How to Choose a Forex Broker in France

There are many of the world’s best forex traders in France, not just those who are French citizens and French residents, but also expats who live in France.

Obviously you need a forex broker to trade Forex. No way around that. Oddly enough, there are not many France based forex brokers.

But no matter. Any forex broker regulated by any one of the EU countries (including the UK) can accept French traders, without having to be additionally authorized by the French financial regulatory body Autorite Des Marches Fianciers (AMF).

Minimum Deposit	Max Leverage	Regulations
$200	1:30	ASIC, CySEC, FCA, MiFID	VISIT BROKER 68% of retail CFD accounts lose money. eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs, only real Crypto assets available.
$100	1:400	MiFID	VISIT BROKER
$50	1:200	IFSC	VISIT BROKER

We will review six top-rated French forex brokers here, all of them are regulated by a minimum of one EU member states and all can accept French forex traders.

Compare the Top Forex Brokers in France (FR) in 2020

Here’s a list of the best forex brokers in France that are reputable and authorized to trade forex in FR.

IG Group

IG Group, established in 1974 and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and additionally by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Germany, is a forex broker that has an excellent reputation in the market.

IG supports MetaTrader 4 (MT4), the most popular 3rd party desktop trading platform for trading forex. You can also trade using IG’s web based trading platform and mobile trading apps (iOS and Android).

Traders residing in France who want to open an account with IG must go through IG’s French language website. If you are an expat residing in France but yet to be able to read and write French fluently, you may have problems with the language issue.

Forex trading in IG for French based individual traders is done through Forex CFDs, not the spot forex. Only those who can qualify as a “Professional” trader can access the spot forex trading by opening a DMA (Direct Market Access) account.

After opening your account with IG, French traders can also choose to switch their account from the normal CFD account to the “Limited Risk CFD” account, where your potential loss is limited to the initial margin when you open the position.

What IG offers to France based forex traders

Minimum deposit: no minimum required by wire transfer. If by credit/debit card, for French traders, the minimum is €300 or $300.
Base Currencies: French traders can choose one of the two currencies as their account base currency: EUR or USD.
Minimum lot size for forex trading: 0.10 lots (10% of a full lot, known as a mini lot). IG doesn’t offer micro lot (0.01 lots) trading.
Funding options:
1. bank wire transfer
2. credit/debit cards
3. PayPal
Commissions: IG doesn’t charge commissions on forex trading other than currency pair spreads. IG’s spreads are close to the industry average. They aren’t higher or lower than other forex brokers compared on this list.
Trading platforms: MT4, a web-based trading platforms and mobile/tablet apps (Android and iOS).
ProRealTime: IG offers ProRealTime, an advanced charting package for more advanced traders. IG is the only forex broker that offers ProRealTime to French traders. This service is optional. It is not free unless you make at least 4 trades each month.
Free demo account: The IG free demo account is great for paper trading to get familiar with the trading platforms.

Pros

Low minimum deposit
Multiple funding options
Offers MT4 platform, widely used by forex traders
ProRealTime charting package available
“Limited Risk CFD” account available to French traders

Cons

Accounts must be opened and managed through the French language only website for France based traders
No micro lot trading
Forex CFDs only, no spot forex trading (unless you qualify as an Active Trader)

Bottomline

IG is a very reputable forex brokers in Europe, though it’s less beginner friendly due to not allowing micro lots trading.

CMC Markets

CMC Markets is another UK based and FCA regulated CFD broker with a long standing and excellent reputation. Founded in 1989, CMC Markets is a highly reputable broker that is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

CMC Markets has its own sophisticated in-house trading platform. They also support MetaTrader 4 (MT4), web based trading and mobile trading apps for iPhone, Android and iPad.

Forex trading in CMC Markets is also done through CFDs, not spot forex. CMC Markets also offers French traders the “Limited Risk CFD” account option.

French traders must open and manage their accounts through CMC Markets French language website.

