How to narrow down on the best Finnish Forex broker to work with

It is never easy to identify a good Forex broker since there are so many in the world. There are probably hundreds of brokerage companies, all claiming to offer the best services to their clients. If you are a Finnish resident facing this same problem, we hope this post will help you narrow down the many options and be left with the top Finland Forex broker. To be honest upfront, the forex market in Finland is not as developed as it is in other EU member nations. In fact, there has only ever been one Forex broker to be based in Finland. Considering that the online retail Forex market has been active for more than the past two decades, this would seem like the Finns are not very eager to jump on the train. Regardless of how the general Finnish population feels about the Forex market, what matters are the few residents still interested in participating, and this post is for you.

Finland Flag

While sifting through the many options available to you, it’s going to be overwhelming at first. However, once you know the key factors that set apart one Forex broker from the other, then the task will become a lot easier and it won’t be too difficult to find the most trusted Forex brokers in Finland. The most important of these factors is going to be the country’s financial regulation, and how it will affect you. Regulation has a huge impact on your trading career, as we’re going to see in the coming sections. Furthermore, it is crucial to understand a company’s reputation before signing up with them as a client. This should be obvious since you have to keep it in mind in every daily activity even when going shopping. The remaining factors are variable and the decision will come down to personal preference, but they are nonetheless important.

Through this three-pronged approach to choosing a Forex broker, we don’t doubt you will end up with the ideal choice among the top Finland Forex brokers. Before we dive in though, let’s start with some excellent suggestions of available Forex brokers to Norway residents.

Some of the top Finland FX brokers to choose from

As we already mentioned above, an entire sea of Forex brokers is all trying to get your business. All of them will also try to sell you on their best offerings, making themselves look like the best possible option. Well, the important thing to remember is that the largest forex brokers in Finland will hire very competent marketing teams to make themselves look very good; even though they are not. As professional traders, we have worked with many different Forex brokers around the world and have come to appreciate the excellent services of only a number of brokers. Some of these that you may want to consider include:

AvaTrade

AvaTrade review – What can you trade with this broker?

Minimum deposit

$100

Regulation

CySEC, CBI, ASIC, FSCA, FSA, BVI FSC, ADGM

Bonus

Maximum leverage

1:400

Year founded

2006

Trading platform

MT4, MT5, WebTrader, AvaTradeGo

XM

The definitive XM Forex Broker Review for the interested

Minimum deposit

5$

Regulation

CySEC, FCA

Bonus

30$, 50%+20%

Maximum leverage

1:888

Year founded

2009

Trading platform

MT4, WebTrader

RoboForex

RoboForex review – Trade more than 12,000 instruments with this broker

Minimum deposit

$10

Regulation

IFSC

Bonus

Maximum leverage

1:2000

Year founded

2009

Trading platform

MT4, MT5, R WebTrader, R MobileTrader, R Trader

Exness

Exness Broker Review – for those who appreciate the quality

Minimum deposit

$10

Regulation

FCA, CySEC, FSA, FSCA

Bonus

Maximum leverage

1:Unlimited

Year founded

2008

Trading platform

MT4, MT5, WebTerminal

IQ Option

A detailed IQ Option review 2019 of qualities and offers

Minimum deposit

$10

Regulation

CySEC

Bonus

N/A

Maximum leverage

1:30

Year founded

2013

Trading platform

WebTrader

EagleFX

EagleFX Review – Should You Trust this Broker?

Minimum deposit

10 USD

Regulation

N/A

Bonus

Affiliate Program

Maximum leverage

1:500

Year founded

2019

Trading platform

MT4/WebTrader

Forex.com

Forex.com Broker Review

Minimum deposit

250$

Regulation

FCA, NFA

Bonus

N/A

Maximum leverage

1:200

Year founded

1999

Trading platform

MT4

PrimeXBT

PrimeXBT review

Minimum deposit

0.01 BTC

Regulation

N/A

Bonus

N/A

Maximum leverage

1:1000

Year founded

2018

Trading platform

Web trader, Android, and iOS apps

FXOpen

FXOpen Review – Trade Forex on Premium Platforms

Minimum deposit

1 USD

Regulation

ASIC, FCA

Bonus

10 USD

Maximum leverage

1:500

Year founded

2005

Trading platform

MT4, MT5, WebTrader

CMTrading

CMTrading Review – Trade Forex in a safe environment

Minimum deposit

250 USD

Regulation

FSCA

Bonus

N/A

Maximum leverage

1:200

Year founded

2012

Trading platform

MT4, WebTrader, Copykat

ForexMart

ForexMart Review – Trade with Confidence

Minimum deposit

15

Regulation

CySEC

Bonus

30%

Maximum leverage

1:500

Year founded

2015

Trading platform

MT4

FXRoad

A Comprehensive FXRoad Review — Solid broker with superior Islamic accounts

Minimum deposit

250 EUR

Regulation

FSA, Seychelles

Bonus

None

Maximum leverage

1:200

Year founded

Unknown

Trading platform

Custom

From the list above, most of the mentioned Forex brokers are international companies with branches in various major cities around the world. However, none of them have a physical presence in Finland. That is because there are actually no Forex brokers based in Finland at the moment, so Finns have to rely on companies based outside the country. This is not all bad news, since all the above companies have excellent reputations and hundreds of thousands of clients worldwide. The fact is, out of the hundreds of Forex brokers, the above are among the best Finland FX brokers. Even despite their location outside Finland and away from Finnish regulations, they are still licensed by reputable financial regulators who can still protect your interest. Speaking of regulation, why not just jump right into it.

