How do FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FxScouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does FOREX.com or SquaredFinancial have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that FOREX.com holds one Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and SquaredFinancial holds one Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is FOREX.com financially regulated?

Yes FOREX.com was founded in 2001 and is regulated by FCA.

 

Is SquaredFinancial financially regulated?

Yes SquaredFinancial was founded in 2005 and is regulated by CySEC and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Based on these findings, FOREX.com earned a higher trust rating than SquaredFinancial.

Does FOREX.com or SquaredFinancial have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that FOREX.com has overall lower trading costs than SquaredFinancial. 

 

Does FOREX.com or SquaredFinancial offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, 0 offers support for and 0 offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

In this case both FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial offer copy trading.

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that FOREX.com offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than SquaredFinancial. FOREX.com offers 91 Forex pairs to trade and SquaredFinancial offers 48 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, SquaredFinancial offers 5 cryptocurrencies while FOREX.com offers 0 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with SquaredFinancial.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that FOREX.com charges a withdrawal fee and SquaredFinancial does not. Overall, 0 has better deposit and withdrawal processes than 0. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

FOREX.com has better educational support than SquaredFinancial. Both FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that FOREX.com offers better research analysis than SquaredFinancial and that both FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on FOREX.com

Founded in 2001, FOREX.com is an FCA-regulated broker with a 100 GBP minimum deposit suitable for serious beginners and more experienced traders. The Standard and MT4 accounts have slightly higher costs than entry-level accounts at other popular UK brokers, with spreads usually averaging about 1 pip on the EUR/USD. Experienced traders will like the DMA account with a minimum deposit of 25,000 GBP but raw spreads (0.0 pips on the EUR/USD) and some of the lowest commissions in the industry. 

FOREX.com provides support for MT4, TradingView, and its own trading platform. Experienced traders will appreciate the range of trading tools, including Trading Central, SMART Signals, and subsidised VPS hosting. Education and market analysis are both excellent, and traders will appreciate the wide range of tradable assets, including over 91 currency pairs, 5500 share CFDs, commodities, indices, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.

Overall, while lower spreads can be found at other brokers, FOREX.com ticks all the boxes for those looking for a wide range of assets to trade and a choice of trading platforms.

Our overall Verdict on SquaredFinancial

SquaredFinancial has a large range of tradable assets, low admin fees, and an Elite account with very low trading costs. This combination will appeal to many traders, though many beginners may be put off by the high minimum deposit on the Elite account.

SquaredFinancial has two trading accounts on both the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The SquaredPro Account is an entry-level account with no minimum deposit and trading costs included in its variable spreads, which start at 1.20 pips on the EUR/USD. SquaredFinancial's commission-based Elite account has a minimum deposit requirement of 500 USD, excluding many beginner traders, but offers spreads of 0 pips on the EUR/USD in exchange for a low commission of 5 USD, making it one of the lowest-cost trading accounts in the industry.  SquaredFinancial's clients are not charged for making deposits, and withdrawals only incur a fee if there has been no trading on the account.

SquaredFinancial offers over 10,000 financial instruments to trade, a much broader selection of assets than is typically available at other brokers, including over 40 forex pairs, 9000 share CFDs, 250 ETFs, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

Although trading tools, market research, and education are limited, traders beginners will be able to subscribe to automated trading signals from Trading Central, a world leader in technical and fundamental analysis.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

FOREX.com has an overall rating of 4.62 and SquaredFinancial has an overall rating of 4.08. For more detail please read our reviews of FOREX.com and SquaredFinancial.