Assuming the Euro (EUR) will rise in value against the US Dollar (USD), you will want to trade (or bet the spread) the EUR/USD currency pair. The Forex market is the largest and most liquid market in the world, covering all the world's currencies and trading 24 hours a day, five days a week.
To trade Forex, you need an online broker. Trading with a reliable forex broker is critical to success in the international currency markets. As a currency trader or investor, you may have specific needs regarding the platform, tools or analytics. Understanding your investment style can help determine which forex broker is best for you.
Every year, our team here at Ardma.ru compiles a rating of the best Forex brokers in Russia in terms of reliability for Forex and CFD trading. Here are our findings for 2021.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money quickly due to leverage. Between 69 and 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to risk losing your money.
How to choose a broker for trading the stock market
One of the main indicators when choosing a broker is reliability. The company should not encounter any problems in the course of its work, and it must have the appropriate licenses to provide brokerage services, issued by the financial regulators of the region in which the company operates.
The broker must provide all the necessary tools for trading and have a simple and intuitive interface. Many brokers provide up-to-date information from the world of investments - this is also an important criterion. The client should not have problems finding the necessary information.
The next important criterion will be the terms of trade. Pay attention to what stocks are available from a particular broker, how many trading pairs there are, and what restrictions there are. For example, not all brokers provide access to foreign markets. Therefore, you need to look at which stock exchanges you have access to.
Note. The Central Bank decided to tighten the rules for access of unqualified investors to purchase shares on foreign markets. New amendments to the law “On the Securities Market” have so far been adopted only in the first reading.
According to the new conditions, investors must meet the following criteria:
- The amount in the investor’s accounts is at least 10 million rubles;
- The investment amount is at least 1.4 million rubles, but provided that within six months the investor makes transactions worth at least 6 million rubles;
- Obtaining a certificate of a self-regulatory organization (SRO).
In other cases, the maximum amount for investing through Russian brokers will be 50 thousand rubles per year.
Beginners may have difficulty choosing brokers, since all the conditions are very scattered and presented in the form of large lists on various pages of the site - it is easy to get confused in this jungle. In order to facilitate the process of finding the necessary information about brokers, we have collected all the necessary information that will simplify the selection of the right company to invest in the stock market.
What we evaluate
We have identified the key parameters by which we will evaluate brokerage companies. This list does not include all parameters, but only the most basic ones. For example, the availability of analytical materials and training courses is not so critical for brokers, since there are special services for this that collect complete information about the market, provide economic calendars and other useful data. Let us list the criteria that we will compare when evaluating brokers.
Broker licenses
This is one of the key parameters. But all of the listed brokers operate on the territory of the Russian Federation and are represented in the register of the Central Bank. This means that all brokers that we will compare have the necessary licenses. Therefore, we will not include this parameter for company research.
Trading commissions
This is one of the most important parameters. If the fees are high, then it will be more difficult for users to profit from day trading. This means that the broker will be more highly specialized and more suitable for investment. Especially when it comes to beginners.
Brokerage commissions make up the bulk of the company's revenue. In this, larger brokers usually benefit from smaller firms: due to the large trading turnover, they can reduce commissions, but their income will still remain significant. The rate can be a fixed rate per transaction or a percentage of the amount of the purchase or sale of shares.
Deposit and withdrawal
Some of the brokers are subsidiaries of large Russian banks. This means that they can impose their services, offering favorable conditions only when using their own products and services. Therefore, we will carefully study this point with each broker.
Terms of Service
Stock trading is now widely available, and we have long gone through the period when professionals played on the stock market. Nowadays, the purchase of shares is available to every individual over 18 years of age, except for certain restrictions established by law. Not all novice exchange players have a large amount of money and can afford expensive services, so we will compare the cost of servicing a deposit account, which stores information about the client’s transactions and records of purchased securities.
The second key factor is the amount of the minimum deposit. It is not profitable for brokers to process transactions with small amounts because they load the system. It is better to have fewer transactions, but for larger amounts. But brokers strive to reach as many clients as possible, so they reduce deposit requirements down to the minimum. Now you can start investing with 100 rubles.
We will also check how the broker provides the opportunity to open a trading account. In the modern world, the most valuable resource is time. Therefore, it is important that the process is as fast and convenient as possible, and that you can open an account online. But this will still not be a key indicator if, for example, the broker loses on other fronts.
Access to foreign securities
There will be no problems with access to the Russian market: securities of domestic companies can be purchased on any exchange. But the foreign stock market is different. The fact is that access to more than 1,000 liquid shares in the Russian Federation is provided by only one issuer - the St. Petersburg Exchange. Therefore, clients will be able to trade shares of foreign companies only if brokers are connected to this exchange.
Note. Within the framework of the law, there are a number of restrictions for unqualified investors:
- An investor must have at least 6 million in his account or make transactions equivalent to this amount within a year.
- If an investor does not have such an amount, then the amount of purchase of foreign shares for him is limited to 100 thousand rubles.
- If an investor needs to remove these restrictions, then he will have to pass a test on knowledge of stock market instruments.
Legal restrictions also apply to derivative trading instruments, including futures, options and other derivatives. These instruments refer to leveraged margin trading, which poses a high risk even for professional traders, let alone beginners. Therefore, we will not consider this criterion. Moreover, it is better for beginners to avoid trading, since if used inappropriately, you can quickly lose your funds and reset your trading account balance.
