8  Best Market Maker Brokers 2024

How to compare Market Maker brokers

Some of the best known Forex brokers in the world are market makers. Still, even the biggest market makers have needed to adapt as ECN brokers started introducing better trading conditions and a wider product offering to traders. While some market makers have made this transition, others have not, and many poor market makers are still in business today. When comparing market maker brokers consider: 

Intervening Dealing desks: All brokers have dealing desks, they keep track of asset prices and who is buying and selling what assets. However, brokers can operate dealing desks in different ways. 

• A fully automated dealing desk will execute any trade requested of it by a client. This type of dealing desk is often called an NDD or non-intervention dealing desk.
• A dealing desk that is not fully automated allows for the broker’s intervention and creates a conflict of interest between the broker and their client. Suppose a broker can intervene when opening positions, manipulate already open positions, or close positions without your knowledge. In this case, brokers are never independent in the process and in extreme cases can participate in the trade to ensure your loss.

NDD market makers are responsible members of the community, but market makers who don’t have fully automated dealing desks can manipulate your trades for their financial gain.

Spreads: The spread is the difference between the buy and sell price of a forex pair, and it is how brokers earn their money. Markets makers include all trading fees in the spread, meaning traders are not charged any additional commission based on the volume traded. That said, the spread can vary greatly from 0.6 pips (EUR/USD) to 5.0 pips on market maker accounts, and the difference in these spreads will change your total cost of trading significantly. 

Market makers commonly offer fixed spreads, meaning they do not change with the liquidity available on the market. This fixed fee cost structure makes it easier for traders to calculate their cost of trading and the potential profit or loss in a trade. Additionally, due to the market maker business model, trades will not incur slippage, which is an additional complication with DMA brokers who rely on liquidity for trading becoming available.

Account regulation: Your broker should be regulated, as this is the only way to protect your trading capital. Many regulators exist worldwide, and some regulators have more credibility than others. Brokers often hold licences from multiple regulators but your trading account will be monitored by only one of these. 

• Look for your broker to have top tier international regulation from the FCA, ASIC or MAS. While this regulation will not always apply to your trading account, this regulation will give you an idea of the strength of the broker’s internal processes.
• Local regulation, like the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SMC), is a comfort because if your account is locally regulated, your home government will have oversight of your trading account and have the full right to enforce the regulations. It is unfortunate, however, that the SMC has regulated very few acclaimed international brokers.

Education & research quality: Market maker brokers overall tend to have more funding for educational material, course creation, webinars and market analysts. If you are going to trade with a market maker, be sure you select one with a high education and research score – meaning more education resources and better and more frequent market analysis.

The Forex Market and Market Makers

In order to better understand how and why market makers operate the way they do, we need to understand how the Forex market works.

The vast majority of Forex trading takes place in the interbank market, trillions of dollars in currencies move between the major banks in this market on a daily basis (6.6 trillion USD per day is the 2019 estimate). It is in this space where the market is made; the prices set here, between the members of the interbank market, will be the basis for pricing in the lower volume sections of the Forex market, including the retail CFD market.

It is fair to say that the primary market makers in the Forex market are the members of this interbank market. They effectively set the rules for everyone else to play by – including market maker CFD brokers.

How do Market Makers Work?

Like all Forex brokers, market makers will offer you a bid and an ask (buy and sell) price on currency pairs, this price will be mostly set by the pricing of the currency pair on the interbank market. As market makers will be taking exposure to the risk associated with the trade (i.e. will be counterparty to the trade) they will also charge a mark-up fee on both the buy and sell prices.

The difference between the buy and sell prices is called the spread and is how market makers make most of their money. Think about it as the fee charged by the broker for creating the liquidity needed to make your trade. Most market makers will also hedge the trades they take on with a member of the interbank market, thus protecting themselves from losses – this is especially true in cases of large volume retail trades.

