Australian Forex Brokers

forex australia

Forex Rank has selected only the best Australian Forex brokers. 

These Forex brokers in Australia are regulated with ASIC and are currently in good standing. 

It is interesting to note that many brokers originate from Australia, Find out why!

Australian forex brokers

Old ASIC Rules Vs New

CFD InstrumentOld LeverageNew Leverage
Major currency pairs500:130:1
Minor currency pairs500:120:1
Major stock market indices200:120:1
Commodities (ex. gold)
Minor stock market indices
200:110:1
Stocks20:15:1
Crypto-assets5:12:1

ASIC-licensed brokers may not provide leverage greater than 30:1. 

To put that into context, if you wanted to open a position of 1 Lot (100,000) USD/JPY, with a leverage ratio of 1:100, the amount of margin required to open the position would be just $200. 

Under the new law, which stipulates retail traders may not be given leverage greater than 1:30, the amount of margin required to open that same position would be $3,333.33.

ASIC Regulated Forex Brokers in Australia

Australia has quite a few reputable Australian forex brokers.

ASIC (Australian Securities & Investment Commission) regulates the forex industries within the country and has been doing some since the early 1990s.

Some noteworthy ASIC regulations related to forex include:

  • ASIC is one of the highly reputable agencies in the market that are concerned about safeguarding the interests of the investor.
  • ASIC has made it mandatory that all Forex brokers hold a valid Australian Financial Services License.
  • ASIC is an agency that has a detailed rulebook of regulatory guidelines that is aimed to deter any company from participating in any financial scams or inappropriate business transactions.
  • ASIC regulated Forex brokers are required to hold at least $1,000,000 in operating capital.
  • ASIC constantly monitors all regulated members and the agency is quick to investigate any company for alleged malpractice from the regulatory guidelines.

For more in-depth information on ASIC regulations visit there website at http://asic.gov.au/

Top Australian Forex Brokers List 2021

Here you will find Forex Ranks top ASIC regulated Forex brokers and reviews on them.

pepperstone

Pepperstone

Min Deposit $200.00 | Account Base Currency: USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, JPY, NZD,CHF, SGD, HKD | Max Leverage: 500:1 | Trading Platforms: Metatrader 4/5, cTrader, Webtrader, API

fpmarkets

Min Deposit $100.00 | Account Base Currency: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, HKD, CNY, NZD, SGD, USD | Max Leverage: 500:1 | Trading Platforms: IRESS, Metatrader 4 and 5, MAM, PAMM

ic markets

IC Markets

Min Deposit $200.00 | Account Base Currency: USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, JPY, NZD,CHF, SGD, HKD | Max Leverage: 500:1 | Trading Platforms: Metatrader 4/5, cTrader, Webtrader, API

Global Prime

Min Deposit $500.00 | Account Base Currency: USD, AUD, CAD, SGD, GBP, EUR | Max Leverage: 1:100 leverage and up to 1:200 (pending approval) | Trading Platforms: Metatrader 4

Think Market

ThinkMarkets

Min Deposit $250.00 | Account Base Currency: USD AUD SGD GBP EUR NZD CAD CHF JYP | Max Leverage: 400:1 | Trading Platforms: Metatrader 4, Trade Interceptor

Forex Brokers in Australia

While choosing a forex broker, you should always ensure that the broker is regulated and licensed. 

Depending on the country of the forex broker, the regulation and licensing requirements differ. 

Every country has some form of regulatory body to oversee financial markets.

In Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is responsible for regulating Forex brokers in Australia. 

The regulations ensure that the forex brokers adhere to the rules, making the trading environment safer.

More on Regulations of ASIC

Forex brokers regulated by ASIC must maintain the client deposited funds in segregated accounts. 

The forex brokers will not be able to access the funds stored in these segregated accounts. 

This means that the advertising campaigns, employee payments and other expenses must be met by the forex brokers on their own. 

The client funds can’t be used for operational purposes by the forex broker. This greatly helps in preventing forex transaction frauds.

Only forex brokers that have a minimum capital holdings of AUD 1 million can apply to be regulated by ASIC. 

This means that the forex broker has a strong financial background to provide sustainable forex trading services to clients all over the world. 

Before the new regulations, the minimum capital requirement was much smaller. 

After the introduction of new capital requirement, many illegitimate forex brokers went out of business.

The ASIC regulations are not as strict as the forex regulations imposed in the USA. 

This doesn’t mean that the Australian brokers are not good. 

The looser regulations provide more flexibility for brokers to offer some interesting forex trading services, which is not possible for the US forex brokers.

Does ASIC have a compensation scheme?

ASIC doesn’t provide any compensation scheme for the benefit of traders. 

When there is a compensation scheme, the forex brokers should set aside a portion of their profits to refund clients, when the broker becomes bankrupt. 

Without it, traders cannot hold the broker accountable for their funds, when the forex broker declares bankruptcy.

ASIC doesn’t support anti-hedging rules. US forex brokers don’t allow traders to hold long and short positions at the same time. 

This restricts the ability of the trader to make more money, when the market conditions are favorable. If you use an Australian forex broker, you can enjoy hedging. While the risk is greater, the rewards are better.

How much leverage do Australian Forex brokers offer?

Regulated Australian forex brokers leverage is now capped at 1:30 for currency trading.

Many regulated offshore forex brokers offer a leverage, as high as 1:500. 

This means that you can control a huge amount by investing a few dollars. However, the higher leverage increases the risk dramatically. 

The rewards are equally higher. New traders should be careful, while dealing with forex brokers offering high leverage. 

If you don’t have a personal money management plan, the higher leverage will make you lose money rapidly.

A fully licensed and regulated Australian forex broker will list the ASIC license number on the website. 

You can use the license number and investigate about the broker before signing up. 

Licensed brokers are trustworthy because they take the time and effort to adhere to the regulations, to get their license.

Who is the largest Forex broker in Australia?

IC Markets is the Largest Australian Fx broker. With a monthly high trading volume of US$1.04 trillion Billion. (TRADING VOLUME – MARCH 2021
US$1.04 TRILLION)

They also have the most clients under their belt with 180,000+ worldwide clients, making IC Markets the biggest Australian Forex broker by client size and trading volumes.

About This Article

Author: Mark Prosz

Sources of information and credits for this post include: 

https://asic.gov.au/