Best Trading Platforms, Brokers & Apps in Europe
The EU has one of the best and most accessible online trading markets in the world.
The market is strictly regulated, the number of great trading platforms and brokers is extensive, and there is a plethora of instruments, securities, and derivatives that you can trade.
Although, before you start trading, you should have an idea of what the best trading platforms, brokers, and apps in the EU are and what differentiates them. You see, some online brokers in the EU are better for stocks and CFDs while others are optimized for forex or even cryptocurrency trading, read more below.
Best Stock Trading Brokers & Platforms in Europe
Spread on Amazon
0.08%
1 pips
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
0%
€0
Minimum Deposit
€0
€100
Time to Withdraw
1 Day
1+ Day
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (plus pairs)
12 (plus pairs)
How Many Currency Pairs
300
60+
How Many Stocks
9000+
90
Platform
MT4 + DMA
MT4, MT5 & AvaTradeGo
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
ASIC
Central Bank of Ireland
What Makes a good Stock Trading platform & broker in europe?
The number one thing to check when evaluating an online stockbroker in Europe is efficiency. Luckily, this happens to be the easiest part.
All of the best stockbrokers in the EU that want to offer stocks and stock derivatives have to be approved by either the CySEC or the British FCA.
Therefore, any broker with a license from either one of those regulatory bodies can be considered good to use. That being said, it’s always a good idea to dig a little deeper and see what others have to say about the broker.
After you’ve made sure that the broker is nice to use, you want to check their selection of stocks since that is what you’re looking to trade.
A good rule of thumb is that any top stockbroker in Europe should have at least a few thousand stocks available. There should also be company stocks from all over the world and not only Europe and the US.
As a European trader, it can be a good idea to seek out an online broker with Direct Market Access (also called DMA).
A DMA trading platform gives you as a trader direct access to the stock market.
That means you can trade stocks from the exchanges directly instead of as CFDs.
Having the option of using both a CFD and a DMA platform to trade stocks in Europe has many great benefits since it provides you with greater options.
Just note that some DMA platforms are restricted to certain countries and therefore not available to everyone.
Lastly, you want to take the broker for a test spin to see what your overall feeling is. This is also an opportunity to see if the platform suits you and if you find all the tools you normally use.
There is no real point in trading unless you can use high-quality graphs, market updates, alarms, stop-losses, etc.
Therefore, it’s crucial that you actually test the broker out before you deposit and start trading more seriously.
Today, most stock trading platforms in Europe come with demo accounts that allow you to trade without risking your own money.
We suggest you start by opening one of those.
Note that when we test stockbrokers in Europe, we base our reviews on the above but we also dig much deeper than that.
In fact, a page like this can easily require over 150 hours of research.
Best Forex Brokers & Platforms in Europe
Spread on Amazon
1 pips
0.08%
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
€0
0%
Minimum Deposit
€100
€0
Time to Withdraw
1+ Day
1 Day
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (plus pairs)
12 (plus pairs)
How Many Currency Pairs
60+
300
How Many Stocks
90
9000+
Platform
MT4, MT5 & AvaTradeGo
MT4 + DMA
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
Central Bank of Ireland
ASIC
What Makes a Good Forex Trading Platform & Broker in Europe?
Similar to all sorts of brokers, the best forex trading platforms and brokers in Europe all have a few things in common.
Firstly, they are good and regulated with a good reputation among customers and competitors.
Secondly, they offer a satisfying selection of currency pairs and related forex assets.
Lastly, they have a trading platform that makes your job easier and allows you to reach your full potential.
To figure out which broker is the best, we follow strict guidelines and use our many years of experience.
When we started researching the brokers on the European forex market, we started off with efficiency. This is done to make sure that the broker even deserves a closer look.
Today, it’s easy to make sure that you can trust a broker since all the best forex brokers in Europe are regulated.
Most of them are operated under strict regulations from not only one but several regulatory bodies from all over the world.
In Europe, it’s the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) that oversees the market.
That means that any broker that has been approved by either one can be regulated in Europe.
Before we move on to the next part of the review, we research the broker’s reputation and history.
Have they been involved in fraudulent activities in the past? Have they been reprimanded by CySEC? What do past customers have to say? etc.
Whenever we feel comfortable with the all aspect of the brokers, we move on to check their selection of currency pairs.
