Cryptocurrencies have become a popular and profitable asset class, adopted in addition to forex by traditional traders and investors, adding another level of diversity to their portfolios. Likewise, those who started out solely as crypto traders are increasingly entering into traditional financial markets with the same agenda.

Obviously, traditional financial markets have greatly influenced the maturation of cryptocurrency markets which tend to follow the same textbook trends and patterns but with typically greater volatility.

More and more, forex brokers are bridging the gap for their clients by adding crypto to their asset offerings. Now in recent developments, some Bitcoin-based brokers are starting to offer forex to their crypto traders. This interoperability allows traders to access the latter without having to jump bounce between platforms.

After sifting through countless forum discussions, ‘best’ and ‘top’ list articles by renowned sources, and factoring what is considered the essential factors when assessing what makes a good trading platform, two prominent players stood out.

Both fiat-based and bitcoin-based brokers have their distinct advantages and disadvantages, so it ultimately came down to the best and most recommended online broker of each category.

Based upon the user-experience, lowest fees and tightest spreads, and reliability to provide the most favorable trading environments, the best online brokers are:

1. Best Fiat-based Broker

Forex.com comes up as a favorite forex broker time and time again as a formidable broker with a strong regulatory framework and competitively low fees. It offers a variety of robust trading platforms for the new trader as well as the professional. It is also one of the expand its asset offerings to incorporate cryptocurrencies.

Notable features and benefits include:

Available Markets

Over 200 markets including FX, indices, commodities, equities, and crypto.

Margin & Leverage

Forex - up to 200x leverage.
Crypto - up to 50x leverage.

Fees & Spreads

• Choice of spread markup or commission account.
• The commission is $5 per 100,000 lot traded.
• Competitive spreads with EUR/USD as low as 1.1 pips.
• Trade UK 100 and Germany 30 from 1 pt.
• Trade on spreads from 1 pt on UK shares.

UI & UX

Variety of platform options to suit both beginner and professional traders.

• Simplistic and intuitive design delivers.
• Smart trade ticket with advanced risk management options.
• Pre-defined and customizable layouts.
• Trade directly from the chart.

Order Execution & Charting Tech

• Multiple chart types with integrated one-click dealing.
• Fast and reliable order execution.
• 50+ technical indicators.

Educational Resources

Forex.com offers broad customer support, along with a wealth of videos, webinars, and guides to help you learn the basics.

Deposits

Minimum deposit: $250.

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2. Best Bitcoin-based Broker

PrimeXBT is the only Bitcoin-based trading platform to introduce forex, commodities, and the world’s leading indices to its array of asset offerings. Already, PrimeXBT is renowned for offering the highest leverage and most advanced trading features among its competitors, while simultaneously offering the lowest fees.

Notable features and benefits include:

Available Markets

30+ markets in the most popular FX, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies.

Margin & Leverage

Prime XBT offers the highest leverage across all markets and instruments than any other trading platform.

Forex - up to 1000x leverage.
Commodities - up to 500x leverage.
Indices - up to 100x leverage.

Fees & Spreads

Prime XBT’s fee structure is clear and simple.

• 0.5% commission fee on all assets and trades
• Tight spreads with 0.7 pip average on EUR/USD.

UI & UX

PrimeXBT boasts arguably the most intuitive and best UI design with sophisticated and expansive features give you superior control of your trading strategies.

• Highly customizable workspace - suitable for both beginner and professional traders as it can be made as basic or as comprehensive as needed.
• Multi-monitor support - optional for greater oversight across various markets and positions concurrently.
• Intuitive visualization of market data.
• Trade directly off the chart.

Order Execution & Charting Tech

• 50+ technical indicators to analyze price trends
• Multiple chart types with integrated one-click dealing.
• Instant and reliable order execution.
• Advanced order types for risk management.

Unprecedented Accessibility

Because PrimeXBT is a bitcoin-based trading platform, the possibility for anyone to participate in the worlds most profitable traditional markets is significantly increased. This is due to the fact that there is no KYC verification required to obtain bitcoin and set up a PrimeXBT account. The entire process (including deposit) takes less than 2 minutes.

Privacy & Security

The avoidance of KYC comes at no compromise to the platform’s security, which is actually enhanced by the fact that it is powered by Bitcoin. Some of the additional security protocols include:

• 2FA (provided by Google Auth) to ensure account security and prevent any unauthorized access to users accounts.
• Cold storage of digital assets with Multisignature technology
• Encrypted SSL (https) to encrypt and secure our website’s traffic.
• All passwords are cryptographically hashed (using bcrypt with a cost factor of 12) while all other sensitive data is encrypted.
• Cloudfare to mitigate potential distributed denial-of-service (“DDoS”) attacks.
• More.

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Conclusion

Both of these brokers are first class but obviously differ with respect to their accessibility, available assets, fee structure, and leverage allowances. Which trading platform a trader will choose ultimately comes down to the individual user’s personal preference in accordance with their goals and prerequisites.