Contratos por diferencia (El comercio de CFDs se ha vuelto extremadamente popular. Son instrumentos a través de los cuales se intercambia la diferencia entre el precio de compra y el precio de venta de un activo subyacente, sin necesidad de adquirir directamente el activo. A través de los CFD, los operadores pueden negociar con diversos activos financieros como divisas, índices, acciones, etc.
Hay muchos corredores en línea que ofrecen estos instrumentos. Pero, ¿quiénes son los mejores corredores de CFD en 2022? A la hora de elegir los mejores brokers de CFD, los aspectos esenciales que hay que analizar son la fiabilidad, la regulación, el coste, la calidad de los productos y los servicios. Esta revisión del broker de CFDs AtoZ Markets revela los mejores brokers de CFDs en los que puede confiar en 2022.
¿Qué es un corredor de CFD?
Un corredor de CFD es un proveedor de servicios financieros autorizado a ofrecer la posibilidad de operar mediante contratos por diferencia. El instrumento financiero es un contrato entre dos partes (corredor y operador) y es, por tanto, un activo OTC (Over The Counter).
CFDs are typically created by the brokers themselves and usually offer various options such as CFDs on Forex, Commodities, Stocks, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, etc. In some cases, these brokers offer other assets, such as spread bets (not available in Europe), vanilla options, and other trading instruments.
But what is the most important thing when choosing a CFD broker?
Well, it’s nothing more than the same old story: personal circumstances. And these circumstances vary not only within each country, but also between countries.
It is not the same for a US citizen who earns $100,000 a year as for one who earns $15,000, and even less so for a citizen of Nigeria who earns $3,000 a year.
It’s also not the same for someone who wants to trade long-term as for someone who wants to trade high frequency.
We can be sure that, depending on the circumstances, we will find some brokers more suitable than others.
The best brokers for trading CFDs
Well, to make things a little easier for you, we have included in this list of CFD brokers a selection of what are possibly the 7 best CFD brokers at the moment.
There are many things to consider when choosing these brokers, but I have tried to choose the most reliable ones, with the best services and products, and with the best reputation.
It’s true that I’ve left many out of this CFD broker review, especially some of your favorites, but we can’t put more than 7 in the ranking.
Furthermore, the difference between the best is very small.
There are many other high-quality brokers that deserve to be on this list of CFD brokers. Perhaps they will be in the future if I see them improve their product.
One important thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of these brokers are also considered Forex brokers, if not all of them.
You’ll see a lot of people separating their assets, and it’s true that some are better than others in the different asset groups, but basically they all trade using this CFD trading guide .
Therefore, all forex brokers with offices in Europe must comply with ESMA’s CFD regulations.
Because?
Well, from what has been said, the Forex products they offer are actually currency CFDs.
Recommended CFD brokers
In this list of CFD brokers, we’ll look at the 6 best brokers on the market, although not in any particular order of preference.
XTB
First on this list of CFD brokers is this old acquaintance of the European market, the Polish broker XTB, which is also listed on the Polish stock exchange and can boast of being one of the largest brokers in the world.
A broker with more than 2,000 instruments, ensuring we will have no shortage of opportunities to trade in the most varied markets in the world.
In this case, we’ll start with the brokers that are a bit more demanding in terms of deposits and trading volume. In other words, those that are best suited for traders with higher purchasing power.
The main difference is immediately apparent in the trading of CFDs on shares.
In addition to the spread, which in this case will be small, we have to pay a minimum commission, starting at 0.08% of the notional value, or $8. In other words, we won’t be able to trade for less than $8 in the market.
This means we have to pay $16 when we buy and sell a security.
This makes it a poor choice for trading small denominations.
- Apple Spread: $8 commission
- Spread SP500: 0,6
- Gold spread: 0.35
- Long exchange apple: Approximately 8%
- Long Swap SP500: aprox. 5%.
- Long gold exchange: approx. 5%.
The platforms are called XStation and Metatrader
Plus500
Who doesn’t know this CFD broker because of its sponsorship of Atlético de Madrid ?
Furthermore,
Plus500
has taken the leap with an initial public offering, becoming part of the London FTSE 250.
In terms of regulation, it is a broker similar to XM, with offices in London, Australia, Cyprus and Singapore.
Little more can be asked of it in terms of regulations.
The advantage for those trading under the Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC) or Singapore, for example, is that they can enjoy higher leverage—20x in the former and 10x in the latter—for stock CFDs. However, this is only available to international traders, not European ones.
