5 Best Forex Brokers in Germany 2022

To come up with this list, we have tested over 5 forex brokers holding BaFin licenses in Germany.

We opened a real account and deposited around $5,000 with each broker. We placed real trades in each popular market to get the real spreads.

We also reached out to customer support to solve issues that we had encountered. Finally, we withdrew our funds to see if there is any issue with the withdrawal process.

We handpick the best forex brokers in Germany based on our trading data and experience as a trader.

German BaFin Regulations for Forex Brokers

Forex brokers in Germany are locally regulated by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, locally known as Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). Being a part of the European Economic Area (EEA), Germany also allows forex brokers regulated in other countries in the region to passport their licenses and operate in the country.

BaFin’s official website is www.bafin.de. Unlike other reputed regulators, BaFin does not have a Twitter account. But, we recommend traders regularly check the news section of the BaFin website to know about the latest regulations.

BaFin is strict when it comes to imposing regulations. It actively flags the unregulated brokers operating in its jurisdictions and also fines them in extreme cases.

BaFin, like any other regulators in the EEA, aligns its regulations with the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). It permits brokers to offer a maximum 30:1 leverage and mandates negative balance protection. BaFin also offers a €20,000 compensation scheme to all clients of locally regulated brokers.

BaFin further requires high business standards in the parts of the brokers, including a minimum working capital of €750,000 and the appointment of at least two managers as the head of operations.

Some of the key highlights of trading with BaFin-regulated brokers:

🏦Regulator	Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
📊Max. Leverage	30:1
🛡️Is It safe to trade	Yes
🔒Negative Balance Protection	Yes
💰Compensation Scheme	Yes (€20,000)

Best Forex Brokers in Germany

To select the best German forex brokers, we have tested and reviewed several forex brokers. We opened a live account, deposited real money, and placed real trades with each broker. With our test, we got a picture of the real spreads and commissions, trading platforms, deposit and withdrawal conditions, educational resources, and customer services.

• CMC Markets– Best Overall Forex Broker in Germany
• IG Markets – Best Forex Broker for Beginners in Germany
• Pepperstone – Best MT4 Forex Broker in Germany
• FXFlat – Best Forex Broker with Lowest Spread & Trading Fees in Germany
• NAGA – Best Copy Trading Platform in Germany

Best Overall Forex Broker in Germany

We picked CMC Markets as the overall best forex broker in Germany. 

Headquartered in London, CMC Markets has a global presence. It runs its operations in the European Union with a license from Germany’s BaFin. The broker is also regulated in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and the UAE.

When it comes to forex and CFDs trading, CMC offers excellent services. It lists more than 10,000 instruments of forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies, giving traders access to several global markets. Further, the spreads charged by the broker are on the lower side: our testing finds that the average spread on the EUR/USD pair is only 0.7 pips.

CMC is a publicly listed company and maintained a great reputation in the industry, making it a very safe brokerage platform. It also has an excellent customer support team who are very prompt in replying on live chat and email.

Best Forex Broker for Beginners in Germany

We picked IG Markets as the best forex broker for beginners in Germany. 

One of the top requirements of a beginner-friendly broker is offering good quality educational material, and IG Markets excels in this area. Its learning section includes detailed guides and materials for both beginner and advanced traders.

The broker offers several comprehensive courses on trading, and newbie traders can also try their learned strategies on the demo account without risking real money.

When it comes to products, IG’s offerings are excellent. The broker lists over 17,000 instruments across asset classes like forex and CFDs of shares, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies. It also offers direct market access for many share CFDs.

Best MT4 Broker in Germany

We picked Pepperstone as the best MT4 broker in Germany. 

Australia-headquartered Pepperstone secured the BaFin license as its move to continue European operations following the closure of the Brexit deal. It also holds licenses from the regulators in Australia, the UK, Cyprus, Bahamas, UAE and Kenya.

Pepperstone offers trading services on the three most popular platforms: MT4, MT5 and cTrader. MT4, being the oldest and favorable to forex traders, is widely used. Its support on the trading platform includes top indicators and analysis tools, along with access to 28 additional ‘Smart Trader Tools’.

Offerings of Pepperstone include retail trading with forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. It is also offering social trading features with the integration of three third-party platforms: Myfxbook, MetaTrader Signals and DupliTrade.

Best Forex Broker with Lowest Spread & Trading Fees in Germany

We picked FXFlat as the best forex broker with the lowest spread & trading fees in Germany.

FXFlat is a German forex and CFDs broker, holding only a BaFin license. It was founded in 1997 and is based in Ratingen, Germany. The broker offers trading services with forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies, just like any other broker.

