7 Best Forex Brokers for Scalping: 2024 Edition

List of Top Forex Brokers for Scalping

Best brokers for US traders

Best brokers for international traders

What is scalping in forex trading?

Scalping is a popular style of trading strategy where a trader aims to profit from small price movements in a short period. The goal is to enter and exit trades quickly, taking advantage of small price fluctuations that occur frequently in the market.

To be successful in scalping the markets, choosing the right broker is critical. This is because brokers with high fees and slow execution speeds will quickly eat away at any short-term profits made. The broker’s trading execution model will also play a key part in your success. Fortunately, our team of experts has identified the best forex brokers for scalping this year.

How did FXEmpire choose the best brokers for scalping?

• We ensured that each broker allowed traders to employ scalping strategies.
• We checked the different account types available (ECN, DMA, STP, NDD) and verified their low fees to ensure their suitability for scalping strategies.
• We explored the variety of trading platforms available (MT4, MT5, cTrader) to confirm they support the fast-paced nature of scalping.
• We reviewed each broker for additional features that aid in successfully scalping the market, such as available trading tools, research and education resources, customer service, and safety and transparency.

Our team of experts has identified each broker’s strengths and weaknesses using FXEmpire’s comprehensive methodology. Here’s how we test.

Now let’s dive into the selected brokers.

How to choose the best forex broker for scalping?

Below are some of the key points to consider when choosing the best forex broker to use scalping strategies.

Why is it important to choose a regulated broker for scalping?

As scalping involves trading very short-term price movements, using a trusted, well-regulated broker is essential. After all, it is the broker which is executing your trade in the underlying market (depending on their model) and holds your capital.

Regulated brokers are overseen by a country’s financial body and have to adhere to strict execution and investment practices. If they do not, they open themselves to being fined and losing their operating license.

Within our reviews, we separate brokers into three tiers of regulation:

• Tier 1 regulators offer the highest level of protection and include the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and many others.
• Tier 2 regulators offer lower protections than tier 1 regulators but are still of a high standard. This includes the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and others.
• Tier 3 regulators generally operate in offshore jurisdictions. This includes the International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB), and others.

There are also some brokers that are not regulated at all and operate out of offshore jurisdictions such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As scalping is a very specialized way of trading the markets it’s best to try and stick with brokers regulated by tier 1 regulators.

Since the launch of the MiFID 2 legal act, tier 1 regulated brokers must offer a negative balance protection policy to retail clients and segregate client funds from their own. While some tier 2 and tier 3 regulators may do this, many do not as they are not legally required to.

Check out Best MiFID-regulated forex brokers.

You can check the broker’s regulations on their website and client agreement terms. If none are stated then it is a warning sign in itself. For any regulations stated on a broker’s site, it is worthwhile checking this on the regulator’s register too which can be found easily online.

Read more about Best regulated forex brokers.

What fees should you be aware?

After choosing a safe broker to hold your trading funds, checking the fees of the broker is the next most important factor when choosing a forex scalping broker. This is because high fees can easily wipe away any profit from small movements in the market, leading to a lot of trading with not a lot of reward.

Fees can be categorized into trading fees and non-trading fees. Trading fees are generally charged for opening a trade, holding a trade, and closing a trade. Some of the fees to do this include:

• Spreads. The difference between the buy price and the sell price is known as the spread. A broker will either offer institutional-grade spreads or mark up the spreads as a type of fee. For scalpers, spreads need to be as low as possible. See our guide for the best forex brokers with lowest spreads.
• Commission. This is a fee to open a trade and close a trade. Some brokers will offer commission-free trading accounts or commission-based trading accounts but with lower spreads.
• Swaps. This is a fee for any leveraged positions to be held overnight. Usually, it is based on the interest rates of the currencies being traded and a broker markup.  Discover Best low swaps forex brokers.

For scalping, swap fees shouldn’t make a difference as scalpers trade very short-term price movements and would not hold any trades overnight. The most important fees to take into consideration will be spreads and commissions.

Scalpers may look to prioritize low spreads to get in and out at the right price. The commission (if any) will act as a business expense but these will be known up front so you can always know your net return on a trade.

In our broker rating reviews, we test the live spread for a range of instruments and then use a scale to determine whether they are in line, better or worse than the industry average. For EUR/USD, the average spread for a commission-free trading account should be less than 1.0 pip.

Non-trading fees are those that cover account management. While most brokers will not charge an account maintenance fee there may be fees for periods of inactivity, deposits, and withdrawals. These are worthwhile checking beforehand as deposit and withdrawal fees can differ depending on whether you are using a bank, credit/debit card, or e-wallet.

What is the best type of execution model for scalping?

Most brokers will offer different types of accounts such as a standard, premium, or VIP account. Typically, these will have differences in commissions, spreads, and minimum deposits.

The accounts with the highest minimum deposits will generally offer the best terms, such as the lowest fees and commissions, additional tools, extra support, etc.

