If you are looking for a high volume broker in the UK, then finding a good one can be a challenge. We’ve compared spreads, account types and fees to find the best broker for trading high volume.
Choosing a High Volume Broker
If you are looking to trade high volume / large lot sizes with have significant capital to deploy in the markets, you will need a broker that specialises in high-volume trading. You will need a broker that offers the following benefits: low fees, great execution & liquidity (to get placed at your price correctly), tight regulation, and professional tooling / accounts.
So, based on this criteria, let’s look at the best brokers for trading high volume / lot sizes?
Video Summary
Who are the best brokers for large account sizes?
The best broker to trade large volume / lot sizes, is Pepperstone.
Here’s the full list:
- Best for High Volume Trading: Pepperstone
- Best for Volume Rebates: CMC Markets
- Best for Regulation & Tooling: IG
How to Choose a Broker for High-Volume Trading
We scored brokers across 4 main dimensions: fee structures, execution / liquidity, regulation, and tooling.
These dimensions matter when trading at high volume as these dictate how much you pay in initial fees (spreads and other costs), slippage (when you aren’t entered in your price correctly), safety (regulation) and trading experience (tooling).
Here’s how these brokers scored:
| Broker | Fees | Execution | Regulation | Tooling | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | 10/10 | 10/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 | 9.25/10 |
| IG | 6/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 9/10 |
| CMC Markets | 8/10 | 10/10 | 10/10 | 7/10 | 8.7/10 |
The Full Rankings and Reviews
Great Low Fee Broker but Fewer Tradable Assets
Pepperstone is a great broker for trading in general, and for high-volume trading for retail traders, they outperformed.
72.9% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider
Best Tooling for High Volume Trading
If you want the broadest market selection (stocks, ETFs, forex, bonds, everything), plus top-tier tools & resources, IG wins hands down.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Best Tiered Spreads
CMC is the broker that most people use for spread betting for a reason – their platform seems to be made for it!
76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with XTB Limited. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
| Ranking | Broker | Rationale | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pepperstone | The combination of low-fee accounts, great education, good tooling options and regulation by several international regulators makes Pepperstone our first choice for high-volume trading. | 9.25/10 |
| 2 | IG | IG wins for regulation, as a large easily-identifiable publicly-traded broker, with great professional tooling options. But it doesn’t offer a commission-based account for low-cost trading at volume. | 9/10 |
| 3 | CMC Markets | CMC is another publicly traded, secure platform, professional rebates (which at volume you may qualify for), and a low-cost account option, but tooling is limited outside of their platform. | 8.7/10 |
Best Brokers for Different Volumes
For this research, we set three different lot size / position sizes to test: £50,000-100,000, £100,000 – £250,000 and £250,000+. Now of course we didn’t trade the entire account at once, but we used this as leverage to understand which broker still offered great execution speeds (low latency), low fees and the best tooling / experiences / offers at this size. Here were the results:
Best Brokers for £50,000 – £100,000
All brokers performed well, no significant difference in execution quality. The main difference here was that Pepperstone’s Razor account offered the lowest trading fees overall with £4.5 round turn commission vs significantly higher spread costs from IG and CMC. However, at this level, we unlocked CMC’s first of many offerings for high-volume traders – Alpha. We immediately unlocked a spread discount of 20% (more about the tiered system later) and got points back from trading which was a huge bonus.
Best Broker for £100,000 – £250,000
We started to notice spread costs from IG more at this level – this is an account size where you don’t yet qualify for a professional account, but you are still trading significant size and paying 0.6 -0.7 pip spreads started to eat into our trades. CMC performed better than IG for Standard CFD account spreads at this level due to the Alpha tiered system which applied discounts to the spreads automatically and felt cheaper. Pepperstone remained the cheapest by a long shot as we were using their Razor account.
Best Broker for £250,000+
At this level we switched from CMC’s Standard Account type to their FxActive account, to access even cheaper pricing, we found this to be a wise decision, CMC charged us £2.5 each-way commission (£5 in total) across their 6 major pairs that had 0.0 pip spreads and we got a 25% discount on other spreads. We found IG’s standard account to be the most expensive at this tier – although their DMA access had some of the lowest spreads available. We also found Pepperstone’s Razor account to be the cheapest retail account overall, without having to apply for a DMA account.
