Markets desk
The Markets Desk byline covers broker analysis, EU regulation, trading-cost analysis, and risk management. Research is conducted by qualified contribu...
Credentials
- Editorial persona — FX-Brokers EU
What this page is
A model of how 22 EU-eligible brokers are set up for execution-sensitive trading, compiled from each broker's published platforms, EUR/USD spreads and commissions as held in our broker database (broker data last reviewed 2026-09-20). It is modelled, not measured: no orders were placed, no fills were timed and no slippage was recorded, so the page contains no latency, fill-rate or slippage figures.
Correction, 23 September 2026. The June 2026 edition of this page published per-broker latency, fill-rate and slippage figures presented as the output of a timed test. They were not measurements. They have been removed and are not replaced by estimates.
Key Figures from the Model
Brokers modelled
22
EU-eligible in our database
Raw-spread account
8
publish EUR/USD from 0.0 pips
Offer cTrader
3
per published platform lists
Top setup score
5/5
IC Markets and Pepperstone
EU Broker Execution Setup Ranking (Modelled)
Ranked by setup score (0–5), computed only from brokers' published data: one point each for MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, and one for a raw-spread EUR/USD account from 0.0 pips. Equal scores share a rank (shown with =) and are listed alphabetically. The score counts features; it does not rate execution speed or quality.
| # | Broker | Setup score | MT4 | MT5 | cTrader | TradingView | Raw-spread account | Lowest published EUR/USD spread (pips) | Published commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | IC Markets | 5/5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.0(from, Raw Spread) | $3.50 per lot per side (Raw Spread), None (Standard); cTrader: $3.00 per USD 100k per side |
| =1 | Pepperstone* | 5/5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0.0(from, Razor) | $3.50 per lot per side (Razor), None (Standard) |
| =3 | Eightcap | 4/5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 0.0(Raw) | $3.50 per lot per side (Raw), None (Standard) |
| =3 | Forex.com | 4/5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 0.0(from, RAW Spread; not offered in the UK) | $5 per 100K (RAW Spread; not offered in the UK), None (Standard) |
| =5 | Admirals* | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.0(Zero) | $3.00 per lot per side (Zero), None (Trade) |
| =5 | Capital.com | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | 0.7(variable; live quote in Sep 2026) | None (other fees apply) |
| =5 | FxPro | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | 0.4(from, cTrader) | $3.99 per lot per side at EUR/USD 1.14 ($0.35 per $10k USD traded) (cTrader), None (Standard) |
| =5 | OANDA | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | 0.7(UK 0.6; Australia 0.7) | None on spread-only pricing; raw/core pricing adds a commission |
| =5 | Tickmill* | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.0(Raw) | $3.00 per lot per side (Raw), None (Classic) |
| =5 | XM* | 3/5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | 0.0(from, Zero) | None (Ultra Low); commission charged per trade (Zero) |
| =11 | AvaTrade* | 2/5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | 0.8(typical, EU) | None (spread-only) |
| =11 | Axi | 2/5 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | 0.0(from, Pro) | $2.25 per lot per side (Pro), None (Standard), $1.75 per lot per side (Elite; international only) |
| =11 | FXCM | 2/5 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | 1.3(Standard) | None (Standard); commission pricing by approval only (UK Active Trader from £2.00 per lot per side) |
| =11 | IG | 2/5 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | 0.9(0.6 at IG UK and IG International; 0.9 at IG Europe) | None (spread-only on most accounts) |
| =11 | Swissquote | 2/5 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | 1.9(EU Standard 1.9; international Standard 1.8; UK Premium 1.4) | None (spread-only) |
| =11 | Trade Nation* | 2/5 | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | 0.5(fixed on TN Trader 07:00–21:59 GMT+1; 0.6 overnight) | None (spread-only) |
* Affiliate partner — see partner transparency. Partner status is not an input to the score or the order. Spread basis in brackets is the broker's own wording (account name, “average”, “typical”, “from”, “fixed”); minima and averages are not directly comparable.
Download the model (CSV) — compiled from brokers' published data
Shortlists by Setup
The same model, filtered by the platform and account combinations scalpers and automated traders most often look for. Order follows the ranking above.
Brokers on Proprietary Platforms (Not Scored)
6 brokers in the model publish none of MT4, MT5, cTrader or TradingView. The setup criteria do not apply to them, so they are listed here without a score — this says nothing about how their platforms execute orders.
| Broker | Platforms (as published) | Lowest published EUR/USD spread (pips) |
|---|---|---|
| eToro | eToro Platform, eToro App | 0.57(from, 0.005% of price at EUR/USD 1.14) |
| Interactive Brokers | Trader Workstation (TWS), IBKR Mobile, IBKR GlobalTrader, Client Portal | 0.1(from, IBKR Pro) |
| Plus500* | Risk-free demo account, Plus500 Platform, Plus500 App | 0.8(from, variable) |
| Saxo Bank | SaxoTraderGO, SaxoTraderPRO, SaxoInvestor | 1.6(Classic minimum by country: UK 0.8; Saxo Bank A/S 1.1; France 1.6) |
| Trading 212 | Trading 212 Web, Trading 212 App | 1.3(average) |
| XTB | xStation 5, xStation Mobile | 1.3(from 0.8 at the EU/UK entities; 1.3 standard spread at XTB International) |
How to Measure Execution Speed Yourself
No broker can be named the fastest without independent measurement. Latency depends on where the broker's trade server sits, the platform and bridge an order passes through, your own connection or VPS, order size and market conditions at the moment you trade. The only execution figures worth trusting are ones you record yourself, under the same conditions, for every broker you compare.
