Everything You Need To Know About Australian Forex Brokers Before Investing

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Australia is pretty new to the Forex trading industry, but that hasn’t stopped numerous companies from setting up a full-fledged Forex brokerage service in several parts of Australia. Australia has a highly regulated trading environment with investors receiving the country’s top priority. The best Forex traders in Australia offer excellent features and functionalities that enable traders to enjoy consistent trading results without succumbing to scams or dishonest financial practices.

Australia pays particular attention to safeguarding investor funds by enforcing stringent regulatory guidelines on Forex brokers and all financial firms. In this day and age where companies are looking for quick profits through illegal means, Australia does provide a stable and secure environment where investors enjoy the maximum protection against financial abuse.

Relationship Between Australian Forex Brokers & The ASIC

The ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Committee) is the oldest and the most established regulatory authority of Australia that has been involved in regulating financial firms from as early as 1989. The ASIC in its present form was founded in 1998 and has ever since been taking care of all duties in regulating financial companies for a wide variety of disciplines that include corporate governance, insurance, securities and derivatives, financial services, and investor protection.


ASIC is the primary regulator for all Forex brokers in Australia. ASIC has a highly efficient and investor-oriented regulatory framework that prevents any companies from exploiting its consumers through fraudulent means. ASIC requires all Forex brokers in Australia to follow a particular set of guidelines to ensure uniformity of trading conditions along with maintaining the integrity of the Australian financial markets. The ASIC has also directed brokers to hold a minimum of $1 million in operating capital so as to ensure that brokers can withstand the volatility of the financial markets without compromising trader’s positions. A larger working capital is vital to brokers for being able to process their clients’ withdrawals promptly, without inconveniencing traders in any manner.


ASIC mandates all brokers to be regulated by the ASIC if they wish to open up their services to Australian traders. In fact, the country has made it illegal for their citizens to open an account at any overseas broker. Since Australia is turning into a highly lucrative retail trading market, several Forex brokers are finding it attractive to set up their brokerage services in Australia. Although the ASIC is pretty stringent in its regulatory framework, Australia does provide several incentives and enormous benefits to companies for setting up their business in Australia. Forex brokers in Australia enjoy tax benefits, better trading conditions, and the ASIC does not impose any restrictions on their investors.


The ASIC keeps a tab on their regulated members by seeking regular third-party audit reports, financial statements, and by supervising the code of conduct. There have been instances where ASIC had failed to impose heavy sanctions on numerous financial scams and economic downturn that had affected the Australian capital markets; however, ever since its foundation, the ASIC has mostly managed to regulate the retail Forex trading market quite successfully.

At What Times Are Forex Brokers In Australia Active?

Australia has a unique significance in the global financial markets due to the time difference between Australia and the rest of the financial capitals of the world, namely Singapore, Dubai, London, and New York. The Australian market opens and closes well before the European and American markets get active for the trading day. Consequently, Japan is the only other major financial market that operates on a similar time zone to Australia; therefore, there can be significant volumes for most major and minor currency during both the Australian as well as the Japanese trading sessions.


Australia is also a vast country with different time zones; hence, Australian Forex brokers adopt the local time of their respective locations. Inevitably, the Forex market is open 24 hours a day and five days a week, which forces most brokers to offer around the clock support for their traders. Therefore, international traders will also find it easy to deal with Australian brokers regardless of the time difference.

Top Reasons Why Australian Forex Brokers Are Soaring In Popularity

Australian Forex brokers are quickly garnering interest from retail traders from all over the world due to the excellent trading conditions and the highly regulated trading environment. Apart from the excellent trading conditions, Australian brokers are further popular in the industry due to the ECN accounts offered by some of the best Forex brokers Australia. These brokers have revolutionized the retail trading industry by providing ECN trading accounts for the lowest investment capital. Several brokers in Australia adopt the cTrader platform, which offers an ECN environment with tight spreads and incredibly fast trade executions.


Traders can also enjoy higher leverage for their trading accounts without making any compromises on the trading conditions. Naturally, the business-friendly attitude of Australia has enabled brokers to move to Australia for setting up their brokerage, which further allowed companies to garner more popularity among the retail trading market.

ASIC’s Commitment Towards Their Investors

ASIC is committed to the welfare of its investors through multiple investor-friendly programs such as the MoneySmart, which are intended to educate investors about the potential pitfalls and risks of the financial markets. ASIC has taken the responsibility of educating individual investors about the importance of investing in the markets through proactive research, which helps both professional traders as well as regular citizens to plan for a financially secure future.


ASIC also monitors the conduct of brokers by awarding harsh penalties and temporary or permanent bans if companies are deemed to be found in contradiction of the regulatory guidelines. Although the ASIC does not involve directly with any dispute between a broker and it consumer, the ASIC does encourage the problem to be resolved between two parties either through arbitration or through the court of law. However, if a company is found to be consistently touting with the law, ASIC is quick to act by revoking their regulatory license and initiating an investigation into the alleged financial irregularities. If found guilty, ASIC will ban the broker from operating in the country, while issuing detailed notices about the alleged infringement to its investors.

