Best FOREX Brokers in France 2024

Best FOREX Broker in France for 2024

Top Tips for Choosing the Best FOREX brokers in France

Best Broker and Platform for Beginners in France 2024

After a thorough review, we're happy to present our experts' top 7 FOREX brokers in a variety of categories in France for 2024:

1. ICM - Capital 91.10: Best Deposit and Withdrawal Broker

2. Tradeview: 90.00: Trusted broker that offers very low trading costs as well as comprehensive financial literacy materials for its clients.

3. XTB - 85.55: Best Customer Service Broker

4. IG - 85.45: Best Regulations Broker plus Convenient Platform

5. Saxo Bank - 80.09: Excellent Private Trading Platform

6. CMC Markets - 80.07: More than 9,000 Assets

7. ThinkMarkets - 80.05: Aimed at the Audience of Traders

What Is FOREX and Why Do We Need a Broker to Trade?

If you are a new trader, you need to know that the FOREX market is the largest financial market in the world at some six trillion dollars daily. The FOREX market operates 24 hours a day and five days a week (Monday through Friday), except for international holidays. It's a place where retail traders like you can buy, sell, exchange, and speculate on currencies. Here are some key aspects:

• Global currency trading: Get access to world currencies

• High liquidity and volatility: Large volumes of currencies can be traded in a bustling online market

• Leverage: It can amplify profits, but it also increases the risk of substantial losses

• Speculation and analysis: Retail FOREX trading is mostly speculative, but you can improve your chances through research and study

Brokerage firms play a key role in this regard by enabling clients to buy and sell through a trading platform. It is for this reason that we are closely investigating the best online trading brokers in France.

How Do I Choose the Best FOREX Broker in France?

• Platform strength
• The number of accounts the broker offers
• The broker's market depth and variety, and
• The performance of its trade execution.

Regulation and Licensing in France

As we have said, FOREX brokers who offer their services to French citizens must be regulated by the local regulator, the AMF. Regulated brokers are compelled to stick to common best practices, like keeping their operating funds separate from client funds, complying with strict leverage rules, and staying away from offering bonuses and overly generous promotions.

The broader financial sector in France is supervised by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). This independent administrative body works closely with the French central bank to ensure oversight of banks, pension funds, and insurance companies operating in France. All these agencies work in concert with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), headquartered in Paris, which acts as an EU-wide financial market regulator.

It is always a good sign if your broker is active in other countries and has been regulated by other tier-1 bodies like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which are considered to be two of the best regulators in the world.

The regulators that oversee FOREX trading also regulate other financial assets, such as crypto, commodities, and indices. If you want to learn more about some of the best-regarded regulators, read our article on regulation here. Remember that you do not have to use a broker with international regulation if your local broker is regulated by a solid local regulator.

To ensure that your broker is legit, you can follow these steps:

• Ask if the broker is licensed to sell you FOREX

• Check if the broker is registered with a top-tier regulator or at least the applicable regulator in your area. You can do this by verifying the broker’s good standing on the website of the regulator

• Ask if your broker is part of a compensation scheme

• Check your statements regularly to ensure that everything is in order

Remember that it's important to comply with all applicable requirements, including any self-regulatory organizations to which brokers belong, and not just those mentioned here.

Leverage

Depending on how your broker operates within the regulatory system, you'll come across different rules regarding leverage. Several major regulators have set out specific guidelines to protect individual traders.

Besides being regulated by the AMF, brokers in France must fall in line with ESMA guidelines and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR). Let's take a look at selected leverage rules around the world:

The AMF in France:

30:1 for major currency pairs 

20:1 for non-major currency pairs

2:1 for cryptocurrencies 

Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in Switzerland:

FINMA doesn't specify leverage limits like ASIC. However, Swiss brokers must strictly adhere to robust capital and risk management requirements, ensuring that they do not offer excessively high leverage that could endanger their financial stability or their clients' funds.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia:

30:1 for major currency pairs

20:1 for non-major currency pairs

2:1 for cryptocurrencies

The FCA in the UK:

30:1 for major currency pairs

20:1 for non-major currency pairs

2:1 for cryptocurrencies

It's worth mentioning that these rules mainly target regular individual clients. If you're a professional trader, your access to leverage might vary depending on both the rules in place and the policies of your broker. As you can tell, diligent regulators keep a close eye on how much leverage is allowed. Nevertheless, you can still use a regulator from your own country, even if it doesn't fall under the category of a top-tier regulator.

