In this guide, we go over the best trading platforms in Australia. We have analysed 174 brokers and evaluated their platforms in 8 major categories. We measured all aspects of their service including trading platforms, fees, mobile trading, deposits & withdrawals, assets, regulation, research & education, customer support and islamic account options.
Trading platforms that reached the highest scoring are considered in the following list:
Top 5 Trading Platforms in Australia
- CMC Markets – Best trading platform overall
- Superhero –
- eToro – Best for Social and Copy Trading
- Interactive Brokers – Great Overall Pick
- IG – Cutting-edge mobile and desktop trading platforms
Best Online Trading Platforms Australia
| PLATFORM | SCORE | GENERAL INFO | MINIMUM DEPOSIT | |
| #1 | CMC Markets | 5 | Best trading platform overall | $0 |
| #2 | Superhero | 3.9 | ||
| #3 | eToro | 4.9 | Best For Copy Traders | $200 |
| #4 | Interactive Brokers | 4.9 | Great Overall Pick | $0 |
| #5 | IG | 5 | Cutting-edge mobile and desktop trading platforms | $0 |
Below section breaks down the best trading platforms in Australia, beginning with the highest rated…
1. CMC Markets – Best Platform Overall
Min Deposit: 0
Fees: 3.7
Assets available: 3.2
Total Fees:
CMC Markets is a reputable online broker known for its award winning trading experience, excellent selection of tradable instruments and industry leading pricing. With over 12.500 tradable instruments across all asset classes, CMC is among industry leaders in market coverage.
Their proprietary trading platform called Next Generation is reliable, fast executing and fully packed with useful trading tools and indicators. It features an impressive education and research section full of quality in-house and third party content.
CMC Market offers the lowest commissions and fees in the industry. Low spread fees (0.73 pip on EUR/USD) are available for traders at all levels and accounts. Additional bonuses and rebates for active traders makes CMC Markets a market leader in costs and fees.
Pros
- Wide range of available assets
- Free demo paper trading account
- Excellent customer support
Cons
- Offers only CFD trading and spread betting
- Few education and research tools available
- High fees compared to other brokers
Key features
- Access to 9000+ shares and ETF CFDs
- 300+ tradable forex pairs
- Cryptocurrency CFD trading available
- Compatible with metaTrader 4
- Well-suited for beginner and advanced traders
- Gives spread rebates
2. eToro – Best Broker For Social Trading
Min Deposit: $200
Fees: 4.8
Assets available: 4.8
Total Fees:
79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. eToro AUS Capital Ltd ACN 612 791 803 AFSL 491139. OTC Derivatives are speculative and leveraged. Not suitable for all investors. Capital at risk. See PDS and TMD
eToro is a reputable global brand and industry leading broker for copy trading. Their robust and cutting edge copy trading platform and social trading features allow users to copy trades and portfolios from professional traders and investors.
As a CFD multi asset broker, eToro allows users to trade on over 3075 different symbols including stocks, forex, cryptos, indices and commodities. Trading spreads are wide, deposits are free and account minimum is low. There are conversion and inactivity fees. eToro provides a comprehensive list of technical tools, charts, and newsfeeds. Their customer support is available through email and live chat in Arabic and English.
eToro is a well established market maker broker with a clean history record, regulated by top tier regulators.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Pros
- Access to over 4000+ tradable symbols
- Great overall market coverage
- Easy to use mobile trading app and platforms
- Industry leading social/copy trading app
- Great cryptocurrency trading features
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Algorithmic trading not available
- Forex and CFD fees above industry average
- Education and research tools missing
Key features
- Sophisticated social-copy trading features
- Multiple different payment options
- Crypto exchange and brokerage services on the same dashboard
- Super fast registration and KYC on-boarding process
- Zero commission stock trading
- Great ease of use level
3. Interactive Brokers – Great Overall Pick
Min Deposit: 0 ($2000 for margin account)
Fees: 4.9
Assets available: 4.9
Total Fees:
All trading involves risk. More than 80% of investors lose in spread bet and CFD trading. As these complex instruments allow for the use of leverage, there is a high risk of losing more money than you have deposited. Before attempting to participate in spread bets and CFDs, consider how well you understand them and if you can afford to lose your money.
Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted global broker with a well-rounded offer of tradable markets, great educational content and sophisticated order type configuration. It is a high trusted and well capitalize company with an industry leading trading platform, a competitive fee structure and great global market access. Their low entry level and the Global Trader platform, which is intuitive and easy to use trading station, make this broker s great choice for beginners and advanced forex traders.
Professional and seasoned traders will appreciate the great selection of advanced trading tools and order type configurations available on their proprietary Trader Workstation desktop platform (TWS).
Pros
- Best market coverage in the industry (100k+ assets on different instruments)
- Access to 16,500 shares and 8,000 stocks as CFDs
- Professional trading platform suitable for different types of traders
- Intuitive and easy to use mobile trading app
- Industry leading fee structure
- Compatible features for casual and professional traders
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Few deposit and withdrawal options
- Research and education materials missing
Key features
- Margin loan rates on stocks of 1.3%
- Access to 135+ global markets
- Advanced order types, tools and features
- Access to frictional shares
- Lowest commissions in the industry
4. IG Trading – Cutting-edge mobile and desktop trading platforms
Min Deposit: $5500
Fees: 3.7
Assets available: 4.5
Total Fees:
IG is one of the largest and most popular regulated forex and CFD brokers globally. Traders can trade thousands of markets using IGs trading platforms like L2 Dealer and ProRealTime or connect their IG brokerage account with MetaTrader 4.
