ECN/STP Forex brokers


The list of brokers who offer ECN/STP accounts

(No Dealing Desk + STP + DMA + ECN)

*To be able to compare commission rates, we list them all as "Commission per round turn (100K)".
There are different ways of listing commission rates:
Example: $6.00 per round turn lot (100k) = $3.00 per side (100k) or $3.00 per 100K USD traded = $30.00 per million USD traded or $60.00 per million USD traded round turn = 0.006% of the trade.
ECN STP BrokerECN available on accountsMinimum depositCommission per round turn (100k)
1BillionForexECN accounts$20,000$7.00
3TG BrokersECN accounts$1000$14.00
ADS Securities LondonECN accounts$5000$7.00
Admiral MarketsAdmiral accounts$1600$6.00 - $7.00
AFX CapitalAFX Fast accounts$500$2.50
Alparipro accounts$300$16.00
ALVAST TRADEECN accounts$500$7.00
Araxo4xECN accounts$5,000$5.00
AssetsFXAll accounts$100$5.20
ATC brokersAll accounts$5000$8.00
Atom8All accounts$5000$1.00 - $5.00
AxiTraderECN accounts$1000$7.00
Baxter-FXAll accounts$50,000< $2.00
BCapitalsFXECN accounts$3000$8.00
BelforFxECN accounts$2000$12.00
BlackBull MarketsECN accounts$1000$6.00
BTFXECN accounts$2500Not disclosed
BulbrokersECN accounts$1000.2 pips
Bulls and Bears ForexECN accounts$1000$10.00
Bulls Capital MarketsECN accounts$1000$5.00 - $10.00
CAPPROFXCappro-AL-ECN accounts$500Not disclosed
CFH ClearingECN accounts$50,000$0.5
CIM BankFX Active Trader (Level II)$25,000$7.00 - $10.00
CommexFXpro accounts$10,000$10.00
Core Liquidity MarketsCore pro accounts$10,000$7.00
CornerTraderAll accounts$1$10.00
Divisa Capital (DCFX)All accounts$5000$6.00
Dukascopy Bank SAAll accounts$100$1.00 - $9.60
EightCapECN accounts$100$7.00
ELEX All accounts$1000$5.80
Elit4x UKPro accounts€1000€12.00
EXNESSECN accounts$300$5.00
FeelTradeECN accounts$500不详
FairQuote SecuritiesAll accounts$2000$12.00
FastBrokersIntegral & Currenex accounts$2500$5.80
FIBO GroupECN accounts$300$6.00
FIBO Group HoldingsMT5 NDD 账户$300$20.00
FidelisECN accounts$500$6.00
FinFXECN accounts$1000$6.00 - $7.00
FinOddsAll accounts$25$5.00
Finpro TradingAll accounts$100$4.00
Forex Broker IncECN accounts$1001 pip
Forex-MetalFX Edge accounts$1000$4.00
Forex.comGAIN GTX Direct accounts$100,000$5.00
Forex.eeECN accounts$200$5.00
FormulaFXECN accounts$2000$7.00
Fort Financial ServicesPro accounts$500$3.00 - $18.00
FP MarketsRAW ECN accounts$200$7.00
FreshForexECN accounts$1$6.00
FW MarketsDiamond pro accounts$10,000$7.00
FX ChoiceECN accounts$100$6.00
FX NextAll accounts$500$3.00 - $6.50
FX-EDGEAll accounts$200$6.00
FXCCECN accounts$100$8.00
FXDD MaltaPowerTrader & Viking Trader$25,000$4.00
FxFairECN accounts$1000$7.00
FxNetPlatinum accounts$5000$12.00
FXOpenFXOpen Level II$1000$3.60 - $10.00
FXOpen UKAll accounts$300$3.60 - $10.00
FXPRIMUSECN accounts$100$10.00
FXTGECN accounts$7500$2.00
GAIN CapitalGAIN GTX platform$100,000$5.00
GAINSYECN accounts$10,000$4.00
GCI FinancialECN accounts$500$0.00
GCM ForexECN accounts$100,000$17.00
Gallant Capital MarketsPro accounts$50,000$0.50
GDMFXECN accounts(Blade, Blade Pro, Prime)$200$7.00
Global Prime ForexAll accounts$500$7.00
GO MarketsPro accounts$3000$7.00
Grand CapitalECN accounts$10,000$5.00
Hantec MarketsECN accounts$5000$5.00 - $6.00
HeartForexCurrenex accounts$500不详
HiWayFXECN NDD accounts$1000$4.00
HotForexCurrenex accounts$500$10.00
Hotspot FXInstitutional accounts$1,000,000$0.70
HY MarketsPro accounts$5000不详
IC MarketsECN accounts$200$7.00
IC Markets Forex RebatesECN accounts$200$7.00
IG Markets (AU)Forex direct$50,000$6.00
IKON Global MarketsIkon Viking (institutional)$1500$2.00
IKON GroupECN Meta$10,000$2.00 - $3.00
IKON MarketsECN accounts$100$2.00
Interactive BrokersAll accounts$10,000$2.00
InterTrader DirectAll accounts$500$6.00
InvesttechFXECN accounts$1000不详
InvestorseuropeCurrenex accounts$250$5.00
IronFXECN/STP accounts$500$7.50
IV BrokersECN accounts$1000$10.00
JustForexECN accounts$2$6.00
Key To MarketsMT4 pro accounts$100$6.00 - $8.00
KRCNZPro accounts$2000$6.00 - $10.00
LAND-FXECN accounts$2000$7
London Capital Group (LCG)All accounts$20,000$5.00
MFX BrokerCurrenex accounts$1$4.80
MAYZUSCurrenex accounts$5000$10.00
MB TradingAll accounts$400$5.90 or $0.00 (EXN plan)
MTradingM.Pro accounts$1$10.00
MXT GlobalRAW accounts$500$7.00
Nexsus Financial MarketsECN accounts$2000$6.00
NimrodFXECN accounts$2000Not disclosed
NordFXMT4-ECN accounts Integral (Min $20,000)$1000$5.00 - $7.00
NSFXECN accounts$3000$2.00
NSD MarketsECN pro accounts$1000不详
OrbexECN accounts$500$500
Pacific Financial Derivatives (PFD)PFD pro accounts (MT4)$1000$2.00
PepperstoneRazor accounts$200$7.00 (aud)
Price MarketsECN accounts$500$3.50
Real ECNAll accounts$100$11.00 - $13.00
Real-ForexReal-Forex$10,000$6.00
Renesource CapitalFX PRO accounts$1000$2.50 - $5.00
Royal Forex TradingR-ECN accounts$10,000$2.00 - $5.00
RoboForexRoboForex$1$6.00
Rubix FXAll accounts$500$7.00
Ruizean TraderECN accounts$1000$7.00
SaudiQuoteECN accounts$50,000$3.00
Seven Star FXECN accounts$10,000$10.00
SmartTradeFXAll accounts$100$0.00 - $10.00
SolforexAll accounts$200$8.50 - $11.50
Sterling Gent TradingSTG accounts$200$7.00
SunbirdPro accounts & vip accounts$5000$8.00 - $10.00
Super Hot ForexPro accounts$5000$7.00
Swiss InternationalInstitutional accounts$7500$2.50
TallinexAll accounts$100$6.00
TFX MarketsECN accounts$500$10.00
ThinkForexMT4 pro accounts$5000$12.00
TickmillECN pro accounts$25$4.00
TopFXAll accounts$50,000$50,000
Trader's WayCT.ECN accounts$50$2.50 - $4.00
TradingForex.comAll accounts$1000$1000
TradeviewCurrenex accounts$25,000$1.20
TrioMarketsECN accounts$50,000$12.00
TradeWiseFXECN pro accounts$25$4
Vantage FXFX RAW accounts$500$7.00
VPE BankVPE FX pro accounts$5000$10.00
YouTradeFXECN accounts$500$3.00 - $8.00
Do you know another NDD/STP/ECN Forex broker?
Please suggest by adding a comment below.

