ActivTrades review

Spread from

0.5 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.5 pips

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 0.8 pips

Commission

$0

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.5 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight swaps may be charged or credited

Inactivity fee

£10/month after 1 year inactivity

Withdrawal fee

None internally; bank/intermediary charges may apply

Currency conversion

0.5% for deposits/withdrawals in a currency different from account base currency

Cost is where brokers in the same regulatory bracket actually differ.

Spreads from 0.5 pips suggest an all-in account, where the broker's fee is built into the price rather than charged separately. There is usually no commission on top, which makes the cost easier to predict.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

ActivTrades lists a minimum deposit of $0. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Markets

Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, Bonds, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

50+

Total instruments

1,000+

Crypto CFDs

Yes

Maximum leverage

1:30

Execution model

Market execution / no dealing desk

Execution speed

Under 4ms

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, trailing stop, progressive trailing stop, pullback entry

Servers

London and global financial data-centre infrastructure

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.

ActivTrades covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, bonds, etfs, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: bank transfer, visa/mastercard, skrill, neteller, cryptocurrency. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Platforms

ActivTrader, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView

Own platform

Yes, ActivTrader

Mobile app

Both proprietary and third-party

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

Yes; MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors and automated trading

Copy trading

No

Indicators

50+ native/MetaTrader indicators; 100+ through TradingView

Third-party tools

TradingView, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Smart Tools

API access

Yes, institutional/API connectivity

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

TradingView integration lets you trade from charts you may already use, removing the need to run a second platform for analysis.

Regulated by

FCA (434413); Mauritius FSC (GB24203277); Securities Commission of The Bahamas

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 434413

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Regulated banking institutions

Negative balance protection

Yes

Compensation scheme

FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; additional private funds insurance up to $1,000,000

Audited by

Independent external auditors

Not available to

United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil and other jurisdictions where services would contravene local laws or regulations

Across a hundred brokers, the licence is what separates the field fastest.

ActivTrades holds a tier-one authorisation from FCA. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (FSC). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

An FSC licence (Mauritius or Belize, depending on the entity) is an offshore authorisation with lighter reporting duties than a tier-one regulator.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Regulated banking institutions. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; additional private funds insurance up to $1,000,000, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees.

Minimum deposit

$0

Account types

Individual, Professional, Corporate, Islamic/Swap-Free, Demo

Account currencies

EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, SEK

Islamic account

Yes

Demo account

Yes

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

0.01 lots

Time to open

Typically within 1 business day

ActivTrades runs 5 account types. More choice is not automatically better: the tightest headline spread almost always sits on the account that also charges a commission, so the comparison that matters is the two added together.

Base currencies: EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, SEK. Holding the account in the currency you fund it with avoids a conversion charge on every deposit and withdrawal - a cost that never shows up in a spread comparison.

The smallest position is 0.01 lots. For anyone starting carefully this matters more than the minimum deposit, because it sets the least you can put at risk on a single trade.

A demo account is available. Worth using for the platform rather than the results: fills are simulated, so it tells you how the software behaves but very little about execution.

Deposit methods

Bank transfer, Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrency

Withdrawal methods

Bank transfer, cards, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrency

Deposit time

Cards/e-wallets/crypto typically within 30 minutes; bank transfer same working day after receipt

Withdrawal time

Typically same working day processing

Minimum withdrawal

No general minimum

Local payment methods

Bank transfer and jurisdiction-specific payment methods

Withdrawals are stated at Typically same working day processing, against Cards/e-wallets/crypto typically within 30 minutes; bank transfer same working day after receipt for deposits. A gap between the two is normal and not in itself a warning sign - identity checks are a legal obligation, not obstruction. What is worth noticing is a withdrawal that keeps meeting new conditions after those checks are done.

Withdrawal routes: bank transfer, cards, skrill, neteller, cryptocurrency. Money is usually returned by the route it arrived on, so the deposit method you pick is in effect the withdrawal method you are picking too.

The minimum withdrawal is No general minimum - relevant if you intend to fund the account lightly, since it sets the smallest amount you can take out at a time.

Support hours

24/7

Contact channels

Live chat, WhatsApp, phone/callback, online message

Languages

14 languages

Telephone

+44 20 6500 5670

Email

englishdesk@activtrades.com

Live chat response

Typically under 1 minute

Education

Extensive: webinars, seminars, educational articles, platform tutorials, videos and trading guides

Research

Extensive: market analysis, technical/fundamental analysis, trading tools, market news and research

Support runs 24/7. Round-the-clock cover matters more than it sounds: a position held over a weekend or through an unexpected halt is exactly when you need somebody to answer.

Reachable by live chat, whatsapp, phone/callback, online message. A published telephone number is the one channel that is hard to fake and hard to ignore, so whether there is one says more than the number of channels does.

Languages: 14 languages. Being able to raise a complaint in your own language is worth more than it appears, because complaints are where precision matters most.

Education: extensive: webinars, seminars, educational articles, platform tutorials, videos and trading guides. Treat broker-published material as an introduction rather than as advice - it is produced by a firm whose revenue rises when you trade more.

Legal entity

ActivTrades PLC

Company number

05367727

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Founded

2001

Publicly listed

No

Parent company

ActivTrades Group Limited

Employees

200+

Also trades as

ActivTrades

ActivTrades has been trading for around 25 years, through at least one full market cycle. Longevity guarantees nothing on its own, but a firm that came through 2008 and 2015 has been tested in a way a recent entrant has not.

The contracting entity is ActivTrades PLC. This is the company you would actually have a relationship with, and it is worth checking that it is the same one named on the licence you are relying on: large brokers commonly operate several, and they are not equally protected.

Part of ActivTrades Group Limited. A parent adds resources, but the protections that apply to you are the ones attached to the entity that holds your account, not to the group.