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12 brokers in our data open accounts for Australian residents through an ASIC-licensed company. For a retail client that company means leverage of up to 1:30 on major currency pairs and negative balance protection under ASIC’s CFD product intervention order.
Low Spread Brokers does not give personal investment advice.
For traders who live in Australia and want their account held by a brand’s ASIC-licensed company rather than its offshore arm. Admirals (Admiral Markets) and FXCM and Saxo are left out; the reasons are listed under the ranking. Read first:how we rankhow we make moneyAustralia rules
Pepperstone is first here on the lowest published EUR/USD spread; Australian residents are served by Pepperstone Group Limited. For Australia the deciding check is the entity: only an ASIC-licensed one gives you the 1:30 cap on FX majors, negative balance protection and AFCA as the complaints body.
Search the AFSL number the broker publishes on ASIC’s registers, and check that the licensee name matches the company in your account application.
As a retail client of the ASIC entity, expect at most 1:30 on major pairs and 1:2 on crypto CFDs.
Our reference records no compensation scheme for CFD accounts in Australia: if a broker fails, no scheme in our data pays you back.
ASIC-licensed brokers for Australian residents, ranked
Ranked by this page’s rule from published broker data, not by commission. Advertiser disclosure
Why this order: only brokers whose ASIC-licensed entity accepts Australian residents, sorted by the lowest EUR/USD spread the broker publishes (ties broken by spread plus commission), because ASIC sets the same leverage cap and protections for every one of them and the price of a trade is what differs. Ranked from our data on 12 brokers, updated 19 Oct 2026. How we rank
Ranked by this page’s rule · 19 Oct 2026
The entity named on each card for residents of Australia decides your leverage and protections.
Depends on entity: up to 50:1 implied (margin from 2% on EUR/USD, retail) (CFTC / NFA)up to 30:1 (major forex pairs, retail; margin 3.33%) (FCA)up to 1:30 (retail, per account comparison table on EU site) (KNF)up to up to 20:1 (retail) (MAS)up to 25x implied (individual FX margin at least 4% of transaction amount) (JFSA)
Funding methods
Debit card, Credit card, Bank transfer (Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS, SWIFT, SEPA)
StandardRawProfessional4 of 8 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #3EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by OANDA Australia Pty Ltd (ASIC, Tier 1, licence AFSL 412981; ABN 26 152 088 349).
0.0 pips (RAW ECN (inferred: unlabeled block), 17 Feb 2026)
Platforms
MT4, MT5, TradingView, proprietary
Max retail leverage
Depends on entity: up to 30:1 (major currency pairs, retail); lower for other instruments (FCA)up to up to 30:1 (retail clients) (ASIC)up to 100:1 to 500:1 (global help center, all account types; certain products fixed) (VFSC)
Funding methods
Debit card, Credit card, Bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller, E-wallets, Alternative payment methods
StandardRawECNIslamicCopyCentSpread bettingProfessional2 of 6 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #5EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd (ASIC, Tier 1, licence 428901). Third-party reports, not verified with the regulators: Securities Commission Malaysia investor alert (2021) and a VFSC notice of intention to revoke the licence of Vantage Global Limited (24 Oct 2022). Check the VFSC and SC Malaysia sites before relying on the offshore entity.
Depends on entity: up to 1:30 (ASIC)up to 1:30 (retail, all account types) (CySEC)up to 1:5000 (MetaTrader accounts), 1:1000 (cTrader); described as dynamic (FSA Seychelles)up to 1:200 (SCB)
Funding methods
Credit/debit card, Bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, UnionPay, BPAY, FasaPay, POLi
StandardRawIslamicProfessional3 of 4 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #6EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by International Capital Markets Pty Ltd (ASIC, Tier 1, licence AFSL 335692). Outside the EEA and Australia most clients are onboarded by the Seychelles entity (leverage up to 1:5000 on MetaTrader) or the Bahamas entity; these carry no UK/EU-style retail protections.
Depends on entity: up to 1:30 (major FX, retail; margin 3.33% on EUR/USD, GBP/USD) (FCA)up to 1:30 (major FX spread bets, retail; margin 3.33%) (FCA)
Funding methods
Debit card, Credit card, Bank transfer
StandardSpread bettingProfessional7 of 13 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #7EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by IG Australia Pty Ltd (ASIC, Tier 1, licence AFSL 515106). IG’s international page names IG Markets Ltd, Australia, but the ASIC register (October 2026) lists IG Australia Pty Ltd under AFSL 515106, licensed for retail clients: that is the company to see on your account documents.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail investor accounts lose money. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford the high risk of losing your money.
