Prime Brokers Guide
Updated January 20, 2022
Prime Brokers
Prime brokerage services refer to the sets of services provided by financial institutions or major investment banks to larger investment clients and/or hedge funds. These brokerage services allow clients to lend cash or securities to pursue more solid returns. Instead of retail investors, these prime brokerage systems primarily target big investors as their clients.
Prime brokerage is the industry term used to describe a bundled set of financial services sold by investment companies, wealth managers, and securities brokers. They hedge funds which require borrowing funds and securities to invest and attain an absolute return on their invested funds. Institutional investors use this industry term to refer to those offering services to hedge fund clients. Some mutual fund companies also use the term 'Prime' to refer to those whose services are offered to individual clients. As with the term hedge fund, the industry term prime brokerage is widely accepted among investment and financial industry professionals.
Prime Brokers More Established
Instead of being run by online retail brokerage firms, prime brokerage firms are provided by the world's largest financial institutions, such as UBS, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and so forth. However, you may find these prime brokers available on some notable online platforms too. Before choosing a prime broker to use, one should acknowledge the basics of prime brokerage below.
There are many reasons financial institutions offer their clients financial products like a prime brokerage. One of the most common reasons is to create a connection between the client and the company. Since hedge funds often operate as private, confidential enterprises, banks want their clients to have complete confidence in their activities. To do this, the bank works with the best of the best in the industry. To this end, many banks hire financial professionals such as accountants, brokers, estate planners, and other specialists.
Besides attracting new investors, prime brokerage firms also provide other types of financial products to help their clients achieve their goals. Many of these firms provide traders with advice on creating risk management plans and selecting their trades. Some of these firms also offer trading platforms that enable traders to exchange market information in real-time. Most of these services are provided by independent traders and are not offered through major investment firms.
Understanding A Prime Brokerage
It refers to the act of matching an investor with a specific financial institution that will facilitate securities issuance. Prime brokerage is a bundled set of services that financial institutions and investment banks offer to certain high-risk investment accounts to access cash or securities to engage in proprietary trading.
Some prime brokers may work independently, while some are associated with investment banks. The role of a primary broker differs with each brokerage firm. In most cases, the investment bank or brokerage houses retain the right to purchase or sell the underlying securities with the assistance of a primary broker acting on their behalf.
Several financial institutions provide these types of products to investors. A prime brokerage service will typically work with investment banks such as Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, or Merrill Lynch. These banks handle the day to day processing of transactions between buyers and sellers.
Brokerage firms also work with other financial institutions that deal with these types of transactions, including investment banks. Therefore, a prime brokerage firm will have its own team of underwriters and sales representatives who work with investment banks to ensure that they meet all of the regulations and guidelines related to these types of transactions.
Prime Brokerage Services
Prime Brokerage is the common generic term for a bundled package of financial services. The bundling of these services helps in the easy transportation of large amounts of capital that can be managed within a relatively small amount of physical space. In other words, it is much easier to handle large volumes of assets with the use of a brokerage firm than it is to do so with each broker.
The availability of Prime Brokerage services has made the concept of the investment banking industry very modern. It provides investors with the latest investment opportunities in the form of investments that investment banks easily manage.
There are two basic types of prime brokerage services: cash management and securities lending. Cash management deals with the short term aspects of investment banking and involves the liquidation or repayment of loans and other assets. Securities lending refers to any form of security financing, including commercial paper, commercial bonds, mortgage-backed securities, GIC's, and other collateral-based securities such as ETF's. The latter term encompasses all financing options used in securities exchange, although cash management generally refers to only those activities.
Cash management transactions typically include the purchase, sale, exchange, and other dealings involving cash flows. Many of these transactions (the exchanges) involve sophisticated mathematical algorithms that require the expertise of the Prime Brokerage services company's underwriters, which is why the investment banks generally do the underwriting process.
One aspect of this particular process that Prime Brokerage services companies must highlight to clients is that securities trading often requires purchasing more than one security at a time. For instance, when an investor needs to obtain funds for a real estate transaction, the underwriter will often require the purchase of mortgage-backed securities from the seller, in addition to cash.
