Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of ActivTrades vs Earn, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% 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.
ActivTrades, established in 2001, and Earn, founded in 1994, are both private online brokers, meaning they are not listed on any stock exchange and do not operate as banks. When it comes to regulatory compliance, ActivTrades stands out by holding two Tier-1 licenses, regarded as highly trusted by ForexBrokers.com, along with one Tier-2 license considered trusted. In contrast, Earn possesses one Tier-1 license but no Tier-2 licenses. This regulatory framework highlights ActivTrades' stronger compliance compared to Earn in terms of trusted licenses.
Based on ForexBrokers.com Trust Scores, ActivTrades scores an 81 out of 99, placing it in the "trusted" category, while Earn scores 71, marking it as an "average risk." This indicates a slightly higher level of trust in ActivTrades by industry standards. Consequently, for those considering online brokers, ActivTrades may offer a more secure choice based on its trust score and regulatory licenses.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2001 | 1994 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No | No |
| Bank | No | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 1 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 | 0 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 2 | 0 |
When comparing ActivTrades and Earn in terms of commissions and fees, both brokers garner a commendable four-star rating. ActivTrades stands out with its slightly better than average spreads, offering more competitive rates than many, though it falls short of the top-tier low-cost forex brokers. On the other hand, Earn lacks available average spread data, making it harder to directly compare their offerings in terms of cost per trade.
ActivTrades provides a range of account options, including an Individual Account, Professional Account, and Islamic Account, designed to cater to different trader needs. Although there isn't a specific account for high-volume traders nor active trader pricing, the flexibility and spread consistency across account types can be advantageous. ActivTrades targets spreads for each asset, although these can vary during trading sessions. They reported an average spread of 0.98 pips for the EUR/USD pair for May 2024.
In terms of industry standing, ActivTrades ranks #27 out of 62 brokers in ForexBrokers.com's Commissions and Fees category, indicating a strong but not leading position. Earn, while also maintaining a four-star rating, is positioned at #46 in the same category. This suggests that, although both brokers are competitive, ActivTrades might offer slightly more favorable conditions for cost-conscious traders.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | 0 | $100 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.98 | N/A |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A | N/A |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No | Yes |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | No | No |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | No |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.
When comparing ActivTrades and Earn in terms of their investment offerings, there are notable differences and similarities. Both platforms provide forex trading as either a CFD or spot contract, catering to traders interested in currency markets. ActivTrades stands out by offering a substantial 1,267 tradeable symbols, significantly surpassing Earn's 500 symbols. However, Earn excels slightly in forex pairs, offering 61 pairs compared to ActivTrades' 49. Neither broker provides access to U.S. exchange-traded securities, such as purchasing Apple shares directly, yet ActivTrades does allow for acquiring international exchange-traded securities like Vodafone shares, whereas Earn does not. Both brokers support cryptocurrency derivatives for trading but do not offer the ability to buy actual delivered cryptocurrency.
Another interesting similarity is their support for copy trading, providing options for both beginner and experienced traders to leverage collective insights from other users. When it comes to ratings, ActivTrades garners a higher score with 4 stars for its range of investments compared to Earn’s 3.5 stars. On ForexBrokers.com, ActivTrades ranks 31st in the Range of Investments category, offering a broader spectrum than Earn, which sits at the 45th position. This indicates that ActivTrades may appeal more to traders seeking diverse investment opportunities, while Earn provides a simpler, more straightforward offering that might appeal to those who prefer a focused selection.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 1267 | 500 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 49 | 61 |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | No |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
Dive deeper: Best Copy Trading Platforms.
When comparing ActivTrades and Earn in terms of their trading platforms and tools, both brokers offer demo accounts for simulated trading, which is a valuable feature for beginners needing practice. While ActivTrades has developed its own proprietary platform, Earn relies on third-party solutions. Both brokers provide desktop and web-based trading platforms, alongside popular platforms like MetaTrader 4 and 5. However, only Earn supports ZuluTrade for copy trading, although both brokers allow copy trading on their respective platforms. Each broker offers 15 drawing tools for charting, and traders can execute trades directly from stock charts on both platforms.
In terms of watchlist customization, ActivTrades stands out by offering 11 columns for fields, compared to Earn's 7. Both companies have received a 4-star rating for their trading platforms and tools, indicating a satisfactory level of user experience and functionality. However, ActivTrades has a higher overall ranking at #29 compared to Earn's #51 out of 62 brokers in the Trading Platforms and Tools category on ForexBrokers.com. This suggests a slight edge for ActivTrades in terms of broader recognition and user satisfaction in this area.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | No |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes |
| DupliTrade | No | No |
| ZuluTrade | No | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 30 | 35 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 15 | 15 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 11 | 7 |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Both ActivTrades and Earn provide convenient mobile trading apps for iPhone and Android users, offering essential features for traders. ActivTrades gives users access to 30 technical studies, while Earn offers 35. Both platforms allow drawing trendlines and viewing multiple time frames like daily, weekly, or intraday directly on stock or forex charts. Importantly, any drawings made on these charts are automatically saved, ensuring a smooth trading experience. For those keen on staying updated, both apps enable the creation of watchlists with real-time quotes and offer stock or forex price alerts. However, a drawback for some users might be the lack of watchlist symbol syncing across mobile and online accounts, pertaining to both apps.
