Risk warning: CFDs and leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly. Investments can fall in value. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.

Ranking

Best brokers with a demo account 2026

A demo account is only as useful as it is realistic. Check whether it expires, whether it uses live or delayed data, and whether slippage and commissions are simulated. A demo without cost and slippage modelling produces results that will not reproduce with real money.

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brokers rated: 40
Data as of: 30 Aug 2026

Country of residence:No country of residence chosen — all offers are shown.

Demo account

The top 3 in detail

Why these three lead — derived from the criteria this category weights most heavily.

Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.

Charles Schwab

The full-service US giant that also owns thinkorswim, a professional-grade trading platform.

Ahead on Education (4.6) and Trading platform (4.8) — together those two carry 56% of this category's weighting.

USD 0 commission on every online listed US stock and ETF order, with no share cap and no proprietary-fund restrictions
thinkorswim desktop, web and mobile are included free — full options chains, thinkScript, backtesting and paperMoney simulation
Options at USD 0.65 per contract, with the fee waived on buy-to-close orders at USD 0.05 or less
Around 7,700 no-transaction-fee mutual funds in Mutual Fund OneSource, plus USD 0 new-issue Treasuries at auction

Group index 93/100Protection depends on your legal entity

SECFINRAFDIC

StocksETFsOptionsFuturesForexBondsFundsCommodities+1

4.6

Category score

Overall score: 4.6 / 5

Strengths in this category

Education30%

4.6

Trading platform26%

4.8

Fees16%

4.6

Mobile app16%

4.4

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 1 %

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

IG

The most complete leveraged-trading operation in Europe — and it prices like it knows that.

4.5

Ahead on Education (4.5) and Safety & regulation (4.9) — together those two carry 42% of this category's weighting.

Around 17,000 tradable markets in a single account — shares, indices, FX, commodities, bonds, ETFs, turbo warrants and crypto CFDs, subject to regional restrictions
Six top-tier licences — FCA (FRN 195355), BaFin, FINMA, ASIC (AFSL 515106), MAS and JFSA — plus a mid-tier DFSA licence in Dubai; the FINMA licence among those six is a full Swiss banking licence at IG Bank S.A., which puts Swiss cash under esisuisse protection
Zero commission on UK and international shares, and the GBP 24 quarterly custody fee was scrapped outright in January 2026 rather than merely waived for active traders

Group index 100/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCABaFin

StocksETFsOptionsFuturesForex+8

Strengths in this category

Education30%

4.5

Trading platform26%

4.7

Fees16%

4.0

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 0.8 %

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

CMC Markets

One of the best charting packages in retail CFD trading, wrapped around a narrower product range than the market count suggests.

4.4

Ahead on Trading platform (4.8) and Education (4.2) — together those two carry 56% of this category's weighting.

Next Generation is one of the strongest charting suites bundled with a retail CFD account —115+ indicators, 70 chart patterns, 12 chart types and pattern-recognition scanners, at no extra cost
0% commission on UK and European share CFDs (Greece the sole exception at 0.45%), against IG's spread-plus-conversion model
EUR/USD averages around 0.7 pips on the standard account, and FX Active delivers from 0.0 pips for USD/GBP 2.50 per side per 100,000 notional

Group index 94/100Protection depends on your legal entity

FCAASIC

StocksETFsOptionsForexCFDs+5

Strengths in this category

Education30%

4.2

Trading platform26%

4.8

Fees16%

4.3

Stocks (per order): Free (CFD)
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 0.7 %

Open account Read review

Investing involves risk. Your capital is at risk.

Also worth a look

Rank 4 and below, ordered by category score.

Saxo

4.4

A Danish bank that trades like a professional platform — broad, polished, and no longer expensive.

Multi-asset portfolios
Bond investors

Tiered — Improved pricing at higher account tiers

Stocks (per order): 0.08 %
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 0.25 %

StocksETFsOptionsFutures+7

Pros: Full Danish banking licence (Finanstilsynet licence 1149) and SIFI designation — a stronger structural safeguard than a broker-only permission
Cons: Currency conversion costs 0.25% over mid-market for EU and Swiss clients, and up to 0.60% at the UK entity's Classic tier — the single largest hidden cost for cross-currency investors

Group index 96/100

DFSAFCA

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

Capital.com

4.3

A polished retail CFD platform in Europe, provided you accept that CFDs are the whole product.

