Ten percent. That is the annual yield FOREX.com's US arm advertises on idle margin for members of its VIP programme, and on Tuesday 22 September 2026 it sat beside a federal funds target range of 3.75% to 4.00% and a three-month Treasury bill yielding 3.99%. Read the headline on the broker's trading costs page and the offer runs "up to $500k". Read the terms printed three lines further down and it does not. Balances up to $20,000 earn 10%. Everything from $20,000 to $500,000 earns 4%. Anything above that earns 1.5%, and only on the first $5 million. So a client parking the full $500,000 the headline invites is paid a blended 4.24%, a quarter of a point above a Treasury bill, and a client parking $1 million is paid 2.87%, below it. The 10% is real. It covers the first $20,000.
That gap between headline and schedule is the review, because it repeats across the whole FOREX.com offer. The broker, run in the US by GAIN Capital Group LLC and owned by Nasdaq-listed StoneX Group, is the single largest retail forex dealer in America: the CFTC's monthly register shows it holding $204.1 million of the $471.6 million that US dealers owed retail forex clients at the end of July, a 43.3% share. Its RAW account charges $7 per $100,000 of US-dollar notional on each side, more than double the headline commission at the offshore ECN brokers it competes with for active traders. And the parent's own filings show its retail FX and CFD unit earning 11% more per million dollars traded in the June quarter while client volume fell 27%. The yield is the sweetener. What pays for it sits in the other three numbers.
- FOREX.com US pays 10% APY on the first $20,000 of average daily available margin, 4% from $20,000 to $500,000 and 1.5% above $500,000, for VIP clients only — FOREX.com US trading costs terms, read 22 Sep 2026
- RAW account commission is $7 per $100,000 USD traded, charged on each side, so a round trip on 100,000 EUR/USD at 1.149 costs $16.09 before spread — FOREX.com RAW pricing account page, read 22 Sep 2026
- GAIN Capital Group LLC held $204.1 million in retail forex obligations on 31 July 2026, 43.3% of the US total of $471.6 million — CFTC financial data for FCMs and RFEDs, July 2026 file
- StoneX Self-Directed/Retail FX/CFD average daily volume fell 27% to $6.805 billion while revenue per million rose 11% to $147 in the quarter to 30 June 2026 — StoneX Form 10-Q, filed 5 Aug 2026
- The segment's income after overhead allocation fell 62% to $9.8 million in the same quarter — StoneX Form 10-Q, filed 5 Aug 2026
- 74% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with the UK entity, StoneX Financial Ltd (FCA 446717) — FOREX.com UK risk warning, read 22 Sep 2026
How the 10% shrinks as the balance grows
The mechanism is a marginal tier schedule, like an income tax band in reverse. Interest is calculated on Average Daily Available Margin, the free cash left in the account at 5 PM ET each trading day, averaged over the prior month. Margin already committed to open positions is excluded by the terms. Money that is working in a trade earns nothing; only money sitting idle earns the rate.
Run the schedule at the balances the qualification rules push clients toward and the effective yield falls fast.
| Average available margin | Annual interest under the tiers | Blended yield | vs 3-month T-bill (3.99%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20,000 | $2,000 | 10.00% | +6.01 pts |
| $25,000 | $2,200 | 8.80% | +4.81 pts |
| $100,000 | $5,200 | 5.20% | +1.21 pts |
| $500,000 | $21,200 | 4.24% | +0.25 pts |
| $1,000,000 | $28,700 | 2.87% | -1.12 pts |
Our arithmetic, using the tier rates in FOREX.com's published terms and the 3.99% three-month bill yield for 18 September 2026 from FRED series DTB3. The break-even sits at roughly $550,000: above that, the blended rate drops below a Treasury bill.
The $25,000 row matters because of how VIP status is kept. New accounts qualify with a $5,000 initial deposit, $50 million of volume in a calendar month, or $25,000 of average daily available margin. Staying qualified needs either $50 million of quarterly volume, or $25,000 of available margin plus a monthly average of $200,000 traded. For a light trader the $25,000 route is the practical one, and at that balance the offer pays 8.8%, about $1,200 a year more than a Treasury bill would.