What CMC Markets offers to France based forex traders

Minimum deposit: CMC Markets has no minimum deposit requirements.
Base Currencies: for French traders, there are two base currencies: EUR and USD.
Minimum lot size for forex trading: micro lot (0.01 lot, just 1% of the full lot).
Funding options – you can fund your account with:
1. bank transfer
2. credit/debit cards
Commissions: CMC Markets doesn’t charge any commissions other than the spreads on your currency pairs. CMC Markets spread is comparable to the industry norm.
Trading platform: Propriety trading platform as well as MT4 trading platforms. They also offer a mobile/tablet app and web-based trading platform.
Free demo account: free demo account available.

Pros

Low minimum fund requirements
MT4 platform supported
Trading of micro lots allowed
“Limited CFD” account allowed for French traders

Cons

Accounts must be opened and managed through the French language only website for France based traders
no eWallets (such as PayPal) type of funding options
Forex CFDs only, no spot forex trading

Bottomline

CMC Markets is a major CFD broker in Europe, with its low deposit requirements, fair pricing and the ability to trade micro lots, CMC Markets is a popular choice for France based forex CFD traders (who can read and write French fluently).

Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank, established in 1992, is a Danish broker with a stellar reputation. Saxo Bank is also a fully licensed French bank (Saxo Banque).

The Saxo Bank trading platform is totally free to use if you trade forex. It also has no data or clearing fees. Unfortunately, MT4 trading platform is not supported.

Saxo Bank supports multiple languages to for opening and managing your account, great for expat traders living in France who prefer to use their own language when opening and/or managing their trading accounts.

Additionally, unlike other brokers who only offer forex trading through CFDs for French traders, Saxo Bank also offers both spot forex trading and forex CFDs to French traders.

What Saxo Bank offers to France based forex traders

Ability to trade both spot forex and forex CFDs.
Minimum deposit: €2,000 (or the equivalent in the base currency of your choice) for French traders.
Base Currencies: Saxo Bank allows you to choose from 18 different currencies as your base currencies, including the EUR and USD.
Minimum lot size for forex trading: micro lots (0.01 lots) allowed.
Funding options – two ways to fund your account:
1. bank transfer
2. credit/debit cards
Commissions: no commissions for trading forex other than the spreads. Saxo Bank’s forex spreads are very competitive in the business.
Trading platform: they only offer their own desktop forex trading platform, but they also have a mobile trading app and a web-browser platform. No MT4 support.
Free demo account: free demo account that you can use to test out their trading platform.

Pros

Multiple language support for account opening and management
Allowing for trading both spot forex and forex CFDs
18 base currencies to choose from
Competitive forex spreads
Micro lot allowed
Sophisticated and feature rich trading platform

Cons

Higher minimum deposit requirement than other brokers
MT4 trading platform not supported
no eWallet funding options

Bottomline

Saxo Bank is definitely one of the best forex brokers in France when it comes to forex trading, the ability to trade both spot forex and forex CFDs is very appealing, plus its competitive spreads, making Saxo Bank the top choice for traders who take their forex trading more seriously.

XTB

XTB, founded in 2002 in Poland, is now a member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Of particular interest to French traders, XTB is one of the few brokers that are regulated by the French financial authority Autorite Des Marches Fianciers (AMF). They have offices in 10 countries, including one in Paris, France, where French traders can actually go and visit.

Forex trading with XTB is through forex CFDs only. No spot forex trading. XTB offers the “Limited Risk CFD” protection to all client accounts (no accounts will be allowed to go negative).

XTB has two forex desktop trading platforms: their proprietary platform and MT4. Both of these come with mobile trading apps. They also have browser based trading platforms.

XTB supports multiple languages to open and manage your account in France.

What XTB offers to France based forex traders

Minimum deposit: no minimum required.
Base Currencies: XTB allows French traders to choose from four currencies as the base currency: EUR, USD, CAD or CHF.
Minimum lot size for forex trading: micro lot (0.01 lot) allowed.
Funding options – you can fund your account with:
1. bank account transfer
2. credit / debit cards
3. PayPal and PayU for French traders
4. Personal checks allowed for French traders (mailed or personally delivered to XTB’s Paris office).
Commissions: XTB doesn’t charge commissions. It does on spreads though. Their spreads are a little bit on the higher end of the industry norm.
Trading platform: they support MT4, also available are their in-house platform and a web-based platform, all come with mobile trading apps (Android or iOS).
Free demo account: XTB’s free demo account is great.