A good forex trading broker or app in Europe needs to offer several pairs ranging from majors and minors all the way to exotic ones. There is nothing more frustrating than being limited to a small number of tradable assets, so this is an important step.
At this point, we also check the fees and charges that are applied to forex trading.
We prefer commission free brokers that have a fair spread, but we’re also flexible.
For example, a commission-free broker can have higher spread since they don’t charge commission.
Also, any broker that avoids unnecessary charges such as deposit fees is always appreciated.
Lastly, we put the forex platform through rigorous testing where we make sure to try all of the tools and features in different situations.
Oftentimes, this is the most time-consuming part of the evaluation, but it’s also extremely important.
Trading with a broker you don’t like, can’t handle, or that limits your abilities is a nightmare that should be avoided at all costs.
Best CFD and Cryptocurrency Brokers & Platforms in europe
Spread for Bitcoin
Variable
6 pips
Spread for USD/EUR
Variable
1 pip
Spread on Amazon
Variable
Min. $2
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
€0
0%
Minimum Deposit
€100
$250
Time to Withdraw
1-3 Days
1-3 Days
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (CFD)
Availability subject to regulation
How Many Currency Pairs
70+ (CFD)
80+
Platform
Plus500
MetaTrader 4 + DMA
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
FCA, CySEC (#250/14), ASIC, MAS
ASIC
What Makes a Good Crypto Trading Platform & Broker in europe?
When looking for the best cryptocurrency brokers in the EU, we have to change our focus a bit.
Before we get into it, we want to clarify that cryptocurrencies can be traded in two practical ways.
You can either pick a cryptocurrency exchange where you can trade cryptos with each other and buy the digital currencies, or you can use an online cryptocurrency broker to speculate on the market.
Trading with an exchange or a broker is very different so you need to have an idea of what you’re looking for before you get started.
We prefer the latter, but we’re also excited to announce that some of the biggest online brokers have started launching crypto exchanges, meaning you can trade in both ways using the same broker.
Anyways, we only looked at the best cryptocurrency brokers and platforms in Europe for this one, and not any of the exchanges.
One of the benefits of trading with a crypto platform run by a broker is efficiency. Anyone who has been following the cryptocurrency market for a while knows how common it is for exchanges to be hacked.
Sometimes the hackers even get away with millions of dollars. There are also no regulations that these exchanges follow, meaning they’re not forced to protect you.
An online cryptocurrency in the EU is the opposite.
Within the European Union, derivatives trading like crypto CFDs is strictly regulated.
In fact, any broker looking to start offering cryptocurrencies* to private traders has to be approved by with the FCA or the CySEC.
*Availability subject to regulations
With the understanding that it’s better to trade cryptocurrencies with a broker in the EU than an exchange due to regulations and licenses, we’ll take a look at the selection of assets.
There are over 2,000 tradeable cryptocurrencies availabel today, but close to 1,970 of them are not of any interest to the everyday trader.
Therefore, we would argue and say that any broker with at least 10 of the 20 biggest cryptocurrencies has a good selection that will satisfy most.
That being said, we do prefer a bigger selection over a smaller selection, and we like when brokers offer some of the more unknown, yet prominent cryptocurrencies such as Stellar or Dash.
At this point during our tests, we also make sure that the fees and charges are reasonable. Some brokers put the spread so high for cryptocurrencies that it’s not worth it and a few even charge commission on top of that.
Lastly, the one thing that separates the regular brokers from the top tier brokers is the trading platform.
As mentioned, trading cryptocurrencies with a broker instead of on an exchange is very different and a lot of that is thanks to the actual trading.
For example, a broker allows you to use leverage and margin when trading, and since the broker often has been active for decades, their tools have been optimized more so than your average exchange.
Either way, we always make sure to test and use a broker’s platform before we recommend them.
We often spend several hours trading cryptocurrencies with brokers to determine which one has the better platform.
Best Commodities Trading Platforms & Brokers in europe
Spread on Amazon
1 pips
0.08%
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
€0
0%
Minimum Deposit
€100
€0
Time to Withdraw
1+ Day
1 Day
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (plus pairs)
12 (plus pairs)
How Many Currency Pairs
60+
300
How Many Stocks
90
9000+
Platform
MT4, MT5 & AvaTradeGo
MT4 + DMA
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
Central Bank of Ireland
ASIC
What makes a good Commodity Trading Platform & Broker in europe?
