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Best DMA Brokers In 2025

Written By

Paul Holmes

Written By

Paul Holmes

Paul has over 15 years experience in the trading industry, both as a full-time trader and working with leading brokers. He’s traded indices and forex, developed proprietary day trading techniques, and built his own MetaTrader algorithms. Paul has been quoted in various respected media outlets, including Benzinga, Passport to Wallstreet, and Moomoo.

» Paul Holmes Profile Page

Edited By

James Barra

Edited By

James Barra

James is an investment writer with a background in financial services. As a former management consultant, he has worked on major operational transformation programmes at prominent European banks. James authors, edits and fact-checks content for a series of investing websites.

» James Barra Profile Page

Fact Checked By

William Berg

Fact Checked By

William Berg

William contributes to several investment websites, leveraging his experience as a consultant for IPOs in the Nordic market and background providing localization for forex trading software. William has worked as a writer and fact-checker for a long row of financial publications.

» William Berg Profile Page

Updated

Jul 25, 2025

A Direct Market Access (DMA) broker allows traders to place orders directly onto the exchange order book without interference from a dealing desk, offering full transparency and real-time market depth.

This makes DMA brokers especially suitable for active traders who require fast execution, tight spreads, and precise control over their short-term trades.

After running hands-on tests, we’ve reviewed, rated and ranked the top DMA brokers.

Which DMA Broker Has The Fastest Execution?

In our DMA testing, Pepperstone (via cTrader), IC Markets, and TopFX consistently delivered near-instant execution with minimal slippage, even during volatile market conditions.

• IC Markets stood out with raw spreads from 0.0 pips and ultra-low latency fills – ideal for scalpers and high-frequency traders.
• TopFX impressed with lightning-fast fills, deep liquidity, and low commissions ($2.75/lot per side), offering serious value for intraday traders.
• Pepperstone’s DMA model via cTrader was one of the most consistent for execution speed, especially during news events.

Which DMA Brokers Offer Full Order Book Visibility For True Market Depth?

True DMA trading requires Level 2 (depth of market) access, and several brokers in our tests delivered:

• Interactive Brokers offered institutional-grade depth and ultra-low slippage, powered by SmartRouting and broad exchange access.
• Dukascopy gave us full order book transparency across forex and CFDs, with fast execution and minimal slippage, even during particularly volatile market conditions.
• IG’s L2 Dealer platform provided excellent order book detail for equities and select CFDs, making it great for traders who need granular control over entries and exits.

By contrast, brokers like TMGM and LiteFinance offered solid ECN-like performance, but lacked full DMA transparency, somewhat limiting their appeal for advanced order book-dependent strategies.

How DayTrading.com Chose The Best Brokers For Direct Market Access

To identify the top direct market access brokers, we shortlisted trusted providers and specifically evaluated their DMA execution.

Our experienced trading team opened accounts to test for true DMA access, focusing on critical elements for active and short-term traders, such as:

The result is a clear breakdown of the best DMA brokers for active traders who need pro-grade execution.

How To Pick A DMA Broker

There are plenty of DMA brokers that you can choose from, though there are a few factors to consider before determining which is the best one for you:

Robust Technology

Since DMA works by connecting you directly to top liquidity providers, it’s important that your broker offers technology that can facilitate fast order routing.

For example, IG uses its L2 Dealing platform for DMA trading of forex and shares. Saxo also uses NY4, LD4 and TY3 data centres and more than 25 tier 1 liquidity providers to ensure you get the best possible DMA prices within the interbank market.

Interactive Brokers also offers SmartRouting technology for all orders, whether they are marketable or not.

Market Access

Not all DMA brokers will offer every market, so check this before you sign up.

IG allows CFD shares and share dealing with over 12,000 instruments, plus forex CFDs with over 80 pairs.

Another popular DMA broker, Admiral Markets, also offers a huge range of over 4,000 assets, including stocks, bonds, ETFs and cryptocurrencies.

Costs

As DMA accounts are usually designed for large or institutional traders, it can be possible to negotiate commission rates with your broker.

This, of course, depends on the relationship you have with them, or your expected trading volume. Many brokers we’ve tested also offer reasonable discounts for certain trading volumes.

Make sure to take note of any minimum account opening requirements too. IG, for example, requires a $1,000 minimum funding for the L2 Dealer account.

Regulation

Traders should be aware of any forex scams or non-reputable brokers who claim to offer DMA pricing. Brokers with licenses from trusted regulators like the SEC in the US, FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia, will generally offer you greater peace of mind as well as protection for your funds.

Top forex and CFD brokers, IC Markets and FP Markets, are both regulated in multiple jurisdictions, including Australia and Cyprus.

What Is A DMA Broker?

A (direct market access (DMA) broker uses a non-dealing desk (NDD) execution model that allows you to place buy and sell orders directly onto order books.

As such, active traders enjoy greater visibility of the market whilst interacting with financial market exchanges directly.

This differs from over-the-counter (OTC) dealing whereby prices are quoted through a network of intermediaries (market makers).

DMA doesn’t rely on the aggregation of orders over-the-counter and therefore traders can choose their prices.

Direct market access is not to be confused with two other NDD business models: straight-through processing brokers, known as STP, and electronic communication network brokers, known as ECN. Let’s explore the key differences of these types of providers below:

STP

In this model, orders are routed to the broker’s liquidity providers (hedge funds, banks and big investors) which act as the counterparty to your trades.

These providers will compete for the best bid/ask spreads, on which the broker then charges a markup.

In some cases, DMA can be provided as a separate benefit of an STP model, where orders are passed directly to the liquidity pool at the best possible price.

ECN

Electronic communication network (ECN) technology acts as more of a hub for liquidity sources.

Whilst STP can select which liquidity providers they can deal with from their liquidity pool, ECN brokers are connected to a range of anonymous networks where there are no direct contracts.

ECN brokers generally make money from commissions, rather than bid/ask spreads or markups, meaning traders get ultra-tight floating spreads.

ECN trading is often capped at a 0.1 minimum lot size, as there are few liquidity providers who allow less. This explains why ECN trading is less accessible for inexperienced traders.

Pros Of Using A DMA Broker

Cons Of Using A DMA Broker

Bottom Line

Whilst the DMA business model can offer greater transparency, visibility and competitive pricing, the strict rules of DMA trading means greater complexity and risk.

If you’re a serious trader, use our ranking of the top brokers for direct market access to get started.