Prime Brokerage Service Coverage
Prime broker services cover diverse instruments including securities, cash management, leveraged trade executions, lending, and so forth. Lending is not the only attraction, but large investors also prefer established investment firms to manage their portfolios. Despite large-individual clients, hedge funds are subject to full benefits from prime brokerage services.
Large financial institutions like hedge funds have very active, yet multifaceted, trading operations. Prime brokers serve and facilitate requirements as well as preferences surrounding that area. Hedge funds can increase their leverage by borrowing securities from prime brokers they trust. On the other hand, hedge funds may need prime brokers to mediate between them and their counterparts.
Prime brokers provide specifically prime brokerage services for large investors whether they are institutional investors or hedge funds. At this point, clients are, in essence, their partners. Since prime brokerage involves a huge amount of money and multiple large financial institutions, there are only a few prime brokers that operate. These prime brokerage institutions can handle hundreds of institutional clients and hedge funds at the same time.
Most of these prime brokers have decades of experience and have been dealing with diverse clients since being established. Even though they have a range of services, client investors are not obliged to take them on. Prime brokers typically provide their services to clients in a specific and tailored manner. Clients can obtain access to the best brokerage services based on their portfolios, goals, and other preferences.
Those Who Need and Can Be The Client
A prime brokerage firm provides services to a segmented set of clients, typically big investors. They assign a broker or agency and provide leverage financing. Whenever needed, a prime brokerage firm may also provide custody over one's assets. Management services are also provided as well as other necessary resources for asset development. Prime brokerage firms provide outsourcing services for their clients' investment activities so that they allocate their resources efficiently in order to embrace strategies and achieve investment goals.
Prime brokerage firms can tailor their services but they also apply qualifications to their clients. Investors can take advantage of cash financing, securities financing, risk management, research, and so forth. Whenever needed, investors can use these resources to support their strategies and to obtain more solid returns. Some services are, of course, optional. Clients can order services that matter to help support their investment strategy and goals.
The major attraction of a prime brokerage is securities lending. However, prime brokerage firms are likely to require collateral for their services in order to minimise risk and boost accessibility to funding.
As previously mentioned, large institutional and individual investors are the main targets of prime brokerage services. Therefore, there are some qualifications every institution or person should meet to be qualified for prime brokerage services. Some common qualified clients include hedge funds, money managers, professional or credible investors, and money managers.
Minimum Primer Brokerage Size
Investors who need prime brokerage services include ones that typically deal with large amounts of cash, but are unable to manage investment independently due to a lack of resources. These include commercial banks, institutional investors, and pension funds. Hedge funds and institutional clients typically outnumber other forms of clients in brokerage firms.
Prime brokerage account services require minimum equity of hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, prime brokerage firms may set minimum equity at millions of dollars for institutional clients and hedge funds. Hedge funds need to have hundreds millions of dollars in equity to qualify for prime brokerage services. This is because the mutual and long-term benefits have become major considerations for provider banks.
Prime brokers typically offer comprehensive services and can these to accommodate a client's needs and preferences. However, prime brokers may apply different qualifications for their services, especially when one needs to borrow cash or securities for improved gains.
We've collected thousands of datapoints and written a guide to help you find the best Prime Brokers for you. We hope that this information assists you in locating a reliable and reputable broker who meets your online trading requirements. We have compiled a list of what we consider the best Prime Brokers Investment Platforms below.
Reputable Prime Brokers Checklist
There are a number of important factors to consider when picking an online Prime Brokers Investment Platforms trading brokerage.
- Check your Prime Brokers Investment Platforms broker has a history of at least 2 years.
- Check your Prime Brokers Investment Platforms broker has a reasonable sized customer support of at least 15.
- Does the Prime Brokers Investment Platforms broker fall under regulation from a jurisdiction that can hold a broker responsible for its misgivings; or at best play an arbitration role in case of bigger disputes.
- Check your Prime Brokers Investment Platforms broker has the ability to get deposits and withdrawals processed within 2 to 3 days. This is important when withdrawing funds.