Stop Out

As a FOREX trader, it's crucial to understand the most important terms you'll encounter to avoid going into a negative balance. One of these terms is "stop out," which refers to a situation where a broker automatically closes some or all of your open positions to prevent your account from going into a negative balance. 

This is especially relevant for traders using leverage. The stop-out level is typically expressed as a percentage, representing the margin level at which the broker starts to close out open trades.

Here are the three most common stop-out levels:

0% Stop-Out Level: 

At this level, when the margin level of the account drops to 0%, the broker will automatically close all open positions. This is the most aggressive stop-out level, and it gives no room for your positions to recover, even if the market turns in your favor immediately after reaching this level.

Here's how it works:

Imagine you have a trading account with a balance of $10,000, and you've opened several positions in the market. Your broker has a 0% Stop-Out Level policy, which means that if your margin level drops to 0%, they will automatically close all your open positions to prevent further losses.

• You start with a $10,000 trading account balance

• Using 30:1 leverage, you can control $300,000 worth of currency with your $10,000 account

• You open a position in EUR/USD with a notional value of $300,000, and the margin required for this trade is $10,000 (3.33% of the notional value)

• The market moves against your position, causing your account balance to drop to $9,000

• If your losses accumulate, your account balance decreases and your margin level (account equity divided by used margin) drops accordingly 

• When it reaches 0%, the broker's 0% Stop-Out Level policy comes into play.

50% Stop-Out Level: 

Here, if the margin level drops to 50%, the broker will start closing out positions. It offers a bit more flexibility compared to the 0% level. The broker will typically close the most unprofitable positions first, and if that's not enough to bring the margin level back above 50%, more positions will be closed until it's achieved.

100% Stop-Out Level: 

A 100% stop-out level means that when a trader's equity equals the margin required for the open positions, the broker will start closing those positions. It's important to know that this is similar to the 0% level but might be worded differently based on broker terminology.

It's worth noting that while stop-out procedures are meant to protect traders from negative balances, they can lead to significant losses in volatile markets if positions are closed automatically, especially if the market quickly reverses after the stop out. As such, using protective measures, like stop-loss orders and not over-leveraging, is always a good idea. Additionally, the specific percentage and the order in which positions are closed can vary among brokers, so it's essential for traders to be aware of their broker's policy on stop-out levels.

Commissions and Fees

Trading fees can sometimes be difficult to track. Be sure to check how these fees compare with industry standards:

Spreads: There are two main kinds of spread, one is fixed and the other is variable. Generally, the spread refers to the difference or gap between two prices, such as the bid/ask rate in a currency exchange rate. An example of a good spread is 1.4 pips for the EUR/USD (the narrower the better, this means that a spread of 1.4 pips is better than a spread of 2 pips). This article explains more about this important concept.

Commission: This is nothing more than the service charge that brokers require for carrying out transactions on behalf of their clients.

Rollover fees: When you leave a trade open overnight, the broker normally charges a rollover fee for the facility of holding your trade open for that period. This is because they assume the risk of the market changing adversely.

Withdrawal and Deposit Fees: Some platforms might charge fees for depositing or withdrawing funds. Pay attention to this. It's important to be aware of these and any associated limits or conditions.

Subscription or Inactivity Fees: Certain platforms have monthly charges or fees for inactive accounts. Ensure you're aware of these potential costs.

Tradable Assets and Instruments

Payments, Deposits, and Withdrawals in France

FOREX Trading Customer Service

Technical Aspects of the Broker’s Website

When it comes to sharing sensitive personal information online, such as a credit card, cyber security is paramount. You should, therefore, always look for SSL certification and two-factor authentication (especially when registering with a new site). When signing up, remember to use a strong password and keep it where it cannot easily be found.

Trading Platforms, Tools, and Features

FOREX brokers in France offer the same set of tools you can find in any developed market. The best brokers offer advanced algorithmic trading that can support large volumes of trades with high uptime and little lag. Brokers can also offer electronic assistance (EA) and high-end market analysis and insights.

When picking a trading platform, it's crucial to consider what works for both beginners and experienced traders. Here are some things to think about:

Platform Accessibility: Whether it's web-based or downloadable, a good platform should give you options to trade at your convenience at any time, on any device.

