AvaTrade vs FXCM 2023

AvaTrade has a trust score of 93, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label. Here's what each trust score label means:

• "Highly Trusted" (90-99) - These brokers are considered the most trustworthy firms in the industry. Simply put, we would not hesitate to open and fund an account with a Highly Trusted broker.
• "Trusted" (80-89) - These brokers are reliable and trustworthy. "Trusted" firms are a solid choice, and may simply hold fewer regulatory licences or feature different corporate structures than those brokers that have earned our top Trust Score rating.
• "Average Risk" (70-79) - Average Risk brokers are firms we generally consider to be safe, but that may warrant a closer inspection before you open and fund a live trading account. At the least, we always encourage traders to check the regulatory licenses for Average Risk firms to verify that they are regulated in their own country of residence.
• "High Risk" (60-69) - High-risk firms should be scrutinized and carefully reviewed before opening an account. These forex brokers are – in most cases – operating without credible regulatory licensing, and likely have a history of legal or financial issues. Before considering an account with a high-risk firm, we recommend checking our country guides for your country of residence to see if a more trusted broker is available.
• "Do Not Trust" (<59) - We do not recommend opening an account of any kind with a broker that earns a “Do Not Trust” rating.

FXCM has a trust score of 96, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label.

AvaTrade is a well-rounded, trusted broker that offers excellent educational resources and great social copy trading tools. AvaTrade's commissions and market research are close to the industry average, and traders gain access to AvaTrade's proprietary platforms as well as third-party favorites like MetaTrader.

FXCM, a Jefferies Group company, is a long-standing brand that caters to global forex and CFD traders. It offers multiple trading platforms for alogrithmic trading and social copy-trading alongside it's flagship platform suite. The range of markets available at FXCM has increased following the addition of its share trading feature, and its known for providing robust market research – though pricing at FXM is just average.

Tier-1 regulators go above and beyond by requiring additional capital requirements, checking in on brokers more frequently, and putting brokers through a tougher screening process. AvaTrade is ASIC Authorised (Australia), IIROC Authorised (Canada), CBI Authorised (Ireland) and FSA Authorised (Japan), while FXCM is ASIC Authorised (Australia), IIROC Authorised (Canada) and FCA Authorised (U.K.)., neither have SFC Authorised (Hong Kong), MAS Authorised (Singapore), FMA Authorised (New Zealand), FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) and CFTC Registered (USA)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, AvaTrade is CySEC Authorised (Cyprus), ISA Authorised (Israel), FSCA Authorised (South Africa) and DFSA / Central Bank Authorised (UAE), while FXCM is CySEC Authorised (Cyprus), ISA Authorised (Israel) and FSCA Authorised (South Africa)., neither have CBRC Authorised (China), SEBI Authorised (India), CBR Authorised (Russia) and SEC Authorised (Thailand). When comparing tier-3 licenses AvaTrade is FSC Authorised (British Virgin Islands), while FXCM is none., neither have SCB Authorised (Bahamas), IFSC Authorised (Belize), BMA Authorised (Bermuda), CIMA Authorised (Cayman Islands), FSC Authorised (Mauritius) and VFSC Authorised (Vanuatu).

For trading platforms AvaTrade supports a Proprietary Platform, Desktop Platform (Windows), DupliTrade and ZuluTrade, whereas FXCM supports a Proprietary Platform, Desktop Platform (Windows) and ZuluTrade., neither have cTrader

For MetaTrader AvaTrade provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5), while FXCM provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4). If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.

AvaTrade requires a minimum deposit of $100, while FXCM requires a minimum deposit of Starts from $50. From our testing we found AvaTrade offers spreads of 0.91 (Aug 2020) , while FXCM offers spreads of 1.38 (Q2 2022). AvaTrade supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for popular funding options, where FXCM supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw).

AvaTrade offers a more diverse selection of investment options than FXCM allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Spread Betting, Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies, Agriculturals and U.S. Stocks (CFD)., neither have ETF Looking at total tradeable symbols, AvaTrade has 1260, compared to 441 from FXCM.

Crypto trading is popular with forex traders. Most crypto assets are offered either as the underlying physical asset or as a CFD or other derivative — including spot forex contracts. In terms of trading physical cryptocurrency neither AvaTrade nor FXCM allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

In terms of research and research tools AvaTrade gives traders the following tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. In comparison FXCM has the tools listed here: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading.

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