Forex demo accounts from UK brokers

With a demo trade account, you can place buy and sell orders using virtual cash on live currency charts. Most people spend this stage learning the buttons and testing stop losses. With a contract for difference, or CFD, you can trade price movements without owning physical currency. Since the balance isn't real, one wrong click won't cost you money.

Through practice trades, you can see how each price move is affected by position size. The numbers can be checked with our pip calculator and our margin calculator.

The charting software live clients use can be tested through a demo trading account UK brokers provide. Looking for MT4 brokers or TradingView brokers? These firms let you practise: ActivTrades, Capital.com, CMC Markets, FxPro, IC Markets, IG, Pepperstone or Vantage. Every one of them supports MT5 too, except CMC Markets. cTrader is on offer from FxPro, IC Markets and Pepperstone as well.

Instead, many brokers make web and mobile apps of their own. CMC Platform appears alongside xStation at XTB, the Plus500 platform and the eToro app. Custom apps come from ActivTrades, Capital.com, IG, Pepperstone and Vantage too, and FxPro uses FxPro Edge for spread betting.

Because there's no real cash at stake, you carry no financial risk, and that changes how a trade going against you feels. It's easy to ignore pretend cash dropping. Your own savings being on the line can push you to close a winning trade too soon, or hold a losing position for too long.

Execution of orders works differently too. A trade fill is when your broker completes an order at one specific price. The practice server simulates the market, so your order normally fills right away at the price shown on screen. Fast news in live trading can cause slippage, meaning your order fills at a slightly poorer rate when buyers and sellers are scarce. Some overnight holding costs and account fees don't apply to demo accounts.

Yes, it depends on the firm you choose. With spread betting, UK residents can bet a chosen amount in pounds for each point of price movement. Both CFDs and spread betting are available on demo at ActivTrades, Capital.com, CMC Markets, FxPro, IG, Pepperstone and Vantage.

If forex and CFDs are all you want, eToro, Plus500 and XTB offer both on demo, without spread betting. Capital.com also includes unleveraged CFDs where your trade size matches your deposit. Our guide to spread betting vs CFDs explains the practical differences. Before you trade with real money, you can look into forex trading tax in the UK and see how it works.