When it comes to user ratings and rankings, ActivTrades and Earn are both favorably rated at four out of five stars for their mobile trading apps. However, ActivTrades holds a higher rank at #19 compared to Earn's #26 ranking by ForexBrokers.com, out of a total of 62 brokers. This information reflects a slight edge in overall user approval and functionality for ActivTrades, suggesting that traders seeking a consistent and highly rated trading app may lean towards ActivTrades while knowing that both options are well-regarded by users.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlist Syncing | No | No |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 30 | 35 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
Both ActivTrades and Earn provide daily market commentary, ensuring traders are well-informed of the latest developments. Relying on esteemed sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones, both brokers offer top-tier forex news. Neither ActivTrades nor Earn supply technical analysis tools from companies like Autochartist or Trading Central. When it comes to sentiment-based trading tools, ActivTrades offers a feature that uncovers the long or short position ratios across currency pairs, a tool absent in Earn's offerings. Additionally, neither broker includes market research from TipRanks or tools from Acuity Trading. However, both feature comprehensive economic calendars, allowing users to track global economic events easily.
In terms of research quality, ActivTrades holds a slight edge, rated at 4 stars compared to Earn's 3.5 stars. Within the ForexBrokers.com rankings, ActivTrades stands at 30th, while Earn is ranked 38th out of 62 brokers. This marginal difference in rating and ranking suggests that ActivTrades offers a richer research experience, particularly with its sentiment-based trading tool, enhancing its appeal over Earn in the research domain.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No | No |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | No |
| TipRanks | No | No |
| Signal Centre (Acuity Trading) | No | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
When it comes to educational resources for beginners interested in forex or CFDs, ActivTrades stands out as a helpful choice. ActivTrades provides a wide variety of learning materials, including over 10 educational pieces such as articles and videos focused on forex and CFDs. They also host monthly webinars and offer a searchable archive of these sessions, making it easier for learners to catch up on past events. Additionally, ActivTrades caters to both beginners and advanced traders with over 10 educational videos targeting each group. Though they do not have an investor dictionary, their comprehensive educational offerings earn them a strong four-star rating for education and a respectable ranking of 38 out of 62 brokers.
In contrast, Earn falls short in delivering educational content for traders who are just starting. While they do not meet the minimum requirement of 10 educational pieces focusing on forex or CFDs, and they lack online client webinars, their tools for education are limited. Without a searchable archive of webinars and the absence of beginner or advanced educational video series, Earn's offerings are modest. They also do not provide an investor dictionary. Consequently, Earn receives a slightly lower education rating of 3.5 stars and is ranked 61 out of 62 brokers, indicating a significant opportunity for improvement in its educational resources for traders.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | No |
| Client Webinars | Yes | No |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | No |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | No |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | No | No |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.
After testing 62 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that ActivTrades is better than Earn. ActivTrades finished with an overall rank of #33, while Earn finished with an overall rank of #50.
ActivTrades is a long-standing brand that offers a proprietary trading platform, ActivTrader, and support for the award-winning TradingView and MetaTrader (MT4 and MT5) platforms. ActivTrades also delivers a selection of custom add-ons, indicators, and trading tools for traders who prefer to use MetaTrader. Drawbacks for trading with ActivTrades include a smaller selection of tradeable symbols and fewer educational resources than what’s available from the best forex brokers.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
Earn
|
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 71 |
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When comparing ActivTrades and Earn for cryptocurrency trading, both platforms do not provide the option to purchase actual (delivered) cryptocurrency but do offer the ability to trade cryptocurrency derivatives.
Both online brokers, ActivTrades and Earn, offer Skrill, Visa, Mastercard, and bank wire options for depositing or withdrawing account funds; however, neither supports ACH, SEPA transfers, nor PayPal for these transactions.
Please note:
We review each broker’s overall global offering – a “Yes” checkmark in our Compare Tool does not guarantee the availability of any specific features in your country of residence. To verify the availability of any features within your country of residence, please contact the broker directly.
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0 of 5| Overall Rating | ActivTrades | Earn | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 71 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | ActivTrades Review |
| Broker Screenshots | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trading Platforms Gallery (click to expand) | |||
| Mobile Trading Gallery (click to expand) | |||
| Research Gallery (click to expand) | |||
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| Regulation | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 81 | 71 | |
| Year Founded | 2001 | 1994 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No | No | |
| Bank | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | No | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 1 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 1 | 0 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 2 | 0 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | No | No | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Japan (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | No | No | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| USA (CFTC Authorized) | No | No | |
| New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | No | Yes |
| Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | No | No | |
| UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised) | No | No | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | No | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) | No | No |
| Investments | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 1267 | 500 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 49 | 61 | |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No | |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | No | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes | |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
| Cost | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.98 | N/A | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A | N/A | |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No | Yes | |
| Inactivity Fee | Yes | No | |
| Execution: Agency Broker | No | No | |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes | Yes |
| Funding | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | 0 | $100 | |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | No | |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes | |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | No | No |
| Trading Platforms | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | No | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No | |
| DupliTrade | No | No | |
| ZuluTrade | No | Yes |
| Trading Tools | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 11 | 7 | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 30 | 35 | |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 15 | 15 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlist Syncing | No | No | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 30 | 35 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | No | |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No | No | |
| TipRanks | No | No | |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | No | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | No | |
| Client Webinars | Yes | No | |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | No | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | No | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No | |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | No | No |
| Major Forex Pairs | ActivTrades | Earn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/JPY | Yes | Yes | |
| EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CHF | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CAD | Yes | Yes | |
| NZD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| AUD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| Review | ActivTrades Review |
| Overall | ActivTrades | Earn | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 71 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | ActivTrades Review |
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