- Decide what you are measuring. Click-to-fill time is your network path plus the broker's own processing. Slippage is the gap between the price you requested and the price you got. Rejections and requotes are failures, not slow fills — count them separately.
- Use live accounts, not only demo. Demo servers do not necessarily route orders the way live accounts do. Learn the platform and set up logging on demo, then compare shortlisted brokers live at the smallest size they allow.
- Keep the setup identical. Same instrument (EUR/USD), same order type and size, same platform and the same machine or VPS for every broker. If you use a VPS, host it close to the broker's trade server — ask the broker which data centre hosts it.
- Test at comparable times. Run your main sample during the London–New York overlap, when EUR/USD is typically most liquid, and repeat in a quieter period. Test around scheduled news separately; behaviour there differs and should not be mixed into the baseline.
- Log every order. Record the time sent, time filled, requested price, filled price and whether the order was rejected or requoted. Most platforms write these events to a journal or log; export it, or record timestamps with an EA or cBot.
- Report the median, not the best fill. A single fast or slow order tells you little. Collect enough orders per broker to take a median and a high percentile, and compare those.
- Check slippage symmetry. Compare how often slippage goes in your favour with how often it goes against you. Consistently one-sided slippage matters more than small differences in speed.
- Compare against the broker's own disclosures. EU investment firms must have an order execution policy and disclose it to clients; read it. Where a broker publishes its own execution statistics (average execution time, share of orders with positive or negative slippage), set your log against them — and treat them as the broker's claim, not an independent test.
Platform choice changes the route an order takes — MetaTrader bridges, cTrader's own server stack, TradingView's broker connection — which is exactly why execution speed has to be measured per broker and per platform rather than assumed from a brand name.
Methodology
Source
Every figure on this page comes from our broker database, which records each broker's published EUR/USD spread statement, published commission, account types and platform line-up (broker data last reviewed 2026-09-20). Nothing on this page was measured by FX-Brokers.info.
Which brokers are included
The 22 brokers in our database that are eligible for EU-facing pages. 8 brokers flagged in our database as not eligible for EU/EEA/UK retail listings are excluded entirely. Inclusion is not a statement about which entity will onboard you: check the broker's EU/EEA entity and regulator on its review page before opening an account.
Setup score (0–5)
- +1 each for MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, where the broker publishes the platform.
- +1 for a raw-spread account: the broker publishes a EUR/USD spread from 0.0 pips on at least one account.
- Equal scores share a rank (shown with =); within a tie, brokers are listed alphabetically.
- Not inputs: affiliate partner status, editorial ratings, commission level and the spread figure itself.
- Brokers that publish none of the four platforms are listed separately and not scored, because the criteria do not apply to them.
Lowest published spread
The lowest EUR/USD figure in the broker's published spread statement, shown with the basis the broker attaches to it (account name, “average”, “typical”, “from”, “fixed”). Brokers publish on different bases, so the figure is shown for reference and not scored. The commission column is the broker's published wording, unedited.
What the model does not contain
- Latency, fill rates, slippage, requotes or per-session spreads — we hold no independent source for them.
- Execution model (ECN, STP, market maker) and scalping or EA permissions — our database records these for only a couple of brokers, too few to compare, so they are left out.
- VPS availability — not recorded as a field in our database.
Anything we cannot source is left out rather than estimated.
Limitations
- Published spreads and commissions are the brokers' own figures and can change without notice.
- A published minimum spread is not the spread you will typically pay.
- The score counts platform and account features. It does not rank execution speed or execution quality.
Partner Transparency
FX-Brokers.info earns affiliate commissions from some brokers in this model (Admirals, AvaTrade, Pepperstone, Plus500, Tickmill, Trade Nation and XM), marked * in the tables. Partner status is not an input to the score, the order or the inclusion rule: the ranking uses only the formula in the methodology, applied to every broker in the same way. The full model is available as a CSV download above.
Cite This Model
This model is licensed under CC BY 4.0. You are free to share and adapt it with attribution. Please describe it as a model compiled from brokers' published data, not as a measurement.
Related Research
Frequently Asked Questions
Markets desk
The Markets Desk byline covers broker analysis, EU regulation, trading-cost analysis, and risk management. Research is conducted by qualified contribu...
Credentials
- Editorial persona — FX-Brokers EU
Risk Disclaimer
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. A high percentage of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This research is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Figures shown are brokers' own published figures, which can change without notice; confirm them with the broker before trading.