Want to trade in the forex market to earn money from home? It isn't as simple as it sounds. Trading foreign currencies can be very risky—the potential for losing your funds is as high as the potential for earning a profit. To help you manage risks and execute your trades, you need to find a forex broker in the Philippines before you even begin trading in the FX market.
Your broker will play a critical role in your forex trading journey. Thus, it's important to understand how forex broker Philippines works and know the best options available.
What is a Forex Broker?
A forex broker is a financial services company that works as a middleman between traders and the foreign exchange market by executing buy or sell orders placed by their clients. Aside from forex, brokers also enable their clients to trade on other assets such as stocks, indices, commodities, metals, and cryptocurrencies.
Typically, FX brokers are international companies based abroad. But even without a Philippine-based headquarters, some forex brokers can serve Filipino clients because all transactions—from account opening to fund withdrawals—are done online.
What Does a Forex Broker Do?
Forex brokers offer a range of services that makes trading foreign currencies easier and more affordable for their clients.
Provide Easy Access to the FX Market
To trade currencies in the marketplace, you need to set up a trading account. A forex broker Philippines lets you do that, so you can start trading forex online.
Perform Currency Trades
FX brokerages make forex trading platforms available to their clients for placing buy and sell orders, which brokers will execute. The MetaTrader 4 (MT4) forex trading software is widely used among traders today. In addition to MT4 integration, some forex brokers in the Philippines also offer their own proprietary trading platform.
Help Beginners Learn Forex
Most forex trading sites have beginner-friendly features such as educational tools and resources to help first-timers learn the ropes of trading currencies. They also provide a free demo account that new traders can use to practice trading using virtual money without risk. For advanced traders, demo accounts enable them to test new strategies.
Some brokers also offer a copy trading feature (also called social trading) that allows inexperienced traders to automatically replicate the trades of successful traders. In doing so, newbies learn from the pros. Experienced traders also benefit from copy trading, as it allows them to earn more money by selling their trading signals.
Provide Leverage
Traders can borrow money from their broker to buy a larger volume of currencies with a smaller capital. This forex broker service is called leverage, which is expressed in a ratio. For example, if your forex trading account is leveraged at 100:1, this means you can trade 100 times the amount you put into your trade.
Give Access to Market Information and Analysis
Forex trading platforms provide traders with the necessary data to track and analyze the market, so they can make the best trading decision.
Read more: Forex Trading in the Philippines: Complete Guide for Newbie Traders
How Do Forex Brokers Make Money?
In return for the services they provide, forex brokers in the Philippines make a profit in two ways: collecting bid-ask spreads and charging fees.
Bid-Ask Spread
Unlike stock brokers, most forex brokers don't charge any commissions. Instead, they take a cut from executed trades through spreads.
A spread is the difference between the bid price and the ask price for a currency pair. The bid price is the highest price a buyer is willing to pay, while the ask price is the lowest price a seller is willing to accept.
Spreads are calculated in pips (short for point in percentage), which is the fourth decimal point of a price. For example, if the EUR-USD pair is priced as 1.1000 bid and 1.1015 ask, the difference is 0.0015 or 1.5 pips—this is the spread that the forex broker will collect for performing the trade.
Whether you gain or lose on your forex trade, your broker will still make money on the spread.
Forex Broker Fees
FX brokers also earn from charging different fees from clients. Here are the common forex broker Philippines fees traders may incur:
- Rollovers - Also called financing fee or swap charges, this fee is charged for holding a currency position open overnight.
- Withdrawal fee - A minimal fee may be charged each time you withdraw funds from your forex trading account.
- Inactivity fee - If your account stays inactive for a certain period, you'll be charged a fee for it.
Best Forex Broker Philippines 2023
Here are the top-rated global brokerage companies that serve clients in the Philippines. They make it to this list of the best forex broker Philippines because they are highly regulated, charge low fees, and/or have excellent trading platforms and research tools, among other features.
eToro
Best for: Beginners and busy professionals who would like to try copy trading
eToro[1] caters to millions of forex traders of all experience levels in over 140 countries including the Philippines.