IG offers educational material, daily market update videos, and both technical and fundamental analysis case studies. If you are new to online trading, you can practice with IG’s free demo paper trading account first. For experienced traders IG offers spread rebates and access to more advanced financial instruments like digital options.
Pros
- Access to over 17,000 markets
- Cutting-edge mobile and desktop trading platforms
- Excellent customer support and broad range of educational material
Cons
- High fees on CFDs
- Few banking options
Key features
- Trade over 17,000 markets with a broker that has been in business since 1974
- Access to Turbo24s, and CFDs and options on forex, indices, crypto, stocks, and commodities
- Unlimited free demo paper trading account
- Advanced research and analysis tools like L2 Dealer and ProRealTime
- Access to APIs to set up Expert Advisors and other automated trading software
- Receive trading signals and alerts to find excellent entry and exit points
How To Pick The Right Platform?
The main criteria to consider when choosing a trading platform in Australia include: fees, trading platform, mobile trading, deposits & withdrawals, assets, customer support, liquidity and security.
Fees: Choose a broker with a transparent fee structure and avoid brokerage accounts with high fees on trades, overnight fees and hidden fees. Commission and spread fees are common with Australian brokerage accounts. Spreads should vary between 0.03% to 0.5% depending on your trading volume.
Trading platforms: They should be user friendly, grant access to trading tools and indicators and suitable to traders at all levels. We recommend you opt for a platform with a technical charting interface and built-in market data. A comprehensive market news feed and access to advanced features are a must.
Mobile Trading: Mobile trading apps should offer the same trading tools and charts as their web versions. Choose mobile platforms with full-screen charting options and social feeds.
Deposit & Withdrawal: Deposit and withdrawal needs to be fast and simple. Choose an broker that offers your preferred payment method and industry leading commission and fee structures.
Assets: Look for coverage of preferred assets. Australian traders are allowed to access all tradable asset classes including forex, stocks, indexes, options, FOPs, commodities, futures, indices, bonds, swaps, mutual funds, hedge funds, spot gold, ETFs and cryptos.
Regulation: Brokers with top-tier licenses follow strict rules enforced by a trustworthy regulators and offer high security standards. We recommend users to choose platforms with FCA, CySEC, and ASIC licenses and tier one regulations.
Research & education: Beginner and average traders and investors should choose a broker with research and education tools including: weekly webinars, daily news updates, personal account manager, personal training and room access.
Customer support: Beginner traders should look out for responsive and professional customer support available in their language.
*Islamic Accounts: All platforms from our list offer islamic account options. This gives users the chance to trade online in compliance to the Sharia law.
Online Trading In Australia
Australian people are active traders of the world wide forex, stock, and cryptocurrency markets. It is estimated that there are around 1,25 million Australians trading the markets on a daily basis. Australia is home to a few great brokers that offer online trading services around the globe. All of these retail brokers and investment organisations are overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) protects traders and investors by preventing unregulated brokers from offering their services. Any brokerage firm that wants to offer trading services to Australian citizens has to obtain an ASIC license. The ASIC has strict regulations in place and is an official tier-1 jurisdiction agency.
Australians are free to use offshore brokers, but the ASIC won’t protect their investments in this case nor will they aid in any disputes that may arise between investor and broker.
Online Trading Regulation
Online trading regulations in Australia are strict. Any broker that offers services to Australian residents without a license from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will be penalized with a hefty fine. Cryptocurrency trading is also regulated by the ASIC and they monitor developments in the crypto-asset industry closely. Australian citizens are allowed to trade cryptocurrencies with overseas-based cryptocurrency exchanges.
Licence Verification
There are several internationally operating brokers based in Australia including IG, CMC Markets, and Interactive Brokers. The most popular overseas-based brokers for Australian traders are eToro, Capital.com, and AvaTrade. Both the Australia-based and the international brokers have valid ASIC licenses. For this reason, Australian traders can safely trade the financial markets with any of these brokers.
If you decide to trade with a different broker, we recommend checking the validity of their license before depositing any money into your trading account with them. Always make sure they have a valid ASIC license. This is done by copying the license and registration numbers available at the broker’s website and filling these in at the official ASIC website.
Conclusion
Based on our review, we consider CMC Markets as the best trading platform for Australian residents. They offer a low minimum deposit, competitive fees, advanced charting tools, social trading features and a responsive customer support.
eToro is the second best trading platform for Australian residents, because of their low fees, advanced trading tools, copy trading features and a responsive customer support. Interactive Brokers and IG are finishing up our list of top platforms with a great overall offer and above average ratings.
FAQ
Are There Commission-Free Trading Platforms In Australia?
Yes, there are trading platforms available in Australia that offer 0% commission trading like eToro and AvaTrade.
How Much Should I Invest When Trading Online in Australia?
You should always invest at least the minimum deposit amount Australia and international brokers require you to open an account. In most cases, this is about $50.
Is Crypto Trading Available In Australia?
Yes, crypto trading is available to Australian citizens. The leading trading platforms offer Bitcoin trading via CFDs.
How To Check If A Trading Platform Has a Valid License?
You can check if a broker has a valid operating license on the ASIC official website.
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Disclaimer
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.
Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.