Market makers may also make alterations to the pricing on pair based on other factors:

• Current exposure – a broker’s risk management team may dictate changes in pricing if they believe they are holding too many trades in one direction on a pair
• The dealing desk’s views on future price movement – if the broker believes the GBP is overpriced against the USD, this will affect the pricing offered
• Volume – as mentioned above, market makers will protect themselves when taking large volume trades, so will often insist on wider spreads and less leverage in these cases.

Market Makers vs ECN Brokers

Market makers are distinct from the other form of retail Forex CFD brokers, known as ECN (Electronic Communication Network) brokers. Instead of making a market and exposing themselves to the trading risk of their clients, ECN brokers act as a middleman between the trader and the members of their networks. Rather than being the counterparty to trades, ECN brokers will match trades against the best available price from their network of possible counterparties.

Because ECN brokers take no risk exposure from the trade and sit at the centre of a web of ruthless supply and demand forces, spreads are generally very tight and trade execution speeds are often much quicker. But ECN brokers will charge commission on every trade they match – making them an expensive proposition for smaller account sizes.

Should I Trade with a Market Maker?

As mentioned at the top, many traders are wary of working with market maker brokers, as they feel that there is an inherent conflict of interest in the business model. While it is true that a market maker will never quote prices that are going to damage their business, they will always have to offer a fair price – they cannot alter the pricing too much one way or the other before they open themselves up to arbitrage risk (the risk of traders making a profit by trading the discrepancies in pricing).

Furthermore, market makers in Europe, the UK and Australia will have strict requirements placed on them by regulators committing them to ensuring best execution of trades. Under this rule, it is illegal for market makers to skew trades to damage a client’s position.

If you are trading with a well-regulated market maker, the only real discussion to be had when considering trading through them or not is the style of broker you prefer. If you want tighter spreads and can afford commission on your trades, then an ECN broker may best – but for many retail Forex traders, this will be an unreasonable expense. It is also worth noting that many market maker brokers also offer very tight spreads and excellent all-round trading conditions.

All Regulated Markets Makers

This is a list of all internationally-regulated market maker brokers, ordered by overall score. The broker with the highest overall score is at the top. 

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Broker	Broker Score	Regulators	Min. Deposit	Max. Leverage (Forex)	Trading Cost	Islamic Account	Total # CFDs	No. of FX Pairs	Crypto Pairs	Trading Commission	Compare
	4.69 /5 Read Review		USD 0	200:1	USD 6	Yes	19295	80	10	Fees Included in Spread
	4.68 /5 Read Review		USD 100	300:1	USD 7	Yes	1009	56	25	Fees Included in Spread
	4.62 /5 Read Review		USD 100	200:1	USD 7	Yes	5648	91	8	Fees Included in Spread
	4.59 /5 Read Review		USD 100	400:1	USD 9	Yes	872	55	20	Fees Included in Spread
	4.53 /5 Read Review		AUD 100	500:1	USD 10	No	846	55	100	7 USD / lot
	4.45 /5 Read Review		USD 5	1000:1	USD 6	Yes	1554	57	60	Fees Included in Spread
	4.39 /5 Read Review		USD 100	200:1	USD 14	Yes	2241	70	30	9 USD / lot
	4.39 /5 Read Review		USD 0	500:1	USD 7	Yes	5211	57	49	Fees Included in Spread
	4.37 /5 Read Review		USD 10	500:1	USD 13	Yes	237	53	27	6 USD / lot - Zero-Spread account
	4.37 /5 Read Review		USD 10	2000:1	USD 15	Yes	1803	62	0	From 4 USD / ECN Accounts
	4.28 /5 Read Review		USD 100	100:1	USD 20	Yes	415	50	6	Fees Included in Spread
	4.28 /5 Read Review		USD 50	400:1	USD 13	Yes	306	45	7	None
	4.26 /5 Read Review		USD 0	30:1	USD 6	No	3334	69	8	Fees Included in Spread
	4.21 /5 Read Review		USD 15	1000:1	USD 15	Yes	181	43	4	8 - 10 USD / lot - PRO Account
	4.17 /5 Read Review		USD 50	1000:1	USD 18	Yes	400	50	3	Fees Included in Spread
	4.12 /5 Read Review		USD 100	200:1	USD 12	Yes	310	70	30	8 USD / lot - Raw Account
	4.05 /5 Read Review		USD 5	200:1	USD 6	No	1202	36	0	Fees Included in Spread
	4.02 /5 Read Review		USD 25	400:1	USD 18	Yes	193	63	20	Fees Included in Spread
	4.00 /5 Read Review		USD 1000	100:1	USD 13	Yes	434	84	12	Fees Included in Spread
	3.97 /5 Read Review		USD 10	500:1	USD 19	Yes	262	56	66	10 USD / lot - ECN Account
	3.80 /5 Read Review		USD 250	400:1	USD 40	Yes	602	48	0	Fees Included in Spread
	3.70 /5 Read Review		USD 100	30:1	USD 20	Yes	50	50	0
	3.64 /5 Read Review		USD 50	1000:1	USD 22	Yes	285	83	0	On select STP/ECN Accounts
	3.60 /5 Read Review		USD 0	1000:1	USD 6	Yes	8071	43	9	6 USD / lot
	3.57 /5 Read Review		USD 10	30:1	USD 24	No	2139	180	0	Fees Included in Spread
	3.53 /5 Read Review		USD 500	200:1	USD 16	No	102	49	10	Fees Included in Spread
	3.52 /5 Read Review		USD 100	300:1	USD 19	No	2215	55	12	Fees Included in Spread