Why Forex Brokers Australia Make Sense From A Traders Perspective

FX brokers in Australia provide a sense of security that can be compared to other regulatory agencies such as the FCA and the NFA. ASIC also does not have some of the inherent drawbacks of the other regulatory agencies; however, there are a few instances where ASCI had failed to meet the expectations of retail traders.

Irrespective of the few minor drawbacks, Forex traders and investors have reported a highly conducive trading environment while choosing brokers from Australia. Existing clients also enjoy an excellent customer service experience from a majority of brokers due to the ASIC guidelines that put priority on customer satisfaction. Therefore, traders who have accounts with Australian FX brokers usually continue their trading journey without ever contemplating a switch to brokers from other regions.

The ASIC achieves a good customer service experience by recommending several training guidelines for brokers while recruiting their staff, which ensures that all personnel employed by brokers in Australia treat their customers according to a higher standard of conduct. The uniform training code not only ensures fair and honest competition among brokers, but traders do get to enjoy excellent customer service along with a resolution to their problems in an easy and efficient manner. The top priority for every trader is to work with a company that provides expert services to its clients, and having a skilled and highly trained workforce helps brokers to cater to their traders’ exact requirements.

How To Trade With The Best Forex Brokers Australia

There are a huge number of Forex brokers from Australia that caters to traders and investors from all over the world. Being one of the highly regarded regulatory agencies, ASIC has built up its reputation among international trading audiences to create an image of safe and secure trading environment, which in turn enabled brokers to cash in on the popularity to rope in healthy sales numbers year after year.

The ASIC provides an excellent online resource that provides all essential information about their regulated brokers. Traders are encouraged to ascertain the authenticity of Australian Forex brokers by verifying the regulatory information provided on the broker’s official website with the actual information provided on the ASIC list of regulated brokers. ASIC is pretty consistent when it comes to listing all broker scams and financial irregularities through their website, and the organization also ensures that their investors are provided clear information regarding the code of conduct of all regulated Forex brokers.

Should You Switch To A Forex Broker in Australia?

If you are dissatisfied with the level of service and response that is currently offered by your Forex broker, you should consider switching your broker to enjoy more consistency. Of course, you can also make the switch to a Forex broker from Australia if you want to try out the amazing new trading features and benefits that are on offer. Here are a few advantages that you can expect by making a switch:

  • Better security of funds through proper ASIC regulation that ensures honest and transparent code of conduct.
  • No limitations on trading, which allow total control over trading such as use higher leverage, hedging, scalping, and more.
  • A majority of Australian FX brokers offer excellent ECN platforms with highly competitive spreads and lightning fast order execution speeds.
  • Brokers offer a wide variety of deposit and withdrawal options. Almost all withdrawals are processed within 24 hours.
  • Brokers don’t take trades against the trader, as it is deemed illegal by the ASIC. Therefore, Australian brokers don’t have conflicts of interest with its traders.

You can also open an account with an Australian broker in conjunction with your existing trading account so as to compare the two different trading accounts to see which one suits your trading requirements. At times, having two different accounts can provide a better perspective on the market such as the volumes, pricing, spreads, and other vital factors that are important in the highly volatile Forex markets.

The Most Popular Type Of Trading Accounts Offered By Australian FX Brokers

Brokers from Australia offer different types of trading accounts to suit all categories of retail as well as institutional traders. Traders can choose between micro, standard, and VIP accounts according to their initial trading capital. Most brokers provide a high amount of leverage, and it is common for brokers to offer anywhere from 1:200 to 1:1000 for micro and standard accounts. Although brokers provide a high leverage for a majority of trading accounts, it is up to the trader to decide the safest leverage that does not ruin an otherwise profitable strategy.

Investors can also choose between an ECN account and a regular STP account. ECN accounts have the best trading conditions, but STP accounts can also be advantageous during certain trading hours. When it comes to trading platforms, brokers from Australia offer all the usual suspects such as Meta Trader, cTrader, WebTrader, and other proprietary trading platforms that are designed for both the desktop as well as mobile trading interfaces.

Are There Any Pitfalls Of Trading With Australian Forex Brokers?

There are no obvious drawbacks to trading with Australian brokers; however, some traders might find brokers from other countries to offer better security regarding the protection of trading capital. For instances, regulators such as the FCA (UK), the CySEC (Cyprus), and the CSA (Canada) offer investor compensation funds that enable traders to recover a part of their trading capital in the case of broker insolvency. Even though the ASIC is rigorous in its policies to prevent any instances of broker insolvency, the agency doesn’t have a plan to meet investor requirements in case a broker decides to wind down their operations.

Apart from the lack of an investor compensation fund, ASIC regulated brokers should be able to satisfy most of the trading requirements of modern day traders. In fact, modern Australian brokers concentrate on earning profits through spreads and commissions, rather than following any illegal means of making money from unsuspecting traders. Therefore, traders should be able to enjoy highly favorable trading conditions with Australian Forex brokers without making any serious compromises on their trading strategy.

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