Home Best 10 Forex Demo Accounts for Beginners And Experienced Traders
Edith Muthoni

You have read different materials, watched tutorial videos, and pursued a training course in forex trading. It is now time you get practical.

But don’t risk your life’s savings by opening a real money trading account yet. You need first to test your grasp of the training that you just had and gain an even more profound – more practical – understanding of this market.

And there can be no better way to put your forex trading skills to test than by starting in the risk-free trading environment – the demo account. And to help you get started, we have come up with a list of what we consider the ten most valuable demo accounts.

Note: The efficiency of a broker’s demo trading platform in terms of spreads, spillage and speeds speaks volumes about their real account experience. Only open a real account with the broker if you are delighted with their demo account.

Best Forex Demo Account

Here’s a list of the best forex demo account and the top alternatives available right now.

  1. eToro
  2. Plus500
  3. FXCM
  4. IG
  5. AvaTrade
  6. FBS
  7. EasyMarkets
  8. ETX Capital

What is a Forex Demo Account?

A demo account refers to a free practice trading account. It is given by a forex broker to a prospective trader/investor and can be used for practice trading or testing out new strategies. It is also referred to as a paper money account because it is funded with fake/virtual money. The fake money allows them to understand the broker’s trading platform and try out different trade strategies without risking real cash.

Best Forex Demo Accounts...

The demo account has all the features of a real trading account. These include access to market data, analysis tools/indicators, and even access to the customer support team. The only significant difference between the live account and a demo account is that a demo account doesn’t have access to live market data but relies on simulated data.

Who Needs a Forex Demo Account?

i) Beginners looking for a risk-free trading environment to test their understanding of the forex market
ii) Traders seeking to understand a new broker’s features, services, and proprietary trading platform
iii) Traders looking to test and understand a new platform; such as MT4, cTrader, or other proprietary platforms
iv) Traders looking to experiment or perfect a new strategy

Pros and Cons of Trading on a Demo Account

Pros

  • Demo accounts are risk-free: Opening a demo forex trading account is free. You will also be given free ‘virtual’ currency that you use to execute trades in the demo account.
  • Exposes a trader to real-time forex trading situations: Demo accounts mirror the activities of the real market trading environment. And this gives you a feel of what to expect once you go live.
  • Helps you develop, test, and perfect forex strategies: Both beginner and experienced traders have the chance to use the risk-free demo trading environment to test and perfect a trading strategy.
  • Critical to understanding the broker’s features and services: The demo environment also helps you understand the tools and resources featured by your broker. This includes their spreads, customer support, educational, and news resources.
  • Prepares a beginner mentally and emotionally for the live trading: To succeed in a real forex trading environment, you need to learn how to control your emotions. The demo environment plays a crucial role in helping keep your emotions in order, even in the face of consistent losses.

Cons

  • Can give you a false sense of confidence: When interacting with a demo account, you already know it is not real. And that your actions have no real impact on your real cash. This can give you a false sense of confidence that encourages over-trading.
  • It doesn’t do much to help you master your emotions: It is hard to be emotional when there is nothing at stake. Demo trading is all about fake money that has no impact on your finances. It, therefore, doesn’t help you master and keep your emotions in order.
  • May encourage bad trading habits: Most demo account traders don’t take time to analyze trades before taking up a position. This is a gambling mentality that may result in the accumulation of bad trading habits, especially for day traders and scalpers.
  • Limited funds and duration: Most brokerages have limits to how much virtual cash you can access. They will as well limit the number of days you can operate a demo account – often 30 days. The short period is not enough for one to understand all aspects of the broker, their platform, and the forex market.

Criteria used to Rank the Best Demo Accounts

  • Trading platform, i.e. MT4, cTrader, NinjaTrader, etc.
  • Time limit
  • Trading balances and renewability of the allocated virtual currencies
  • Ease of opening
  • Trading tools, features, and execution speeds
  • Leverage and number of trading pairs
  • Types of accounts available
  • Trading costs, i.e. spreads, fees, and commissions

10 Best Forex Demo Accounts in 2020

1. eToro – Best for social and copy trading

eToro joins the long list of brokerage firms that don’t limit the amount of time you can spend practicing on their demo account as you prepare to start trading. The platform supports a free forex demo account everywhere outside the US, while for US customers you can get a free crypto trading account to hone your skill with.