The MetaTrader platform is not available on the forex trading site, but eToro's own social trading platform is more than enough because it's innovative and beginner-friendly. Through a social news feed built into the forex trading site, eToro users can follow and interact with fellow traders to broaden or share their knowledge.
eToro Key Features:
- Regulators: Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
- Trading instruments: Forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), indices, and commodities
- Trading platform: eToro Platform
- Minimum deposit: USD 200 (initial deposit) / USD 50 (succeeding deposits)
- Maximum leverage: 30:1
- Currency pairs: 47
- Spread: 1 pips to 50 pips
- Negative balance protection
- With demo account
FOREX.com
Best for: Active, high-volume traders looking for low fees and diverse technical research tools
FOREX.com[2] is a US-based broker that operates in over 180 countries with 430,000+ customers worldwide. It performs trades fast, with 99.78% of trades executed in less than 1 second and average execution speed of 0.05 seconds. The forex broker also provides high-volume traders with benefits such as up to 15% cash rebates on trades. Thus, FOREX.com is ideal for active traders who buy and sell currencies in large volumes.
FOREX.com Key Features:
- Regulators: Commodity Futures Trading Commission and National Futures Association in the US and other regulatory bodies in six jurisdictions
- Trading instruments: Forex, equities, commodities, indices, bonds, ETFs, industry sectors, cryptocurrencies, gold, and silver
- Trading platforms: Advanced Trading, WebTrader, MT4, and MT5
- Minimum deposit: 100 units of the base currency
- Maximum leverage: 200:1
- Currency pairs: 80+
- Spread: 0.2 pips to 1.0 pips (for Standard Accounts)
- Commission charge: USD 5 per 100,000 units traded (for Commission Accounts)
- Segregated client funds
- With demo account (except for Commission Accounts)
XM Global
Best for Forex and CFD traders, especially beginners, who want to save on trading fees and learn how to trade currencies
XM Global[3] is a multi-awarded and highly regulated online forex broker with international licenses in five jurisdictions and serving over 3.5 million clients from 196 countries including the Philippines. Forex trading is made easy with a wide range of research tools and a low minimum deposit of only five dollars.
XM Global Key Features:
- Regulators: ASIC, CySEC, International Financial Services Commission in Belize, Dubai Financial Services Authority, and FCA
- Trading instruments: Forex, stocks, indices, commodities, precious metals, and energies
- Trading platforms: XM WebTrader, MT4, and MT5
- Minimum deposit: USD 5
- Maximum leverage: 888:1
- Currency pairs: 57
- Spread: Starting from 0.6 pips
- Research tools: Free video tutorials, daily forex webinars, forex market research, daily technical analysis, daily FX market outlook, and daily forex trading signals
- Segregated client funds
- Negative balance protection
- No requotes and no rejection of orders
- Personal account managers
- 24/5 live help
- With demo account
Read more: XM Global Guide to Start Your Trading Journey
IQ Option
Best for: Forex and options traders, especially beginners, looking for low fees and an easy-to-use trading platform
IQ Option[4] has more than 48 million registered traders from 200+ countries, including the Philippines, with 1.3+ million trades executed daily. In the absence of MetaTrader platforms, IQ Option offers its own mobile trading platform customized to the user's trading needs.
The forex trading site features a demo account (with refillable virtual funds worth USD 10,000) that allows for unlimited practice. This helps new traders learn forex trading at their own pace with no risk.
Unlike many online forex brokers in the Philippines, IQ Option does not charge rollovers for holding positions overnight.
IQ Option Key Features:
- Regulators: CySEC and Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Seychelles
- Trading instruments: Forex, options, stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, commodities, and indices
- Trading platform: IQ Option app
- Minimum deposit: USD 10, PHP 520, or equivalent
- Maximum leverage: 500:1
- Currency pairs: 44
- Spread: Starting from 0.6 pips
- Educational tools: Fundamental and technical analysis, news feed, and economic calendars
- Segregated client funds
- Negative balance protection
- 24/7 multilingual customer support
- With demo account
Read more: IQ Option for Beginners: A Guide to Using the Online Trading Platform
AvaTrade
Best for: Forex and CFD traders who prefer to use MetaTrader platforms
Established in 2006, AvaTrade[5] is one of the pioneers of CFD trading on commodities, stocks, and indices. Today, it serves 300,000 registered users globally and executes over three million trades monthly.
