IG
FOREX.com
CMC Markets
XTB
eToro
AvaTrade
Pepperstone
FP Markets
TickmillBest Free Forex Trading Courses for 2026
Written by Steven Hatzakis
Director of Online Broker Research
Edited by John Bringans
Managing Editor
Fact-checked by Joey Shadeck
Research Analyst
Steven HatzakisDirector of Online Broker Research
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for ForexBrokers.com. He is a forex industry expert and an active fintech and crypto researcher.
Why you can trust us
Led by Steven Hatzakis, Global Director of Online Broker Research, the ForexBrokers.com research team collects and audits data across more than 100 variables. We analyze key tools and features important to forex and CFD traders and collect data on commissions, spreads, and fees across the industry to help you find the best broker for your needs.
We also review each broker’s regulatory status; this research helps us determine whether you should trust the broker to keep your money safe. As part of this effort, we track 100+ international regulatory agencies to power our proprietary Trust Score rating system.
Our researchers open personal brokerage accounts and test all available platforms on desktop, web, and mobile for each broker reviewed on ForexBrokers.com. Learn more about how we test.
After testing and reviewing free forex courses for close to ten years, I've found there's no need to hunt down paid subscriptions if you want to learn how to trade forex. The best brokers in this category offer extensive free educational resources, including structured trading courses covering forex, CFDs, stocks, derivatives, crypto, and a growing range of other asset classes. The quality of this content has improved meaningfully over the past decade, and the top brokers now publish material that holds up against university-level coursework.
The best free forex education shares a few common traits. The provider is a trustworthy and regulated broker, the content goes deeper than surface-level explanations, and the lessons are engaging enough to actually finish without losing focus. My guide to the best free forex trading courses will help you confidently pick a broker that delivers high-quality forex education at no cost.
Best free forex trading courses
We evaluate forex education by going through a sample of course materials from each broker, analyzing the depth of content, variety of formats (video, written, interactive), and overall engagement. We give weight to features that reinforce learning, like progress tracking, quizzes, and structured curricula that move traders through topics in a logical sequence. Brokers that combine quality content with clear organization and strong interactive elements tend to rise to the top.
- Minimum Deposit: $0
- Trust Score: 99
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 8500
Interactive Brokers is a leading provider of educational courses for financial markets. As part of the broker’s IBKR Campus offering and the courses available within its Traders’ Academy, you’ll gain access to content arranged by experience level and spanning a wide variety of asset classes – including forex. IBKR also delivers finance-related courses on Coursera. Read full review
- Access 150 markets in 34 countries; 28 base currencies.
- TradingView launched for both manual and algo traders.
- TWS desktop offers powerful tools for advanced strategies.
- New IBKR InvestMentor app offers beginner-friendly finance courses.
- TWS platform is overwhelming for beginners.
- No MetaTrader suite or copy trading tools available.
- $2 minimum commission can be costly for small trade sizes.
- Minimum Deposit: $100
- Trust Score: 96
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 1260
AvaTrade provides an extensive selection of educational articles along with over 100 lessons and nearly 50 quizzes, helping it rank among the best in this category. AvaTrade has rebranded its SharpTrader educational program as part of its AvaAcademy forex course offering that features comprehensive educational content. Read full review
- Wide platform selection.
- Strong educational courses.
- Copy trading support.
- Charts lack drawing tools in mobile.
- Retail spreads higher than average.
- Slow desktop platform and outdated design.
- Minimum Deposit: $50-$10,000
- Trust Score: 97
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 7441
eToro has made significant progress in building out its educational resources. The brokers’ eToro Academy features lessons and trading courses with both written and video content, along with quizzes to test your knowledge. Read full review
- User-friendly platforms great for casual traders and beginners.
- Offers copy trading and crypto trading.
- VIP-style perks available to eToro Club members.
- eToro is slightly pricier than most of its competitors.
- Algo trading strategies are not supported.
- Mandatory stop-loss and take-profit orders may hinder trading strategies.
- Trading Central is only available to eToro Club members.
- Minimum Deposit: $100
- Trust Score: 99
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 5500
FOREX.com’s educational courses include integrated progress tracking and quizzes (along with an overall self-assessment quiz). FOREX.com also holds regular webinars and offers an extensive library of archived content on its YouTube channel. Read full review
- Trading Academy is great for all experience levels.
