Top picks for brokers to use for scalping
Best broker for scalping – IG
| Company |
Overall Rating |
Minimum Deposit |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard |
 IG
|
 |
£250.00 |
0.98 info |
IG is our top-ranked broker for 2024 (available in the US under its tastyfx brand) and my top pick for forex scalping strategies, thanks to its multiple account offerings and execution methods, and its ability to handle active and passive orders. IG offers a commission-based Forex Direct account for agency execution and connects price feeds from major liquidity providers. IG also offers a spread-only (commission-free) account for market-maker execution. It’s also worth noting that IG supports partial fills and auto-accepts active orders without manual intervention – important features for scalpers.
Overall, IG is a top choice for scalpers because of its ability to handle large trade sizes along with its robust execution policies. It’s also worth mentioning that IG’s reputation as a Highly Trusted broker is reinforced by the fact that it won our 2024 Annual Awards for #1 Most Trusted broker (learn more about Trust Score). Learn more by reading my IG review.
travel_exploreTrading forex in the US?
If you are based in the USA and interested in opening an account with IG, learn more about why their US brand, tastyfx, is one of the best US forex brokers by reading my tastyfx review.
Note: I should mention that in its customer agreement, IG strictly prohibits arbitrage practices and prohibits clients from attempting to manipulate prices or exploit server time delays.
Great for agency execution – Interactive Brokers
| Company |
Overall Rating |
Minimum Deposit |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard |
 Interactive Brokers
|
|
$0 |
0.63 info |
Interactive Brokers caters to forex traders internationally (forex trading for US traders is only available at IBKR to institutional traders) through an agency broker model (or, “riskless principal” model). IBKR aggregates prices from major liquidity providers, which can be suitable for scalpers who want a reliable price feed and quality trade execution coupled with access to complex order types. The IBKR Campus even offers a webinar on Gamma Scalping for options traders.
That said, like nearly all reputable brokers, IBKR has language in its client agreement regarding order execution, and reserves the right to terminate client access, cancel orders, restrict trading activity, and/or freeze accounts over suspicious activity (again, this is all totally normal across major financial institutions). Read my Interactive Brokers review to learn more.
Great platform suite for scalping - Saxo
| Company |
Overall Rating |
Minimum Deposit |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard |
 Saxo
|
|
$0 |
1.1 info |
Saxo is an excellent choice for active traders due to its ability to handle large trade sizes and cater to the needs of day traders and forex scalpers. Saxo also offers a phenomenal platform suite (including an award-winning Desktop Platform) and support for complex orders.
Saxo offers market maker execution for forex trading and publishes its order execution summary. It’s also a member of the Global FxCode. Though Saxo discusses scalping in educational articles on its website, the broker also notes in its business terms that it may cancel or reverse a trade execution or alter the execution method (i.e. manual execution) if it was conducted on a misquoted price or if a client’s strategy deliberately or systematically attempted to exploit such errors. Read my Saxo review to learn more.
Pros and cons of scalping in forex
Check out the most important pros and cons of scalping as a forex trader:
Pros:
- Scalping can be a viable day trading strategy, despite the demands it can put on traders.
- Scalping can be more time-efficient than strategies that require longer trade durations.
Cons:
- Scalping or trading at very short time-frames (seconds to minutes) to capture tiny market movements can be mentally and physically demanding for traders.
- Depending on the account agreement terms, scalping may not be permitted for a given broker, account type, and/or available execution method (particularly within the context of latency-driven strategies).
- Scalping often requires larger trade sizes (relative to your balance) to return a viable profit. As such, scalping strategies can introduce higher risk/reward levels and result in faster losses.
Forex scalping brokers comparison
FAQs
Do all brokers allow scalping?
No, not all brokers permit scalping. That said, it’s important to understand what it means to engage in forex scalping; the term “scalping” can carry different meanings, depending on how you execute your trading strategy. As long as your trading strategy is not entirely based on the exploitation of price differences across brokers, it will likely be permitted by your broker (always check the terms and conditions, to be sure).
do_not_disturbProhibited practices
Trading strategies that try to pick off prices lagging from one broker to the next are typically not permitted at reputable, well-established brokers.
I've found that some brokers may welcome latency-driven strategies but then offer poor execution quality, meaning your orders could get filled at worse-than-expected prices. In other cases, you may simply have difficulty overcoming the commissions and fees involved when attempting to execute an arbitrage-based scalping strategy (scalpers may look for low-cost or zero-spread brokers).
Important note: Even if you are not engaging in scalping or arbitrage-driven strategies, your broker reserves the right to assign your trades to a different execution method than you originally intended. This can happen with some brokers if you are consistently profitable and the broker is unable to manage their risk (as it concerns your account) sufficiently well.
What is the best forex broker for scalping in the United States?
tastyfx is the best forex broker for scalping strategies in the US. Part of IG Group, tastyfx is IG’s brand for US-based forex trading. tastyfx can be a viable option for scalpers because of the two execution methods available, including its spread-only market-maker execution and its commission-based agency execution via its Forex Direct account offering. The broker is also adept at handling large orders and offers a wide range of complex order types – important criteria for scalping strategies. I’ve consistently ranked IG, tastyfx’s parent company, at the top of a wide range of key categories for forex traders and the broker is a perennial winner of many of our most important Annual Awards. Learn more by reading my tastyfx review.
What trading platforms have tools to help traders scalp?
The best trading platforms for scalping strategies deliver a variety of order types and tools that are well-suited to fast-paced trading. For example, many of the best platforms feature the ability to drag-and-modify your stop-loss and limit orders, right on the chart. This can be super convenient when you need to quickly adjust your positions – a common need for scalpers. Another neat feature I like to see for forex scalping is a “Close all” button, which triggers an order to close all your positions for a given instrument.
Saxo won our 2024 Annual Award for #1 Platforms & Tools, thanks to its SaxoTraderGO web and mobile app and its excellent SaxoTraderPRO desktop application. Interactive Brokers and IG’s (or, tastyfx in the US) platforms are also rich in the features and tools that can aid strategies that depend on trading at short time-intervals.
directions_runScalpers move fast
The best trading platforms for scalpers tend to also be great choices for day trading strategies. This is because both strategies require the ability to quickly and easily modify and place orders.
Market makers vs agency brokers: What's better for forex scalping?
The benefit of dealing with a market maker broker is that the execution method will result in your trade being filled ASAP. Worst case, your order will be requoted (when your trade price has been requoted, your broker will notify you and you’ll have the option to reject the new price, canceling the trade).
In contrast, an agency broker (or, non-dealing desk model) may fill your trade at a worse price. This can occur because the broker has to send your order to another dealer (the broker is not “making” the market). Your trade could be rejected if the price is no longer available or because it doesn’t conform to your specified slippage settings.
It’s important to note here that market makers offering instant execution may be more strict when it comes to allowing scalping strategies, whereas agency brokers that send your orders off to a pool of liquidity providers may be more lenient with scalpers. However, if you are obviously trying to scalp price deviations from one provider to another, the liquidity providers themselves could catch on – which could then result in worse trade execution.
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Steven Hatzakis is a well-known finance writer, with 25+ years of experience in the foreign exchange and financial markets. He is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for Reink Media Group, leading research efforts for ForexBrokers.com since 2016. Steven is an expert writer and researcher who has published over 1,000 articles covering the foreign exchange markets and cryptocurrency industries. He has served as a registered commodity futures representative for domestic and internationally-regulated brokerages. Steven holds a Series III license in the US as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).
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