The volume route is a different animal. $50 million of notional in a quarter, at the RAW account's $7 per $100,000 traded, is $3,500 of commission. Ten percent on $20,000 is $500 a quarter.
Two more details. The promotion "and APY are subject to change at any time without notice", and FOREX.com reserves the right to end it at any time. And the headline wording, "an additional 1.5% APY on $500k+", can be read as 10% plus 1.5% on large balances; the tier table beneath it says 1.5% is the whole rate above $500,000, not a top-up.
What StoneX's filings say about the retail book
FOREX.com does not publish its own accounts, but its owner does. StoneX reports a Self-Directed/Retail segment that houses StoneX's retail FX and CFD brands, FOREX.com among them, plus an independent wealth management arm, and breaks out FX/CFD revenue and volume separately. The 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 is the most recent.
| StoneX Self-Directed/Retail, quarter to 30 June | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| FX/CFD operating revenue | $64.7m | $79.6m | -19% |
| FX/CFD average daily volume | $6,805m | $9,277m | -27% |
| FX/CFD revenue per million traded | $147 | $133 | +11% |
| Principal gains, net (segment) | $59.6m | $72.1m | -17% |
| Segment income after overhead | $9.8m | $26.1m | -62% |
Revenue per million is the number that matters to a client. It is what StoneX keeps, across spread, commission and its own trading result, for every $1 million of client flow. At $147 it was up 11% on a year earlier. That is one quarter, and the nine-month figure runs the other way: $126 against $143, down 12%. Swings like that are unsurprising when most of the revenue is trading result rather than fee: principal gains of $59.6 million made up 62% of the segment's $96.3 million total revenue in the quarter.
The filing is explicit about the model. "Because we act as counterparty to our self-directed/retail clients' transactions, we are exposed to risk on each trade," the 10-Q states, adding that StoneX offsets client trades with its own counterparties or with similar exchange positions. The broker takes the other side and hedges. That is standard for a retail FX dealer and not a criticism. It does explain why the yield offer exists: an idle, funded account that trades a little is valuable to a dealer earning $147 per million.
Management's tone on the quarter was telling by omission. "We continue to deliver double-digit growth in our Commercial, Institutional and Payments segments, reflecting the increasing value of the StoneX ecosystem to our expanding client base," said Philip Smith, Chief Executive Officer of StoneX Group, in the fiscal third-quarter results release filed with the SEC on 5 August 2026. Retail is the segment missing from that list. The 10-Q confirms that group results were strong across the other three segments, "which more than offset a decline in our Self-Directed/Retail segment." The same filing records a $6.2 million settlement in the nine months of a matter dating from before StoneX acquired Gain Capital Holdings in 2020.
Cost check: RAW at $7 a side against four rivals
The yield is optional. The commission is not, for anyone on the RAW account. FOREX.com charges "$7 USD commission per $100k USD traded" on each side, computed on the US-dollar value of the position. That last clause changes the bill pair by pair. On USD/JPY, where the dollar is the base, 100,000 units is exactly $100,000 and a round trip costs $14.00. On EUR/USD at the ECB reference rate of 1.149 for 21 September 2026, 100,000 euros is $114,900 of notional and the round trip costs $16.09. On AUD/USD at 0.71375, the same 100,000 units costs $9.99.
Every peer figure below was read from that firm's own pricing page on 22 September 2026 and converted at the same 1.149 EUR/USD rate where the fee is charged on dollar value.