- Advanced charting through TradingView with 5,500+ symbols.
- Pro-grade trading tools on web and desktop.
- Spreads are higher than other low-cost brokers.
- Pricing is average unless you qualify for active trader discounts.
- Stock and futures trading require a separate StoneXone account.
- Minimum Deposit: $5
- Trust Score: 93
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 1429
XM Group is a MetaTrader-only broker that offers a strong selection of high-quality educational content and market research. Read full review
- Offers 1,400+ CFDs and 55 forex pairs.
- Trading Central adds depth to strong in-house research.
- Features daily videos, podcasts, and multilingual live broadcasts.
- Full MetaTrader suite supports copy trading and algo tools.
- Standard account spreads are expensive.
- XM Zero account is only offered in the EU.
- Doesn't offer a proprietary trading platform.
- Minimum Deposit: $0
- Trust Score: 99
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 40000
Charles Schwab is a highly trusted financial institution and multi-asset broker catering to U.S.-based and international forex traders. Schwab's award-winning thinkorswim platform offers over 70 tradeable currency pairs alongside impressive tools, research, and education. That said, the broker’s forex offering is still largely limited to what is available on thinkorswim. Read full review
- thinkorswim supports advanced forex trading.
- Multi-asset access with 40,000+ tradeable symbols.
- Live webinars and strong educational content.
- Forex trading only available on thinkorswim and to U.S. residents.
- No trading signals or copy trading.
- Forex-specific education is limited.
- Minimum Deposit: £1
- Trust Score: 99
- Tradeable Symbols (Total): 19537
IG offers excellent educational content across its websites, platforms, and DailyFX portal. Clients gain access to forex courses with accompanying quizzes and progress tracking as well as educational articles and videos from its IG Academy. IG even offers a mobile app dedicated exclusively to educational content. Read full review
- #1 Overall Broker in our ForexBrokers.com 2026 Awards.
- Highest Trust Score in 2026; most trusted forex broker.
- tastyfx brings IG access to U.S. forex traders.
- IG’s web platform requires some manual setup.
- MT5 is not available on IG.
- Only ~80 symbols available via MetaTrader.
- IG’s DailyFX news and research site has been discontinued.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
| Company | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account | Minimum Deposit | Overall Rating |
 Interactive Brokers
|
0.226 | $0 |
|
 AvaTrade
|
0.93 | $100 |
|
 eToro
|
1 | $50-$10,000 |
|
 FOREX.com
|
1.00 | $100 |
|
 XM Group
|
2 | $5 |
|
 Charles Schwab
|
1.27 | $0 |
|
 IG
|
0.91 | £1 |
|
Top picks for forex trading courses
1. Interactive Brokers - Best free forex trading courses in 2026
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
IG
|
|
|
|
£1 | 0.91 |
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) has steadily built one of the most comprehensive free educational offerings in the industry, earning our #1 spot for Education in the 2026 Annual Awards. The broker provides multiple learning channels, including its Traders' Academy portal, IBKR Campus, IBKR Quant blog, and the newly launched IBKR InvestMentor mobile app.
Traders' Academy: The Traders' Academy covers a wide range of financial market topics with lessons and videos organized by experience level. While the primary focus has traditionally been equities and options, Interactive Brokers has expanded its forex-relevant content to include macroeconomic themes, monetary policy, and fundamental analysis concepts that apply directly to currency trading. There's also a Coursera-style course with a university-level syllabus for traders who prefer a more structured learning path.
Steven's take:
"IBKR's educational offering stands out for its depth across multiple formats. The InvestMentor app makes learning accessible for beginners, while Traders' Academy provides the substance more serious students need. The main gap is dedicated forex content."
Steven Hatzakis
Director of Online Broker Research
InvestMentor app: The IBKR InvestMentor app, available on iOS and Android, takes a mobile-first approach to investor education. Courses are broken into bite-sized lessons you can complete in a few minutes, with quizzes at the end to test your knowledge. The interface is clean and intuitive, with a swipe-and-tap format that should appeal to newer traders. While the app doesn't yet offer dedicated forex courses, its coverage of asset classes, economic fundamentals, and market mechanics provides a strong foundation for understanding the factors that drive currency markets.