Verdict
The best retail (non-DMA) account type belonged to Pepperstone’s Razor account which we found to be best at high volume overall with a £2.25 round turn commission. The best spread-based trading account was CMC due to their Alpha tiered volume discount system, lowering our spread price based on higher volumes, and the best ‘application-only’ Pro account was IG’s DMA account (spreads as low as 0.165).
1. Pepperstone: The Best Broker for High-Volume Trading
Pepperstone: Best Account / Fee Structure
If you’re looking for a broker that offers the best account structure, lots of FX instruments and a plethora of platform options – Pepperstone might just be it.
72.9% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Why is Pepperstone the best broker for large volumes?
Pepperstone is built for high-volume trading. Their Razor account is the cheapest commission-based CFD trading account in the UK, even cheaper than CMC’s similar offering (FxActive). They also offer great regulation in the UK under the FCA, and in Australia under ASIC and other international regulations.
They also offer the widest range of platforms for high volume traders like MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and a Pepperstone Platform (their proprietary platform). This optionality is great for high-volume trading, whilst not necessary, it is great to have.
Key Volume-Based FAQs for Pepperstone
Does Pepperstone allow you to trade large lot sizes?
Yes, Pepperstone enables large lot size / high-volume trading through both their Standard & Razor CFD accounts – if you are looking for a low-cost / high-volume option then choose the Razor account.
Does Pepperstone offer DMA access?
No, Pepperstone does not offer DMA access in the UK.
Why is Pepperstone good for high-volume trading?
If you are trading large lot sizes then slippage, spread costs and execution quality matter a lot. In our research, Pepperstone overperformed for execution quality and low slippage, and their commission costs are fixed using the Razor account at an each-way commission of £2.25, even though spreads remain variable.
Is Pepperstone’s Razor account an ECN account?
Whilst Pepperstone doesn’t consider themselves to be an ECN-broker the Razor account does operate in much the same way as something like a Raw ECN account by Vantage, and the 0.0 pip structure ith a fixed commission is similar to ECN-account types.
My Experience
Pepperstone Razor account was great at scaling up account volumes, it doesn’t increase your cost per lot when you switch account size, so trading at £100,000 or £250,000 does not meaningfully impact the per-lot cost. This is one of the best advantages of trading with Pepperstone compared to other brokers.
We learnt quickly that Pepperstone, across all three volume tiers was going to be extremely competitive and hard to beat. They outperformed for fees, execution quality was seamless, and their Razor account type could be traded through TradingView and cTrader allowing us to automate our trades. They also offer their own API, which enables you to build meaningfully on top of this to trade effectively.
Verdict
For retail (non-professional) traders, Pepperstone will generally be the cheapest account. This is due to the Razor account spreads being the lowest in the industry. However, they lack DMA pricing option that IG offers, and a rebate-based volume tiering system that CMC offers so this might be a drawback for some traders looking for volume-based pricing and / or DMA access.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
2. CMC Markets: Best Tiered Discounts
CMC: Best Tiered Account Structure
CMC proved itself to be extremely capable at higher volumes, offering spread-discounts and volume
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Why CMC is a Good High-Volume Broker?
CMC understands high-volume traders. It understands the need for tiered discounts of some kind, based on volume, and it understands that spread-based pricing can get expensive, and that not everyone can get DMA pricing or qualify for a ‘Pro’ account.
So here’s what CMC does. Through Alpha, CMC’s tiered volume-based system, they offer spread discounts for every level (Tier 1-5), and apply these discounts automatically to your account. These actually start at an account size of £25,000 or more, scaling from discounts of 5% to 40%.
Now whilst this is a huge benefit to higher volume traders, we found it to be most beneficial between £25,000 – £250,000+, where traders do not qualify for Pro accounts (which has an actual rebate system), and account sizes are large enough to get discounts – in particular, Tier 4 (see screenshot below) where you get discounts of up to 27.5% which is higher than the 25% you get off-the-bat with FxActive.
Now if this all sounds confusing, well it is. But i’ll break it down for you.
FxActive offers 0.0 pip spreads for 6 major currency pairs and a 25% spread discount for the rest. This is great for traders whose account balance might be in the £25,000+ – £100,000 range and is actually cheaper than the ‘Alpha’ spread-based account for currency traders.
