When you start trading forex as a beginner, it is very exciting because forex trading often works very differently from trading stocks or any other asset class. However, as time goes on and you become more and more experienced, your risk appetite will increase, as will your desire for higher profits.
To trade forex on leverage, you need to do is to find a broker who ticks off all the boxes and lets you trade on a variety of forex pairs with high leverage. In this guide, we have reviewed high leverage forex brokers UK traders are accepted at.
In This Guide
There are several brokers that provide the option to trade FX currency pairs using high leverage. However, each of these brokers is suitable for a different type of trader. Here is a list of UK high leverage forex brokers, followed by a review of each of them:
After extensive research on all the high leverage forex trading platforms available to traders and investors in the UK, we have reviewed United Kingdom facing platforms that you can use. Each of these platforms has been discussed below in detail.
eToro is a social trading platform that is also a high leverage forex trading platform. It operates in over 140 countries and is the largest trading platform worldwide. It is also regulated and insured, making any capital you deposit into eToro secure. It has well over 20 million users and offers access to 2400+ financial assets that you can trade on.
It offers nearly 50 forex pairs, ranging from major pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY to minor currency pairs. eToro offers two types of accounts: a regular account and an expert account. If you open a regular account with eToro, you will get leverage of 30x for major and 20x for minor currency pairs. On the other hand, if you choose to open an expert account, then you can get leverage as high as 400x. However, opening an expert account on eToro requires you to complete their test so that they can make sure that you know what you’re doing and that you understand the risks associated with trading on such high leverage.
eToro also offers a variety of assets that you can trade besides currencies. These include stocks (which you can trade on with 10x leverage), ETFs (with 5x leverage), as well as commodities and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It provides a different level of leverage on each of these assets.
If you are new to trading, you can always use eToro’s social trading feature in order to begin and capitalise on the expertise and experience of other traders. To do so, all you need to do is select a trader who trades on forex with high leverage and copy their trades.
eToro fees:
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Capital.com is a CFD brokerage platform that offers as much as 30x leverage for all retail accounts. While the company is originally based in the UK, it also has officers in Belarus and Cyprus. They have their own proprietary trading platform, though traders can also connect the brokerage to the MT4 trading platform if they prefer to do so.
Unlike most other trading platforms, Capital.com does not discriminate between major and minor currency pairs, and offers 30x leverage on all currency pairs across the platform. They have an extremely low minimum deposit requirement of only 20 GBP, which makes them an option for those looking to not risk a lot of capital.
Capital.com fees:
76.25% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with this provider.
Libertex is one of the oldest known high leverage forex brokers in the industry and provides leverage of up to 600x for professional traders. If you are not a professional, you can open a retail trading account with Libertex and enjoy up to 30x leverage. This is because consumer protection regulations by the CySEC limit it from providing extremely high leverage to retail traders so that their risk can be minimised.
While trading with Libertex, you can choose to use their own platform or combine it with either MT4 or MT5 based on your preferences. This means that it supports a variety of automated trading strategies as well. You will have access to the 51 forex pairs that Libertec offers, all of which have 30x leverage. The minimum deposit requirements are also pretty low, requiring only as little as 10 GBP to get started.
Libertex fees:
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CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74,5% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
VantageFX is a trading platform that provides high leverage to all kinds of traders and offers a very wide product range to choose from. Since they are not as regulated as most other brokers, they can afford to provide leverage of up to 500x to all their customers. In addition to this, they also provide access to around 40 currency pairs in addition to indices, commodities, shares, and more.
While trading with VanatgeFX, you can choose from a variety of trading platforms, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is suitable for traders across the world with any level of trading experience. They have zero spreads, so you can buy and sell any pair at exactly the same price at a given moment. In addition to this, their 24X7 customer service and negative balance protection make them a very attractive option for traders. They also provide a 50% welcome bonus, wherein any amount you deposit will receive a 50% bonus.
VantageFX fees:
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FinmaxFX is also a very strong contender for high leverage forex trading if you’re looking for a broker that has significant other advantages. For starters, it offers up to 200x leverage on forex and commodities. In addition to this, it also offers up to 100x leverage on energy instruments, 20x on stocks, and 10x on selected cryptocurrencies.
While FinmaxFX is also regulated, its regulatory agencies aren’t as strict as the FCA or the CySEC. It supports the use of MT5 for advanced charting and technical analysis. The platform offers up to 50 currency pairs and 400 financial instruments in total for you to choose from. The only major drawback of the platform is that it charges very high withdrawal and inactivity fees.
FinmaxFX fees
While Skilling is a relatively new platform, it has become very popular because of the high leverage that it offers for all traders. It offers forex and CFD products, with leverage as high as 500x for major and 200x for minor currency pairs, which is much higher than most other high leverage forex brokers. In addition to allowing traders to trade forex pairs, it also has commodities (with 100x leverage), gold (with 200x leverage). While it also provides access to stocks and cryptocurrencies, the leverage on these is much lower, at 10x and 5x respectively.
The platform is regulated by the CySEC, and it does not charge any fees or commissions on trades. They have very tight spreads, and also offer copy trading for those who are looking to capitalise on the experience of more expert traders.
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Your capital is at risk when trading CFDs with this provider.