According to our tests, spreads on FXFlat are much lower than the industry average across all the markets. The average spreads for the EUR/USD pair is 0.8 pips, while the industry average for this is 1.6 pips. Spreads on FTSE 100, Apple stock and Gold are also on the lower side with 1 pip, 1.13 pips and 3.02 pips, respectively.

Apart from the spreads, FXFlat does not have any other prominent trading or non-trading fees.

Best Copy Trading Platform in Germany

We picked NAGA as the best copy trading platform in Germany.

Hamburg-based and publicly listed NAGA is the best Geman social trading platform. The platform is regulated by BaFin and offers trading in various markets like forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. It offers its services on both MT4 and MT5 platforms and also on its proprietary platform.

The broker was founded in 2015 and is primarily focused on its copy trading services. It offers suitable services for both newbie copy traders, who want to copy others trading strategies, and also for expert traders, who want to earn commissions by getting their strategies copied.

Regulated German Forex Brokers List & Review

Here is a complete list of regulated forex and CFDs brokers operating in Germany we have tested.

Forex Broker	EEA Regulated	About Our Test	Our Review
CMC Markets	Yes (BaFin)	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	CMC Markets Review
Pepperstone	Yes (BaFin)	Deposit Amount: Over €6,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	Pepperstone Review
XM	Yes (BaFin)	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	XM Review
Tickmill	Yes (BaFin)	Deposit Amount: Over $8,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	Tickmill Review
FXFlat	Yes (BaFin)	Deposit Amount: Over $5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	FXFlat Review
FBS	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	FBS Review
GO Markets	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €4,500 Total Trade: 12 trades	GO Markets Review
Fortrade	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	Fortrade Review
RoboMarkets (RoboForex)	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	RoboMarkets Review
IC Markets	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	IC Markets Review
FXTM	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €6,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	FXTM Review
Capital.com	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €3,500 Total Trade: 15 trades	Capital.com Review
FxPro	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 15 trades	FxPro Review
Amana Capital	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	Amana Capital Review
FxPro	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 15 trades	FxPro Review
XTB	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €5,000 Total Trade: 12 trades	XTB Review
eToro	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over $6,000 Total Trade: 18 trades	eToro Review
Plus500	Yes	Deposit Amount: Over €6,000 Total Trade: 18 trades	Plus500 Review

FAQ & More on German Brokers

Traders usually have many questions related to trading generic trading-related queries. We tried to pick and answer some of the most important queries related to BaFin-regulated brokers.

How to Verify a BaFin-Regulated Broker?

The registration details of any BaFin-regulated forex broker can be checked by visiting the regulator’s database.

Go to https://portal.mvp.bafin.de/database/InstInfo/?locale=en_GB and search for the forex broker with its name or registration number. The registration page will show some of the details of the brokers like the physical address and other license details.

ECN Forex Brokers in Germany

ECN brokers offer a direct connection to an automated bridging network, connecting both buyers and sellers of financial instruments. They offer raw spreads and charges a commission on each trade. Some of the ECN brokers operating in Germany are:

• FBS
• Dukascopy
• GKFX

MT4 Forex Brokers in Germany

MT4, which was developed in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, is the most popular platform for trading forex and CFDs instruments. It allows traders to automate trading using bots, along with plugin integration. Some of the German brokers offering MT4 trading platform are:

• CMC Markets
• AvaTrade
• Capital.com

Low Spread Forex Brokers in Germany

Spread, the difference between the bid and ask price, is one of the primary ways for brokers to earn revenue. For traders, spreads heavily impact the cost of traders. Some of the low-spread brokers operating in Germany are:

• Pepperstone
• Capital.com
• Admiral Markets
• ActivTrades

Best CFD Broker Germany

We picked CMC Markets as the best CFD broker in Germany.

CMC offers excellent services when it comes to forex and CFDs trading. It offers over 10,000 instruments of forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.
The spreads charged by the broker are lower from the market average.

High Leverage Forex Brokers in Germany

Germany’s regulations for the trading industry are based on the recommendations of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). This restricts German brokers or any other EEA broker offering services in the country to offer a maximum leverage of 30:1.

Tax in Germany for Forex Trading

Traders from Germany often wonder whether there are taxes in the country for Forex Trading. The answer is positive. First, it is worth mentioning that Germany is one of the largest forex markets with more than 150, 000 traders.
German traders need to make an annual summary of all the trades they conduct. They need to include both their profits and losses. The taxation rate for Forex trading is 26.3%. Capital gains are also taxable in the country. The tax rate is 25%.

Traders are strongly recommended to be very careful when it comes to taxation. They should remember that the responsibility of filing tax forms to the relevant institutions lies mainly on them. Moreover, in case of any delays or tax avoidance, traders may face fines and penalties.