Commodities are some of the most traded assets in the world and it’s one of the most traditional investment markets ever next to the stock market.
If you think about it, humans have been trading commodities way longer than they have traded currencies and company stocks.
For us traders, that means two things.
Firstly, it means that commodity trading is a massive market where there are many options to make a buck, and secondly, the tools used to trade commodities has been adjusted and optimized for several decades.
But what’s required of the best commodities trading platforms and brokers? Well, according to us, this is what you need to look out for.
Thanks to the strict trading laws of Europe, finding a good commodity platform in the EU is very easy.
Just make sure the broker is licensed by the CySEC and/or the FCA and you’re good to go.
What’s more important is to check the broker’s selection of commodities.
Naturally, we want access to a lot of spot markets but we also need to be able to trade commodity futures. And we don’t want to be limited to a certain type of commodities such as energy or metals, but rather have access to many different markets under the same roof.
Note that most commodities brokers and platforms in the EU divided their commodities into categories.
For example:
spot metals, futures energies, livestock, etc.
In some cases, this can make it harder to determine exactly how many assets there are to trade so make sure to double-check.
Before making a final decision about the top commodity platforms in the EU, we take all the brokers for a test drive.
At this point, we have to make sure that the broker is easy to use, that they offer something unique and that they help traders get better and don’t limit their abilities.
Best Indices Trading Platforms & Brokers in europe
Spread on Amazon
1 pips
0.08%
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
€0
0%
Minimum Deposit
€100
€0
Time to Withdraw
1+ Day
1 Day
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (plus pairs)
12 (plus pairs)
How Many Currency Pairs
60+
300
How Many Stocks
90
9000+
Platform
MT4, MT5 & AvaTradeGo
MT4 + DMA
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
Central Bank of Ireland
ASIC
What Makes a Good Indices Trading Platform & Broker in europe?
Trading indices as a derivative with an online broker is very similar to trading stocks with a broker. In fact, the best indices brokers in Europe are often the top stockbrokers as well, but there are some differences.
As a European trader, it’s usually fun to have access to both the big and the more local indices of the European Union.
Because of that, we prefer indices brokers in the EU that provide access to the big indices of Europe such as German DAX 30 and the FTSE 250 as well as smaller ones like Norway’s OSEAX.
The key in terms of indices is variation, and since brokers often have a limited number of indices on offer, they have to be careful in their selection.
In addition, all indices platforms in Europe need a license from CySEC and/or the FCA. This is done for your efficiency and all the regulated brokers follow strict protocol regarding customer and platform protection.
The final step in evaluating if an indices trading platform in the EU is good enough for our top picks is to test the broker.
We do this by opening both a free demo account as well as a real trading account with each broker. If the broker offers several platforms that can be used for indices trading, we make sure to test all of them.
This is done to ensure that all the tools that you might need are available and working such as graphs, real-time price developments, alarms, market updates, etc.
And we make sure that executing is smooth and that the platform runs as intended.
This step is extra important when the broker has designed its own platform and isn’t relying on a third-party trading platform like the MetaTrader 4 or 5.
Best Trading Apps for Stocks, Forex & Crypto in europe
Spread on Amazon
1 pips
0.08%
Commission
Withdrawal Fee
€0
0%
Minimum Deposit
€100
€0
Time to Withdraw
1+ Day
1 Day
How Many Cryptocurrencies
12 (plus pairs)
12 (plus pairs)
How Many Currency Pairs
60+
300
How Many Stocks
90
9000+
Platform
MT4, MT5 & AvaTradeGo
MT4 + DMA
Mobile App
24/7 Support
24/7
24/7
Regulation
Central Bank of Ireland
ASIC
What Makes a Good Trading App in europe?
Finding the best trading app in Europe requires more work and a different strategy than finding a broker.
You see, besides being good (operated by a regulated broker) and having a good reputation, the app has to have support for both iOS and Android, preferably even Windows Phones.
And there needs to be a selection of assets that covers several different markets and not just one.
Today, there is not a serious online broker in the world that doesn’t have a trading app. Some brokers rely on the same company that designed their platform for their apps as well.
For example, the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms both have app-versions that are incredible.
However, many brokers also develop their own trading apps and most of them do pretty well.
That being said, a few has managed to develop a trading app worthy of our recommendation.