Pros

Multiple language support for account opening and management
No minimum deposit requirement
Multiple funding methods including personal checks for French traders
MT4 platform supported
Local French office (in Paris)

Cons

Spreads a bit on the higher end of industry norm, though not a deal breaker
Forex CFDs only, no spot forex trading

Bottomline

XTB is a very popular forex broker in France among beginner forex CFD traders.

eToro

eToro, an Israle financial company started in 2007, pioneered the concept of “social trading” to attract beginning forex traders. eToro, regulated by FCA (the UK) and CySEC (Cyprus), can accept France based traders.

eToro offers its own proprietary web-based trading platform that comes with its unique “CopyTrader” feature, where you can search a list of “social investors” on the platform, ranked by their performance, choose the ones you like, allocate some funds to each and let eToro’s platform automatically copy their trades.

While this may sound amazing, and it can be a good tool to learn trading, but you will be sorely disappointed if you going in thinking this is an easy way to make tons of money.

eToro also have mobile trading apps (Android or iOS). They don’t support MT4. Forex trading on eToro is also through CFDs, no spot forex trading. eToro supports multiple languages to open and manage your account.

What eToro offers to France based forex traders

Minimum deposit: for French traders, eToro has a minimum INITIAL deposit requirement of US$200. But if you want to make the initial deposit via bank transfer, the minimum amount is US$500.
Base Currencies: eToro only uses USD for its accounts’ base currency. As a France based trader, if you don’t have a USD account with your bank, this may cost you multiple fees whenever you deposit or withdraw funds from your eToro account.
Minimum lot size for forex trading:
1. Stocks and ETFs – $10
2. Crypto – $10
3. Currencies – $1,000
4. Commodities – $1,000
5. Indices – $1,000
Funding options – eToro has a number of different funding options:
1. bank transfer (minimum $500 required for the initial deposit for this option)
2. Giropay allowed if you have it, even for traders residing in France
3. credit/debit cards
4. eWallet funding options for French traders including PayPal, Neteller, Skrill and Webmoney
Commissions and fees: Keep in mind that eToro’s spreads are higher than the majority of forex brokers, so your trading cost can be higher vs. other brokers. Also, whenever you withdrawal money, they will charge you a withdraw fee, on top of an exchange fee if you don’t have a USD account with your bank(s).
Trading platform: in-house web-based trading platform only. No support for MT4.
Free demo account: all eToro account comes a “live trading” mode and a “practice trading” mode. You can switch between the modes freely. The “practice” mode is always on for paper trading. Once you’ve funded your account, the “live” mode will be turned on.

Pros

Multiple language support for account opening and management
Low minimum deposit requirements and multiple funding options
CopyTrader is a great tool for learning
Trading platform is easy to learn and straightforward

Cons

Higher forex spreads vs. other brokers
High none trading related fees, such as withdrawal fee
USD is the only base currency
Exchange rate fees to move your money in and out of your eToro account

Bottomline

eToro is geared toward brand new forex traders. If you’ve never traded forex before, eToro can be a good place to get your feet web.

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.

Past performance is not an indication of future results.

Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.

Pepperstone

Pepperstone, founded in 2010, is an Australian broker that’s gaining popularity among European traders. It is regulated in Europe by FCA (the UK) and can accept France based traders.

Pepperstone has no in-house proprietary trading platform, they offer three 3rd party platforms: MT4, MT5 (MetaTrader 5) and cTrader. cTrader is more geared toward high volume algorithm traders. All these platforms come with their own mobile apps (Android and iOS).

They also support many 3rd party trading tools built around MT4 and MT5, including some “social trading” tools, such as Myfxbook, ZuluTrade and MetaTrader Signals.

Pepperstone has multiple language support to open and manage your account, this is great for expat traders who reside in France but prefer to use their own languages other than French.