IBKR's InvestMentor app takes a mobile-first approach with bite-sized courses on Asset Classes, Microeconomics, Bonds, and Futures that can be completed in just a few minutes. The app tracks progress through its "My Journey" feature and uses a swipe-based format with quizzes at the end of each lesson, making it accessible for newer traders.
Video content: Interactive Brokers also maintains an active YouTube channel and an archive of webinars covering a wide range of trading topics, though forex-specific video content remains lighter than other asset classes.
2. AvaTrade - AvaAcademy 100+ structured courses with progress tracking and quizzes
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
AvaTrade
|
|
|
|
$100 | 0.93 |
AvaTrade has built one of the most structured educational offerings in the forex industry through its AvaAcademy platform. The broker provides over 100 courses, 145+ lessons, and 45+ quizzes, all organized by experience level and featuring integrated progress tracking. The combination of depth and structure earned AvaTrade Best in Class honors for Education in our 2026 Annual Awards.
AvaAcademy interface: AvaAcademy was recently redesigned with a more modern look, making it easier to navigate through beginner, intermediate, and advanced course tracks. Each course combines video and written content with short quizzes at the end to reinforce key concepts. The progress tracking and quizzes make it feel like a proper course rather than a loose collection of articles, which is exactly what beginner traders need. Topics range from forex basics to more technical areas like Donchian Channels, Fibonacci retracements, and risk management strategies.
The AvaAcademy Advanced Trading Techniques course covers fundamental and technical analysis, overnight swaps, and day trading strategies across nine lectures totaling 33 minutes. The course details panel displays video duration, quiz count, and experience level upfront, and prerequisite courses must be completed before unlocking advanced material on swap mechanics and day trading risks.
Video and supplementary content: Beyond the structured courses, AvaTrade produces 48 educational videos covering a solid range of trading topics. The broker also archives webinars on its YouTube and Vimeo channels, including its "Mapping out your week ahead" series that blends education with market analysis. The blog content has become somewhat dated, but the video production remains active and provides useful supplementary material for traders who prefer visual learning.
Where it could improve: AvaTrade could do more to integrate educational content directly into its WebTrader and AvaTradeGO platforms. Currently most of the learning happens outside the trading environment, which creates a disconnect between education and execution that newer traders especially could benefit from closing.
3. eToro - Multi-asset coverage with video-driven learning
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
eToro
|
|
|
|
$50-$10,000 | 1 |
The eToro Academy has taken a significant leap in recent years with expanded content across forex training courses, dedicated guides, and educational modules. Coverage extends to multiple asset classes, including forex, stocks, crypto, and options trading, making it a solid choice for traders who want to learn across different markets. eToro earned Best in Class honors for Education in our 2026 Annual Awards.
Academy structure: The Academy organizes content by category and experience level, with courses that include video lessons, written materials, and quizzes to test comprehension. eToro has made real progress in building out structured courses, though it can occasionally be difficult to distinguish between a full course and a standalone guide. Organizing content more clearly by format and experience level would make it easier for traders to follow a defined learning path. That said, the content quality is consistently good, and the platform does a nice job integrating educational snippets directly into the trading interface, like background information on specific instruments such as the EUR/USD pair.
Video content: eToro's YouTube presence adds depth with series like "Digest & Invest: Conversation with Leaders," which features interviews with crypto founders, fund managers, and trading experts. The "Thematic Investing with ETFs" series, produced in collaboration with iShares by BlackRock, is another standout. These videos go beyond basic tutorials and provide real insight into market themes and investment strategies, which is rare for broker-produced content.
eToro Academy offers multi-asset coverage spanning equities, CFDs, options, commodities, and technical analysis, with courses ranging from 29 minutes to over an hour across 6 to 12 lessons each. Content is organized by experience level and filterable by Essentials, Most Popular, and Videos, with select courses produced in collaboration with Nasdaq.
Where it could improve: Better organization of video content would help. It can be hard to distinguish between research, promotional, and educational videos on the channel, and separating platform tutorials from financial market education would help traders find what they need faster.
