ActivTrades is a long-established British broker, founded in 2001, and one of the safest regulatory picks on our list thanks to its Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) licence and Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) coverage. For Australians comparing forex signals Australia providers and the brokers to trade them with, ActivTrades is the choice when safety and pedigree come first: an operator that has been through every market cycle since the early 2000s, offers its own ActivTrader platform alongside MT4 and MT5, and charges nothing on deposits or withdrawals. It doesn't hold an ASIC licence, so you'd be trading with an overseas entity — but FCA oversight is about as strict as it gets globally. It pairs well with our trading signals: every alert carries an entry, take-profit and stop-loss you can execute on any of its three platforms. See our track record and how to get started.
Regulation and safety
ActivTrades is supervised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — among the strictest regulators in the world — with additional licences in The Bahamas (SCB) and Portugal (CMVM).
Clients of the UK entity are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000 — a meaningful safety layer when weighing up any broker.
For Australians the honest note is that there's no ASIC-licensed ActivTrades entity, so you won't have AFCA dispute access; which entity onboards you determines your exact protections and leverage, so check that during sign-up.
Accounts and costs
ActivTrades doesn't impose a high deposit minimum (in practice from $0 for most countries), and spreads start from 0.5 pips on the major pairs.
A genuinely useful perk: no fees on deposits or withdrawals, which trims the all-in cost of trading — especially if you move money in and out regularly.
Platforms and instruments
ActivTrades stands out by offering its own ActivTrader platform alongside MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, so you can pick whichever suits you for ease of use or full-bore professional tooling.
Assets span forex, shares, indices, commodities, ETFs, bonds and crypto CFDs — a broader spread than the typical forex-focused broker, and wide enough to act on every one of our trade alerts across gold, forex, oil, indices and crypto.
Trading it from Australia — sessions and timing
ActivTrades' European heritage means its deepest liquidity aligns with the London session — early evening through the night AEST. If you trade after work Australian time, you're actually catching the market at its busiest.
The Sydney session open is quieter, which suits reviewing the day's signal results and setting pending orders for the London open. MT4/MT5 pending orders mean you don't have to be awake when a signal's entry level trades.
Swap-free availability
ActivTrades offers a swap-free (no overnight interest) account, but it's limited to clients from a restricted list of countries — confirm your eligibility before you register.
If a swap-free account is a hard requirement and you're not covered, Base Markets or XM are the stronger picks on that front.