Pepperstone offers spot forex trading only. They don’t offer forex CFDs trading at the moment.

What Pepperstone offers to France based forex traders

Minimum deposit: €200 (or the equivalent in the base currency of your choice) for French traders.
Base Currencies: you can choose from four currencies as your base currencies: EUR, USD, GBP and CHF.
Minimum lot size: micro lots (0.01 lots) allowed.
Funding options – two ways to fund your account:
1. bank transfer
2. credit/debit cards
Commissions: no commissions for trading forex other than the spreads. Pepperstone’s forex spreads are very competitive compared to other brokers.
Trading platforms: MT4 (most popular for most forex traders), MT5 and cTrader
Active Trader Program: Pepperstone offers very attractive cash rebates for very active forex traders who trade at least 200 full lots per month. The more volume you trade, the higher the rebate and the lower the spread you’ll enjoy.

Pros

Multiple language support for account opening and management
Low minimum deposit
Spot forex trading (if you prefer spot forex)
Competitive forex spreads
Micro lot allowed
MT4 and MT5, plus support for many 3rd party tools.
Competitive cash rebates for high volume traders

Cons

no eWallet (such as PayPal) types of funding options
no forex CFDs (if you want to trade such)

Bottomline

Pepperstone is a rising star in Europe, with multiple language support and competitive forex spreads, if you only want to trade spot forex instead of forex CFDs, you can’t go wrong with Pepperston.

Common Questions About Forex Trading in France

Here are some of the most common questions investors have about forex trading brokers in France.

Can you trade Forex in France?

Yes, you can. Forex trading is 100% legal in France.

Is Forex Trading Tax Free in France?

No it’s not tax free. French traders must pay capital gain taxes on the profits they make trading forex. Make sure you consult your tax professionals. For expat traders living in France, you should consult tax experts based on your own unique situation.

How to Choose a Forex Broker (as a French trader)?

The most important thing to consider is that the broker is regulated by at least one EU member state and are not black listed by the French financial regulatory body Autorite Des Marches Fianciers (AMF). All the brokers we reviewed here meet this important criteria.

What’s the Best Forex Broker for Beginners in France?

If you are a beginner but you want to become a more serious forex trader, then you can’t go wrong with Pepperstone (for spot forex trading only), or Saxo Bank (for both spot forex and forex CFDs), both have most competitive spreads in the industry.

CMC Markets is very beginner friendly if you prefer low minimum and can read and write fluent French. If you are just a “curious” beginner and want to test the forex trading water, then eToro is an easy broker to get started.

What are the General French Regulations for Forex?

France, being part of the EU, follows the general directives set up by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) when it comes to regulations for forex trading.

Additionally, Autorite Des Marches Fianciers (AMF), the French financial regulatory body, has banned all forex brokers from advertising and marketing to the French public.

Also, AMF maintains a list of black listed forex brokers from accepting French traders (you can check AMF’s website to find out more).

Our Recommendations

Depending on what kind of forex trader you are, below are our recommendations

Spot Forex vs. Forex CFDs

If you want to trade spot forex, then either Saxo Bank or Pepperstone is your best option. Both are excellent choice for France based traders including expats who are not fluent in French.

Both offer most competitive forex spreads in the industry, Pepperstone is more beginner friendly with a low minimum deposit of just €200 vs. the €2,000 minimum deposit required by Saxo Bank. Both are great forex brokers where you can start with and grow.

You can’t go wrong whichever one you decide between the two.

Saxo Bank

For traders who take their forex trading seriously, Saxo Bank has the best to offer. With the ability to trade both spot forex and forex CFDs, multiple language support for account opening and management, very competitive forex spreads in the business and micro lot sizes, Saxo Bank beats all other brokers.

Sure their €2,000 minimum deposit requirement is the highest out of the brokers on this list, but if you are really serious about trading forex, €2,000 is a very reasonable amount you should have to trade with.

eToro

If you are just curious about forex trading at this point and you want to check it out. eToro is a great option that will let you get started with only $50.

Contents

0.1 How to Choose a Forex Broker in France

1 Compare the Top Forex Brokers in France (FR) in 2020