The stock market attracts a lot of attention and different types of investors with widely varied investment/ risk appetites, which is why investors need guidance on how to choose the best CFD trading platform. As more people seek the fortunes promised by the stock market, they encourage the creation of new financial instruments to match their tastes, like futures, ETFs, options, and of course, CFDs.

Contract for Difference, commonly known as CFD, is a derivative instrument that enables you to place bets on a range of global markets, for instance, forex, commodities, indices, and shares, without needing to own the underlying asset. It is an agreement made between a buyer and a seller that clearly outlines that the buyer must pay the seller the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at the time the contract is signed.

CFDs are leveraged products, meaning you can put down money for a position by simply paying a small deposit, known as a margin. Your profit or loss would be calculated based on the full size of your position.

Despite their popularity, CFDs are notoriously tricky investments to make, which is one of the factors that makes it important that you select the right trading platform on which to conduct your trades. For instance, some trading platforms offer perks for CFD options that competitors don’t, thereby giving you a wider variety and better CFD products. In contrast, others may be subject to interfaces or have different jurisdictions depending on their countries of origin.

Here are a few of the best CFD trading platforms

Interactive Brokers

This is a platform that both beginners and experienced investors can use. Interactive Brokers give you every tool you need to trade successfully. They provide a pair of highly intuitive apps for desktop and mobile devices with a great user interface.

The platform has many advantages, such as commission costs, low margin rates, and other tools that can increase in complexity, along with your increasing skill level.

Other features & advantages

Interactive Brokers allow you to select between two tiers of service: IKBR, which is the standard service for expert traders, or IKBR Lite, which appeals to beginners. IKBR Lite provides you with free trades for stocks and exchange-traded funds for any assets listed on the U.S. stock exchanges. It’s also the perfect option for worldwide traders since it has options for 31 countries and 125 markets in total.

IBKR Pro offers an advanced trading platform for investors that consider themselves experienced in the game. This platform presents with a more advanced trading platform data spread, a wider range of tradable securities, and a low margin rate. The advantage is that both versions can trade CFDs and benefit from a $0 minimum.

The other benefits offered by Interactive Brokers’ platforms include real-time trade alerts, cost analysis tools, and allowing you to control all other trading options from a single window/ account. This eases the process of managing your entire portfolio while letting you make huge plays in a single instant or even just to take account of your trades before making a decision.

The IBKR platform uses smart routing technologies to calculate CFD reference prices to help you make better deals. This feature is especially great for beginners navigating the intricate trading market.

These tools are essential when trading CFDs because you might need to move quickly to take advantage of short-term opportunities or even to get away from deals where your risk is higher than the likely reward. To succeed at CFD trading, getting real-time information is critical.

Forex.com

Forex.com is a respected trading platform regulated by the U.S., Japan, and the Cayman Islands. The CFD options on this platform are available to non-U.S. clients. Despite their broad reach, they are quite affordable. This is one of the cheapest and best CFD trading platforms for international traders.

This platform is a great choice for those who aren’t interested in using platforms that charge lots of trading fees. Although their stock index CFD fees are low, their stock CFD fees are high, but this isn’t common among other trading platforms as well. You should remain aware that this platform charges a $15 monthly fee after a year of inactivity.

The account opening process is easy and completely digital; however, it takes two business days to finalise. You’ll be required to pay a low minimum deposit of $50, making it one of the market’s more accessible CFD trading platforms.

One of the key disadvantages of this platform is the delay experienced when you attempt to withdraw money from Forex.com and into your account. You have to link your bank account to the service instead of sending money to your credit card, and even then, it will take another few days for the cash to reflect on your account.

Despite this, the platform is an excellent resource that’s fairly customizable both in terms of the user interface and the charts you might want to keep open on your screen at a time. Forex.com is a very versatile trading platform with an easy-to-use interface despite its minor drawbacks.

eToro

Founded in 2007 in Cyprus, eToro is a premium trading platform. It’s very popular amongst international traders, and despite the fact that it’s not the best choice for general stock trading, it’s still a great option for CFD trading in particular.

The platform’s catalog boasts a lot of CFD variety, even if it lacks options elsewhere. Its low initial, and general CFD fees make it one of the most affordable and specialized CFD trading platforms available.

eToro is regulated in two tier-1 jurisdictions as well as one tier-2 jurisdiction, meaning it’s relatively low risk for CFD and forex trading. With eToro, you get a total of roughly 2000 CFD options, although their general product catalog is limited. Despite this, the CFD product catalog is a bit bigger than want might be expected because the platform uses several algorithms to access markets for information and potential CFD options that might technically be unavailable at the moment.

However, the platform is a little more expensive than other CFD spot trading platforms. In addition to that, its market research tools pass the mark but don’t come close to other offerings. Still, because eToro’s CFD fees, in general, are quite low, the platform is more affordable in comparison to other options.

Additionally, the platform is user-friendly thanks to its copy/mirror trading tools, allowing new CFD traders to mirror the moves made by more experienced brokers.

I.G.

This is one of the world’s biggest CFD trading groups. Founded in the early 1970s, it has become a notable name in the trading world and features an extensive trading product catalog and competitive fees. With a top-tier platform and interface as well as jurisdiction in most countries, this is one of the highest-quality CFD platforms available.

I.G. boasts a highly intuitive platform that is also easily customizable. The platform also has lots of educational tools available to enable you to succeed as a trader. Because of the fact that I.G. is focused on CFD, you might find their catalog of trading options somewhat limited.

Their tools are powerful and perfect for CFD research. The majority of the charts they provide are flexible and come with their toolsets; for example, you can set alerts for different CFD indicators. The platform also provides extensive training materials like webinars or web classes for its users.

XTB

With headquarters in London and Warsaw, XTB is among the best CFD trading platforms for British and Polish-based users. The platform’s quick, easy to use, and charges low fees for any stock index CFD options; however other fees can be quite high. They also provide special accounts for residents of the U.K. and Ireland alone.

Other features & advantages

XTB offers both Standard and Pro account options, each with its own spread models and execution methods, which means varying commissions and fees. Despite this, Spreads remain competitive and aren’t too exorbitant, plus all users get to rely on the platform’s intuitive interface and several active trader discounts. The platform offers five tiers of discounts tied to your CFD trade volume, letting you potentially earn quite a profit based on your activity level.

The other advantage with this platform is that active CFD traders get an additional benefit if they’re designated “Professional”: The platform will rebate some of your spread with an increase in your trading volume. Minimum deposits on XTB are roughly £250; however, the Pro account options have lower spreads and better fees.

This platform gives you access to a vast number of CFD products, plus it has the added benefit of drag-and-drop menus and many analytical tools.

In conclusion, with the different features available, CFD trading platforms play an important role in whether or not you’ll enjoy success in your trading endeavors. Some of the platforms give you access to different CFD stocks, while others allow you to operate in multiple countries. Whatever appeals to you, consider the pros and cons carefully so as to maximize your chances of success.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is provided for education and information purposes only. This information is for educational purposes only, and you should conduct thorough before investing.