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Best Day Trading Platforms and Brokers in the UK 2024

Written By

James Barra

Written By

James Barra

James is an investment writer with a background in financial services. He has worked as a management consultant, where he delivered large-scale operational transformational programmes at some of Europe's biggest banks. James authors, edits and fact-checks content for a series of investing websites.

» James Barra Profile Page

Fact Checked By

Jemma Grist

Fact Checked By

Jemma Grist

Jemma is a writer, editor and fact-checker focused on retail trading and investing. Jemma brings a unique perspective to the forex, stock, and cryptocurrency markets and works across several investment websites as a researcher and broker analyst.

» Jemma Grist Profile Page

Updated

Apr 17, 2024

The best day trading brokers in the UK provide platforms that are easy to use with great charting tools, low costs, fast execution, and leverage trading.

Most are also regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and tailored for British day traders, offering access to major markets such as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and currency pairs like the GBP/USD. Many of the top day trading platforms also support accounts in the British Pound, simplifying deposits, withdrawals, and trade management.

Discover our pick of the best brokers for day trading in the UK. Each brokerage we recommend accepts traders from the UK and was evaluated by British traders using real money or a test account.

Best 5 Brokers For Day Trading In The UK

Our analysis shows that these are the 5 top platforms for UK day traders:

1. XTB - XTB stands out as a top choice for new day traders with the terrific xStation platform, commission-free pricing, no minimum deposit, and excellent educational tools, many of which are seamlessly integrated into the platform.
2. CMC Markets - With advanced charting tools and an extensive range of tradable CFDs, including an almost unrivalled selection of currencies and custom indices, CMC Markets provides a fantastic online platform for traders of all levels.
3. Eightcap - Eightcap delivers in every area for day traders with a growing selection of charting platforms and AI-powered tools. Now sporting 250+ crypto CFDs and the Crypto Crusher market scanner, it's also become a stand-out choice for crypto trading, winning our 'Best Crypto Broker' award two years in a row.
4. Spreadex - Spreadex will appeal to UK day traders who are interested in both spread betting on financial markets and placing traditional bets on sports events. Fees are low on short trades and profits are tax-free on spread bets. There's also a powerful proprietary charting platform, plus £0 minimum deposit required to get started.
5. Pepperstone - Pepperstone stands out as a top choice for day trading, offering razor-sharp spreads, ultra-fast execution, and advanced charting platforms for experienced traders. New traders are also welcomed with no minimum deposit, extensive educational resources, and exceptional 24/7 support.

Best Day Trading Platforms and Brokers in the UK 2024 Comparison

Best Day Trading Platforms and Brokers in the UK 2024 Comparison

Broker	GBP Account	FCA Regulated	Minimum Deposit	Markets	Platforms	Leverage	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Crypto, ETFs	xStation	1:30	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Treasuries, Custom Indices, Spread Betting	Web, MT4	1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)	Visit
	✔	✔	$100	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities	MT4, MT5, TradingView	1:30	Visit
	✔	✔	£0	Forex, CFDs, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Interest Rates, ETFs, Options, Spread Betting	Spreadex Platform, TradingView	1:30	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	CFDs, Forex, Currency Indices, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Crypto(only Pro clients), Spread Betting	MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, AutoChartist, DupliTrade	1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	Stocks, Options, Futures, Forex, Funds, Bonds, ETFs, Mutual Funds, CFDs, Cryptocurrencies	Trader Workstation (TWS), IBKR Desktop, GlobalTrader, Mobile, Client Portal, AlgoTrader, OmniTrader, eSignal, TradingCentral	1:50	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Options, Commodities, Bonds	MT4, TradingView, TradingCentral	1:30 (Retail), 1:50 (Accredited Investor), 1:200 (Sophisticated Investor), 1:300 (Wholesale Investor), 1:400 (Professional Trader). Varies with jurisdiction.	Visit
	✔	✔	$100	Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Futures, Options, Crypto	MT4, MT5, TradingView, eSignal, AutoChartist, TradingCentral	1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)	Visit
	-	✔	$50	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, ETFs, Smart Portfolios, Commodities, Futures, Crypto, NFTs	eToro Web, CopyTrader, TradingCentral	1:30	Visit
	✔	✔	£0	Stocks, Funds, Trusts, ETFs, Bonds, Gilts, VCTs	Own	-	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	Forex, CFDs, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Futures, Bonds, Cryptos (Bahamas Entity Only)	MT4	1:500 (entity dependent)	Visit
	✔	✔	$50	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Bonds, Spread betting	ProTrader, MT4, MT5, TradingView, DupliTrade	1:500	Visit
	✔	✔	$100	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Futures	FxPro Platform, MT4, MT5, cTrader, AutoChartist, TradingCentral, DupliTrade	1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)	Visit
	✔	✔	$100	CFDs on Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Futures, Options, Crypto	WebTrader, App	1:30	Visit
	✔	✔	$0	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Futures, Options, Crypto, Spread Betting	Web, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer, MT4, AutoChartist, TradingCentral	1:30 (Retail), 1:222 (Pro)	Visit