Forex brokers: ECN vs STP vs NDD vs DD

DD — Dealing Desk — Forex brokers that operate (route orders) through the Dealing Desk and quote fixed spreads. A dealing desk broker makes money via spreads and by trading against its clients. A Dealing Desk Forex broker is called a Market Maker – they literally “make the market” for traders: when traders want to sell, they buy from them, when traders want to buy, they sell to them, e.g. they will always take the opposite side of the trade and in this way “create the market”. A trader doesn’t see the real market quotes, which allows Dealing Desk brokers (Market Makers) manipulate with their quotes where they need to in order to fill clients orders.

NDD — No Dealing Desk — NDD Forex brokers provide access to the interbank market without passing orders trough the dealing desk. With true No Dealing Desk brokers there are no re-quotes on orders and no additional pausing during order confirmation. This, in particular, allows trading during news times with no restrictions on trading.
An NDD broker can either charge commission for trading or choose to increase the spread and make Forex trading commission free.
No Dealing Desk brokers are either STP or ECN+STP.

STP — Straight Through Processing — STP Forex brokers send orders directly from clients to the liquidity providers – banks or other brokers. Sometimes STP brokers have just one liquidity provider, other times several. The more there are liquidity providers and therefore liquidity in the system, the better the fills for the clients.
The fact that traders have access to the real-time market quotes and can execute trades immediately without dealer intervention is what makes the platform STP.

