Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of ActivTrades vs LegacyFX, 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, founded in 2001, is an online broker that provides financial trading services but is neither publicly traded nor a bank. The broker holds two Tier-1 licenses, indicating a high level of trust, and one Tier-2 license, further demonstrating its reliability. With a Trust Score of 81 out of 99 from ForexBrokers.com, ActivTrades is considered a trusted broker by industry standards.
On the other hand, LegacyFX started operations in 2012 and shares similar non-publicly traded and non-banking traits with ActivTrades. However, LegacyFX holds one Tier-1 license, and no Tier-2 licenses, giving it a Trust Score of 67 out of 99 according to ForexBrokers.com, placing it in a higher risk category than ActivTrades. This comparison highlights ActivTrades as a more trusted option for traders seeking regulated and reliable broker services.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2001 | 2012 |
| 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 | 1 |
When comparing the commissions and fees of ActivTrades and LegacyFX, both brokers have distinct offerings suited for different types of traders. ActivTrades, rated 4 stars for commissions and fees, stands out with spreads that are slightly better than the industry average. Their primary account, the Individual Account, along with Professional and Islamic Account options, cater to various trading needs. However, unlike some top low-cost brokers, there is no specific account for high-volume traders or active trader pricing. Spreads for ActivTrades vary by asset and market conditions, with an average spread of 0.98 pips for the EUR/USD, making it rank #27 out of 62 brokers by ForexBrokers.com.
LegacyFX, on the other hand, offers a diverse range of accounts depending on your location. For EU residents, the choices are between Silver, Gold, and Platinum accounts, with minimum deposits ranging from $500 to $25,000. The Platinum account offers the lowest spreads, while the Silver account has the highest, starting at 1.6 pips for the EUR/USD. International clients have more options with seven account types that vary in deposit requirements and access to client support and trading tools. LegacyFX does not provide average spread data, making it challenging to assess the real trading costs. They are rated 3.5 stars for commissions and fees, placing them at #56 in the ForexBrokers.com rankings.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | 0 | $500 |
| 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.
ActivTrades and LegacyFX both offer a variety of trading options, including forex trading available as CFDs or spot contracts. When it comes to the sheer number of tradeable symbols, ActivTrades stands out with 1267 options compared to LegacyFX's 425. In terms of forex pairs, ActivTrades offers 49, slightly more than LegacyFX's 44. However, neither platform allows clients to trade exchange-listed securities on U.S. exchanges. On the other hand, ActivTrades provides access to international exchanges, enabling users to buy shares like Vodafone from the London Stock Exchange, a feature LegacyFX does not offer.
Both brokers offer copy trading, allowing users to mirror strategies from other successful traders. While neither gives the option to buy actual cryptocurrencies, they both offer cryptocurrency derivatives for those interested in crypto-related investments. In terms of ratings, ActivTrades receives 4 stars for its range of investments, outperforming LegacyFX's 3.5-star rating. Within the industry, ActivTrades ranks 31st among 62 brokers for the variety of investment choices, significantly ahead of LegacyFX, which is ranked 48th.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 1267 | 425 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 49 | 44 |
| 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.
ActivTrades and LegacyFX both excel in providing traders with comprehensive trading platforms and tools, but they have distinct offerings that may appeal to different users. ActivTrades stands out with its proprietary platform, available as both a Windows-based desktop download and a web-based option, designed for seamless trading experiences. It also offers the popular MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms, catering to traders who prefer established software. A virtual demo account allows users to simulate trades without financial risk. Additionally, ActivTrades features copy trading capabilities and extensive charting options, including 15 drawing tools and 11 watch list fields. Rated 4 stars, ActivTrades is ranked 29th among 62 brokers, reflecting its strong platform features.
LegacyFX offers a reliable trading platform suite, including a Windows-based desktop platform and web-based access, with support for MetaTrader 5, but not MT4. Like ActivTrades, LegacyFX supports simulated trading with a free demo account and offers copy trading features. The broker provides similar charting capabilities with 15 drawing tools and allows direct trading from stock charts. While LegacyFX lacks a proprietary platform, its strengths lie in essential functionalities. Rated 3.5 stars, it ranks 59th among competitors, indicating room for improvement in its trading platform offerings.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes |
| DupliTrade | No | No |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 30 | 30 |
| 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.
