A demo account for trading stocks works like a trading simulator on which you can practice stock trading without risking your own money. Despite the fact, that you can open a demo account for stock trading basically with any broker that features stocks on its platform, it is advised to pick a company with which you might trade in the future. The reason being, once you get used to a platform on a demo, it is easier to switch to a real account within the same trading platform. There are a couple of important broker’s characteristics on which a trader who is looking for the best demo stock trading account should focus. Let’s review them:
Regulation - better safe than sorry
If you do not want to fall to a scam broker, regulation should be the no. 1 priority. A regulatory body oversees all actives that a regulated broker does and should there be any issue, you can always report the broker to the given regulator which will analyse and chase the broker to find out if they haven’t done any wrongdoing against you. The most reputable regulatory authorities are the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Available stocks
Secondly, verify that a broker features stocks that you want to trade. Each trader has different needs and while one might be okay with a few dozens of shares, another trader would be disappointed with such limited offer. For that reason, before you register with any company, even with just a demo, make sure that you are going to find your stocks on the broker’s platform.
Fees - as low as possible
In this guide, we have selected some of the best brokers that feature a demo stock trading account, here is their breakdown:
Regulation – Brokers that support Demo Stock Trading
eToro (Read a review) –
- eToro (UK) Ltd is a regulated in the UK by the FCA, License number: 583263 – https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000NMkLXAA1
- eToro (Europe) Ltd. is a CySEC regulated company (license number 109/10) – https://www.cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/entities/investment-firms/cypriot/37683/
- eToro AUS Capital Limited is an ASIC regulated company license number 491139).
AvaTrade (Read a review) –
- AVA Trade EU Ltd is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, License number: C53877 – http://registers.centralbank.ie/FirmDataPage.aspx?firmReferenceNumber=C53877
- Ava Capital Markets Australia Pty Ltd is regulated by the ASIC (No.406684) –
- Ava Capital Markets Pty is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA No.45984). – https://www.fsca.co.za/Fais/Search_FSP.htm
- Ava Trade Japan K.K. is licensed and regulated in Japan by the Financial Services Agency (License No.: 1662), the Financial Futures Association of Japan (License No.: 1574).
- Ava Trade Middle East Ltd is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA) (No.190018).
IQ Option (Read a review) –
- IQ Option is a CySEC regulated company operated by IQOption Europe Ltd, Licence Number: 247/14 – cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/entities/investment-firms/cypriot/40647/ (check approved domains)
Stocks that you can trade on a demo or real account
eToro
European stocks (Including: Aston Martin, EasyJet, Avast, Barclays, Admiral Group)
American stocks (Including: Apple, Facebook, Tesla, Netflix, Beyond Meat)
Asian stocks (Including: Xiaomi Corp, Bank of China, Zijin Mining, Tencent)
AvaTrade
European stocks (Including: Orange, Volkswagen, RWE, Bayer)
American stocks (Including: Tesla, Netflix, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, Shopify, Amazon, IBM)
Canadian stocks (Including: Canopy Growth, Canopy weed, Canada railway, Aurora Cannabis)
Asian stocks (Including: China life, China Southern Air, Tencent music)
IQ Option
US stocks (Including: Tesla, Apple, Beyond meat, Netflix, PayPal, IBM, easyJet)
Canadian stocks (Including: Canopy Growth Corp.)
European stocks (Including: Tesco, L'Oréal, Heineken, Barclays, Vodafone)
Fees that these companies charge
Depending on if you buy a real stock and are the owner of the underlying assets (offered for instance by eToro) or you trade CFDs on stocks (offered for instance by eToro, AvaTrade and IQ Option), the fees will vary.
eToro Fees on stocks (real underlying assets)
For accounts under CySec/FCA regulation, zero commission applies to most stocks available on the eToro platform. For accounts under ASIC regulation, zero commission applies to all US stocks available on the eToro platform.
Example Trade:
Initial Investment: 1,000 USD | Commission: NO |
Apple Stock (AAPL) Ask Rate: 250 USD | Overnight Fees: NO |
Position: Open 4 Units (AAPL BUY) | Total Fees: 0 USD |
*Withdrawals incur a low fee of $5 and FX rates apply to non-USD deposits and withdrawals.
Stock demo trading via CFDs
If you want to trade stocks with leverage, you can go for trading CFDs on stocks. One of the main fees you are going to encounter when trading CFD on stocks is the spread fee, which is basically the difference between ask and bid price (example). All brokers that we have tested today state that the spread is floating, which means the spreads change in real-time. To give you some idea what spreads they charge, here is a breakdown of spreads that IQ Option, AvaTrade and eToro charge today on popular shares (when trading with leverage).
Stock (CFD) | IQ Option spreads | AvaTrade spreads | Etoro spreads |
Goldman Sachs | 0.14 | 0.25 | 0.23 |
Netflix | 0.12 | 0.34 | 0.2 |
Amazon | 0.614 | 0.2 | 0.25 |
Mastercard | 0.21 | 0.17 | 0.15 |
Shopify | 0.72 | 0.6 | 0.35 |
Coca Cola | 0.17 | 0.3 | 0.22 |
Data about spreads were taken from the trading platforms of the given brokers on the 14th of February 2022 (17:21 GMT+1), for which they are accurate.
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