If, however, you want to diversify beyond currency trading then the FxActive discounts don’t apply there. So, if you looking to trade indices or commodities as a high-volume trader, well CMC Alpha would be perfect for that given the discounts that can be applied.
Verdict
So is CMC good for high-volume trading? In short, yes. They offer tiered volume discounts on indices, commodities, forex pairs and treasuries automatically once your account size is above £25,000. Great. But ultimately, if you are a currency trader, then CMCs FxActive account is actually cheaper for the major pairs (0.0 pip spreads and a £2.5 each-way commission) at high-volume, until you reach Tier 4 where discounts of 27.5% can be reached. However, looking at a major like EURUSD, the discount there is only 20% on Tier 4, whereas you get 0.0 pip spread cost and £5 commission on FxActive.
Key Volume-Based FAQs for CMC
Which is Cheaper FxActive or Alpha spreads for high-volume trading?
For currency traders, especially those trading the major pairs, FxActive will always be cheaper until you are trading significant volume (over £100,000,000 in notional value a month according to their calculator), given the automatic 25% discount and 0.0 pip spreads with £5 commission for FxActive. If you are looking for discounts on treasury, index, and commodity CFDs then CMC’s Alpha will give you this automatically once your account size is over £25,000+. So for general traders, Alpha is a great addition.
Is FxActive Cheaper than Pepperstone for High-Volume Trading?
No, Pepperstone’s Razor Account charges £2.25 each-way commission on all currencies + a small spread cost and CMC’s FxActive charges £2.5 each-way commission + 0.0 pip spreads for 6 currencies and a 25% spread discount on the rest.
Is CMC a good high-volume broker?
Yes, CMC is a great high-volume broker, they through Alpha and Price+ they offered tiered spread discounts for traders and their Pro account is one of only a few accounts to offer a clear rebate structure.
Does CMC Offer a DMA Account?
As of writing, in 2026, CMC offers Direct Market Access (DMA) through their CMC Connect platform for institutional traders. This is not a retail CFD trading account.
No Minimum Deposit
Best for Spread Betting
CMC is a leading CFD & Spread Betting platforms in the UK, founded in 1989, it is truly one of the oldest and greatest platforms for trading CFDs and spread betting with both a professional and beginner-friendly fee.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
3. IG: Best for High Volume Tools
IG is not the best for spreads, nor is it the best for commission-based accounts (it doesn’t have one) so you might be thinking, why is IG on this list…? Well, IG offers great trading tools, access to DMA accounts, and the largest range of instruments for high-volume trading.
IG: Incredible Range & Tooling Options
IG offers tooling, education, the most instruments and great benefits for high-volume trading. But unfortunately, spreads and the lack of a commission-based account for retail traders is a drawback.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Why IG is a Great Broker for High-Volume Trading
So let’s start with the positives, IG offers ProRealTime, a platform we’ve reviewed extensively in our ‘Best Brokers for Professional Traders‘ article, and covered as one of the leading tools for all traders with order book data and much more – all valuable information tat high-volume traders need.
Also, they offer DMA access, now whilst this is application only, their DMA spreads are some of the most competitive with spreads of c. 0.365 for EUR/USD and leading currency pairs. Brilliant. But for standard retail account types, IG begins to falter.
If you look at IG’s standard account type, spreads start at 0.6 pips for forex CFDs in 2026 (see below), this is actually pretty cheap compared to other brokers, until you start trading at volume, then these spread costs eat into your profit significantly. Is there a spread discount like CMC? No. Is there a commission-based account for high-volume traders, scalpers and high-frequency traders? No.
So in reality, IG has two main options for high-volume traders – opt or a standard IG CFD account or qualify as a professional. Hardly the most inspiring range of options.
Verdict
IG’s spread costs at 0.6 pips for forex CFDs are on average some of the best spreads on a standard account for most traders. However, when trading IG at volume, there are better options like Pepperstone’s Razor account and CMC (Alpha spread discounts begin at £25,000). IG offers DMA access on application, and offers Pro level tools like ProRealTime which show order book data – useful for high-volume traders, but overall, their spread cost and lack of a commission-based account, do not make them the best option for non-pro, non-DMA retail traders.
Key Volume-Based FAQs for IG
Does IG offer a commssion-based account like CMC and Peperstone?
No, IG doesn’t offer a commission-based account, they offer a standard CFD trading account, spread betting account and professional account. The only cost-effective way to trade high volume with IG is to apply for their DMA account.