- Does your Prime Brokers Investment Platforms broker have an international presence in multiple countries. This includes local seminar presentations and training.
- Make sure your Prime Brokers Investment Platforms can hire people from various locations in the world who can better communicate in your local language.
Our team have listed brokers that match your criteria for you below. All brokerage data has been summarised into a comparison table. Scroll down.
Our brokerage comparison table below allows you to compare the below features for brokers offering Prime Brokers Investment Platforms.
We compare these features to make it easier for you to make a more informed choice.
- Minimum deposit to open an account.
- Available funding methods for the below Prime Brokers Investment Platforms.
- What you are able to trade with each brokerage.
- Trading Platforms offered by these brokers.
- Spread type (if applicable) for each brokerage.
- Customer support levels offered.
- We show if each brokerage offers Micro, Standard, VIP and Islamic accounts.
Top 15 Prime Brokers Investment Platforms of 2022 compared
Here are the top Prime Brokers Investment Platforms.
Compare Prime Brokers Investment Platforms min deposits, regulation, headquarters, benefits, funding methods and fees side by side.
All brokers below are Prime Brokers Investment Platforms. Learn more about what they offer below.
You can scroll left and right on the comparison table below to see more Prime Brokers Investment Platforms that accept Prime Brokers Investment Platforms clients
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
Pepperstone
|
Plus500
|
XM
|
EasyMarkets
|
Trading212
|
| Rating | |||||||||||
| Regulation | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Financial Services Authority (FSA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Central Bank of Ireland, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), ASIC (406684), Financial Services Authority (FSA), South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), Financial Stability Board (FSB), The Financial Services Agency (JAPAN FSA), Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ), Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA), Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), Israel Securities Association (ISA), British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI), BVI (SIBA/L/13/1049) | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), FCA number FRN 522157, Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), CySEC Licence Number: 169/12, Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) under license number IFSC/60/413/TS/19, Polish Securities and Exchange Commission (KPWiG), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC),Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), XTB AFRICA (PTY) LTD licensed to operate in South Africa | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA), Pepperstone Markets Limited is incorporated in The Bahamas (number 177174 B), Licensed by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) number SIA-F217 | Plus500UK Ltd authorized & regulated by the FCA (#509909), Plus500CY Ltd authorized & regulated by CySEC (#250/14), Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681), ASIC in Australia AFSL #417727, FMA in New Zealand, FSP #486026 and Authorised Financial Services Provider in South Africa FSP #47546, Plus500SEY Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Licence No. SD039), Plus500SG Pte Ltd (UEN 201422211Z) holds a capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for dealing in capital markets products (License No. CMS100648-1), PLUS500AU (PTY) LTD is regulated by the FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority), Plus500 adheres to MiFID rules | International Financial Services Commission (IFSC), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) |
| Min Deposit | 10 | 200 | 100 | No minimum deposit | 1 | 100 | 200 | 100 | 5 | 100 | 1 |
| Funding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Used By | 20,000,000+ | 180,000+ | 300,000+ | 250,000+ | 10,000+ | 10,000+ | 89,000+ | 15,500+ | 3,500,000+ | 142,500+ | 15,000,000+ |
| Benefits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Accounts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Platforms | Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mirror Trader, ZuluTrade, Web Trader, cTrader, Mac | Web Trader, MT4, MT5, AvaTradeGo, AvaOptions, DupliTrade, ZuluTrade, Mobile Apps, ZuluTrade, DupliTrade, MQL5 | MT4, Mirror Trader, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mac, Web Trader, cTrader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, IRESS, Mac, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mac, ZuluTrade, Web Trader, cTrader, Tablet & Mobile apps | Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mac, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps |
| Support |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Learn More |
Sign
Up with etoro |
Sign
Up with icmarkets |
Sign
Up with avatrade |
Sign
Up with xtb |
Sign
Up with roboforex |
Sign
Up with fpmarkets |
Sign
Up with pepperstone |
Sign
Up with plus500 |
Sign
Up with xm |
Sign
Up with easymarkets |
Sign
Up with trading212 |
| Risk Warning | 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | Losses can exceed deposits | 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | Losses can exceed deposits | Losses can exceed deposits | CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money | 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | Your capital is at risk | Your capital is at risk | CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
| Demo |
eToro Demo |
IC Markets Demo |
AvaTrade Demo |
XTB Demo |
Roboforex Demo |
FP Markets Demo |
Pepperstone Demo |
Plus500 Demo |
XM Demo |
easyMarkets Demo |
Trading 212 Demo |
| Excluded Countries | ZA, ID, IR, KP, BE, CA, JP, SY, TR, IL, BY, AL, MD, MK, RS, GN, CD, SD, SA, ZW, ET, GH, TZ, LY, UG, ZM, BW, RW, TN, SO, NA, TG, SL, LR, GM, DJ, CI, PK, BN, TW, WS, NP, SG, VI, TM, TJ, UZ, LK, TT, HT, MM, BT, MH, MV, KZ, GD, FJ, BB, BM, BS, AG, AI, AW, LB, SV, US, PY, HN, GT, PR, NI, VG, AN, | AF, GN, SL, BW, IR, SY, MM, IQ, TG, KH, LS, YE, CI , LR, ZW, CU, LY, TZ, CG, ML, BO, LR, NE, AO, GM, NG, AG, GH, KR, KG, GN, SN, NA | BE, BR, KP, NZ, TR, US, CA, SG | US, IN, PK, BD, NG , ID, BE, AU | US, JP | US, JP, NZ | BR, KR, IR, IQ, SY, JP, US | MY, BE, US, CA, CN, ID, PH, TG, NG, DO, MA, ZW, PR, TZ, TN, UG, BW, AO, AE | US, CA, IL, KR, IR, MM, CU, SD, SY | US | US, CA |
eToro Risk Disclosure
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Past performance is not an indication of future results.
Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.
eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.
All Prime Brokers Investment Platforms in more detail
You can compare Prime Brokers Investment Platforms ratings, min deposits what the the broker offers, funding methods, platforms, spread types, customer support options, regulation and account types side by side.
We also have an indepth Top Prime Brokers Investment Platforms for 2022 article further below. You can see it now by clicking here
We have listed top Prime Brokers Investment Platforms below.
Prime Brokers Table of Contents
- Prime Brokers Explained
- 6 Factors to Consider when Choosing Prime Brokers
- Are Your Prime Brokers Trusted And Established?
- Are The Prime Brokers World Leading?
- What are the Prime Brokers Commissions and Fees?
- What are the Prime Brokers Funding and Withdrawl Methods?
- Find Prime Brokers with Round-the-clock support?
- Make sure the Prime Brokers Offer Comprehensive Trader resources?
- Why Prime Brokers needs to be regulated?
- Prime Brokers FAQ
- What are the best Prime Brokers Investment Platforms brokers?
- What is the best Prime Brokers Investment Platform broker?
- Related Prime Brokers Reviews
- Related Prime Brokers Alternatives
- Related Prime Brokers Comparisons
Prime Brokers Explained
Trading the financial markets with Prime Brokers when conditions are volatile can be difficult, even for experienced traders.
Apart from the educational and other resources made available online, another important factor for traders to consider when looking for Prime Brokers is the platform that a Prime Brokers offer.
Choose Prime Brokers that's at the forefront of innovation and generally considered an industry-leader.
To gain access to the financial markets, you'll need Prime Brokers that you can rely on.
6 Factors to Consider when Choosing Prime Brokers
Follow these five rules for selecting a broker that's right for you:
Are Your Prime Brokers Trusted And Established?
Look for a broker that has a good track record/longevity in the market so that your strategy is your primary concern for navigating the markets. The top rated Prime broker is eToro. Established in 2007, and in operation for 14 years eToro have a head office in Cyprus, UK.
eToro is regulated. This means eToro are supervised by and is checked for conduct by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulatory bodies.
Another top rated broker is IC Markets.
IC Markets was established 2007, and in operation for 12 years IC Markets have a head office in Australia.
IC Markets is regulated. This means IC Markets are supervised by and is checked for conduct by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulatory bodies.