How We Score Market Maker Brokers

When we consider which market maker brokers are suitable for recommendation, we always look at the same factors. Each of these factors has the potential to radically alter your trading experience, and it is especially important for new traders to have trading conditions good enough to learn without being wiped out.

Regulation

Regulators ensure that market makers host a fair and transparent trading environment, all the while conducting strict auditing oversight and ensuring client fund protection. Brokers that are regulated by more than one major regulator are considered more trustworthy.

The major regulators are:

• United Kingdom – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Continental Europe – Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• Australia –Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

These international regulators are respected for their commitment to consumer protection, strong oversight and swift enforcement of sanctions on fraudulent brokers. They also all publish warning lists of unauthorised firms, so it is worth checking these before signing up with a broker:

• FCA Warning List
• ASIC Banned and Disqualified Register
• CySEC Warnings

All market makers regulated by one or more of these regulators will be a fair and secure firm to do business with.

Trading Conditions

It is important to choose a market maker with the trading conditions that will support your trading strategy. Think about how much leverage you want to have available; keeping it low (100:1 or less) is a good idea if you are still learning how to trade. Also, consider what account currencies are supported by the broker and what currency pairs you want to trade, you do not want to be spending a fortune in conversion fees.

Other trading conditions to consider will be how tight the spreads are on the currency pairs you will want to trade, and what other assets are available that you may want to trade. Most Forex brokers will also offer CFD trading on commodities (such as oil, gas, etc.), precious metals (gold, silver, etc.), indices (FTSE, DAX, NYSE) and cryptocurrencies.

Account Types

Consider the different account types on offer at your broker, most market makers offer swap-free Islamic accounts, and all will offer demo accounts to practice with – the best demo accounts are unlimited and exactly simulate the real market.

Other popular account types are copy trading and social trading accounts. These will allow you to copy successful traders, who will then take a cut of your profits. A similar idea is the PAMM (Percentage Allocation Money Management) account, which is a pooled money operation, where the members of the money pool can choose what proportion of their account they want to allocate to a certain trader.

Trading Platforms

It is important to carefully choose a trading platform and find a broker that supports that platform. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is a safe choice as it’s the industry standard and there is a multitude of online tutorials, though it is gradually being replaced with MetaTrader 5 – which has a more modern look and feel and has many features missing from MT4.