#1 - XTB

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Review

Why We Chose XTB

Founded in 2002 in Poland, XTB now serves more than 935,000 clients. The forex and CFD broker combines a heavily regulated trading environment with an extensive selection of 5,600+ assets and a commitment to trader satisfaction, featuring an intuitive in-house platform with superb tools to support aspiring day traders.

• Instruments: CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Crypto, ETFs
• Regulator: FCA, CySEC, KNF, CNMV, DFSA, FSC
• Platforms: xStation
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Minimum Trade: 0.01 Lots
• Leverage: 1:30

Pros

• XTB offers fast withdrawals with same-day payments if requested before 1 pm, ensuring day traders have quick access to their funds.
• With an excellent range of educational materials, including training videos and articles integrated into the platform, XTB supports traders at all levels.
• Opening an XTB account is a hassle-free, entirely online process that takes just a few minutes, making the entry into day trading smooth for new traders.

Cons

• Trading fees are competitive with average spreads of around 1 pip on the EUR/USD but still trail the cheapest brokers like IC Markets, plus there's an inactivity fee after 12 months.
• Not being able to adjust the default leverage level of XTB products is frustrating, as manual adjustment can significantly mitigate trade risk, especially in forex and CFD trading.
• XTB discontinued support for MT4, limiting traders to its proprietary platform, xStation, potentially deterring advanced day traders familiar with the MetaTrader suite.

Visit XTB

#2 - CMC Markets

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Review

Why We Chose CMC Markets

Established in 1989, CMC Markets is a respected broker listed on the London Stock Exchange and authorized by several tier-one regulators, including the FCA, ASIC and CIRO. More than 1 million traders from around the world have signed up with the multi-award winning brokerage.

• Instruments: CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Treasuries, Custom Indices, Spread Betting
• Regulator: FCA, ASIC, MAS, CIRO, BaFin, FMA, DFSA
• Platforms: Web, MT4
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Minimum Trade: 0.01 Lots
• Leverage: 1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)

Pros

• CMC Markets is heavily regulated by reputable financial authorities and maintains its stellar reputation, helping to ensure a secure and trustworthy trading environment.
• The brokerage continues to stand out with its wide range of value-add resources, including pattern recognition scanners, webinars, tutorials, news feeds, and research from respected sources like Morningstar.
• The web platform delivers a fantastic user experience with advanced charting tools for day trading and customizable features, catering to both beginners and experienced traders. MT4 (but not MT5) is also supported.

Cons

• Trading stock CFDs incurs a relatively high commission, especially compared to the cheapest brokers like IC Markets.
• An inactivity fee of $10 per month is applied after 12 months of inactivity, which may deter casual investors.
• The CMC Markets app offers the complete trading package but the design and user experience trails category leaders like eToro.

Visit CMC Markets

#3 - Eightcap

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Review

Why We Chose Eightcap

Eightcap is an award-winning, FCA-regulated broker offering industry-low day trading fees. They are also the highest-rated brand by TradingView’s 50 million-strong users, who can trade directly on the platform. UK traders can sign up for a live account with an accessible £100 minimum deposit.

• Instruments: CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities
• Regulator: ASIC, FCA, xCySEC, SCB
• Platforms: MT4, MT5, TradingView
• Minimum Deposit: $100
• Minimum Trade: 0.01 Lots
• Leverage: 1:30

Pros

• Eightcap stands out with a selection of powerful trading tools, including MT4 and MT5, the innovative algorithmic trading platform Capitalise.ai, and more recently the 50-million strong social trading network TradingView.
• Having excelled across all key areas for day traders, Eightcap outperformed more than 490 competitors to win our 'Best Overall Broker' award for 2024, also securing our 'Best Crypto Broker' title.
• With tight spreads from 0 pips, low commission fees, and high leverage up to 1:500 for certain clients, Eightcap provides cost-effective and flexible trading conditions that can accommodate an array of strategies, including day trading and scalping.