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
| Year Established | 2007 | 2007 | 2006 | 2002 | 2009 | 2005 |
| Head Office | Cyprus, UK | Australia | Ireland | Poland | Cyprus | Australia |
| Regulation | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Financial Services Authority (FSA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Central Bank of Ireland, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), ASIC (406684), Financial Services Authority (FSA), South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), Financial Stability Board (FSB), The Financial Services Agency (JAPAN FSA), Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ), Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA), Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), Israel Securities Association (ISA), British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI), BVI (SIBA/L/13/1049) | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), FCA number FRN 522157, Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), CySEC Licence Number: 169/12, Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) under license number IFSC/60/413/TS/19, Polish Securities and Exchange Commission (KPWiG), Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC),Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), XTB AFRICA (PTY) LTD licensed to operate in South Africa | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) |
| Used By | 20,000,000+ | 180,000+ | 300,000+ | 250,000+ | 10,000+ | 10,000+ |
| Negative balance protection | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Guaranteed Stop Loss | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Learn More | Visit eToro | Visit IC Markets | Visit AvaTrade | Visit XTB | Visit Roboforex | Visit FP Markets |
| Risk Warning | 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | Losses can exceed deposits | 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | Losses can exceed deposits | Losses can exceed deposits |
Are The Prime Brokers World Leading?
Choose a broker that's at the forefront of innovation and generally considered an industry-leader. eToro Segregates clients funds and offers over 2000 instruments. eToro offers both an online trading platform as well as a mobile platform giving clients easy access to markets.
In addition, the eToro platform enables access to a variety of financial markets worldwide. eToro is a world-leader when it comes to innovation and they are always looking at ways to improve and to maintain their competitive advantage.
Another good choice when looking for Prime Brokers is IC Markets . IC Markets Segregates clients funds and offers over 232 instruments.
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
| Instruments Available | 2000 | 232 | 1250 | 4000 | 100 | 100 |
| Platforms | Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mirror Trader, ZuluTrade, Web Trader, cTrader, Mac | Web Trader, MT4, MT5, AvaTradeGo, AvaOptions, DupliTrade, ZuluTrade, Mobile Apps, ZuluTrade, DupliTrade, MQL5 | MT4, Mirror Trader, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, Mac, Web Trader, cTrader, Tablet & Mobile apps | MT4, MT5, IRESS, Mac, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile apps |
| Excluded Countries | ZA, IR, KP, BE, CA, JP, SY, TR, IL, BY, AL, MD, MK, RS, GN, CD, SD, SA, ZW, ET, GH, TZ, LY, UG, ZM, BW, RW, TN, SO, NA, TG, SL, LR, GM, DJ, CI, PK, BN, TW, WS, NP, SG, VI, TM, TJ, UZ, LK, TT, HT, MM, BT, MH, MV, KZ, GD, FJ, BB, BM, BS, AG, AI, AW, LB, SV, US, PY, HN, GT, PR, NI, VG, AN, | US | BE, BR, KP, NZ, TR, US, CA, SG | US, AU, CA, JP, KR, KP, SG, MU, IL, TR, IN, PK, BA, ET, UG, CU, SY, BD, NG, ID, BE, LY, MO, KE, YE, VU, GY, CD, CG, AF, LA, MZ, IQ, IR | US, JP | US, JP, NZ |
| Forex pairs offered | 50 | 65 | 55 | 57 | 35 | 60 |
| Forex pairs offered | 50 | 65 | 55 | 57 | 35 | 60 |
| Major forex pairs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Minor forex pairs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exotic forex pairs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cryptocurrencies (availability subject to regulation) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Commodities Offered | 31 | 19 | 17 | 21 | 21 | 18 |
| Metals | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Energies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Agricultural | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stocks Offered | 2042 | 110 | 1000 | 1696 | 0 | 10000 |
| UK Shares | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| US Shares | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| German Shares | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Japanese Shares | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What are the Prime Brokers Commissions and Fees?
Ensure that your broker is transparent with fees and those dues are competitive.
The best rated Prime broker eToro offers competitive offers for Stocks, Commodities, Forex, CFDs, Social Trading, Indices, Cryptocurrency, Index Based Funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETF). eToro minimum deposit is 10.
