers an attractive range of products for professional traders. These include over 1,000 CFD instruments covering forex, commodities, shares, indices, ETFs, bonds, and cryptos. The broker also provides binary options trading, crypto P2P services, a wealth management account, private Swiss bank accounts, and a multi-currency account.
Trading tools are extensive and include Dukascopy TV, SWFX Sentiment Index, Daily Highs/Lows, Economic Calendar, Forex Calculators, Market Signals, CoT charts and more. Many of these are available from the Dukascopy JForex mobile app, which I find easy to use and feature-rich.
During our live test, I found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.3 pips, beating the industry average. However, there is a commission charge per trade. The amount depends on your account size and trading volume.
Here is a quick guide on how to choose a forex trading app.
Within the financial markets industry, brokers can be either regulated or unregulated. Trading in the forex market with a regulated broker is crucial. Regulated brokers are required to comply with stringent regulations that govern how your funds are handled and how trades are executed. Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in penalties and the loss of their license.
However, it’s important to note that regulatory standards can vary among regulated brokers. In our evaluations of broker ratings, we classify regulators into three tiers:
Brokers based in Europe must comply with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Markets in Financial Instruments Directive MiFID II. It requires brokers to segregate client funds from company funds, provide a negative balance protection to prevent your account from going below zero and participate in a compensation scheme to safeguard client deposits in case of the broker’s insolvency.
For instance, UK FCA-regulated brokers must be part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which covers client deposits up to GBP 85,000 in the event of insolvency. CySEC-regulated brokers must be part of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which covers client deposits up to EUR 20,000.
You can verify a broker’s regulatory status and authorizations by reviewing their legal terms and conditions and consulting the regulator’s register in their operational country. It is advisable to stay clear of unregulated brokers. These brokers operate without adherence to strict rules governing fund handling, leaving clients vulnerable. In the unfortunate event of theft, there are limited legal avenues for reclaiming funds.
Check out our guide on Best European regulated forex brokers.
Trading fees are pivotal in determining your overall profitability. Brokers aim to maximize fees, while traders seek to minimize them. When selecting a broker, consider the following fees:
A reputable broker wants you to know how good their fees are as they want your business. Therefore, if the fee structure is unclear or not readily available on the broker’s website, it should raise concerns and serve as a warning sign against trading with that broker.
Read more about Best low spread forex brokers.
Based on my experience, brokers typically provide a range of trading accounts. These accounts vary in what they offer. However, the primary difference among these accounts often lies in their trading fees.
Trading accounts are generally divided into two categories: commission-free and commission-based.
The selection of a trading account depends on the trader’s individual style. Novice traders may prefer a commission-free account as costs are integrated into the spread, simplifying risk management decisions. Conversely, short-term traders might opt for a commission-based account to capitalize on reduced spreads.
Discover Best STP forex brokers and Best ECN forex brokers.
Leverage allows traders to control a large position with a small deposit. For instance, with a leverage ratio of 1:30 offered by a broker, traders can manage a position worth $30 using only $1. This means you can oversee a position valued at thirty times the deposit you make.
To ensure a safe trading environment, European regulators cap retail trading leverage for forex pairs at 1:30. However, traders in Europe have the option to open accounts with offshore and unregulated brokers that offer significantly higher leverage, up to 1:3000. Extreme caution is advised when dealing with these brokers.
Check out our list of Best high-leverage forex brokers.
It is important to recognize that leverage can magnify both profits and losses. Your profit or loss is calculated on the total value of the trade, not merely on the margin you’ve contributed. If your account does not have enough capital to cover the trade value, the broker may issue a margin call and automatically close your positions, potentially leading to substantial losses. Hence, careful consideration is necessary when evaluating brokers that provide exceptionally high leverage.
A trading platform and its corresponding mobile app are your gateway to the world’s financial markets. They should help to facilitate real-time price monitoring, analysis, and trade execution. When choosing a platform, consider the following factors:
Several widely used forex trading apps include:
Personally, I prefer trading with a broker that offers a platform accessible across multiple devices. This way, even if I can’t access the web platform, I can still use the mobile app to monitor positions and execute trades.
Check out our list of Best forex platforms in Europe.
Here are some things to avoid when selecting a forex trading app:
Regrettably, the forex and CFD industry is rife with fraudulent schemes. Here are some guidelines to avoid them:
At FXEmpire, we use a proprietary rating system to assess brokers. This involves analyzing 250 data points across nine key categories, which include:
For this guide, we conducted a thorough review to ensure each broker we examined is licensed to operate in Europe and provides a proprietary or third-party mobile app for forex market access.
We checked the security, reliability, and user-friendliness of these apps, along with their level of customizable features to cater to individual preferences. We also explored the various tools and features within each app to determine their effectiveness in aiding trading decisions.
The team of forex and CFD writers and editors at FX Empire is composed of trading industry professionals and seasoned financial journalists. Our writers have been published on leading financial websites such as Investopedia and Forbes, and they all have extensive trading experience.
Dan Blystone began his career in the trading industry in 1998 on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later Dan gained insight into the forex industry during his time as a Series 3 licenced futures and forex broker. He also traded at a couple of different prop trading firms in Chicago. Dan is well-equipped to recommend the best forex brokers due to his extensive experience and understanding of the brokerage industry.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
Having been a retail trader since 2013, Plamen has gained an in-depth understanding of the challenges that novice traders face today. His expertise is swing trading and day trading with a heavy emphasis on psychological and fundamental analysis. Plamen’s favourite trading instruments include FX majors and gold. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. Plamen's broad experience has equipped him with the expertise to recommend the best forex brokers.
In more than 15 years of trading in the financial markets, Vladimir dealt with a wide range of brokers and financial instruments. His career as a day-trader at a proprietary trading firm goes back to 2007. Later, Vladimir turned to longer time frames and became an independent trader and analyst managing his own portfolio. Using his experience, he helps traders find the best broker in his reviews.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
At FXEmpire, we strive to provide unbiased, thorough and accurate broker reviews by industry experts to help our users make smarter financial decisions.