AvaTrade is the platform of choice for expert traders, and this is the case for a variety of reasons. For starters, it is compatible with several trading platforms, including but not limited to MT4 and MT5, which allow automated trading, signals, and bots. At the same time, they also have high leverage and operate in several regions across the world. While their exact leverage differs, they have a maximum leverage of 400x for forex pairs, alongside 200x for commodities, 10x for stocks, and 20x for ETFs.
AvaTrade is also one of the very few high leverage forex brokers that offer forex options, which makes it a unique option for expert traders. However, the leverage on forex options is only 100x, much lower than the standard forex leverage of 400x.
71% of retail CFD accounts lose money with this provider.
Forex.com is a UK broker that offers as many as 90 forex pairs, making it a sought-after option for those looking to trade exotic pairs. It also has competitive spreads by virtue of it being an STP broker with DMA account options.
While it offers a variety of asset classes on its platform, it is primarily a forex broker and therefore a lot of its tools and options have been designed specifically for forex traders. However, they also have over 4500 options such as commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and even ETFs.
Forex.com fees:
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FXTM is a very, very high leverage broker that provides higher leverage than any other trading platform discussed so far. If you wish to trade CFD or forex markers with leverage of 1000x, then this is an option for you. They do not discriminate between retail and professional traders, so there is a 1000x leverage for everyone.
They offer up to 1000x leverage for major forex pairs, 500x for minor pairs, 50x for exotic pairs, and 500x leverage for spot metals. They also have tight spreads, which are some of the lowest in the industry. Some of their pairs have zero spreads or as little as 0.1 pips. This makes it one of the most cost-effective platforms, making it the platform of choice for those looking to trade on a high-risk high-reward basis.
FXTM fees
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
The table below provides insights into the leverage that most platforms provide for retail and professional traders, and what their fees are like.
While the possibility of trading with high levels of leverage offers the possibility of high gains and sounds very exciting, it is important to know exactly how leverage works, what its advantages and disadvantages are, and what the risks and rewards are to trading with leverage. These questions have been answered below.
Put very simply, leverage is money that you, as a trader, will borrow from the broker to invest in a particular trade. For example, if you’re investing 100 GBP at 10x leverage into a trade, that means that you will borrow 900 GBP from your broker to invest a total of 1000 GBP, or 10x your investment, into the trade. This allows you to take on bigger positions and maximise your profit potential. It is preferred by traders because they only have to put up a small amount of capital on their own, and can just borrow the rest from their broker
However, leverage is not free. Often, brokers charge interest on the funds that they provide to the trader as leverage. This fee is called the swap fee or the overnight fee and differs from broker to broker.
The amount of leverage that is useful to you depends entirely on your risk appetite, as increased leverage comes with its own set of risks. Higher leverage means that you will have a higher profit if the trade goes in your favour. However, the trade-off is that there is a higher amount of money at risk, the margin of error is lower, and the chances of you losing a lot of money are quite high if the trade goes against you. Therefore, higher leverage is only suitable for those who have a higher risk appetite.
Therefore, the amount of leverage that is right for you depends on how you wish to trade. If you are a risk-averse trader, then it is better for you to trade with lower amounts of leverage, which will limit your risk and downside and leave more room for error. On the other hand, if you’re a risk-happy trader, then you can trade with platforms that offer high leverage, as you believe that the higher risk is justified by the high reward potential on the trades.
Leveraged trading is beneficial for a variety of reasons. For starters, it allows you to take on large positions without risking a lot of your own capital. Therefore, it increases your profit share by increasing the size of your position, while making sure that the initial capital you invested stays the same. If you were to make a normal trade with 100 GBP and make a 10% profit, your profit would be 10 GBP. When you’re trading on 10x leverage, a 100 GBP investment would mean that you open a position with 1000 GBP. a 10% profit in this situation would mean a gain of 100 GBP or 100% on your total capital investment.
However, there is a downside too. As the reward grows, the risk grows right along with it. Therefore, trading with high leverage means that there is a smaller room for error and that your entire capital might get wiped out in case the trade goes against you. To continue the example for earlier, a 10% loss on the initial 100 GBP trade would mean you lose 10 GBP. however, a 10% loss on the leveraged trade would mean that you lose 100 GBP or the entirety of your investment on one trade.
If you are looking to trade on leverage, there are certain tips that you can follow in order to minimise your exposure to risk while maximising your chances of profits. These tips have been discussed below:
Trading with leverage is a high-risk, high-reward trading strategy that can be profitable if it is done right. However, it is also risky, therefore it is important for you to do your research on choosing the right broker before you get started. There are several brokers that are suitable, which have all been reviewed above, including one regulated by the FCA in Britain.
Most brokers only function as the intermediaries between the trader and the market. Since FX pairs do not fluctuate a lot on any given day, brokers are able to provide high leverage while also still managing their own risks and exposure.
Yes, most brokers charge a fee for providing leverage. This is called the overnight fee or the swap rate and is the rate of interest for them providing you with additional capital. Some brokers also have margin fees.
The highest leverage among forex brokers is with FXTM, which provides as much as 1000x leverage.
Yes, some brokers, such as eToro, provide leverage on cryptocurrencies too, however, the leverage provided is much smaller when compared to FX pairs.
I'm a second year Accounting and Finance student at the University of Warwick, in addition to being an incoming Trading Analyst at Morgan Stanley. I'm passionate about the financial markets and all things finance.
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