9IB
Interactive Brokers
Main entity: Interactive Brokers Australia Pty. Ltd. · 9 entities in total
Depends on entity: up to 1:30 (major FX CFDs, retail: ESMA-style minimum initial margin 3.33%; 5% other pairs) (FCA)up to Leverage limits per CBI CFD rules (Aug 2019) for retail; ESMA minimum margin 3.33% major FX (1:30) per CFD margin page (Central Bank of Ireland)
Funding methods
Bank wire, ACH (US), Direct ACH (US), Check (US), Online Bill Pay (US), Wise balance transfer, USDC stablecoin (USD)
Standard6 of 9 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #9EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by Interactive Brokers Australia Pty. Ltd. (ASIC, Tier 1, licence AFSL 453554).
Depends on entity: up to 30:1 (Standard, ThinkTrader, ThinkZero accounts, retail) (FCA, ASIC)up to 30:1 (ThinkZero account, retail) (CySEC)up to 500:1 (Standard, ThinkZero); 2500:1 (ThinkTrader account) (FSA Seychelles)
Funding methods
Bank wire, Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Crypto (global site only)
StandardRawIslamicDemoSpread bettingProfessional6 of 9 licences checked on the register, 20 Oct 2026
Why #11EUR/USD spread: . Residents of Australia are served by TF Global Markets (Aust) Pty Ltd (ASIC, Tier 1, licence AFSL 424700) and TF Global Markets Equities (Aust) Pty Limited (ASIC, Tier 1, licence CAR 1280662 (AFSL 412816)).
11ThinkMarketsMT4, MT5, TradingView and own platform; minimum deposit $10; swap-free account listed7.6/10
12eToroown platform; no single minimum deposit published5.9/10
At a glance · Australia
Forex broker comparison table
What the table shows
Licence numbers as each broker publishes them (not yet matched on the registers), which entity serves which country, and spreads with the date we copied them from the broker’s own pages.
How to use this table
Sort by score, spread or minimum deposit. Deposits stay in the broker’s own currency, so compare them only within one currency.
50:1 implied (margin from 2% on EUR/USD, retail) (CFTC / NFA) · 30:1 (major forex pairs, retail; margin 3.33%) (FCA) · 1:30 (retail, per account comparison table on EU site) (KNF) · up to 20:1 (retail) (MAS) · 25x implied (individual FX margin at least 4% of transaction amount) (JFSA)
0.0 pipsRAW ECN (inferred: unlabeled block) · 17 Feb 2026
MT4, MT5, TradingView, proprietary
Standard, Raw, ECN, Islamic, Copy, Cent, Spread betting, Professional
30:1 (major currency pairs, retail); lower for other instruments (FCA) · up to 30:1 (retail clients) (ASIC) · 100:1 to 500:1 (global help center, all account types; certain products fixed) (VFSC)
Spreads as published by each broker, latest check 19 Oct 2026. Minimum deposits are shown in each broker’s own currency and are not converted. Leverage shown for all entities; yours depends on the entity named in the ranking.
Is forex trading regulated in Australia?
ASIC licenses the companies that sell CFDs to Australian retail clients, and its product intervention order sets the caps and protections below. Our reference is not yet verified, so open the ASIC links before you rely on it.
Not yet verified against the regulator: check the linked sources
Retail CFDs in Australia fall under the ASIC product intervention order (2021, extended): leverage caps, margin close-out and negative balance protection.
We know of no general compensation scheme for client money in OTC derivatives. The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) covers specific product classes only.
The most an ASIC-licensed entity may give a retail client when a CFD position is opened, by asset class.
UnderlyingMaximum retail leverage
FX majors1:30
FX minors, gold, major indices1:20
Commodities (ex gold), minor indices1:10
Shares1:5
Cryptoassets1:2
Source: ASIC’s CFD product intervention order (2021, extended), via our country reference; not yet verified against the order.
ASIC matches the UK and EU on leverage, not on compensation
ASIC caps FX majors at 1:30 for retail clients, the same figure as the FCA and CySEC in our reference. The difference is what happens if a broker fails: the UK and Cyprus run compensation schemes for investment clients, while our reference records none for CFD accounts in Australia.