The only noticeable difference between the real and demo eToro trading accounts is the type of cash used to trade. With eToro, you only need to register with the broker once, as the online securities broker maintains a unified registration form for both real and practice accounts. This means that you don’t need separate login details to access the demo and real trader account.

Plus any Etoro member can use the practice account. Beginners use it to learn about the broker platform (tools and features) and set up the strategies they will use to trade while experienced traders use the demo account alongside the real account to boost the effectiveness of their trading strategies.

The practice account operates as a training ground where you learn everything about trading with eToro, from the tools used, their trade costs, and how to use the copy trading tool effectively. Master how these tools can be deployed to boost the profitability of your trades and then apply them in a live account.

Our Rating

  • The eToro trading platform is available in web, desktop and app version.
  • You gain access to over 50 currency trading pairs
  • Fastest trade execution speeds and access to near-real-time market data
  • Payout from the platform can take longer than other providers
  • In the US you can only trade cryptocurrency

3. PLUS 500 – Unlimited demo account trading time

Two primary factors help Plus 500 stand out from the rest of the competition when it comes to forex demo accounts. First, it is a free unlimited demo account – implying that there is no time limit to the use of the account. And that you can easily have your virtual currencies redeemed as soon as you exhaust the previous allocation. Secondly, Plus 500 is a pure-CFD broker.

You can open the demo account on their proprietary trading platform. Here, you get access to a wide range of tools and indicators for analysis and trading as well as a host of risk management tools that include the guaranteed stop order.

Note: Trading CFDs on Plus500 is only suitable for experienced traders.

Our Rating

  • Trade with redeemable €40,000 virtual funds and leverages of up to 1:30
  • Plus500 is authorized and regulated by FCA
  • Simulates all the features of a real trading account including the low variable spreads
  • Has a limited product portfolio and will only trade CFDs
  • You might also consider their research and educational resources relatively limited
CFDs are complex financial instruments and 80.5% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

4. FXCM – Best for in-depth education and market research and multiple trading platforms

FXCM makes it to our list of best demo forex accounts because of its dedication to forex training and education. This complements their already comprehensive demo trading account. And also makes the broker appealing to both novices and established traders.

It also is available in multiple trading platforms that include the MT4, ZuluTrade, NinjaTrader, and Quant. You can connect either of these to your desktop or mobile app, and get $50,000 in virtual funds upon opening the free demo account. The demo account exposes you to over 39 currency pairs with leverages of 1:400.

Our Rating

  • Presents the demo account trader with a rich pool of trading tools and indicators
  • Relatively fast and straightforward demo account creation
  • Gives you access to a reliable customer support team
  • The broker has a tainted reputation that saw it banned in the United States in 2017
  • Some of these lesser popular trading platforms are quite sluggish resulting in slippage and requotes

5. IG Markets – Best for multiplatform demo accounts

IG Markets have two types of Demo accounts, the Core demo account hosted on their proprietary web-trading platform and the MT4 demo account hosted on the all-popular MetaTrader platform. The two have several features in common including access to $20,000 in virtual funds. They also host a wide range of premium trading and analysis tools, grant you access to the online broker’s customer support team, and real-time market data.

They, however, have varied execution speeds, spreads, and access to trading/market analysis tools. The MT4 demo account is popular for its fast order execution speeds and minimal slippages while the web trader demo account posts tighter spreads. Plus when using the web trader platform, you get access to premium risk management tools like stop orders, currency alerts, autochartist tools, and ability to integrate the Reuters forex news updates.

Our Rating

  • You have the choice of practice trading with two highly innovative demo trading platforms
  • Demo account registration for either platforms is easy and straightforward
  • Have access to a wide range of trading, market analysis and risk management tools on either platform
  • One may consider the $20,000 virtual trading funds insufficient for practice trading
  • CFD forex trading is prohibited in the US

8. AvaTrade – Best for large virtual funds deposits ($100,000)

Registering for a Demo account with AvaTrade is easy as you can opt to fill in your account details or simply link it with your Google or Facebook Profile. After registration, the online forex and CFDs brokerage presents you with the option to host your free demo account on either the conventional MT4 and MT5 trading platforms or their proprietary AvaOptions web trading platform.