When testing these trading apps, we look for innovation and unique solutions. The reason being that the trading app market is still developing, and we want to find the brokers that are spearheading that development.
We also prefer apps that can be used on specific devices such as a Windows Phone or an Apple Watch.
In the end, it’s the user experience that separates the poor apps from the best trading apps in Europe, which is why we spend countless hours testing each and every app.
Our testing includes demo accounts, real accounts, as well as at least one Android and one Apple phone.
How We Did This Research
The research for a guide like this is conducted over many weeks, sometimes even months.
On average, we spend 150+ hours on each article to ensure that we get it all right. Those hours involve several testers that together have years of experience trading all sorts of securities and assets on a range of different platforms.
We take the testing very seriously and spend several hours studying each of the top brokers in the EU closely, not leaving anything to chance.
Our goal is always to figure out what differentiates the brokers to provide you with an accurate assessment of which broker will suit you the best.
It’s never about pushing our favorite brokers on our readers, but rather to provide detailed guides on which brokers are the best right now and why.
Also, just because one of these articles has been published doesn’t mean our work is over. The online trading industry in the EU and the rest of the world is constantly changing.
New brokers are opening up while old ones close down, and since they’re all driven by innovation, the market is constantly changing.
Because of this, we keep checking the markets and evaluating all new tools, platforms, apps, and brokers that come out with the goal of keeping the recommendations as relevant and accurate as possible.
The Legal Status of Trading in europe
Both CFD and forex trading is completely legal and fully regulated in the EU under the European Securities and Market Authorities’ (ESMA) regulation.
It’s mainly the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) that is responsible for overseeing the industry, but the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) helps out.
All that being said, the EU recently restricted the use of leverage to the lowest levels ever, making the European market one of the best in the world.
At the same time, a ban against negative account balances was introduced to further help protect traders in the EU.
- eToro
- Markets.com
- 24Option
- IQ Option
- BDSwiss
- HotForex
- Trade.com
- Libertex
- Plus500
- XTB
- InstaForex
- IG Markets
- GKFX
- LionsFX
- Valutrades
- XM
- IronFX
- Blackwellglobal
- FPmarkets
- Amana Capital
- Admiral Markets
- Alvexo
- Bizintra
- Pepperstone
- Windsorbrokers
- FXPro
- ForexTime
- HYCM
- FXGrow
- Teletrade
- Trader.online
- Marketscube
- Finmaxbo
- FXCC
- Oanda
- Forex.com
- LCG
- CMC Markets
- FXCM
- iForex
- IFC Markets
- AAAtrade
With several years of experience writing financial copy combined with an avid interest in forex trading, Adam possesses a superb understanding of the industry.
FAQ – Everything About Trading Platforms & Brokers in Europe
Below, we’ve collected all the most commonly asked questions regarding trading apps in the EU with detailed answers to all of them. As the market grows and the questions change we will update the list and make sure that it’s always up to date.
If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding trading on apps in Europe, you will find the answer below.
How Do I Buy Stocks in Europe?
Buying stocks in Europe is easy and you have several options to choose from. You either use your bank or a traditional stockbroker to do it, just expect to pay commission and inflated fees for pretty much everything.
Or you pick one of the online brokers on this page and start trading stocks oń your own terms. Several of the brokers mentioned above offers a combination of CFDs and a DMA platform, meaning you can trade stocks as derivatives or directly from the market.
Which Is the Best Stockbroker for Beginners in Europe?
Out of all the online stockbrokers in Europe, we’ll have to put eToro on the top list for beginners.
What makes eToro unique is the copy trading platform that allows beginners and others to copy more successful traders, hence avoid a big part of the most difficult work.
Also, eToro’s social trading platform is a great place for beginners to learn new skills and discuss trading with other traders.
Is Forex Trading Legal in Europe?
Yes, forex trading is completely legal in Europe. Not only that, but the forex market is strictly regulated by the CySEC and the FCA.
The point is that any forex broker in Europe with a license från either CySEC or the FCA is 100% legal and safe to use.
Does Europe Have a Stock Market?
There are several stock markets in Europe since almost every country has one of their own. Many of these markets and stock exchanges are operated by third parties such as Nasdaq, while some of them are independent.
One of the more well-known stock markets in Europe as well as one of the biggest in the world is the London Stock Exchange (LSE).