Author: Eduardo Montero
Indices are one of the most popular financial instruments among traders around the world. In the comparison table below you can find the best brokers for trading indices:
| Broker | Key Features | Offer |
|---|---|---|
 Go to XTB | The XTB broker offers you a catalogue of more than 35 stock market indices from all over the world with tight spreads (USA, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan,...).Website: https://www.xtb.com/ Regulated by: FCA, CNMV, FSC Min Deposit: 0 € / $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: Market Maker / STP Available Instruments: Over 2100: Forex, indices, commodities, stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. | Excellent customer support. |
 Go to Pepperstone | Pepperstone offers you the possibility to trade on 14 of the world's leading stock market indices.Website: https://pepperstone.com/ Regulated by: FCA, CySEC, ASIC, BaFin, DFSA, SCB, CMA Min Deposit: 200 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + cTrader + Trading View Type of Execution: STP / NDD Available Instruments: More than 1200. Specialised in Forex, also offers CFDs on indices, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, ETFs and currency indices. | Low spreads and ultra-fast execution. (*) Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. |
 Go to XM | The XM broker allows you to trade 10 of the major US, Asian and European indices.Website: https://www.xm.com/ Regulated by: CySEC, ASIC, FSC Min Deposit: 5 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 Type of Execution: Market Maker Available Instruments: More than 1000: Wide range of Forex currency pairs. Also commodities, precious metals, indices and stocks. | $30 no deposit bonus and deposit bonus up to $5,000. (*) Bonuses not available for clients of the XM Group's European regulated entity. Check conditions on the broker's website. |
 Go to Plus500 | Plus500 offers CFDs on more than 25 world indices such as the German DAX 30, the Spanish IBEX 35, the French CAC 40, the US SP 500, DJ 30 and NASDAQ 100, the UK FTSE 100,...Website: https://www.plus500.com/ Regulated by: FCA, CySEC, ASIC, FSA, DFSA, FSCA Min Deposit: 100 € / $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: Market Maker Available Instruments: Over 2,000 CFDs: indices, currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, options and ETFs. | Free demo account with no time limit. (*) CFD Service. Your capital is at risk. |
 Go to eToro | At eToro you can trade over 13 world indices or find and copy other traders who trade indices with profitable strategies.Website: https://www.etoro.com/ Regulated by: FCA, CySEC, ASIC Min Deposit: 200 € / $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: Market Maker Available Instruments: Over 3500: Large number of stocks (over 3100) and cryptocurrencies (over 75). Also commodities, currencies, indices and ETFs. | World leader in social trading. (*) Warning: 78% of retail CFD accounts lose money. |
 Go to IC Markets | IC Markets offers 23 stock indices to trade with spreads as low as 0.5 pips and ultra-fast execution.Website: https://www.icmarkets.com/ Regulated by: CySEC, ASIC, FSA Min Deposit: 200 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + cTrader Type of Execution: ECN Available Instruments: More than 2250: More than 60 Forex currency pairs. Also offers commodities, indices, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and futures. | |
 Go to Axi | Axi is a broker with which you can trade more than 30 different indices from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France,...Website: https://www.axi.com/ Regulated by: FCA, ASIC, DFSA, FSA Min Deposit: 0 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 Type of Execution: STP / ECN Available Instruments: More than 130 instruments: Forex, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies. | |
 Go to FP Markets | FP Markets allows trading on 14 international stock indices as well as the US Dollar Index and the VIX index.Website: https://www.fpmarkets.com/ Regulated by: CySEC, ASIC Min Deposit: 100 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + IRESS Type of Execution: ECN Available Instruments: More than 10,000 tradable instruments: Forex, CFDs, indices, stocks, commodities, metals, cryptocurrencies and bonds. | |
 Go to RoboForex | Roboforex allows you to trade a selection of indices such as the S&P 500, NASDAQ, Dow Jones or DAX 30.Website: https://roboforex.com/ Regulated by: FSC Min Deposit: 100 € / $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader + MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + cTrader + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: STP / ECN Available Instruments: Over 12,000: Forex, stock indices, ETFs, commodities, cryptocurrencies and stocks (over 8400 in R Stocks Trader account). | First and subsequent deposit bonus up to $50,000. (*) Bonus not available for European clients. Check conditions on the broker's website. |
 Go to Exness | EXNESS offers the world's most popular indices (such as the FTSE 100, Dow Jones, S&P 500, etc.).Website: https://www.exness.com/ Regulated by: FCA, CySEC, FSC, FSCA, FSCA, FSC, SDL, CBCS Min Deposit: 0 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 Type of Execution: Market Maker / ECN Available Instruments: Over 250 instruments including more than 100 Forex pairs, commodities, energies, stocks, indices and cryptocurrencies. | |
 Go to FBS | The broker FBS offers more than 10 stock market indices from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Spain, Germany,...Website: https://www.fbs.com/ Regulated by: CySEC, FSC Min Deposit: 1 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: STP / ECN Available Instruments: Over 180 assets: Forex currencies, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, energies and equities. | $140 no deposit bonus (to trade for 40 days) and 100% deposit bonus doubling your deposit. (*) Bonuses are not available for European clients. See conditions on the FBS broker's website. |