| Broker and account | Published commission | Round trip, 100,000 EUR/USD | Source, read 22 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOREX.com US, RAW (GAIN Capital Group LLC) | $7 per $100k USD traded, per side | $16.09 | forex.com |
| OANDA US, core pricing (OANDA Corporation) | $0.70 per 10,000 units, charged on both sides, for deposits of $10K or more | $14.00 | oanda.com |
| Pepperstone Razor, Australian site, Pepperstone platform | USD 3.50 per standard lot, per side | $7.00 | pepperstone.com |
| IC Markets, cTrader and TradingView (global site) | $3 per 100,000 USD traded, per side | $6.89 | ic.com |
| Interactive Brokers, spot FX (Tier I) | 0.20 basis point of trade value, $2.00 minimum | $4.60 | interactivebrokers.com |
The fair US comparison is with OANDA and Interactive Brokers, both CFTC-registered and both under the same 50:1 leverage cap. Against OANDA's core pricing FOREX.com is about 15% dearer on EUR/USD, a gap that exists only because OANDA's page prices commission per unit traded while FOREX.com prices it per dollar of notional. Against Interactive Brokers it costs 3.5 times as much. Pepperstone and IC Markets are not available to US residents; they are in the table because they set the price active traders elsewhere compare against. Our earlier reviews of OANDA, Interactive Brokers and IC Markets cover each of those schedules in depth.
Spread data is where FOREX.com is unusually open. Its July 2026 figures, embedded in the trade prices page and stamped "Last Updated: Friday, July 31, 2026", gives the RAW account a median EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips, a mean of 0.28 and a maximum of 9. Add the commission and a RAW round trip on EUR/USD at the median costs about $17.09. The spread-only account advertises EUR/USD "as low as 1.2", which is $12.00. Its published median for AUD/USD is 1.6 pips, or $16.00, against a RAW all-in of about $12.99 at the 0.3-pip median. On euro and sterling pairs, where the commission is inflated by a base currency worth more than a dollar, the commission account can cost more than the no-commission one. On Aussie and kiwi pairs it wins.
Execution reporting is a genuine strength. FOREX.com says it has published an execution scorecard since January 2011, and its current figures show 43.29% of limit orders price-improved, an average improvement of 0.36 pips per improved limit order and a 0.002-second average execution. The window is 30 April to 31 May 2026; a second page quotes 31 May to 30 June. Neither covers July or August.
Licences, client money and a brand that just disappeared
The US business is where the regulatory case is strongest. GAIN Capital Group LLC has been registered as a futures commission merchant and retail foreign exchange dealer since 2004 under NFA ID 0339826. The CFTC's July 2026 file lists it with adjusted net capital of $82.9 million against a $29.7 million requirement, 2.8 times cover. Its $204.1 million of retail forex obligations compares with $132.4 million at OANDA Corporation, $56.0 million at Charles Schwab Futures and Forex, $50.0 million at tastyfx and $26.2 million at Interactive Brokers. A year earlier GAIN held $216.4 million of a $497.3 million total, so its share has held near 43% while the whole US retail forex pool shrank by 5.2%.
In the UK, FOREX.com is a trading name of StoneX Financial Ltd, FCA register number 446717. The FCA register is a JavaScript application we could not fetch, so the authorisation is taken from the broker's own disclosure and corroborated through Companies House: company 05616586, active, incorporated on 9 November 2005, registered at Moor House, 120 London Wall. It traded as INTL FCStone Ltd until 15 July 2020 and as Ambrian Commodities before 2011. Its registered business is security and commodity contracts dealing, SIC code 66120: a commodities house that took on the FOREX.com retail book, rather than a firm built as a retail FX specialist.
The UK regulation page still lists "The Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada (IIROC)", a body folded into CIRO in 2023. The US version names CIRO correctly.
Then there is the brand question. On 9 September 2026 StoneX announced that City Index, its other UK retail CFD name, would relaunch as StoneX Trading, with the City Index UK brand retiring on 12 September. "StoneX Trading represents our ambition for the future," said Alastair Hine, Global Head of Self Directed at StoneX, in the announcement. Nothing in it touches FOREX.com. What it does show is a group willing to fold a long-standing retail brand into its corporate name, and FOREX.com shares that group's parent, segment and filings.
What would make this review wrong
Three things would change the picture. If the 11% rise in revenue per million proves to be one volatile quarter rather than a trend, the case that the retail book is being monetised harder weakens; the nine-month decline already argues it may be noise, and StoneX's results for the quarter to 30 September, its fiscal year-end, will test it. If FOREX.com cut the RAW commission toward the $3 to $3.50 band, the cost argument would largely disappear. And if the 10% tier were lifted above $20,000 the yield would stop being a small-balance perk.