4. FOREX.com - Interactive courses with detailed infographics and quizzes
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
FOREX.com
|
|
|
|
$100 | 1.00 |
FOREX.com's Trading Academy features free interactive courses with integrated progress tracking and quizzes, including an overall self-assessment tool to help traders gauge their starting point. The content quality stands out, and the infographics are highly descriptive in a way that complements the learning experience rather than feeling like filler.
Video content and resources: FOREX.com also produces consistent video content, including daily market updates and a weekly technical outlook series on its YouTube channel. The channel hosts archived webinars and educational playlists covering technical analysis, trading psychology, and platform tutorials, with content going back over a decade. For traders who want structured, multimedia-rich forex education from a trusted broker, FOREX.com delivers.
5. XM Group – Global education with daily videos and live broadcasts
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
XM Group
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|
|
|
$5 | 2 |
XM Group delivers an outstanding selection of educational content, earning a Best in Class rating for Education in our 2026 review. The broker produces daily videos, podcasts, and multilingual live broadcasts that cater to a global audience, with content available in multiple languages to support traders across regions.
Research and supplementary content: Trading Central modules add structured technical analysis content alongside XM's strong in-house research, which covers market commentary, economic events, and trade ideas. The combination of live broadcasts, on-demand video, and written research gives traders flexibility to learn in whichever format suits them best. While spreads on the Standard account run high, the educational resources make XM a solid choice for traders prioritizing learning over low costs, particularly those who benefit from multilingual support.
Other forex trading courses I tested
6. Charles Schwab – Extensive webinars and broad financial markets coverage
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
Charles Schwab
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|
|
|
$0 | 1.27 |
Charles Schwab delivers a tremendous amount of high-quality educational content through its Learning Center, courses, podcasts, and daily Schwab Coaching webcasts. The broker hosts up to seven live events per day covering financial markets, with archives available on YouTube. Forex-specific content is limited compared to stocks and futures, but the general education on technical analysis and market fundamentals applies broadly to currency traders.
7. IG – IG Academy courses with progress tracking and quizzes
| Company | Overall Rating | Education | Mobile Trading | Minimum Deposit | Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account |
|
IG
|
|
|
|
£1 | 0.91 |
A long-time leader in education, IG is once again Best in Class in 2026. The broker offers IG Academy, with eight courses organized by experience level, each containing nearly a dozen chapters with video content, lesson summaries, and quizzes. Weekly webinars, trading guides, and in-house broadcasting via IGTV round out the offering, along with a dedicated mobile app for learning on the go. That said, IG has not expanded its educational content in recent years, having closed its Community and discontinued DailyFX, which has let competitors catch up.
Compare forex brokers with educational courses
Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your strategy, it's worth comparing brokers that offer structured forex and currency trading lessons. The brokers listed below provide free trading education as part of their core offering. No sign-up fees, and no third-party upsells. These are great starting points for your currency trading training course.
| Company | Overall Rating | Minimum Deposit | Webinars | Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Videos - Advanced Trading Videos |
|
Interactive Brokers
|
|
$0 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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AvaTrade
|
|
$100 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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eToro
|
|
$50-$10,000 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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FOREX.com
|
|
$100 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
XM Group
|
|
$5 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Charles Schwab
|
|
$0 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
IG
|
|
£1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ForexBrokers.com Overall Rankings
Now that you've seen our picks for the best brokers on this guide, check out ForexBrokers.com's overall broker rankings. We've evaluated 32 forex brokers, using a testing methodology that's based on 100+ data-driven variables and thousands of data points. Also take a look at our full-length, in-depth forex broker reviews.
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Steven Hatzakis May 04, 2026About the Editorial Team
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. A forex industry expert and an active fintech and crypto researcher, Steven advises blockchain companies at the board level and holds a Series III license in the U.S. as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).
John Bringans is the Managing Editor at ForexBrokers.com. An experienced media professional, John has a decade of editorial experience with a background that includes key leadership roles at global newsroom outlets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University, and conducts research on forex and the financial services industry while assisting in the production of content.
Joey Shadeck is a Content Strategist and Research Analyst for ForexBrokers.com. He holds dual degrees in Finance and Marketing from Oakland University, and has been an active trader and investor for close to ten years. An industry veteran, Joey obtains and verifies data, conducts research, and analyzes and validates our content.