AvaTrade Key Features:
- Regulators: British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, Financial Services Agency (FSA) in Japan, ASIC, and other regulatory bodies in seven jurisdictions
- Trading instruments: Forex, stocks, indices, bonds, commodities, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies
- Trading platforms: AvaOptions, AvaTradeGO, WebTrader, MT4, and MT5
- Minimum deposit: USD 1,000
- Maximum leverage: 400:1
- Currency pairs: 50+
- Spread: Starting from 0.9 pips
- Research tools: Free ebooks, articles, videos, webinars, and daily market analysis
- Segregated client funds
- Negative balance protection
- One-on-one training with a dedicated account manager
- 24/5 global customer support
- With demo account
FP Markets
Best for: Forex and CFD traders interested in IRESS and MetaTrader trading platforms
With 15 years of trading experience, FP Markets[6] offers consistently tight spreads from as low as 0.0 pips on the major currency pairs. Account opening, deposits, and withdrawals are easy and quick.
FP Markets Key Features:
- Regulators: ASIC and CySEC
- Trading instruments: Forex, shares, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, gold, and silver
- Trading platforms: MT4, MT5, IRESS, and WebTrader
- Minimum deposit: USD 100 or equivalent
- Maximum leverage: 500:1
- Currency pairs: 60+
- Spread: Starting from 0.0 pips
- Negative balance protection under CySEC
- No requotes and no dealing desk
- Segregated client funds
- Personal account managers
- 24/5 multilingual customer support
- With demo account
NordFX
Best for: Active traders looking for diverse research tools
With more than 10 years of forex trading experience, NordFX[7] manages over 1.5 million trading accounts from almost 190 countries. Its fast trade execution of 0.5 seconds makes it the best forex broker Philippines for those who trade large volumes of assets. NordFX offers copy trading for people who want to try passive investing.
NordFX Key Features:
- Regulators: CySEC and Vanuatu Financial Services Commission
- Trading instruments: Forex, stocks, basic stock indices, cryptocurrencies, oil, gold, and silver
- Trading platform: MT4
- Minimum deposit: USD 10
- Maximum leverage: 1,000:1
- Currency pairs: 33
- Spread: Starting from 0.0 pips
- Research tools: Videos, economic calendar, trading calculator, and in-depth live market analysis
- 24/5 customer support
- With demo account
FXTM
Best for: Beginners who want to learn forex trading strategies from the pros
FXTM[8] was launched in 2011 and now has more than three million clients from 180 countries. The company offers copy trading and a wide selection of trading instruments and forex educational tools.
FXTM Key Features:
- Regulators: CySEC, FCA, Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa, and Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius
- Trading instruments: Forex, CFDs, precious metals, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies
- Trading platforms: WebTrader, MT4, and MT5
- Minimum deposit: USD 100
- Maximum leverage: 2,000:1
- Currency pairs: 59
- Spread: Starting from 0.1 pips
- Research tools: Videos, webinars, ebooks, and webinars
- Segregated client funds
- Negative balance protection
- Personal account managers
- With demo account
Oinvest
Best for: Traders looking for lower fees and a simple platform
Registered and licensed in Seychelles, Oinvest[9] allows traders to trade over 350 instruments, including forex, in multiple global financial markets.
Oinvest Key Features:
- Regulator: FSA in Seychelles
- Trading instruments: Forex, commodities, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies
- Trading platforms: WebTrader, MT4, and OInvest mobile app
- Minimum deposit: USD 250
- Maximum leverage: 400:1
- Currency pairs: 50+
- Spread: 0.03 pips to 3.1 pips
- Segregated client fund
- Dedicated account manager for Gold and Platinum accounts
- With demo account
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right forex broker Philippines is just as important as knowing how to trade currencies. Take your time researching and comparing different online brokers to see which one is the best fit based on your trading needs and preferences. Finding a forex broker Philippines will take time and effort but research is important to ensure you trade with a platform you know and trust.
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