How is the Forex market regulated in Finland?

The main financial regulator in Finland is the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). It is not only responsible for the Forex market but also other financial and insurance institutions in the country. Technically, it works together with the Bank of Finland, the country’s central bank, to ensure that all financial institutions adhere to the central bank’s decisions. Nevertheless, it operates independently when it comes to supervision of financial institutions. Besides, it does not receive funding from the government, but rather as fees from those bodies it oversees. That disconnect ensures there is no undue government influence, hence FIN-FSA regulated Forex brokers generally have higher ethical standards to comply with.

How is the Forex market regulated in Finland?

Although FIN-FSA receives its directives from the Bank of Finland, don’t forget that Finland is also a member of the EU. This means that, besides the local regulations, the country also enacts laws and legislations passed by the European parliament. Concerning finance, the body responsible for this is the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). As an EU member nation, therefore, financial regulations enacted by ESMA are automatically applied into Finnish law. In regard to the Forex market, ESMA provides legislation through the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). As a result, a Finnish regulated Forex broker must abide by the legislations under MiFID.

What are the laws a FIN-FSA regulated FX broker ought to comply with?

Recently, ESMA enacted an update to MiFID, creating MiFID II that had several changes to the previous directives. Among these were changes to:

  • The amount of leverage allowed: after observing the runaway nature of leverage in the Forex market, a cap was placed at 50:1 to help reduce the amounts of losses suffered by traders
  • A total ban on Forex bonuses: Forex brokers used welcome bonuses and first-deposit bonuses to lure in new clients. ESMA saw this as a form of manipulation, and barred the practice unless a broker applied for exemption
  • Clear risk disclosure: Forex trading is risky, yet most brokers didn’t explicitly state this on their websites, instead only promising huge returns. Following huge losses by traders over the past few years, all brokers are supposed to state clearly that Forex trading is very risky
BORS

How do these laws affect Finland regulated Forex brokers?

The enactment of MiFID II has and will continue being a double-edged sword. On one hand, it will help reduce the number of complaints against companies on the FIN-FSA regulated Forex brokers list. In recent years, the number of complaints has been on the rise, but MiFID II aims to protect traders from suffering staggering losses as they did in the past. On the other hand, though, it will be difficult for new traders to join the Forex market. Even the best Finland FX broker with the most favourable options would still be unable to prevent clients from seeking offshore brokers with better conditions. In the end, though, it is better to be safe than sorry and stick to brokers regulated by FIN-FSA.

Taking advantage of Finland Forex broker reviews

After you have got the regulation issue behind you, now it’s time to check out the company’s reputation. A top Finland FX broker is that who will receive generally positive reviews than negative ones. It is important to remember that there isn’t a single Forex broker worldwide with a 100% review score. If you do find one, then just assume those are fabricated reviews. The truth is that there will always be some people who shall complain about one thing or the other. Their reasons may be valid, but they have to do with personal preferences, which we shall discuss in the next section.

The point is, a good company will have a dominating positive reputation rather than a negative one. Just remember to find only reputable review websites and forums. Many of these review websites do not filter the reviews, and the Forex brokers can include their own positive reviews to fool potential clients. The most reputable sites, though, have a way of checking and confirming actual reviews based on IP addresses and account information. Therefore, make sure your reviews are not doctored by the brokers just to make themselves look good. In so doing, you can avoid some of the Finland Forex scams that have occurred in the past.

Other factors to consider

The most important factor besides the two mentioned above, we find, are the number of trading instruments made available to you beyond just currency pairs. Of course, it is essential to have as many currency pairs as possible, and you should ensure your preferred broker does have a wide variety of these currency pairs. But it’s also good to have more than just Forex trading in your portfolio. The best Finland CFD brokers will have hundreds of trading instruments ranging from stocks to indices, commodities, futures, energies and even more. These are the kinds of companies you ought to be working with if you want to make higher profits. Most recently, cryptocurrencies have become insanely popular and Finland cryptocurrency brokers already have them in the form of CFDs.

Beyond the trading instruments, think about the languages offered and account currencies supported. We have been in this industry long enough to know that it is essential to be able to communicate effectively with the support staff. If your broker does not offer customer support in Finnish or Swedish, then you may be in real trouble. Besides, you won’t even be able to understand any of the conditions provided by the broker – essentially just signing up blindly. When it comes to the account currency, also ensure that the broker accepts the euro as the account’s base currency. Keeping yourself safe from currency fluctuations is crucial, which you will quickly learn as soon as you start trading the Forex market.

There are still other factors, although they may not be as impactful as those already mentioned. Issues such as the cost of trading, either in the form of commissions or spreads. Depending on your trading style, you may want to choose the option that suits you best. Also, consider the broker’s trading platforms. Do they have mobile trading platforms or not? For a frequent traveler, this may become a serious factor, since you don’t want to miss a good opportunity simply because you were on the road.

Putting all these together, it is clear that choosing a Forex broker is not as easy as it may have appeared at first. Most brokers won’t take you down each of these considerations, but we hope you now know what to look out for in your search.