Can You Trade Forex on Fidelity?

Including foreign exchange (forex) in your investment mix can diversify your portfolio to build and preserve your wealth. But where and how do you get started trading forex? 

Fidelity Investments is one of the largest brokerages in the U.S. and might administer your 401(k) at work. As someone new to forex trading, you might wonder, “Can you trade forex on Fidelity?” No, you can’t – or at least, not directly. Here’s more about why you might consider alternatives to Fidelity for forex trading.

What Fidelity Offers Traders

Fidelity Investments, commonly known as just Fidelity, was founded by Edward C. Johnson II in 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts and is the third-largest asset manager in the world. 

The privately held financial firm holds $5.9 trillion in assets under management and is still under the control of the Johnson family, which holds 49% of Fidelity’s stock. Fidelity employees hold the remaining 51%. Abigail Johnson is the chief executive officer (CEO).

The 79-year-old company offers an array of financial services including brokerage accounts, retirement planning, mutual fund management, investment advice and wealth management. Fidelity provides investors with platforms for trading stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. You can also get a cash management account or buy fractional shares.

If you want financial planning, Fidelity offers it. The company also manages the employee benefit programs of more than 29,500 businesses.

Why Fidelity Doesn’t Offer Forex

With all that Fidelity offers, the question remains: Can you trade forex on Fidelity?

For institutional investors, Fidelity Capital Markets (FCM) is a division of National Financial Services LLC (NFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity, offering forex trading through Fidelity FOREX Inc., another subsidiary. Institutional investors get access to 20 currencies under FCM’s Fidelity Prime Services program.

As a retail investor, you can gain exposure to forex through ETFs on Fidelity. These ETFs track the movements of a currency or basket of currencies, but retail investors can’t trade currency directly on Fidelity.

This aligns with Fidelity’s overall focus on long-term investing and retirement services instead of speculative trading. While Fidelity states it challenges the status quo and uses innovation to create value for clients, its core business model remains a highly regulated brokerage offering trading in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and options to deliver long-term value to customers.

Best Fidelity Alternatives for Forex Trading

If you’re looking to start forex trading, don’t fret. You have alternatives to Fidelity. The best alternatives – FOREX.com, Pepperstone, tastyfx and Vantage Markets – stand out from the pack because of the large number of currency pairs they offer and their trading platforms, regulations, spreads, leverage and customer service.

1. FOREX.com

Why We Picked It: FOREX.com touts itself as the number one broker in the United States. It is popular with traders, receiving high marks from clients, reviewers and the media. FOREX.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of StoneX Group Inc., which is traded on the Nasdaq.

The broker supports traders by offering powerful and popular trading platforms, consistent execution and tight spreads. It offers promotions for U.S. traders.

FOREX.com offers traders the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) trading platforms. MT5 gives traders mobile access to tools and features that include 38 popular technical indicators, three types of charts, 46 analytical objects and free chat and email with other traders on the platform.

On the Standard account for FOREX.com, you don’t pay a commission but have a wider spread. However, on the Raw account, you pay a commission, but you could see spreads as low as 0.0 pips.

If you’re a FOREX.com VIP, you can get a 4% annual percentage yield (APY) on an account between $10,000 and $500,000. Anything over that generates an additional 1.5% APY. Also, if you switch to FOREX.com from another broker, you can earn up to 5% cash back on your initial deposit. 

The VIP program also gives you a $10 cash rebate for every million in forex trades per month. You also get white-glove treatment from customer service and waived bank fees on wire transfers.

2. Pepperstone

Why We Picked It: If you live outside the U.S., one of the top options for forex trading is Pepperstone. It is not available to forex traders in the U.S. because it is not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the National Futures Association (NFA). 

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Pepperstone operates around the globe and has top-tier regulation: the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K., the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Cyprus, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) in Germany and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), among others.

Pepperstone sets itself apart from other forex brokers by offering competitive spreads on its Standard account, even with a Raw account. Pepperstone also offers more than 90 currency pairs.

On Pepperstone, you can trade with MT4, MT5, TradingView, cTrader or Pepperstone’s mobile app.

3. tastyfx

Why We Picked It: Tastyfx, based in Chicago, Illinois, is a foreign exchange broker formerly known as IG US. The broker is owned by IG Group, which is based in London, England and serves U.S. forex traders. It is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the NFA.

Tastyfx gets high marks because it offers tight spreads with no commissions. Spreads can be as low as 0.8 pips. You also get the tastyfx web platform and mobile app, TradingView, MT4 and ProRealTime.

You can trade more than 80 currency pairs on tastyfx and the broker offers access 24/5. The tastyfx platform comes with a variety of charting tools, 33 indicators and 19 drawing tools. Some trades can execute as fast as 17 milliseconds.

4. Vantage Markets

Why We Picked It: DigitalBridge acquired Vantage Markets in 2017. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. The forex and contracts for difference (CFDs) broker operates globally, but not in the U.S., Canada, China, Singapore or jurisdictions sanctioned by the European Union or United Nations or sanctioned for weak laws against money laundering or financing terrorism.

With competitive trading fees and comprehensive educational resources, Vantage Markets is considered a good place for beginning traders to start.

In February, Vantage Markets won the award from “Global Brands Magazine” for best forex affiliate program. “Global Brands Magazine” highlights forex brokers that deliver best-in-class trading, technology innovations and great customer service.

Vantage Markets offers traders the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, along with TradingView and ProTrader. The company provides low-latency execution and 24/5 customer support by chat, email and phone.

Find Your Alternative to Forex Trading on Fidelity

Now you know you can’t trade forex on Fidelity. You can buy and sell forex ETFs on Fidelity and institutional investors can trade forex through a special program under a subsidiary of the broker. However, you have alternatives to Fidelity currency trading. 

The best alternatives are FOREX.com, Pepperstone, tastyfx and Vantage Markets. Evaluate which one has the currency pairs, trading platforms, spreads, regulations and customer service that fit your trading needs.

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