Tier 1Our class for regulators such as the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, MAS and CIRO
Tier 2Our class for regulators such as the FSCA, SCA and SEC Nigeria
OffshoreRegistration with light supervision; no compensation scheme in our data
One brand, several entities
A global broker runs separate companies for different regions. Your country of residence decides which one you sign with, not the website you land on.
A licence number you can check
Each entity has a number on its regulator’s register. We print the number the broker publishes; match it on the register yourself before you deposit.
What the FCA, CySEC and ASIC rules give a retail trader
Leverage caps
FX majors: 1:30 (FCA), 1:30 (CySEC), 1:30 (ASIC); lower on riskier assets.
Negative balance protection
Required for retail clients under all three regimes in our reference.
Margin close-out
The FCA and ESMA rules close positions at 50% of required margin; ASIC’s order also sets a close-out.
Compensation
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS): £85,000 per person per firm (investments). Investor Compensation Fund (ICF) of CIFs: €20,000 per client. Australia: no general scheme for CFD client money in our reference.
A complaints body
Financial Ombudsman Service, Financial Ombudsman of the Republic of Cyprus, Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
These protections apply to accounts held by entities under those regulators. The rules for Australia are in the section above.
Leverage caps at three Tier 1 regulators
Maximum retail leverage at three Tier 1 regulators
Underlying
FCA (UK)
CySEC / ESMA (EU)
ASIC (AU)
FX majors
1:30
1:30
1:30
FX non-majors, gold, major indices
1:20
1:20
1:20
Commodities (ex gold), non-major indices
1:10
1:10
1:10
Individual equities
1:5
1:5
1:5
Cryptoassets
banned (crypto derivatives may not be sold to retail clients)
1:2
1:2
Source: our country reference, built from FCA PS19/18 and PS20/10, the ESMA CFD measures applied by CySEC and the ASIC CFD product intervention order. Not yet verified against those documents.
No bonuses on this site
We list no sign-up bonuses, cashback or deposit offers, under any entity.
A bonus offer is a reason to check which entity and which regulator stand behind it before you deposit.
Loss rates disclosed by Tier 1 entities of brokers on this page
Listed alphabetically · scale 0–100%
CMC Markets69%
FP Markets74.51%
IC Markets73.46%
IG74%
Interactive Brokers58.9%
OANDA76.6%
Source: each broker’s published risk warning, latest check 19 Oct 2026.
Whose figure this is
Each figure belongs to a brand’s Tier 1 entity. The entity that would hold an account for a resident of Australia may publish a different figure or none, and no figure here is a verdict on quality.
Compensation and complaints in Australia
Our reference records no general compensation scheme for CFD client money in Australia. Complaints go to the broker first, then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). A Compensation Scheme of Last Resort exists for specific product classes; read its scope on cslr.org.au before assuming it covers a CFD account.
Something went wrong?
1Complain in writing to the broker entity that holds your account
2Escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
3Report concerns to ASIC
Spot a clone
Clone firms copy real broker names and licence numbers. Search the number on the regulator’s own site (asic.gov.au), compare the website address, and read the regulator’s warning list before you deposit.
Country rules: compiled from regulator sources, not yet verified · broker data up to 19 Oct 2026
Brokers licensed in Australia publish an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) number. The numbers on this page are the ones the brokers publish; we have not yet matched them on ASIC’s registers.
1Copy the AFSL number and the licensee’s company name from the broker’s Australian website
2Search the number on ASIC’s professional registers
3Check that the licensee name matches and the licence is current
4Make sure your account application names that same Australian company
A clone copies a real AFSL number onto a look-alike website. If the contact details on the register differ from the site you are on, reach the broker only through the register details.
Highest score in our data
First on this page in October 2026
Pepperstone publishes Tier 1 licences from 5 regulators and quotes EUR/USD from 0.0 pips on its Razor account (checked 19 Oct 2026). The trade-off: its ASIC entity publishes no retail loss rate in our data, and the lowest spread needs the Razor account, which charges a commission per lot.
73.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider (Pepperstone Limited (UK)).
Scores by criterion
Each criterion scored 0–10. Darker means a higher score; an empty cell means not measured.