Overall, it offers affordable terms for small and medium-sized traders, who won’t have to pay a minimum. A minimum deposit of $100 also contributes to this, making it perfectly accessible to all traders.
Let’s look at the specific differentials (which vary constantly):
- Spread Apple: 0.3
- Spread SP500: 0,45
- Gold spread: 0.37
- Apple long swap: -11.4% (approximate annual)
- Long Swap SP500: -4,92% (igual)
- Long gold swap: 4% (same)
The platform uses proprietary technology that is well-known in the market. While not as comprehensive as Metatrader, it is more than sufficient for trading effectively.
Naga
Naga is a German-based broker that operates in the European market and part of the global market, so most clients in Europe and Latin America can open an account with them.
The broker operates through various subsidiaries, although most trading services are provided from its Cyprus office. However, the company is subject to European regulations.
This corridor has two main characteristics:
1. It offers a wide variety of trading and investment instruments
Not only do we offer CFD trading on commodities, currencies, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies, but it’s also possible to buy shares with cash or trade real cryptocurrencies, making us one of the few brokers in the world to offer these features.
2. It is also a social trading broker. This means that copy trading is possible, although in this case only in the CFD market.
These two features make it a key broker in the international market, as it is almost unique in these services since we do not know of any other broker that offers CFDs, cash shares, real cryptocurrencies plus its private wallet, and also social trading.
Furthermore, being backed by a German company, it’s made by a broker who seems quite reputable.
Mercados.com
The European broker has continued to grow and has become one of those with the most significant global offering. This is evident in the various jurisdictions from which it operates, the main ones being the United Kingdom and Cyprus.
Like other brokers such as XTB, Markets.com has taken advantage of the availability of cash shares, which can be traded through one of its subsidiaries. In addition, we offer a wide range of CFD assets, with thousands of contracts available for trading.
One particularly interesting feature of this broker is its great flexibility for trading in the stock markets, as you can buy individual shares on European markets without having to pay a minimum trading commission. The main commission is included in the spread, which is a boon for traders, especially those with limited capital who can’t buy large blocks of shares.
XM
XM started quietly, but over time has established itself as one of the world’s best CFD brokers.
It started with its headquarters in Cyprus, but over the years it has expanded all over the world, competing head-to-head with the greats of yesteryear, opening offices in the United Kingdom (its current headquarters), Australia or Belize.
With over 1,000 instruments, it has more than enough variety for any operator.
That is, we have the classic indices, commodities, currencies and, at a minimum, the 1,000 most liquid stocks in the world.
The minimum size of CFD trades on shares is usually around 10 shares, which is acceptable for European markets with low prices, but more complicated for the US market with generally quite high asset prices.
Even so, if we are a small operator, we can operate in these European markets without any problems.
Without a doubt, this is one of my favorites for small traders if we want to trade stock CFDs, as it doesn’t charge commissions and trading is very affordable. Not to mention the minimum to open an account, which is practically zero.
Let’s look at the typical costs, fees, and spreads of very popular assets like Apple, the S&P 500, and gold.
- Apple differential: 0.15
- Spread SP500: 0,70
- Gold spread: 0.30
- Apple long-term trade: -5.38%
- Swap largo del SP500: -5 aprox.
- Long gold exchange: – 4 approx.
The platforms are the classic ones: Metatrader 4 and 5.
If you wish to trade with a regulated broker, open an account with any of the brokers listed below:
AvaTrade
The Irish broker is one of the market’s veterans. This broker is one of the most regulated in the world. It holds no fewer than six global regulations, including those from Japan and Australia, in addition to Ireland. Each of these regulations applies to different regions. European clients will need to open an account with the Irish subsidiary.
Regarding markets, it offers the full range of global markets, with a particularly attractive selection of CFDs on vanilla currency options. It stands out for having some of the lowest spreads and costs in the market.
It’s also a broker with a good range of trading platforms, notably its own, which allows trading in options and all markets, such as stocks, indices, etc. It also offers MetaTrader 4 and 5.
Another thing that makes AvaTrade stand out is its customer service, one of the most comprehensive available, with phone numbers in different languages and various customer contact options.
Comparison of CFD brokers
Well, we have now seen these seven brokers and their main features in this CFD broker comparison.
Of course, this has been an extensive review of CFD brokers and there are many other things that need to be examined more thoroughly, such as execution quality, the range of forex or cryptocurrency markets, customer service, etc.
But more or less the quality of these runners means that most of those things are fairly balanced.