Access to the trading platform
Just 10 years ago, the headliners of the scene were personal computers, through which traders accessed the terminal using programs such as QUIK and MetaTrader. These programs are still popular now, but in narrow circles of experienced stock market players. For beginners, the interface may seem confusing, so they will most likely prefer a more convenient option, for example, trading through a mobile application - we will also carefully study this factor as part of the study.
Finam
Official website: www.finam.ru
Broker Finam is a pioneer of the stock and foreign exchange market, providing brokerage services since 1994. This is the largest brokerage company in Russia. In addition to brokerage services, Finam provides a wide range of services for trading, investment, banking, trust management and expert analytics. You can turn to Fins for almost any necessary service.
Advantages:
- No commissions for the exchange of Russian shares (Low commission for foreign shares);
- Developed infrastructure and a large number of services for investors and traders, including the function of copying transactions;
- There is a mobile platform;
- The widest selection of foreign exchanges;
- There is a single tariff for investors.
Flaws:
- Full information about the tariff is contained in a large file, where it will be difficult to find the necessary data and it will take a lot of time.
InstaForex
- Name: Limited Liability Company "Fix Trade"
- Brand/parent company: InstaForex
- INN: 3906186173
- OGRN: 1083906004885
- Address: 236022, Kaliningrad region, Kaliningrad, st. Teatralnaya, 30, office 516
- tel.
- License number: 027-14014-020000
- Date of issue: 03/09/2017
- Validity period: unlimited
- Region: Kaliningrad region
- Supervisory division: North-Western Main Directorate of the Bank of Russia (St. Petersburg)
- Website: instabroker.ru
Finam Forex
- Name: Limited Liability Company "FINAM FOREX"
- Brand/Parent Company: Finam
- INN: 9710001492
- OGRN: 1157746825940
- Address: 127006, Moscow, lane. Nastasinsky, 7, building 2, room. 17
- tel.
- License number: 045-13961-020000
- Date of issue: 12/14/2015
- Validity period: unlimited
- Region: Moscow city
- Supervisory unit: Main Directorate of the Bank of Russia for the Central Federal District (Moscow region)
- Website: forex.finam.ru
- Framework agreement
- Quote provider: Just2Trade Online Limited (www.just2trade.online)
Forex Club
- Name: Limited Liability Company "Forex Club"
- Brand/Parent Company: Forex Club
- INN: 7705931717
- OGRN: 1107746881791
- Address: 123022, Moscow, Zvenigorodskoe highway, building 18/20, building 1
- tel.
- License number: 045-13997-020000
- Date of issue: 10/12/2016
- Validity period: unlimited
- Region: Moscow city
- Supervisory unit: Main Directorate of the Bank of Russia for the Central Federal District (Moscow region)
- Website: forexclub-russia.ru
Tinkoff Investments
Official website: www.tinkoff.ru/invest
Tinkoff Investments is a popular and modern service from the bank of the same name. Tinkoff positions itself as an online bank and strives to achieve maximum convenience for clients: there is no need to visit the office, and if you need to meet with the bank manager, he will come to you. This makes Tinkoff’s service significantly different from the rest.
Tinkoff Investments is younger than most of its competitors, but is rapidly gaining momentum. Now the broker is already in first place in terms of the number of clients - 138,645, once the largest brokers were Sberbank and VTB. The bank currently ranks 11th in terms of trading volume, but has every chance of becoming a leader.
Advantages:
- Free service;
- High-quality customer support;
- Convenient and free mobile application;
- Access to the foreign stock market.
Flaws:
- Commissions for transactions are higher than most other brokers;
- To open an account, you need to get a Tinkoff Bank card, what are the pitfalls. If there have been no transactions on the account, then 99 rubles per month will be charged for card maintenance.
List of financial institutions
| Place in the ranking | Name | Leverage | Spread in points from | Deposit | Number of assets |
| 1 | VTB 24 Forex | 1:45 | 0,5 | 50,000 rubles | 24 currency pairs |
| 2 | Finam | 1:47 | 0 | 30,000 rubles | 26 currency pairs |
| 3 | PSB-Forex (Promsvyazbank) | 1:40 | 1,9 | 50,000 rubles | 17 currency pairs |
| 4 | Sberbank | absent | n/a | absent | more than 200 |
| 5 | Tinkoff Bank | absent | n/a | absent | more than 100 |
Opening
Official website: www.open-broker.ru
Otkrytie has been conducting brokerage activities for more than 24 years and currently ranks among the top five largest brokers in the Russian Federation. A brokerage company should not be confused with the banks of which it is a subsidiary. Just as in the case of Tinkoff Bank, customers often complain about service at Otkritie Bank. But banks are not directly related to the broker's activities. Yes, there were often problems with banks, but everything was fine with brokers.
Advantages:
- High reliability rating;
- Access to foreign markets;
- Low commissions for the starting tariff.
Flaws:
- There is a fee for withdrawal, albeit a small one - only 10 rubles. or 0.15%.
BKS
Official website: www.broker.ru
Broker BCS is the leader in terms of trading volume among Russian brokers and one of the oldest companies providing intermediary services in the securities market. BCS has a complete infrastructure comparable to the Finam broker.
Users often associate the name BCS with brokerage services. And for good reason: the broker’s main activity is providing services on the stock market. Therefore, BCS takes the most careful approach to servicing investor accounts.
Advantages:
- Access to foreign shares;
- No withdrawal fees;
- You can invest from any amount at the starting rate;
- Free application;
- Depository services are included in the tariff;
- High-quality support;
- The commission decreases as trading turnover increases.
Flaws:
- High commission (if low trading volume of transactions).