Technical Analysis Tools: Look for a platform that has solid technical indicators. They are useful for making smart trading decisions.

Risk Management Tools: Trading is risky. A top-notch platform should allow you to set stop-losses and take-profits to manage those risks.

Customization and User-Friendliness: You should be able to tweak the platform to match your style. Within the MetaTrader product family, both MT4 and MT5 are known for their excellent customization features. Here’s a comparison between the two.

Performance and Reliability: As a newcomer, you should be looking for a platform that runs smoothly when called upon.

Learning and Help Resources: It's a boost if the platform is not only visually pleasing and customizable, but also comes with guides and support to help you when you're stuck.

To choose the perfect trading platform, here's what you can do:

• Determine your trading style and needs.

• Research different platforms and compare their features.

• Test the platforms with a demo account to see which one suits you best.

• Choose a platform that offers the features you need and is user-friendly.

• Ensure that the platform is reliable and has a good reputation in the industry.

Remember that the trading platform you choose can have a significant impact on your trading success, so it's important to choose wisely.

Ask Other Traders on Our Network

Arincen is where traders meet to sample a social trading environment where every investor is welcome. Traders can benefit from powerful communities and learn from each other. Even beginner traders find a home here, as they can study the moves made by successful traders with long track records. We encourage you to ask other traders on our network about their experience of working on our website. 

Which FOREX Broker Has the Best Platform?

Which is the Best FOREX Broker for Low Fees?

After conducting thorough research, we can confidently say that ICM’s ECN account offers the lowest fees for any kind of trader.

Which FOREX Broker Offers the Most CFDs?

Which is the Best FOREX Broker for the Most Assets?

Which is the Best FOREX Broker for Professionals?

FOREX Trading Scams and How to Avoid Them

The financial system in France is designed to ensure that it is very difficult to conduct fraudulent activity in the system. Brokers that violate France’s regulatory guidelines do so at their peril as they quickly discover the AMF will not hesitate to add them to a blacklist. The AMF has the power to block their websites to prevent access from any resident of France.
In one example of how fast the system moves to shut down non-compliance, the AMF banned binary options trading for France FOREX brokers and within three years of the announcement had closed down over 138 illegal binary options and foreign exchange Websites. As such, many of the common FOREX trading scams perpetuated by illicit websites swiftly get identified, reported and shut down.

Will Your Money Be Protected if Your Broker Becomes Insolvent?

The Dos and Don’ts of FOREX Brokers

1. The FOREX brokerage firm must not provide price or market expectations (rise/fall);  
2. The FOREX firm cannot control your financial dealings (deposit/withdrawal);
3. The FOREX brokerage firm should not “manage” your portfolio under any circumstance;
4. The FOREX brokerage firm cannot grant a client a bonus unless clear terms are guiding it beforehand;
5. The brokerage firm must not use bank accounts not under its name; and
6. FOREX brokerage firms cannot have or offer the service of account managers.

Who is Arincen and What Do We Do?

Conclusion

Arincen’s Review Methodology

The team at Arincen collected more than 120 pieces of data covering in excess of 100 licensed FOREX companies. Data collection was conducted in three ways:

1. Companies’ Websites.

2. Other Websites that have ranked FOREX companies.

3. A survey questionnaire (referred to here as Survey “1”) was sent to the companies invited to participate in the exercise. We have identified 13 criteria for our assessment, each containing several aspects and carrying its relative weight. These include licensing, deposits and withdrawals, number of assets, etc.     

Afterwards, we validated the data by:

1. Registering with FOREX companies as a secret shopper and/or as Arincen.

2. Survey number “2,” in which we asked these companies’ customers for important feedback and experience.

The next step saw us evaluate and rank each company, relying on the hard work of 15 Arincen employees. We were very careful in ensuring the most accurate assessment possible, including considering different languages, as well as the various mobile-app operating systems, e.g., Apple, Samsung, etc.

To add credibility to our research project, we sent a final and third survey (referred to here as Survey “3”) to enable participating FOREX companies to evaluate our own research and whether it accurately reflects the realities on the ground. We were fortunate enough to receive a mark of 9.9 out of 10! We have kept to a minimum the margin of error, which stood at a measly 1%. To learn more about how we came up with the evaluation, please click here.