Active CFD traders
Forex day trading

Stocks (per order): in the spread
Minimum deposit: US$20
FX conversion: 0.7 %

StocksETFsForexCFDs+4

Pros: No commission on any CFD and no inactivity fee whatsoever — unusual in the CySEC/FCA CFD segment
Cons: 0.7% currency conversion markup on every trade settled outside your base currency — the single largest hidden cost here

Group index 77/100

FCAASIC

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

XTB

4.3

One of the strongest trading platforms in the commission-free bracket - xStation 5 is a professional workspace attached to a zero-commission share account.

Serious charting on a budget
Commission-free European stocks

0% — 0% commission on stocks and ETFs up to the monthly volume cap

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 0.5 %

StocksETFsOptionsForex+4

Pros: xStation 5 is one of the strongest platforms in the commission-free bracket - a real screener, market heat map, sentiment data, economic calendar and news in one workspace, on web, desktop and mobile with near-identical features.
Cons: The 0.5% currency conversion charge (0.8% at weekends and on public holidays) applies whenever the instrument currency differs from your account currency. For a EUR investor buying US stocks it is charged on the way in and again on the way out, and it dwarfs the commission it replaces.

Group index 72/100

FCAKNF

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

moomoo

4.3

One of the most data-rich free trading platforms on the market — if you happen to live in one of the seven countries it serves.

Data-driven active traders
US options traders

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: n/a

StocksETFsOptionsFutures+3

Pros: Free Nasdaq TotalView Level 2 depth on the US platform — Webull charges USD 3.99 per month for comparable data
Cons: Available to residents of only seven countries — the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand — with no EU, UK or DACH entity

Group index 86/100

FINRAMAS

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

Pepperstone

4.4

Raw spreads and five platforms for traders who care about execution cost, not about owning the asset.

Active FX traders
Scalping and day trading

From 0.0 pips — Raw spreads from 0.0 pips with commission

Stocks (per order): 0.1 % (CFD)
Minimum deposit: US$10
FX conversion: n/a

StocksETFsForexCFDs+5

Pros: Razor all-in EUR/USD cost of about 0.8 pips - a 0.0 to 0.1 pip raw spread plus USD 3.50 per lot per side
Cons: Everything is a CFD. You never own the share or ETF, so there are no voting rights, no transferable holdings and no dividend tax reclaim

Group index 82/100

FCAASIC

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

CapTrader

4.2

Interactive Brokers' market access wrapped in German regulation, German support and a German phone number.

German-speaking options and futures traders
Active traders who want IBKR pricing with German support

Stocks (per order): 0.1 %
Minimum deposit: €2,000
FX conversion: 0 %

StocksETFsOptionsFutures+7

Pros: BaFin-supervised German investment firm (institution number 10156708) with a Düsseldorf address, German contract law and a free German hotline until 20:00
Cons: No Abgeltungsteuer is withheld. German investors gain a compounding advantage but must declare everything themselves via Anlage KAP, and a Freistellungsauftrag is not possible — for many people that alone rules CapTrader out

Group index 81/100

BaFinCBI

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

Admirals (Admiral Markets)

4.1

The rare CFD broker that also settles real shares — broad, well-priced and unusually forgiving about dormant accounts.

Real share investing
MetaTrader users

Stocks (per order): US$0.02/share
Minimum deposit: €100
FX conversion: 0.3 %

StocksETFsForexCFDs+4

Pros: Real share and ETF ownership through Invest.MT5 — roughly 4,800 listed companies and 200-plus ETFs from USD 0.02 per share with a USD 1.00 minimum, with no custody or platform fee.
Cons: Support is weekday office hours only, with no weekend desk — a genuine gap for anyone holding crypto CFDs over a Saturday.

Group index 72/100

FCAASIC

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

LYNX

4.1

The friendliest front door to Interactive Brokers in the German-speaking market — and the most expensive one.

German-speaking investors who want IBKR access without TWS
Options and futures traders

Stocks (per order): 0.14 %
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 0.01 %

StocksETFsOptionsFutures+7

Pros: LYNX+ is a genuinely good browser platform, and having it alongside full Trader Workstation access means you can start simple and grow into the terminal
Cons: The most expensive of the German Interactive Brokers introducing brokers on equities: 0.14% with a EUR 5.80 Xetra minimum and a USD 5.00 minimum on US shares, against CapTrader's EUR 4.00 and USD 2.00

Group index 80/100

AFMBaFin

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

Webull

4.1

A desktop-grade trading terminal wrapped in a zero-commission app — with a support desk that lags badly behind the software.