As we have seen in this list of CFD brokers, many of these companies are listed on European stock exchanges, so we are talking about companies with the highest levels of regulation, not forgetting that they all have offices and are supervised by the UK authorities, the Financial Conduct Authorities (FCA).
Furthermore, most of these brokers are also registered under other highly reliable regulations, such as the Australian ASIC or the British FCA.
One of the things in which these brokers do vary from one to another is the issue of commissions, which depending on the product can be better in one case or another.
If you wish to trade with a regulated broker, open an account with any of the brokers listed below:
However, remember that in this comparison of CFD brokers, we are only comparing three assets, and this does not mean that the differences are the same for the rest of the CFDs.
| Spread or commission in currency | Apple | S&P500 | Air |
| XM | 0.15 | 0.70 | 0.30 |
| Plus500 | 0.30 | 0.45 | 0.37 |
| 0.38 | 0.75 | 0.45 | |
| XTB | $8 | 0.60 | 0.35 |
| AvaTrade | 0.22 | 0.50 | 0.34 |
| Mercados.com | 0.20 | 0.50 | 0.30 |
The best brokers for stock CFDs
Of all the points of comparison for CFD brokers, this is the most interesting, at least from my point of view.
This is because the stock market is the richest and most dynamic of the world’s financial markets, and not all brokers offer it. It’s more common to offer CFDs on indices or commodities.
In all the brokers we’ve looked at, we’ll have a significant and more than sufficient offering of stocks. With the top 1,000 global stocks, we’ll have enough to trade the markets efficiently and dynamically.
These spreads, however, are perfectly acceptable for a nominal asset price of $200 (Apple’s price when making this CFD broker comparison).
Charging a minimum commission means that a small investor who wants to buy just $1,000 worth of Apple has to pay a fairly high amount for a small account.
For example, on Plus500, $1,000 would be equivalent to buying 5 Apple CFDs, which with the spread would leave us with a commission of $1.50 on the first leg (the same would apply to the sale).
Remember that this is for Apple, and it could change for other markets in Europe.
Now, things change when the costs of exchanges come into play.
At this point in our review of CFD brokers, we have already seen that the most expensive broker is Plus500 and possibly the cheapest is XTB.
CFD broker XM is in the middle.
If our goal is to trade in the medium term, holding our positions for many months, or perhaps years, then we should consider whether Plus500 is a worthwhile option. The latter seems better suited for potential trades lasting weeks or a couple of months at most.
As you can see, the analysis gets more complicated, and here we’re going to have to take a good look at what we want to do with our trading and what our financial situation is.
Best CFD broker for indices
As for the S&P 500 index, things seem to be fairly even, although in this case Plus500 comes out on top, followed by CFD brokers AvaTrade and Markets.com.
If you want to do day trading, then brokers with lower spreads would be suitable.
However, if you want to swing trade, these differences are not so important.
Best CFD broker for commodities
If we want to trade gold, our list of CFD brokers shows that XM, CMC, and IG have the lowest spreads.
The most expensive in this case would be CFD brokers like Plus500.
As with indices, these differences would be insignificant if what we are looking for is swing trading.
As for the other raw materials, they would have to be examined one by one.
If you want to trade oil, you might find other brokers with better rates. You can learn more about this in our guide to the best CFD brokers for oil.
CFD broker review – Which is the cheapest CFD broker?
Tough question, don’t you think?
As we have seen throughout this review of CFD brokers, the cheapest broker for stocks is not necessarily the cheapest for indices, and the same applies to commodities or even cryptocurrencies, which we have not included in this list of CFD brokers.
Some CFD brokers will be better for holding positions long-term, while others will be better for trading in the shorter term.
Conclusion of the CFD broker comparison: Which is the best CFD broker?
I hope that this comparison of CFD brokers can help you choose the best CFD broker, or at least the one that best suits your circumstances.
Clearly, if you want to open a $500 or $2,000 account, it’s best to do so with the most flexible brokers, such as Plus500, or XM, especially if you’re going to trade stock CFDs.
In the case of XTB, for example, if I wanted to open a stock CFD account, I wouldn’t do so with less than $5,000, in order to implement a proper diversification strategy. I really can’t stress enough how important this is.
Now, in CFDs, the most important thing is not so much the broker as knowing how to trade with it, which is the same as knowing how to trade in general.
That’s more complicated, and there’s no guide that can teach you how to be a competent trader.
That can only be achieved with years of experience and a lot of study.