Brokers With The Best Customer Service
In today’s fast-paced financial markets, brokers need to offer fast, responsive and helpful customer support. This review ranks the brokers with the best customer service, based on our expert’s tests. We also unpack the contact options available at leading brokers, alongside UK opening hours.
Top Brokers For Customer Service
-
Established in Australia in 2010, Pepperstone is a top-rated forex and CFD broker with over 400,000 clients worldwide. It offers access to 1,300+ instruments on leading platforms MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, maintaining low, transparent fees. Pepperstone is also regulated by trusted authorities like the FCA, ASIC, and CySEC, ensuring a secure environment for traders at all levels.
-
Founded in 2002 in Poland, XTB now serves more than 1 million clients. The forex and CFD broker combines a heavily regulated trading environment with an extensive selection of 6400+ assets and a commitment to trader satisfaction, featuring an intuitive in-house platform with superb tools to support aspiring traders.
-
Established in 1989, CMC Markets is a respected broker listed on the London Stock Exchange and authorized by several tier-one regulators, including the FCA, ASIC and CIRO. More than 1 million traders from around the world have signed up with the multi-award winning brokerage.
-
Established in 2006, AvaTrade is a leading forex and CFD broker trusted by over 400,000 traders. Operating under regulation in 9 jurisdictions, AvaTrade processes an impressive 2+ million trades each month. Through like MT4, MT5, and its proprietary WebTrader, the broker provides a growing selection of 1,250+ instruments. Whether it’s CFDs, AvaOptions, or the more recent AvaFutures, short-term traders at all levels will find opportunities. With terrific education and 24/5 multilingual customer support, AvaTrade delivers the complete trading experience.
-
FXCC is an established broker that’s been offering low-cost online trading since 2010. Registered in Nevis and regulated by the CySEC, it stands out for its ECN trading conditions, no minimum deposit and smooth account opening that takes less than 5 minutes.
Broker | Opening Hours | *Response Time | Live Chat | UK Telephone | Social Media | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pepperstone | 24/7 | <2 Minutes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
XTB | 24/5 | <2 Minutes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CMC Markets | 24/5 | <2 Minutes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AvaTrade | 24/5 | <2 Minutes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
FXCC | 24/5 | <1 Minutes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
The Importance Of Customer Service
Online trading can be a complex process with many steps to consider at each stage from signing up to placing a trade. Investors may need to provide certain documentation and convert currency while opening an account or trying to trade assets on a foreign exchange. Equally, traders may need to go through a special process to access leverage or analysis tools.
The most effective customer service is fast and responsive, with a knowledgeable human assistant available if the issue requires it. It is especially important to have a quick response time since trading is a time-sensitive endeavour and delays can lead to lost money.
The best brokers for customer support also provide automated support options such as chatbots as well as FAQ sections or dedicated help pages on their websites, allowing traders to quickly look up the answer to simple queries.
As well as good customer service options, some brokers provide educational resources to improve customers’ trading skills, and help them understand the financial markets while building trust and loyalty.
When Is Good Customer Service Needed?
Online traders can be involved in trades at any time of day or night, and if an issue arises they need to be assured of a quick response from their broker’s support team.
Times when good customer support is particularly useful include:
- Registration: Since most UK brokers require proof of ID or address, and other verification documents, signing up can be complicated. Good customer support is useful if the system does not recognise your documentation or if any other issue arises.
- Security: Traders must place trust in their brokers, since they may invest large amounts of cash as well as share sensitive personal information. The best brokers for customer support can reassure traders that their accounts are safe by answering questions on security.
- Account lockout: If you forget your password or get locked out of your account for any other reason, a good customer support team can help quickly resolve the issue and prevent losses.
- Payment issues: If you hit any snags while trying to deposit or withdraw funds, or if there’s been an unexpected charge to your account, the best trading brokers for customer support are able to resolve the issue quickly and fairly.
- Technical issues: Trading platforms can experience technical issues at any time, such as system crashes or slow performance. Good customer support can help traders troubleshoot issues and resume trading quickly.
- Account management: Traders may need support with managing their trading accounts, including depositing funds, withdrawing profits, converting currencies and updating personal information.
Comparing Brokers For Customer Service
- Contact channels: Check the customer support channels offered by the trading broker, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media. Evaluate the availability and responsiveness of the channel you will use. For example, Interactive Brokers offers phone, live chat, email, image upload, FAQs and tips for best service, and a selection of channels for traders to choose from. Most importantly, phone and chat lines are available for instant help 24/7.
- Customer service hours: Consider the hours during which customer service is available. Good brokers offer customer support outside regular business hours to cater to customers in different time zones. For example, the IG Index support team can be reached by phone, Twitter and email 24 hours a day from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday.
- Response time: The best brokers for customer service respond to inquiries and concerns promptly. Different methods will also generate different response times; for example, Interactive Brokers take up to 24 hours to respond via email, whereas on live chat customers are likely to get a response within minutes.
- Knowledgeable & Professional: Brokers with good customer service should have in-depth knowledge about all the products and services offered by the brokerage and how to use them. They should be able to provide accurate and reliable information to traders and handle their queries professionally.
- Personalisation: Brokers with good customer service should be tailored to the individual needs of the trader, offering customised solutions based on specific requirements, preferences, and investment goals.
- Flexibility: Brokers should offer flexible solutions to customers based on their changing needs. For example, they should allow users to modify their trading accounts, adjust their investment portfolios, and access their funds easily.
- Proactive: Great customer service should be proactive in anticipating customer needs by giving regular updates, offering educational resources, and providing trading guides as well as promptly fixing any problems that arise.
- Empathy: Customer service representatives should show empathy towards traders, especially during stressful situations like withdrawal issues. They should be able to understand the trader’s perspective, show concern and provide support.
Bottom Line
Good customer service is a key component of a broker’s operations that helps build trust, increases client satisfaction, prevents complaints and disputes and meets compliance requirements. By prioritising customer service, trading brokers can improve their business performance and ensure they are meeting the needs of their traders.
Brokers with the best customer support are particularly important for beginners who may need help opening an account and getting started with online trading.
FAQ
What Customer Service Channels Do Trading Brokers Typically Offer?
Brokers with good customer service offer a range of customer service channels, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media like Telegram and Facebook Messenger.
What Is The Average Response Time For Customer Inquiries At Brokers?
The response time for customer service enquiries varies depending on the brokerage. However, brokers with great customer service typically respond to inquiries within minutes on live chat and several hours via email. The top brokers offer 24/7 customer support to ensure that traders can get their questions answered quickly.
Which UK Broker Has The Best Customer Support?
Our experts have compiled a list of the best brokers for customer support, based on their experiences and live testing. When comparing trading platforms, consider their reputation, contact channels, response time, knowledge and professionalism.