Is IG Good for High-Volume Trading?
Not really. IG is good for account types under £25,000 as their costs are competitive at 0.6 pip spreads, but at £25,000, this is when CMC’s Alpha becomes the better spread-based broker as tiered spread discounts taking effect. For account types over £25,000, CMC is a great option for spread-based accounts, although Pepperstone’s Razor account still performs better overall for currency traders with £2.25 each-way commissions and 0.0 pip spreads for major currency pairs.
Are there any high-volume account discounts on IG?
IG does not offer tiered discounts like CMC for high-volume traders.
No Minimum Deposit
Best for Stocks
IG offers 17,000+ trading instruments and combines robust regulation with cutting-edge platforms like ProRealTime, TradingView, and L2 Dealer.
68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
How to Choose a Broker for High Volume Trading?
What to look for in a High-Volume Broker?
If you are looking to trade high-volumes, then the standard checks around regulation, liquidity, execution quality and fees still apply but they become even more important. Here is a checklist of things to look out for in high-volume trading:
- Regulation: Use the FCA-Checker tool if you are unsure, do not trade high-volume with any broker not on this list.
- Spread Betting: If you are trading high-volume, you’ll want your gains to be free from capital gains tax. Spread betting options are offered by all these brokers (CMC, Pepperstone and IG) so you can check these out or see out top spread betting brokers guide.
- Range of Instruments: What you can trade is very important, look for brokers with a wide range of instruments and low spread costs.
- Spread Costs & Fees: Possibly the most important element when trading at large volumes, spreads eat into your profits, so finding commission-only or cheap commssion accounts become more important.
- Benefits (like spread discounts): Some brokers, like CMC, offer tiered spread discounts so check out if ths is something you need to apply for, or whether this is applied automatically.
Of course mobile trading, customer service support and educational materials are as important for high-volume trading as they are for trading – that’s why we’ve ranked the best trading brokers on our homepage so you can quickly review all the best brokers for all of these features.
FAQ’s
Are Large Brokers Better for High-Volume Trading?
Not necessarily. Some smaller brokers offer ECN accounts or commission-only accounts, that are better suited to high-volume trading due to the lower spread costs vs a standard CFD trading account. Larger brokers usually offer DMA access (like CMC and IG) but often these are application-only account types, and come at a cost.
Are There Specialist High-Volume Accounts?
High-volume is not necessarily treated as a separate account type by most brokers.There are professional accounts, where higher-leverage and certain perks exist for UK traders. But high-volume accounts usually benefit from fixed-commission, low-cost accounts like Pepperstone’s Razor Account or CMC’s FxActive account, and benefit from tiered discounts like CMC Alpha.
What are High-Volume Accounts Did You Consider?
In the research for this article, we considered Interactive Brokers, CMC, IG, Pepperstone, Vantage Markets, Saxo Bank, Axi, Trading 212 and eToro. They all had unique advantages and disadvantages.
For example, Vantage Markets offers a Raw ECN account, similar to Pepperstone’s Razor account, but execution quality and fees were in favour of Pepperstone (Vantage charges £5 per round turn vs Pepperstone’s £4.5) and Pepperstone won on execution speed.
We also analysed Interactive Brokers and their fixed % fee per trade worked out as more expensive than IG, CMC and Pepperstone for retail trading until you reached significant volume (institutional levels).
What is the Best Broker for £1m+ in Trading Volume?
If you qualify, then a Pro Account or DMA account then IG would be the best option. However, if not, then Pepperstone’s fixed-fee Razor account is the best option.
Which High-Volume Broker Should I Choose?
If you prefer fixed commissions, low costs, high-frequency trading or want the cheapest overall costs then Pepperstone’s Razor account is the best option.
If you are comfortable paying spreads, then choose CMC as your spread-based discount can reach 40% when using their Alpha & Price+ account.
If you want DMA access and / or qualify for a Pro account then IG would be the best option.
We recommend considering your frequency of trading, notional trade volume, instruments, and desired spread cost / fee per trade to help you find the best broker.
- Best High Volume Brokers for UK Traders - July 22, 2026
- Best Brokers for Professional Traders in the UK - July 9, 2026
- Pepperstone, IG or CMC Markets: Which is Better? - July 3, 2026
