If you do not live in the USA, there is no obvious reason to trade with the list of the brokerage represented below, because you have a much larger selection of best internationally regulated brokers to compare and choose from, hence you are welcome to go through our global brokers list we have composed for you. the brokers listed below may not be regulated in your country. For our list of best internationally regulated brokers, see our global brokers list 2020.
Can US citizens Trade Forex?
Is Forex illegal in USA?
If you are US citizen searching for a place to start your currency trading career, you have an option of choosing from the following selection of US Forex brokers, however as you may have noticed, the options are rather limited and the trading conditions are very strict compared to various international offshore brokerage companies. US Forex brokers have a very tough life, because they must be regulated by the NFA or CFTC. And it doesn't end at just getting those license and regulation approved - a set of extremely uptight rules and requirements must be followed in order to operated and allow US traders register trading accounts. One of the example of the strict ruling is that NFA regulated brokers must minimize their optimal leverage to just 50:1. There is also requirement for on time reporting and detailed record keeping. Not following any of the rules results in almost immediate cancellation of the licenses and permits to act as a forex trading brokerage firm in America.
With all that being said, there is a number of NFA regulated Forex brokers in the USA that bring you reliable and user-friendly trading experience and professional platforms. Keep in mind that there are also US-based Forex brokers working within the borders of the country without necessary regulation received.
Our team of skilled and experienced traders have checked and tried out the trading platforms and features, got in touch with customer support with various tricky questions to test the quality of assistance and overall performance of the top US Forex brokers. We have written down our opinion and summarized the trading conditions of each to help you make a decision when choosing the NFA regulated broker.
Once again, we do recommend to seek a Forex broker outside of the United States in case you are not actually located in the country at the moment. You can browse our Forex brokers reviews list to choose broker that suits your financial and trading skills the most.
Top US Forex Brokers
| Broker | Rating | Demo | Leverage | Bonus | Platforms | Min Deposit | Payments | US Accepted |
| InstaForex | 7 | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| Pepperstone | 3 | yes | 1:500 | 100% Match Bonus | Metatrader 4, Metatrader 5, cTrader, cAlgo, cMirror | 200 | bPay, credit cards, Paypal | yes |
| Alpari | 2 | yes | 1:500 | 50% Welcome | MetaTrader 4 | 1 | Debit or Credit Card, Wire Transfer | yes |
| Forexer | 1 | yes | 1:500 | Forexer platform (Metatrader 5 version) | 200 | 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 |
| 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 |
US Forex Brokers
USA Forex brokers must be licensed as futures commission merchants (FCM) and must have retail foreign exchange dealer (RFED) license. FCM and RFED are licensed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA).
NFA-regulated forex brokers have to follow various restrictions and requirements to continue their operation in the country:
- NFA registered brokers have to maintain a net capital of at least $20 million in order to back up clients positions at all times.
- FIFO (first in, first out) is a platform requirement which doesn't allow traders to have more than one open position on the same currency pair.
- Leverage restriction requires US brokers to minimize the available leverage to maximum of 1:50. Do note that brokers outside US can easily offer up to 1:1000 and do not have any restrictions on trading styles while:
- NFA forex brokers cannot allow hedging
To make things even more complicated, NFA has a rules on disclosure of transaction data where US regulated brokerages must offer the clients an access to specific transaction execution data for best transparency.
So while it might sound attractive to have one of the most secure trading environment, the US forex trading industry is extremely up tight. Despite the high level of trust US brokers receive, the lack of flexibility with the leverage and hedging, for example, is a big time downer for many traders around the world, making the clients outside US seek alternative companies. There is an overwhelming demand for brokers (outside the US) which accept US customers.
Sometimes, regulated international Forex brokers don’t accept clients from the United States and this is all due to the restrictions imposed by the US Government. It’s worth mentioning the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which affects the financial service industry. According to the federal statute, Forex brokerage companies that wish to do business with US residents have to be registered with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and NFA (National Futures Association).
The good news is that the vast majority of offshore Forex brokers are regulated, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. Countries don’t want to defy the over-reaching regulatory authorities. If you are from the United States, the likelihood is that you can open a trading account without much difficulty.