Nowadays, brokers are starting to accommodate the needs of more advanced trading styles, such as scalping and algorithmic trading. This has led to some brokers offering different account types based on the execution model. These include:

• Dealing desk or market maker accounts. In these types of accounts, the broker takes the other side of the trade. These accounts typically have fixed spreads rather than floating spreads.
• No dealing desk accounts. In these types of accounts, the broker’s technology automatically matches your orders with other traders almost instantly using algorithms. Discover Best dealing desk forex brokers.
• STP accounts. Straight Through Processing is a type of no-dealing desk account in which client orders are routed directly to the broker’s liquidity provider.
• Discover Best STP forex accounts.
• ECN accounts. Electronic Communications Network accounts are another type of no-dealing desk account in which client orders are matched up to prices from a variety of liquidity sources in an anonymous network. Find Best ECN forex accounts.
• DMA accounts. Direct Market Access accounts are those in which clients trade directly with other interbank market participants.

Scalpers tend to prefer DMA and ECN accounts but any type of no-dealing desk execution model will be suitable for scalping. Most brokers will offer a demo trading account and this is the best place to start.

A demo trading account allows traders to execute trades in a virtual environment. This can help them test the execution speeds and spreads on offer in real time before making a decision to open a live account and trade with real money.

Read more about Best forex demo accounts.

How to choose the most suitable leverage?

Leverage is the driving force behind the accessibility and popularity of trading the forex market. It is the process of borrowing funds to increase your position size so you can control a large position with a smaller deposit.

Brokers offer leveraged-based trading, also known as margin-based trading, by lending you the capital to control a larger position and charging an overnight fee to borrow the capital, which is known as the swap fee. It is like taking out a loan and paying interest for the term of the loan.

Leverage is a double-edged sword as it will not only amplify your gains but also your losses. Since the launch of MiFID 2 regulations, there have been some major changes imposed by tier 1 and some tier 2 regulators regarding the use of leverage for retail clients.

When trading with a broker regulated by a tier 1 regulator such as the FCA, CySEC, or ASIC, traders must fill out a questionnaire that categorizes them as retail or professional clients based on their answers.

Check out our guides on Best CySEC-regulated forex brokers and Best FCA-regulated forex brokers.

It is a regulatory requirement for these brokers to offer a maximum of 30:1 leverage for retail traders trading the currency market. This means you can open a $30,000 position size with only $1,000 of cash in the account.

Some brokers advertise very high leverage, such as 1000:1, but these brokers are unregulated or based offshore, which means they offer a lower level of protection for retail traders.

Explore Best forex brokers with high leverage.

Which trading platform is best for forex scalping?

The most common trading platforms for scalpers are MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader.

The MetaTrader suite of trading platforms can be used on PC, Mac, Web, and mobile. For scalpers, a desktop version will provide the safest way to execute trades fast and frequently.

Both MT4 and MT5 have a wide range of in-built technical trading indicators and the ability to create your own customized indicator or algorithmic strategy from the MetaTrader Marketplace.

Read more about Best MetaTrader 4 brokers and Best MetaTrader 5 brokers.

The cTrader platform was designed specifically for high-frequency traders such as scalpers and algorithmic traders. The platform offers advanced trading capabilities and can be used on desktop, web, and mobile.

It also includes backtesting and optimization tools, as well as a copy trading feature in cTrader Copy and Trader Automate for algorithmic trading.

Discover our picks of Best cTrader forex brokers.

Some brokers offer all three and some may just offer one platform. But a demo trading account can be useful here as it allows you to test the different platforms to find the right one for your scalping strategies.

Read more about Best forex trading platforms.

Our Methodology

To find the best forex broker for scalping, our team of analysts researched over 80 brokers and checked more than 250 data points over nine core categories for each broker. The checklist we use has grown significantly over time as new innovations and regulations also change over time.

Our team’s detailed evaluations of a broker and its offering allow us to provide our readers with unique insights into choosing the right broker. The data gathered is collected through opening live trading accounts, checking live pricing and execution, and speaking to real customer support agents (where available).

The nine core categories that build the 250-point checklist include categories such as trust, fees, platform and tools, tradable instruments, customer service, deposit and withdrawals, account types, research, and education. You can read more about our review process here.

To identify the best forex brokers for scalping a larger emphasis was placed on whether or not the broker allows for scalping strategies, the speed of execution, the broker’s execution model (STP, ECN, DMA, NDD, etc), low trading fees and the options of using scalping platforms (MT4, MT5, cTrader).

These findings were then further categorized into the best overall broker for scalping, the best for low spreads, ECN accounts, no dealing desk execution, MT4, trustworthiness, and options for US clients where forex brokers are more limited.

Meet Our Writers

The team of forex and CFD writers and editors at FXEmpire is composed of trading industry professionals and seasoned financial journalists. Our writers have been published on leading financial websites such as Investopedia and Forbes. In addition, they all have extensive trading experience.

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