Forex trading became extremely complicated for USA since most off-shore brokers today do not accept US traders. Meanwhile the numbers of US-regulated Forex brokers have diminished to almost zero due to the fact that all US Forex brokers must be registered with National Futures Assosiation (NFA) and follow very strict NFA rules. This section presents our selection and reviews of Forex brokers in USA for 2018, which were revised and updated on 17 January 2018. The main regulation authorities in USA are NFA and CFTC (Commodity Gutures Trading Committe) with the main agenda to regulate competitiveness, efficiency and protect markets against abusive trading practices. For example, NFA regulated brokers must have maximum leverage of 50:1 and religiously record and report their trading services.
All that being said, the situation is not completely hopeless and there are still handful of US-based Forex brokers that give brokerage services within the country with decent trading platforms, reliable customer support and user-friendly interface of the top US Forex Brokers.
There are only two real reasons to look for brokers that accept US traders - you are either live in US and off-shore brokers do not let you register, or you are thinking of moving to US in the near future and don't want to switch brokers once you move!
Top US Forex Brokers
| Broker | Rating | Demo | Leverage | Bonus | Platforms | Min Deposit | Payments | US Accepted |
| InstaForex | 8 | yes | 1:1,000 | $100 No Deposit Bonus | MetaTrader 4, Metatrader 5, Webtrader | 1 | Bitcoin, CashU, credit cards, EgoPay, Neteller, Skrill, Ukash, UnionPay, WebMoney, wire transfer | yes |
| eToro | 7 | yes | 1:500 | - | eToro Platform | 50 | Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Paypal, Neteller, Skrill, Webmoney, Wire Transfer | yes |
| FXCM | 5 | yes | 1:200 | - | Trading Station II, MetaTrader 4, Active Trader, Forex System Selector | 250 | Credit/Debit card, Online Check, Bank Wire, Paper Check | yes |
| Pepperstone | 5 | yes | 1:500 | 100% Match Bonus | Metatrader 4, Metatrader 5, cTrader, cAlgo, cMirror | 200 | bPay, credit cards, Paypal | yes |
| Forex.com | 4 | yes | 1:200 | - | ForexTrader platform (in-house), MetaTrader 4 | 50 | wire transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Check | yes |
| FXDD | 3 | yes | 1:200 | - | MetaTrader4, FXDD Trader, Power Trader, FXDD Auto, MTXtreme | 100 | Wire, PayPal, Check, BPS | yes |
| Tallinex | 3 | yes | 1:1,000 | Metatrader 4 | 100 | credit cards, wire transfer, Skrill, Neteller | yes | |
| Oanda | 3 | yes | 1:50 | Metatrader 4, FXtrade | 1 | check, Credit cards, PayPal, Wire transfer | yes | |
| Forexer | 1 | yes | 1:500 | Forexer platform (Metatrader 5 version) | 200 | wire transfer | yes | |
| CMS Forex | 1 | yes | 1:50 | VT Trader, MetaTrader 4 | 250 | Credit/Debit Cards, Wire Transfer | yes | |
| LMFX | 1 | yes | 1:1,000 | 100% match bonus, 15% recovery | Metatrader 4, Webtrader | 50 | credit cards, Fasapay, neteller, okpay, skrill, wire transfer | yes |
| Pricemarkets | 1 | yes | 1:400 | MetaTrader 4 ECN, Currenex ECN, Integral FX, Liquid-x, Hotspot FX | 500 | wire transfer, credit cards | yes | |
| Rallytade | 1 | yes | 1;1,000 | Metatrader 4, xStation (web-based), xSocial, xOptions | 100 | credit cards, neteller, skrill, Interswitch, Pocketmoni, etraszact, perfectMoney, WebMoney, VoguePay | yes | |
| Templefx | 1 | yes | 1:400 | MetaTrader 4, TempleFX Trader (web-based) | 50 | Wire transfer, credit cards, Skrill, Sofort, Neteller, UnionPay | yes | |
| TurnkeyForex | 1 | yes | 1:200 | 00% deposit bonus; 30 days of commission-free trading; 30% rescue bonus | MetaTrader 4, Trade Station | 5 | credit cards, wire transfer, neteller | yes |
| Alpari | 0 | yes | 1:500 | 50% Welcome | MetaTrader 4 | 1 | Debit or Credit Card, Wire Transfer | yes |
| FxGlory | 0 | yes | 1:3,000 | 50% up to $1,000 | MetaTrader4, Mobile | 1 | Credit/debit cards, Paypal | yes |
| GrandCapital | 0 | yes | 500:1 | $500 no deposit | MetaTrader 4, WebTrader | 10 | Credit card, Neteller, Webmoney, CashU, Fasapay, Scrill, Webmoney | yes |
| Adamant Finance | 0 | yes | 1:500 | Metatrader 4 | 1 | Bitcoin, CashU, credit cards, FasaPay, MegaTransfer, Neteller, OKPAY, QIWI, Webmoney, Yandex.Money | yes |
Requirements to USA Forex Brokers
US Forex brokers are required to be registered with FCM Futures Commission Merchants and licensed by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and National Futures Association (NFA). These regulators take care of money fraud and possible misconduct of the brokers in US.
NFA-regulated forex brokers have to obey various obligations and requirements to keep their license and, therefore, reputation. Some of the most important requirements are reviewed below:
- Financial Liability: NFA-registered brokers must have and maintain the financial capital of minimum $20 million to make sure that the clients can hold the positions they make.
- Platform Requirements: the platform must be restricted to one position on specific currency pair, in other words, the old position must be closed before a new one is open for one specific currency pair.
- Maximum Leverage: All US brokers can not have leverage higher than 1:50. This is a major restriction for USA brokers, because most of their off-shore competitors give access to leverage as high as 1:1000.
- Trading Style Restrictions: Traders are not allowed to use hedging strategy during trading activity.
- Transparency: NFA requires US forex brokers to be transparent in providing clients with transaction execution data, whenever needed, in order to ensure complete transparency between the brokerage and traders.
Are US Forex Brokers More Reliable Than Off-Shore Brokers?
We have reviewed the tight regulations for US forex brokerage through their regulatory bodies. Failing to comply with NFA regulations may result in money fines or worse - the loss of license. Every time a broker looses its license, it is released in the press release and of course, effects the broker's reputation right away. It is in the broker's interest to follow the regulations and keep the high level of reputation among the online clients.
With that being said, the amount of US traders seeking better trading opportunities with high leverage and hedging, for example, is increasing exponentially. The demand for less tight regulations is growing fast and brokers outside the US who still accept US customers are definitely getting large amount of new sign ups. Regulations are nice, but the restrictions that come with are not always in favor of online trader.