ECN — Electronic Communications Network — ECN Forex brokers additionally allow clients’ orders to interact with other clients’ orders. ECN Forex broker provides a marketplace where all its participants (banks, market makers and individual traders) trade against each other by sending competing bids and offers into the system. Participants interact inside the system and get the best offers for their trades available at that time. All trading orders are matched between counter parties in real time. A small trading fee – commission – is always applied.

Sometimes STP brokers are discussed as if they were ECN brokers. To be a true ECN, a broker must display the Depth of the Market (DOM) in a data window, let clients show their own order size in the system and allow other clients to hit those orders. With ECN broker traders can see where the liquidity is and execute trades.

Broker types and revenues: fixed vs variable spreads vs commission

ECN Forex brokers always have variable spreads. Only ECN brokers charge commission for trading Forex. Commission is the only revenue/profit an ECN broker receives. ECN brokers are not making money on bid/ask (spread) difference.

An STP Forex broker is compensated through the spread (spread markups – to be explained in details below).

STP brokers have a choice of offering variable or fixed spreads. STP brokers route all trading orders to the liquidity providers – banks. These brokers, as intermediaries between their clients and banks, receive prices (spreads) posted by the banks on the Interbank market. Most banks, in fact, offer fixed spreads and are market makers.

An STP broker therefore has 2 options:
1. Let spreads be fixed.
2. Leave the spread at 0 and let the system take the best bid and ask from the number of banks (the more the better) and in this way provide variable spreads.

How an STP broker earns its money? Since STP brokers (as well as ECN) don’t trade against their clients, they add own small markups to the spread quote. This is done by adding a pip (or half a pip, or any other amount) to the best bid and subtracting a pip at the best ask of its liquidity provider. All client orders are directly routed to the liquidity providers at original spread quoted by those providers while an STP broker earns its money from own markups.

Many STP brokers run a hybrid STP model: DD + NDD

Every STP broker signs a business contract with its liquidity providers (prime brokers), where the contract terms regulate the minimum transactions level which will be accepted by the liquidity provider. This means that all small orders placed by traders (usually those which are below 0.1 lot) cannot be sent to the liquidity providers, because they won’t be accepted; and therefore such orders should be handled by the STP broker, who in this case becomes a counter-party for your transaction (Dealing desk model). If you trade with “Cents account” or a “Mini account”, your STP broker is most likely always is a counter-party of your trades.

For all larger orders (as a rule, above 0.1 lot), the STP broker uses its real STP technology bridge & sends orders to its liquidity provides. With each transaction, the broker receives a portion of the spread.

Forex market maker – a broker with a dealing desk earns money on bid/ask difference as well as when a client loses a trade, since market makers are trading against their clients by hedging – entering in an opposite trade.

Conclusion:

ECN brokers are the purest breed among all Forex dealers. They don’t profit on spread difference. Their only profit comes from commission. ECN brokers are interested in their clients to be winning, otherwise there will be no commission to earn.

STP brokers make money on spreads, thus even though they do not have a physical dealing desk to monitor and counter-trade client orders (unless its a hybrid STP model), they are still able to set their own price – the spread markup – for routing trading orders to liquidity providers and providing their clients with advanced trading services,lower account deposits, faster execution and anonymous trading environment with no dealing desk. STP brokers are also interested to see their clients trading profitable, so that a broker can continue earning on spreads.

Market makers make money on spreads and by hedging against their clients. However, if a client becomes “too” profitable, it can directly “upset” the broker. While this may be tolerated and professionally managed by a larger reputable market maker, with a smaller dealer such client will be soon asked to leave.

Benefits of trading with No Dealing Desk brokers

Among the main reason why traders look for NDD brokers is transparency, better and faster fills and anonymity.

Transparency means that a trader enters a true market instead of the market being artificially created for him.
Better fills are a result of the direct and competitive market bids and offers.

Anonymity means that there is no Dealing Desk watching who has come to the market and is asking for an order to be filled, instead client orders are executed automatically, immediately through the market network and totally anonymously.

On the opposite side is a Dealing Desk broker, who is able to profile their clients. In the worst case scenario, such broker can split clients into groups and put less successful ones on auto-execution and trade against them because on average they will lose, while clients that show signs of successful trading will be put on “slow-down” mode and can be provided with frequent re-quotes, slippage and/or slower execution especially during fast moving markets while a broker tries to offset own risks. The transparency of a Dealing Desk broker depends on the rules inside the company.

Forex Brokers aren’t bad on general, whether a Dealing or Non-Dealing Desk, they aren’t there to be against any particular trader. They look to make business, not just work for traders in terms of cooperation in the market environment. Many large Forex brokers who have lots of clients tend to try to help their clients become profitable as much as they can, but once a trading order is placed, its everyone for themselves.

Related topics:
MT4 ECN Forex brokers
STP Forex brokers
DMA/STP Forex brokers
ECN vs DMA vs STP vs Market Maker

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