The AvaTrade Standard demo account is funded with $100,000 virtual cash. Additionally, it is only valid for 3 weeks and so any unused virtual funds in your demo account will expire after 21 days. Unlike most other forex brokerages, however, AvaTrade will always extend this time period if you contact their customer support asking for an extension. Alternatively, you can simply create another demo account since the broker maintains no limit to the number of demo accounts associated with one email.

When practice-trading with the AvaTrade demo account, you have access to near-real-time market data, 24/7 customer support, forex trading education, and training guides. You also get to interact with several premium trading and market analysis tools. International clients have access to trading leverages of up to 1:400 while EU residents trade within the 1:30 ESMA/FCA restrictions.

Our Rating

  • IG hosts a multiplatform demo account with numerous premium trading tools and technical indicators
  • Access $100,000 virtual funds with extendable demo account deadlines
  • The account mirrors almost all the features of a live trading account including spreads, number of forex pairs, and market analysis tools
  • Doesn’t take into account significant aspects of live trading like slippage and forex prices recorded during off-market trading hours
  • The broker doesn’t accept U.S clients

9. FBS – Best for the number of supported trading tools and technical indicators

You only need your name and a valid email to create a demo trading account with FBS that’s hosted on the MT4 trading platform.

The demo account expires in 90 days for FBS European clients and 45 days for international traders. The upside to this is that there are no limits to the number of demo accounts that you can link to one email. You, therefore, are free to create a new demo account as soon as one expires.

FBS clients practice-trading on an FBS demo account have access to numerous forex trading pairs, premium trading and market analysis tools, technical indicators, and near-real-time market data. The only difference between FBS demo and live trading accounts is the fact that a demo account doesn’t take into account real spreads, trade commissions, and slippages.

Our Rating

  • Offers relatively extended practice time for demo accounts – up to 90 days
  • You are free to create a new Demo account as soon as one expires
  • Access all the premium trading tools and technical indicators associated with a live trading account
  • FBS Capital is a CFD brokerage and, therefore, doesn't accept U.S clients
  • One may consider their educational and training resources limited

10. EasyMarkets – Best for beginners

Easy Markets operate what we consider the most beginner-friendly forex demo accounts. They will furnish you with the most comprehensive educational and training resources. An exceptionally supportive customer support team further complements this. And they can be reached via live chat tool on the EasyMarkets website, phone, and social media – including WhatsApp. The broker’s demo account also tries to mirror the activities of the real market environment as perfectly as possible.

Some of the most exciting features about the Easy Markets Demo account include 100% fixed spreads and 0% commission. The broker further promises 0% slippage and a highly effective risk management option with a guaranteed stop-loss feature. Plus, you are free to cancel losing trades on their proprietary Easy markets platform using the ‘deal cancellation’ feature. Here, you have access to $10,000 virtual currency.

Our Rating

  • Available in both MT4 and the proprietary EasyMarkets trading platforms
  • Beginners are treated to attractive leverages of up to 1:400
  • Excellent customer support
  • Does not accept US clients
  • Some features – like deal cancellation – aren’t available on the MT4 platform

11. ETX Capital – Trade with one of most versatile trading platform

Registering for a demo Forex trading account with ETX Capital is easy and straightforward as you only need a name, phone number, and a valid email address. The demo can be hosted on either the online brokerage’s proprietary TraderPro platform or the all-popular MT4 platform. Ans both are available in the WebTrader, Desktop, Mobile app versions.

After account verification, the broker will fund your account with €10,000 in virtual funds that you can use to open different CFD trades, including 58+ currency pairs. You also get access to a host of premium trading tools, technical indicators, and customizable charts.

There is no limit to the number of demo accounts you can open with one email address. You, therefore, are free to open another as soon you deplete the virtual funds.

Our Rating

  • You get to interact with all the trading features and tools available to live trading account holders
  • ETX is a multi-platform trader and you have the option of trading on their ProTrader of MT4 platforms
  • Practice trading over 58 forex pairs using near-real-time market data
  • One may consider their €10,000 virtual funds insufficient
  • Broker pays little attention to education and training courses

Additional Forex Brokers with Demo Accounts

1. ThinkorSwim – Best for the widest range of analytical and trading tools

Thinkorswim – the proprietary trading platform for TD Ameritrade – is by far one of the most comprehensive platforms we have come across. Here, you have access to over 300 analytical tools. These are then complemented by an equally rich resource of training and forex trading educational materials. And you get unlimited access to these tools and resources in a demo account that you can interact with for 60 days.