Cons

• The demo account expires after 30 days and can only be extended upon request - a notable inconvenience compared to the likes of XM with its unlimited demo mode.
• In spite of an increasing variety of tools, Eightcap doesn't offer industry favorites like Autochartist or Trading Central, which offer cutting-edge charting analytics, live news, and market insights for short-term traders.
• Eightcap needs to continue bolstering its suite of instruments to match category leaders like Blackbull Markets with its 26,000+ assets, featuring a particularly weak selection of commodities.

Visit Eightcap

#4 - Spreadex

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Review

Why We Chose Spreadex

Spreadex is an FCA-regulated broker that offers spread betting opportunities on an impressive 10,000+ CFD instruments including 60 forex pairs. Traders can also take short-term positions on sporting events. The brand has been around for over 20 years and has won multiple awards.

• Instruments: Forex, CFDs, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto, Bonds, Interest Rates, ETFs, Options, Spread Betting
• Regulator: FCA
• Platforms: Spreadex Platform, TradingView
• Minimum Deposit: £0
• Minimum Trade: £0.01
• Leverage: 1:30

Pros

• There's an excellent range of instruments and trading vehicles for short-term traders
• Spreadex gives UK traders the opportunity to make tax-free profits through spread betting
• There's a good selection of signals, analysis tools and risk management tools, including guaranteed stops

Cons

• The proprietary terminal lacks comprehensive charting features of platforms like MT4 and MT5
• No third-party e-wallets are accepted
• There's no support for expert advisors or other trading bots

Visit Spreadex

#5 - Pepperstone

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Review

Why We Chose Pepperstone

Established in Australia in 2010, Pepperstone is a top-rated forex and CFD broker with over 400,000 clients worldwide. It offers access to 1,300+ instruments on leading platforms MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, maintaining low, transparent fees. Pepperstone is also regulated by trusted authorities like the FCA, ASIC, and CySEC, ensuring a secure environment for day traders at all levels.

• Instruments: CFDs, Forex, Currency Indices, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Crypto(only Pro clients), Spread Betting
• Regulator: FCA, ASIC, CySEC, DFSA, CMA, BaFin, SCB
• Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, AutoChartist, DupliTrade
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Minimum Trade: 0.01 Lots
• Leverage: 1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)

Pros

• Pepperstone emerges as a low-cost broker, especially for serious day traders with spreads from 0.0 in the Razor account and rebates of 25%+ through the Active Trader program.
• Pepperstone boasts impressive execution speeds, averaging around 30ms, facilitating fast order processing and execution that’s ideal for day trading.
• Award-winning customer support is available via telephone, email or live chat with response times of <5 minutes during testing.

Cons

• There’s no simplified proprietary trading platform, nor are there any social trading features, which could be a disadvantage if you are new to day trading.
• Pepperstone does not support cTrader Copy, a popular copy trading feature built into the excellent cTrader platform and available at alternatives like IC Markets.
• Pepperstone’s demo accounts are active for only 30 days, which may not be not long enough to familiarize yourself with the different platforms and test trading strategies.

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Choosing A Day Trading Broker In The UK

Our 40+ years of combined experience using UK brokers has shown us that several critical elements should be considered when deciding who to open an account with:

Choose A Trusted Broker

Picking a trusted broker will help safeguard you from unscrupulous trading practices, such as misleading promotions and price manipulation.

It will also help protect you from trading scams, many of which we’ve seen target retail investors in the UK. One notable example is EverFX, a brand that pressured victims to move sometimes tens of thousands of pounds to offshore firms where they lost money and had limited recourse options under UK law.

The hallmarks of a trustworthy day trading broker are authorization from a respected body, such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a long track record, excellent user reviews, and a good reputation in the industry. We prioritize day trading platforms that tick these boxes.

I recommend that British day traders sign up with an FCA-regulated broker. The FCA is hugely respected around the world for its robust investor protections, including providing up to £85,000 through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the event of broker insolvency.

If you choose to open an account with an international broker, check they are not on the FCA’s Warning List.

James Barra

Author

Choose A Broker With Low Fees For Day Trading

Selecting a platform with excellent pricing is critical for day traders because high transaction costs can rack up if you’re making a large volume of trades, impacting your profitability.