When comparing the mobile trading apps of ActivTrades and LegacyFX, both brokers offer comprehensive features for iPhone and Android users. Traders will find that both apps support stock and forex price alerts, essential for keeping abreast of market movements. However, neither app facilitates watchlist symbol syncing, so users need to manage their watchlists separately on the mobile app and online account. In terms of technical capabilities, both ActivTrades and LegacyFX provide 30 technical studies for charting, and each app allows traders to draw trendlines and view multiple time frames, whether daily, weekly, or intraday. Drawings on charts are auto-saved in both apps, which adds a layer of convenience. Moreover, both platforms enable the creation of watchlists with real-time quotes.
Despite their similarities, a key differentiator lies in user satisfaction and market ranking. ActivTrades boasts a slightly higher rating of 4 stars compared to LegacyFX's 3.5 stars for mobile trading apps. This difference in user rating aligns with their rankings by ForexBrokers.com, where ActivTrades holds the 19th position out of 62 brokers, whereas LegacyFX falls behind at the 60th spot. These scores highlight ActivTrades' superior standing in the market, suggesting a more favorable user experience in their mobile offering.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlist Syncing | No | No |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 30 | 30 |
| 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.
When comparing the market research offerings of ActivTrades and LegacyFX, both brokers provide daily market commentary and supply forex news from highly-regarded sources like Bloomberg and Reuters. However, when it comes to technical analysis tools, LegacyFX takes the edge by incorporating resources from Autochartist, while ActivTrades doesn’t feature these tools. On the contrary, ActivTrades offers a sentiment-based trading tool allowing traders to gauge market positions across instruments, a feature that LegacyFX lacks. Both brokers offer an economic calendar that helps traders keep track of significant global news events.
While neither broker provides tools from Trading Central, TipRanks, or Acuity Trading, their overall research capabilities show differences reflected in their ratings and rankings. ActivTrades earns a solid 4 out of 5 stars for research and holds the 30th spot out of 62 brokers in ForexBrokers.com's research ranking. LegacyFX, on the other hand, receives a 3.5-star rating and is ranked 45th in the same category, indicating a slight lag behind ActivTrades in research resources and tools.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | Yes |
| 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 comparing ActivTrades and LegacyFX in terms of educational resources for beginners, both brokers offer a commendable array of materials aimed at enhancing your trading knowledge. Both ActivTrades and LegacyFX provide a minimum of 10 educational pieces focusing on forex and CFDs, ensuring that newcomers have access to varied foundational content. Regular monthly webinars are available from both brokers, coupled with searchable archives of previous sessions, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Each broker also supports beginners with at least 10 educational videos, covering vital trading topics to facilitate a smooth learning journey.
However, there are some differences to note. LegacyFX has a unique advantage with its diverse range of learning tools, including an investor dictionary that defines more than 50 investing terms, which can be particularly beneficial for beginners looking to familiarize themselves with trading jargon. Despite this, in overall educational quality, ActivTrades edges out slightly with a 4-star rating compared to LegacyFX’s 3.5 stars. Interestingly, while LegacyFX secured a higher rank of #35 among 62 brokers in the education category on ForexBrokers.com, ActivTrades follows closely at #38. This suggests that while both brokers offer valuable resources, the preference between them might depend on what specific educational tools you find most beneficial.
| Feature |
ActivTrades
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | No | Yes |
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 LegacyFX. ActivTrades finished with an overall rank of #33, while LegacyFX finished with an overall rank of #62.
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
|
LegacyFX
|
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 67 |
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Both ActivTrades and LegacyFX do not offer the ability to purchase actual (delivered) cryptocurrency, but they do allow trading of cryptocurrency derivatives.
Both ActivTrades and LegacyFX allow funding and withdrawals through Skrill, Visa or Mastercard, and bank wires, but neither supports ACH, SEPA transfers, or PayPal.
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 | LegacyFX | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 67 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | ActivTrades Review | LegacyFX Review |
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| Regulation | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 81 | 67 | |
| Year Founded | 2001 | 2012 | |
| 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 | 1 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 1267 | 425 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 49 | 44 | |
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | 0 | $500 | |
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | No | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | No | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No | |
| DupliTrade | No | No | |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Trading Tools | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 11 | 7 | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 30 | 30 | |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 15 | 15 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 30 | |
| 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 | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | Yes | |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No | No | |
| TipRanks | No | No | |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | No | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Client Webinars | Yes | Yes | |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | No | Yes |
| Major Forex Pairs | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | LegacyFX Review |
| Overall | ActivTrades | LegacyFX | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 67 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | ActivTrades Review | LegacyFX Review |
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