Most importantly, the data on the demo trading environment is as close to the real market data as it can get – with a mere 20 min delay. Plus you are treated to one of the most extensive virtual currency stocks in the industry of up to $100,000. The broker is NFA and CFTC regulated and thus welcoming to the United States forex traders.

Our Rating

  • The massive stock of tools and educational materials make it easy to use
  • Relatively fast trade execution speeds and a large number of currency pairs available
  • It gives you access to a helpful customer support team 24/5
  • The maximum leverage for the Demo trades is set at 1:50

2. CMC Markets – Best for the most versatile trading platform

As the rest of the world and leading forex brokerages abandoned their proprietary trading tools and adopted the MT4 trader, CMC stuck with its Next Generation trading platform. The broker has over the years nurtured and strived to make it one of the most innovative proprietary trading platforms.

Some of its key features include highly customizable layouts and trading tools, multiple charting options, full automation, and availability in desktop and mobile app trading versions. The broker doesn’t impose a limit on the volume of virtual currency or the amount of time you can spend on the practice account. It is also worth noting that they only added MT4 as an alternative trading platform for their clients in 2018.

Our Rating

  • You gain access to high leverages of up to 1:500
  • Presents you with a host of educational and training materials on forex trading
  • You get to use some of the most advanced analytic and trading tools like the guaranteed stop-loss
  • Reports relatively sluggish trade execution speeds that often leads to order slippage
  • Its reclusive nature cuts it off from the world of third-party tools making it hard to launch a day trading career with the broker

3. Go Markets – Best for ultra-fast trade executions

Go Markets uses MT4 trading platform to host its real and demo trading accounts. This makes it possible to avail the live market trading data easily to demo traders. It makes it on this list of best demo accounts because of its adoption of the most advanced trading technologies. And this is best reflected in its ultra-fast trade execution speeds.

This stretches further to feature price improvement technology that is available in both the demo and real trading accounts. Here, you can practice trading over 50 currency pairs with adjustable leverages of up to 500:1. The demo account will have $10,000 in virtual cash that you can play with for a maximum of 30 days.

Our Rating

  • Gives you access to such innovative tools and indicators as the autochartist pattern recognition tool and trading central that supports technical and fundamental analysis
  • The fact that you are trading on the MT4 platform on real market data makes the transition to live trade as seamless as possible
  • Pays huge emphasis on forex and education and training
  • It only has a limited number of accounts that you can practice with
  • The 30-day trial period is not enough for individuals looking to master the system

4. ThinkMarkets – Best for advanced technical analysis tools and indicators

You can open a free account with ThinkMarkets on the MT4, MT5 and ThinkTrader platforms. On either platform, you can trade over 35 of the most popular currency pairs with leverages of up to 500:1.

Nevertheless, what we like most about ThinkMarkets demo accounts is the fact that they present you with some of the most advanced trading and analytical tools. These include Autochartist, Trading Central, Forex VPS, and the economic calendar. Additionally, demo account traders can backtest the effectiveness of both existing and new trading strategies.

Our Rating

  • Straightforward account application and ease of navigation
  • You also get access to prompt customer support that is accessible via the live chat option or emails
  • The trading platforms are quite versatile and available both as a web trader and a mobile app

The Verdict

You need a demo account to gain a deeper understanding of your preferred broker, their trading platform, their operations, key trading tools, and indicators. One of the most important things that you get to learn from interacting with a demo account is the number of trading pairs available. It will also help you get to know the number of trading and analysis tools fronted by the brokers and how to use them. Even more importantly, you will learn how to test the efficiency of the different trading strategies or even come up with some of your own. And on this list, we have included different demo accounts that speak to your different trading needs. Whether you are looking for a broker with more currency pairs or one with sophisticated trading tools, we have you covered.

Follow the link if you were looking for UK Forex Broker Demo Accounts.

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Edith Muthoni

Edith Muthoni

Edith is an investment writer, trader, and personal finance coach specializing in investments advice around the fintech niche. Her fields of expertise include stocks, commodities, forex, indices, bonds, and cryptocurrency investments. She holds a Masters degree in Economics with years of experience as a banker-cum-investment analyst. She is currently the chief editor, learnbonds.com where she specializes in spotting investment opportunities in the emerging financial technology scene and coming up with practical strategies for their exploitation. She also helps her clients identify and take advantage of investment opportunities in the disruptive Fintech world.