Scores by criterion
Broker
Costs
Platforms
Regulation
Accounts
Research
Support
Pepperstone
8.2
9.5
9.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
CMC Markets
8.0
6.5
9.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
OANDA
7.6
8.0
9.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
FP Markets
7.6
9.5
8.0
6.5
Not measured
Not measured
Vantage
7.6
8.0
8.0
8.0
Not measured
Not measured
IC Markets
6.8
9.5
8.0
8.5
Not measured
Not measured
IG
7.6
8.5
9.0
6.0
Not measured
Not measured
AvaTrade
6.4
8.0
8.0
7.0
Not measured
Not measured
Interactive Brokers
Not measured
4.0
9.0
5.0
Not measured
Not measured
Plus500
Not measured
4.0
9.0
5.5
Not measured
Not measured
ThinkMarkets
Not measured
8.0
9.0
9.0
Not measured
Not measured
eToro
Not measured
4.0
9.0
4.0
Not measured
Not measured
Preliminary scores from published broker data. Research and support are not scored until live-account tests, and a broker with no published EUR/USD spread in pips has no costs score.
Further down this list
They passed this page’s filter for Australia and rank lower on its rule.
A desk score from the brokers’ published terms. We have not opened live accounts yet, so nothing on this page is a test result.
1Copy published termsSpreads, commission, deposits, platforms and account types from each broker’s own pages, each with its date (latest 19 Oct 2026).
2Map entities to countriesEvery licensed company of a brand, the countries it serves and the licence number the broker publishes. Matching each number on the register is the next step.
3Score four criteriaCosts, platforms, regulation and accounts, 0–10 each, by a fixed formula. Research and support stay unscored until we test them.
4Apply this page’s ruleThe filter and sort written under the ranking heading. Ties are broken by the overall score.
Weights in the preliminary score
Costs · 31%
Regulation & safety · 31%
Platforms · 19%
Accounts & funding · 19%
12brokers scored
19 Oct 2026latest data check
What does not affect a score
Partner status and advertising. We have no affiliate or advertising agreements with brokers.
Published spreads behind the scores
Checked
Quote
Spread
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, Razor account, Pepperstone
0.1 pips
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, FX Active account, CMC Markets
0.0 pips
19 Oct 2026
EUR/USD, Spread-only (OANDA Europe Limited, UK) account, OANDA
0.6 pips
Reviewed by the Low Spread Brokers team · 20 Oct 2026
We have no affiliate or advertising agreements with brokers, and no click to a broker is paid. If that changes, the site will say so first; partner status is not an input to any score, whose formulas use spreads, platforms, licences and account terms only.
What we don’t do
No bonuses or sign-up offers. No offshore leverage presented as a feature. No claim that we tested an account we have not opened. No personal investment advice.
Each country page has its own ranking: only brokers with a company that accepts residents, ordered by a rule chosen for that country’s regulator, leverage caps and protections.
Country rules (compensation, complaints body, leverage caps) come from our country reference, which is not yet re-verified against each regulator; the regulator’s own text prevails.
Risk warning:
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Most retail investor accounts lose money. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford the high risk of losing your money.
Low Spread Brokers does not give personal investment advice.
Country rules come from our reference, which is not yet verified against the regulators; broker facts are the brokers’ published terms up to 19 Oct 2026.
Yes, through a company that holds an ASIC licence. ASIC’s CFD product intervention order (2021, extended) caps retail leverage, requires negative balance protection and sets a margin close-out for retail clients.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
2What leverage does ASIC allow retail traders?
1:30 on major currency pairs, 1:20 on minor pairs, gold and major indices, 1:10 on other commodities and minor indices, 1:5 on shares and 1:2 on crypto CFDs, per our country reference.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
3How do I check an ASIC licence?
Take the AFSL number from the broker’s Australian site and search it on ASIC’s professional registers at asic.gov.au. The licensee name there should match the company named in your account application.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
4Where do Australian traders complain about a broker?
To the broker first, in writing. If its reply does not settle it, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) handles complaints against licensed firms; the link is in the country rules above.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
5What happens to my money if an Australian broker fails?
Our country reference records no general compensation scheme for CFD client money in Australia. The Compensation Scheme of Last Resort covers specific product classes; check its scope at cslr.org.au.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
6Do I pay tax on forex profits in Australia?
Tax depends on your circumstances and on how the Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au) treats your trading. We do not give tax advice: ask the ATO or a registered tax agent.
Broker data collected up to 19 Oct 2026
Sources
Primary sources for the Australia rules on this page. Links opened 20 Oct 2026; the rules are not yet verified against them.
Copies broker terms and entities from the brokers’ own pages, records the date and source of each figure and checks entities and licence numbers on the regulators’ registers; for this page that check is still in progress.