US options traders
Chart-driven active traders

Stocks (per order): Free
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: n/a

StocksETFsOptionsFutures+5

Pros: USD 0 commission on US-listed stocks, ETFs and equity options, with no per-contract fee — index options are the only equity-derivative exception at USD 0.50 per contract
Cons: Customer support is the standing complaint: Trustpilot sits at roughly 1.3–1.4 out of 5, with transfers and account access the most common themes

Group index 86/100

FINRACFTC/NFA

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

eToro

4.0

One of the most complete copy-trading products in Europe, wrapped in a notably simple broker app - and paid for through conversion charges rather than commissions.

Copy trading
Crypto plus stocks in one account

USD 100,000 virtual — Demo account with USD 100,000 in virtual funds

Stocks (per order): US$1
Minimum deposit: US$50
FX conversion: 0.75 %

StocksETFsForexCFDs+4

Pros: CopyTrader is one of the most mature copy-trading products in Europe: no separate fee on top of normal trading costs, a USD 200 minimum per copied trader, and up to 100 traders copied at once.
Cons: Currency conversion costs 0.75% each way between a European local-currency account and USD, before Club discounts whose size eToro's own pages state differently - for a broker whose core product is USD-denominated, that is the one number you most need.

Group index 91/100

FCAASIC

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

IC Markets

4.2

One of the cheapest routes to raw institutional FX pricing - as long as you check which entity you are signing with.

Algorithmic and EA traders
Scalping and high-frequency FX

Stocks (per order): 0.1 % (CFD)
Minimum deposit: €200
FX conversion: n/a

StocksFuturesForexCFDs+5

Pros: All-in EUR/USD cost of roughly 0.6 to 0.8 pips on Raw Spread - a 0.0 to 0.1 pip raw spread plus USD 3.50 per lot per side
Cons: Most non-EU, non-Australian clients contract with Raw Trading Ltd under Seychelles licence SD018 - an offshore regulator with no investor compensation scheme behind it

Group index 70/100

ASICCySEC

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

OANDA

4.1

Thirty years, six top-tier licences and one of the strongest mobile apps in FX - attached to spreads you have to work around.

Beginners
Mobile-first traders

Stocks (per order): 0.06 % (CFD)
Minimum deposit: None
FX conversion: 1 %

StocksETFsForexCFDs+6

Pros: Regulated by six tier-1 authorities - CFTC/NFA, FCA (542574), CIRO, ASIC (AFSL 412981), MAS and the JFSA - a licence footprint almost nobody in retail FX matches
Cons: The default spread-only account is expensive: EUR/USD has been measured at 1.4 to 1.7 pips against roughly 0.8 pips all-in at raw-spread competitors

Group index 89/100

CFTC/NFAFCA

Protection depends on your legal entity

Visit broker Read review

Quick comparison

The numbers that decide this category, side by side. Scroll right on narrow screens for every column.

Best brokers with a demo account — Quick comparison
Broker	Category	Overall	Education30%	Trading platform26%	Fees16%	Stocks (per order)	Minimum deposit	Regulation	Action
1Charles Schwab	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.8	4.6	Free	None	SECFINRA, FDIC	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
2IG	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.7	4.0	Free	None	FCABaFin, FINMA, ASIC, MAS, JFSA, DFSA	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
3CMC Markets	4.4	4.4	4.2	4.8	4.3	Free (CFD)	None	FCAASIC, BaFin, MAS	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
4Saxo	4.4	4.4	4.0	4.7	4.2	0.08 %	None	DFSAFCA, FINMA, MAS, JFSA	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
5Capital.com	4.4	4.3	4.6	4.3	4.4	in the spread	US$20	FCAASIC, CySEC	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
6XTB	4.4	4.3	4.4	4.6	4.2	Free	None	FCAKNF, CySEC, CNMV, DFSA, FSCA, FSC	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
7moomoo	4.3	4.3	4.0	4.6	4.5	Free	None	FINRAMAS, ASIC, CIRO, SC	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
8Pepperstone	4.2	4.4	3.4	4.6	4.6	0.1 % (CFD)	US$10	FCAASIC, BaFin, CySEC, DFSA, SCB, CMA	Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Our methodology

How we build this ranking

No editorial gut feeling — a published calculation. This category shifts the weights of our rating model towards what its audience actually needs.

Weighting in this category

40 brokers rated

The pale tick marks the weight in the general Brokaro model.

Category weight
Base model

The formula

The category score is 70% the category-specific weighting and 30% the general overall score. A strong all-rounder therefore does not drop out simply because it fails to lead one single criterion.

Category score = 0.7 × Σ(w_i × s_i) + 0.3 × Overall score

Full methodology

Requirements to be listed

A broker that misses these never appears in this list, no matter how it scores.

A free demo account must be available so you can practise without risk.

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