 Go to AvaTrade | AvaTrade offers a good number of indices (+30) to trade. Also the Dollar Index and sector indices.Website: https://www.avatrade.com Regulated by: Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC, BVI, FSA, FSCA Min Deposit: 0 € / $ Trading Platforms: WebTrader + MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 + iOS App + Android App Type of Execution: Market Maker Available Instruments: More than 200. Major, minor and exotic Forex pairs, cryptocurrencies and CFDs on indices, commodities and stocks. | |
 Go to OANDA | OANDA gives you the possibility to invest in the main stock indices of the world (USA, France, Germany, Australia, China and more).Website: https://www.oanda.com/ Regulated by: FCA, ASIC, NFA, BVI FSC, MFSA, IIROC Min Deposit: 0 € / $ Trading Platforms: MetaTrader 4 + MetaTrader 5 Type of Execution: Market Maker Available Instruments: More than 120: Forex, indices, metals, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. | Deposit bonus up to $5,000. (*) Bonus not available for European customers. See terms and conditions on the Oanda website. |
What are the best brokers Brokers for indices in 2023?
In the list above you will find what we consider to be the best brokers for trading synthetic indices. After having thoroughly analysed a multitude of online brokers, we present a selection of the most experienced ones, which are regulated by rigorous international financial bodies and have a versatile range of services with the best trading platforms, the possibility of opening a demo account to learn how to invest in indices without risking your money from the start and a wide range of investment instruments in addition to stock indices (such as Forex currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, individual shares, energies, etc.).
How to invest in indices?
The first thing to know is that a stock market index is a basket containing a certain number of securities. The value of the index will depend directly on the price of the individual stocks that make it up.
Indices are synthetic investment instruments that can contain a variety of financial assets. For example, there are stock indices, bond indices, commodity indices, etc. The most popular ones are those containing stocks, bonds and commodities. The most popular are those containing stocks of a certain country or sector.
Here are some examples of stock market indices:
- S&P 500: made up of 500 large companies in the US market.
- Dow Jones: made up of the 30 largest public companies listed on the US stock exchanges.
- NASDAQ 100: another major US index comprising the 100 largest technology companies.
- DAX 30: one of the major European indices, comprising the 30 largest companies in Germany.
- IBEX 35: the index of the Spanish stock exchange, which includes the 35 largest Spanish companies.
- CAC 40: represents the share price of the 40 largest companies in France.
- FTSE 100: the London Stock Exchange’s stock market index comprising the 100 largest companies in the United Kingdom.
The share price of the index is related to the share price of the companies that make up the index, although generally each index tends to use a certain weighting, so not all the companies that make up the index have to have the same weighting in the share price of the index. If we wanted to invest in an index without using a financial derivative, we would have to invest in all the companies that make up the index and in the same proportion as the index.
Online brokers allow us to invest in indices in a much simpler way through instruments such as futures, options or CFDs.
CFDs (contracts for difference) allow the buyer and seller to exchange money depending on the evolution of the value of an underlying asset and have the following advantages:
Advantages of investing in indices
The main advantages of investing in stock indices through CFD brokers are as follows:
Diversification: The price of an index is highly diversified as it is not dependent on a single company. Therefore, volatility is usually reduced as certain companies may have high volatility on a given day but other companies’ shares that make up the index may remain more stable or the price of some may move in the opposite direction to the others.
Leverage: Although volatility may be lower, there are daily movements that we can try to take advantage of to make profits by following our trading strategy. When investing in indices through a CFD broker for example, we have at our disposal an important tool such as financial leverage. You can check here which brokers have the highest leverage. The broker lends us money so that we can open large positions by providing only a small amount as collateral and thus maximise the ability to obtain significant profits with relatively small movements in the price of the index. Leverage is a double-edged sword because it can also cause your losses to increase if the price moves against you, so good risk management is important.
Go long or short: With index CFDs offered by an online broker we can trade whether the price is going up or down. Index and other CFD brokers allow you to open a long position and close it with a short position to take advantage of upward movements, but they also allow you to open a short position and close it with a long position to take advantage of downward movements.
This post is also available in Spanish: brokers para indices
Author: Eduardo Montero
Welcome to Mundo-Forex.com: I'm Eduardo Montero, I work professionally in IT. I started trading in the financial markets (mainly Forex) more than 10 years ago. I'm the author of the articles on this website and of many others published on other websites specialised in stock market investment and finance in general. Learn more about me here: About the author.