Another top rated Prime broker IC Markets offers Forex, CFDs, Spread Betting, Share dealing, Cryptocurrencies. IC Markets minimum deposit is 200. Please note that any cryptocurrency availability with any broker is subject to regulation.
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
| Min Deposit | 10 | 200 | 100 | 0 | 1 | 100 |
| Withdrawl Fees | Yes | No | No | varies | Yes | No |
| Inactivity Fees | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Deposit Fees | No | Varies | No | No | No | Yes |
| CFD Commission Fees | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
What are the Prime Brokers Funding and Withdrawal Methods?
When dealing with Prime Brokers having convenient funding and withdrawl facilities makes the trading process and your trading experience smoother.
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit Cards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paypal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Skrill | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Payoneer | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Neteller | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Find Prime Brokers with Round-the-clock support?
Customer service is very important when dealing with Prime Brokers.
When investing and dealing with brokers customer support can be a range of customer services to assist customers in making cost effective and correct use the brokers services. It can include assistance in installation, training, troubleshooting, upgrading, and cancelation of a product or service.
Prime Brokers customer support can include Phone answering services, Live chat support and Email customer service support.
eToro support a wide range of languages including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
IC Markets support a wide range of languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Afrikans, Danish, Dutch, German and more
eToro and IC Markets offer support where clients are able to call or contact the helpdesk via email or a chat service.
| Broker |
eToro
|
IC Markets
|
AvaTrade
|
XTB
|
Roboforex
|
FP Markets
|
| Support |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Languages | English, German, Spanish, French, Italian | English, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Afrikans, Danish, Dutch, German and more | Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Mongolian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Malay, Korean and Turkish | English, Spanish, Czech, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, and Turkish | English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Indonesian, Malaysian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Arabic, Thai, Russian, and Ukrainian | English, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Russian, French, Italian, Greek, Philippines, Latvian, Polish,Indonesian, Thai, Malay, German, Vietnamese |
| Learn More | Visit eToro | Visit IC Markets | Visit AvaTrade | Visit XTB | Visit Roboforex | Visit FP Markets |
| Risk Warning | 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | Losses can exceed deposits | 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | Losses can exceed deposits | Losses can exceed deposits |
Make sure the Prime Brokers Offer Comprehensive Trader resources?
Make sure your broker offers free resources like analysis, education and risk-management tools. With a wealth of knowledge from top analysts, eToro and IC Markets work together to bring the latest news and insights to traders.
For most traders, the first – and sometimes only – concern is pursuing their 'edge'. While that is surely important, along with sound money management habits, to navigating the markets; that step alone does not represent the full preparation. As each trader dives into this important venture, it is important not to forget the most rudimentary yet crucial steps such as selecting the best broker to access the markets.
Why Prime Brokers needs to be regulated?
A regulated Prime broker lowers your risk.
Broker regulation protects consumers. Too little broker regulation can lead to poor services and possibly financial harm.
Prime brokers are regulated to stop fraud. The agent's working capital and clients funded account have to be separated. This amounts to fraud if client money is used to conduct the business. Regulation is required to make sure this does not happen.
Prime Brokers List
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Past performance is not an indication of future results.
Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.
eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, MT5, Mirror Trader, ZuluTrade, Web Trader, cTrader, MacCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
Web Trader, MT4, MT5, AvaTradeGo, AvaOptions, DupliTrade, ZuluTrade, Mobile Apps, ZuluTrade, DupliTrade, MQL5Customer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, Mirror Trader, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, MT5, Mac, Web Trader, cTrader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, MT5, IRESS, Mac, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, MT5, Mac, ZuluTrade, Web Trader, cTrader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Plus500 offer a 100% Free and Unlimited Demo account No Deposit fees/Commissions No hidden fees Competitive fees Tight Spreads
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, MT5, Mac, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
Funding methods
Bank transfer Credit Card PaypalPlatforms
MT4, Web Trader, Tablet & Mobile appsCustomer support
Live chat Phone support Email supportAccount Types
Micro account Standard account Islamic account VIP account