The UK side of this review is also thinner than the US side by necessity. The UK platform publishes "as low as" spreads rather than medians, the €15 monthly inactivity fee after 12 idle months has no sterling figure in the page text, and the 2% Interest Payment Scheme there applies only to clients with £20,000 or more of average tradable funds. A UK client is getting a different product from a US client under the same logo.
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The verdict on FOREX.com
FOREX.com earns its place on a short list of US forex brokers and loses ground once a trader looks outside the US. Its strengths are structural and verifiable. The US entity holds 43% of American retail forex client money, reports capital at 2.8 times its requirement, sits inside a Nasdaq-listed parent that files segment accounts with the SEC, and publishes a monthly median, mean and maximum spread for each listed pair alongside a monthly execution scorecard. That is more than most retail brokers put in public.
Its weaknesses are about price. The RAW commission of $7 per $100,000 of dollar notional is the highest in our five-broker comparison, and on EUR/USD and GBP/USD it can leave the commission account dearer than the spread-only one. The US standard charge for converting profits and fees into the account's base currency is plus or minus 1.0% from the market rate, against up to 0.5% at the UK entity. The 10% yield, the feature most likely to bring a new client in, pays that rate on $20,000 and drops to 4% beyond it.
It suits a US-resident trader who values a large, closely supervised counterparty, keeps a balance in the $20,000 to $100,000 range where the tiered yield still beats a Treasury bill, and trades Aussie, kiwi or dollar-base pairs where the notional-based commission is kindest. It suits less well a high-volume EUR/USD trader, for whom the commission gap against Interactive Brokers compounds quickly, and anyone treating the account primarily as a savings vehicle, since the rate can be withdrawn without notice.
Rating: 3.6 / 5. Strong on regulation, capital and disclosure; expensive on commission; the headline yield overstates the average client's return.
FAQ
Does FOREX.com really pay 10% interest on cash?
Only in the US, only to FOREX.com VIP clients, and only on the first $20,000 of average daily available margin. Balances from $20,000 to $500,000 earn 4% and anything above $500,000 earns 1.5%, capped at $5 million. Margin tied up in open positions earns nothing. FOREX.com's terms say the rate can change or end at any time without notice.
How much does a FOREX.com RAW account cost per lot?
The commission is $7 per $100,000 of US-dollar notional on each side, so a round trip on 100,000 USD/JPY costs $14.00. On 100,000 EUR/USD at 1.149 the notional is $114,900 and the round trip costs $16.09, before spread. July 2026 data puts the median RAW EUR/USD spread at 0.1 pips, taking the all-in cost to about $17.09.
Who regulates FOREX.com?
In the US, GAIN Capital Group LLC is a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant and retail foreign exchange dealer and an NFA member, ID 0339826. In the UK, FOREX.com is a trading name of StoneX Financial Ltd, FCA number 446717. The broker also lists entities supervised in Canada, Cyprus, the Cayman Islands, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Which entity a client contracts with depends on country of residence.
Is FOREX.com the same company as City Index?
Both belong to StoneX Group and are reported in the same Self-Directed/Retail segment of its SEC filings, but they are separate brands. City Index's UK brand retired on 12 September 2026 and relaunched as StoneX Trading. StoneX's announcement of that change did not mention FOREX.com, which continues to trade under its own name.
How big is FOREX.com in the US?
By client money, the largest. CFTC data for 31 July 2026 shows GAIN Capital Group LLC owing $204.1 million to retail forex clients, 43.3% of the $471.6 million total across all registered dealers. OANDA was second at $132.4 million. A year earlier FOREX.com held $216.4 million, a slightly larger sum in a slightly larger market.
This review is analysis and information, not financial advice. Forex and CFDs are leveraged products; 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with StoneX Financial Ltd, according to the risk warning on forex.com's UK site on 22 September 2026. Fees, rates and promotions change without notice, and every figure here carries its source and read date. Your capital is at risk.