That’s why we evaluate the fees you can expect to incur day trading as part of our exhaustive broker reviews. This includes recording and comparing spreads and commissions on popular markets like the FTSE, EUR/GBP, and GBP/USD.

Importantly, we also balance costs with the broker’s overall offering, as we know it’s sometimes worth paying more for superior market data, sophisticated trading tools and faster order executions, especially for advanced day traders.

Choose A Broker With An Excellent Charting Platform

Finding a platform with strong charting tools is important because day traders often use technical analysis to discover opportunities, while long-term investors tend to rely more on fundamental analysis.

Our experts always evaluate the platforms, mobile apps, and charting tools for day trading as part of our hands-on tests. We use the software to ensure it delivers an excellent user experience with an intuitive design and straightforward navigation.

We also check it comes complete with the charting tools essential for day traders at any skill level, including technical indicators, drawing features, and timeframes that cater to short-term trading strategies, from 1-minute to 60-minute charts.

Choose A Broker With Access To The Markets You Want To Day Trade

Making sure the brokerage facilitates day trading on the assets you’re interested in is critical.

For traders in the UK, it’s often important to be able to speculate on shares listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the value of the FTSE 100, and currency pairs that include the British Pound, such as the EUR/GBP and GBP/USD.

We always evaluate the range and depth of the investment offering while using day trading platforms, with a particular eye on access to UK markets for British traders.

The other element we look for is instruments built specifically for short-term trading strategies, notably contracts for difference (CFDs). These derivatives enable you to speculate on rising and falling prices from the same product without taking ownership of the underlying security, such as Barclays shares listed on the LSE.

Choose A Broker With Fast Execution Speeds

Opening an account with a broker that offers fast execution is crucial for day trading strategies, especially in volatile markets. Delays in executing orders can lead to price slippage and even failure.

That said, execution quality is also an important consideration and concerns factors like speed, pricing, and the probability of order fulfilment.

That’s why we routinely evaluate brokers’ execution policies and execution speed data (where available), favouring platforms that meet our benchmarks of <100 milliseconds.

Choose A Broker That Supports Leverage Trading With Clear Margin Requirements

Signing up with a firm that supports leverage trading is essential for many day traders, who often use leverage to control larger positions with a small outlay.

Essentially, leverage amplifies your purchasing power, and thus your returns and losses. Let’s say my day trading broker offers leverage of 1:30 on the GBP/EUR. This means a £100 outlay would give me £3,000 to trade with (30 x £100).

However, it’s crucial to understand that leverage trading also greatly increases risk. As a result, a risk management strategy is needed, alongside a solid grasp of your broker’s margin requirements, which outline the amount of capital required.

The FCA limits leverage for retail investors in the UK to between 1:2 and 1:30 depending on the market being traded.

You can day trade with higher leverage if you sign up with a brokerage registered in other jurisdictions, but this elevates the risk of large losses and I do not recommend it for beginners.

James Barra

Author

As part of our exhaustive reviews, we confirm whether margin trading is supported and the maximum leverage available.

We also make sure the broker is upfront about margin requirements and its margin call and stop-out levels, which determine how much capital you need to deposit to prevent positions from being automatically closed.

Choose A Broker With An Accessible Minimum Deposit

Selecting a day trading platform that offers a deposit requirement within your budget is important to make sure you don’t risk more than you can afford to lose. This is especially important for beginners who might have a modest amount of capital for trading.

We’ve personally tested over 490 brokers that support day trading using either real money or test accounts, and the vast majority require an initial investment of <£500. That said, some platforms cater specifically to beginner traders with low or even no minimum deposit.

Methodology

To find the best day trading brokers in the UK, we considered both quantitative data and qualitative insights from our comprehensive broker reviews, focusing on several aspects:

FAQ

Who Regulates Day Trading Brokers In The UK?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the body responsible for overseeing and licensing brokers that offer day trading products to retail investors in the UK.

You can check whether a brokerage is authorised by the FCA by searching for their name or license number (usually found at the bottom of a broker’s website) on the regulator’s register.

How Much Money Do I Need To Start Day Trading In The UK?

Most top day trading brokers accept traders in the UK with a minimum deposit of between £0 and £500.

Beginners may want to open an account with a low minimum deposit broker, while advanced day traders may wish to invest more in return for the best trading tools and market data.

Which Brokers Do Day Traders In The UK Use?

We’ve compiled a list of the best day trading platforms and brokers in the UK. Many of our recommendations have millions of active traders, with a large user base in the UK.

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