Market makers will not offer cTrader, as this is an ECN-only platform, but many will have their own in-house platforms, most of which are designed with new traders in mind so are easy to learn and have a more intuitive layout.

Broker Fees

We always check for additional broker fees that may be charged and so should you.

Market makers generally make their money from the spread, but some will also charge additional fees to further boost their profits. The most common charge is withdrawal fees, and it is good practice to always ask your broker if and how much they charge for withdrawing from your account. Generally, withdrawals fees are cheaper or non-existent when using online payment systems (such as Skrill) are used for funding your account.

We always highlight any extra fees charged by brokers in our reviews and will penalise brokers with extortionate fees.

Customer Service

Customer service is in your native language is important and many brokers offer full support in multiple languages. The best customer service will be available by live chat, email, messaging apps and over the phone. Many brokers will also offer a call-back service, so you do not have to make expensive international calls.

Good market makers offer customers support 24 hours a day, Monday-Friday and a rare few will also offer weekend service. If you are new to Forex trading you will want a broker with responsive technical support and customer support representatives with an in-depth knowledge of their products and platforms.

Education and Research

Forex education is especially important for new traders, many of the larger market maker brokers offer excellent structured Forex courses for beginners and a few will also have courses covering more advanced topics, like strategies and indicators. If you want to be a successful Forex trader you will never stop learning, so having a broker with excellent educational resources will essential.

Alongside educational support, a good broker will also have an in-house research team offering insightful market analysis on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Some market makers will leave market analysis to third-party companies such as Trading Central or TradingView – while these applications are both very useful, we find that brokers with their own analysis teams often provide better market research ideas and more useful information for new traders.

Final Word

Market makers are often unfairly blacklisted by many members of the Forex CFD trading community; the truth is that well-regulated market makers are an essential part of the Forex market. By committing themselves to be counterparty to any trade they provide much-needed stability, both in terms of liquidity and in terms of market function.

With the current regulations in place, it is also impossible for market makers to work against their clients – even if they wanted to ruin their reputation and open themselves up to arbitrage in this fashion.

It is worth noting that while well-regulated market makers are trusted members of the Forex market and essential for its function, there are many unregulated (or very poorly regulated) market makers that do not behave as ethically. Therefore, it is critical that you always trade with a market maker you trust – one that has a good track record and has oversight from a major regulator.

Forex Risk Disclaimer

Trading Forex and CFDs is not suitable for all investors as it carries a high degree of risk to your capital: 75-90% of retail investors lose money trading these products. Forex and CFD transactions involve high risk due to the following factors: Leverage, market volatility, slippage arising from a lack of liquidity, inadequate trading knowledge or experience, and a lack of regulatory protection. Traders should not deposit any money that is not considered disposable income. Regardless of how much research you have done or how confident you are in your trade, there is always a substantial risk of loss. (Learn more about these risks from the UK’s regulator, the FCA, or the Australian regulator, ASIC).

Our Rating & Review Methodology

Our State of the Market Report and Directory of CFD Brokers to Avoid are the result of extensive research on over 180 Forex brokers. These resources help traders find the best Forex brokers – and steer them away from the worst ones. These resources have been compiled using over 200 data points on each broker and over 3000 hours of research. Our team conducts all research independently: Testing brokers, gathering information from broker representatives and sifting through legal documents. Learn more about how we rank brokers. 

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers, and she now has over eight years experience in research and content development. She has tested and reviewed 100+ brokers and has a great understanding of the Forex trading world.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.

 

Vanessa Marcos
Financial Writer

Vanessa joined the team in 2023. Born and raised in southern Portugal, she has a BA in Journalism and a Master’s in Literary Theory, both from Lisbon University. Since 2011, she has worked in social media, copywriting, content management, ghost-writing, and SEO. Vanessa loves to write, and although she is a generalist in digital marketing, she always draws on her creativity in her work. She is constantly researching new subjects and finds the analytical depth of Forex trading fascinating.