Deriv is an online broker trading since 1999, licensed by the Labuan FSA, the BVI FSC, the Vanuatu FSC, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the FSC Mauritius — every licence offshore, with no EU, FCA or US entity. Spreads start around 0.5 pips with no commission and a $5 minimum deposit. Its synthetic indices are price series Deriv generates itself with a random number generator, so there is no underlying market and Deriv is the counterparty. Trustpilot 4.3 from 73,440 reviews, checked 25 September 2026. Leverage runs to 1:1000 and varies by entity.
Regulated: LFSA · BVI FSC · VFSC
No Commissions or Fees
$5 Minimum Deposit
Unique Synthetic Indices
Deriv at a Glance — Broker Profile & Stats
Who is Deriv?
Founded: 1999 (Regent Markets heritage)
HQ: Guernsey-registered holding company; all licensed entities offshore
Experience: 25+ years
Traders: millions worldwide
Signature: synthetic indices
Why it matters: One of the longest-running names in online trading, and the pioneer of 24/7 synthetic indices — a genuinely unique product.
Regulation & Safety
Deriv publishes every entity and licence number, which is more than most offshore groups do. Read from deriv.com/regulatory on 25 September 2026:
- Deriv (BVI) Ltd — company 1841206, licensed by the BVI Financial Services Commission
- Deriv Investments (Cayman) Limited — registration 406695, regulated by CIMA under the Securities Investment Business Act
- Deriv (Mauritius) Ltd — company 209524, Investment Dealer (Full Service, excluding Underwriting) under the FSC Mauritius
- Deriv (V) Ltd — company 014556, Vanuatu FSC
- Deriv (FX) Ltd — company LL13394, Labuan FSA (this is the entity behind Deriv MT5 CFDs)
- Deriv (SVG) LLC and Deriv Capital International Ltd (Samoa) — registered companies, not licensed or supervised
Every one of those licences is offshore. There is no EU or MFSA entity on the list and no FCA or ASIC one, so do not assume MiFID-style protections, a compensation scheme, or the EU 1:30 leverage cap. Which entity you get depends on where you live and what you want to trade — Deriv says so in its own terms.
What Traders Say on Trustpilot
4.3
out of 5, from 73,440 reviews
Checked 25 September 2026
Checked 25 September 2026
73,000 reviews is an unusually deep sample for this industry, which makes the 4.3 more meaningful than a higher score from a few hundred. It is not a substitute for regulation, though: a happy customer base and an offshore licence are different things.
Markets & Instruments
Synthetic indices — 24/7 (Volatility, Boom/Crash)
Forex — major & minor pairs
Stock indices & commodities
Crypto & basket indices
Derived FX
Account Types & Platforms
Standard & Financial
Trade synthetics + forex/CFDs
Floating spreads from 0.5 pips
No commission
On Deriv MT5
Zero Spread & Swap-Free
Zero-spread account option
Swap-free (Islamic) accounts
Suit different strategies
Why it matters: A swap-free option plus zero-spread account makes Deriv flexible for many trading styles.
Synthetic Indices
Proprietary 24/7 simulated markets
Volatility, Boom & Crash, Step indices
Unaffected by news or sessions
Trade weekends & holidays
Why it matters: Synthetic indices are Deriv’s standout — constant volatility you can’t get on real markets.
Copy Trading
Copy trading runs through Deriv cTrader, where you can follow a strategy provider and mirror their trades automatically.
Deriv’s earlier standalone copy-trading product, Nakala, has been discontinued — its page now returns a 404. If you set something up under Nakala, check where it moved.
Deriv’s earlier standalone copy-trading product, Nakala, has been discontinued — its page now returns a 404. If you set something up under Nakala, check where it moved.
Top Deriv Alternatives
IC Markets
Raw from 0.0 · $7 round turn
Regulated: ASIC, CySEC
Deep ECN liquidity
Pick for: tight forex pricing
XM
Low entry, huge range
Regulated: ASIC, CySEC, IFSC
Strong education
Pick for: beginners
Exness
High leverage + regulation
Regulated: FCA, CySEC, FSCA
Instant withdrawals
Pick for: high leverage
Eightcap
Raw from 0.0
Regulated: ASIC, FCA, CySEC
TradingView dealing
Pick for: tier-1 regulation
Other long-running brokers we have reviewed include Admirals (founded 2003), IFC Markets (2006) and Forex4you (2007).
Trading Platforms
Deriv Trader and SmartTrader
Deriv’s own web platforms, built for options-style and CFD trading rather than for charting. Deriv Trader is the current one; SmartTrader is the older interface, still live.
Deriv X has been retired. The old deriv.com/deriv-x address now 404s and the platform menu no longer lists it — requests land on Deriv MT5 instead. If you see Deriv X advertised elsewhere, that page is out of date. Checked 25 September 2026.
Deriv Bot
Drag-and-drop automated trading
No coding required
Backtest strategies
Why it matters: Deriv Bot lets beginners automate strategies without writing code — rare and genuinely useful.
MetaTrader 5
Industry-standard MT5
Synthetics + forex/CFDs
Desktop, web & mobile
Deriv cTrader, TradingView and the app
Deriv cTrader is the ECN-style platform and is now where copy trading lives. TradingView is integrated directly, so you can chart and deal in the same window, including on Derived Indices around the clock. The Deriv app covers accounts, funding and trading on mobile, and Deriv P2P handles peer-to-peer deposits and withdrawals in markets where cards are awkward.
Nakala is gone. Deriv’s old standalone copy-trading product no longer exists — deriv.com/nakala returns a 404 and copy trading has moved into Deriv cTrader. Checked 25 September 2026.
Fees, Spreads & Leverage
Spreads & Costs
EURUSD floating spreads 0.5–0.8 pips
No commissions
No deposit/withdrawal fees
No raw/ECN account
Why it matters: No commissions and no funding fees keep costs simple — though forex spreads aren’t as tight as pure ECN brokers.
Leverage
Up to 1:1000 on specialised accounts
No EU or MFSA entity, so no EU leverage cap applies; limits vary by offshore entity
Synthetics have their own margins
⚠ Caution: 1:1000 is very high — synthetic indices are volatile by design, so manage risk carefully.
Funding
Min deposit from $5
Cards, e-wallets, crypto & bank
Fast, fee-free withdrawals
Restricted Countries
Jurisdictions Deriv Does Not Serve
Deriv does not publish a public country blocklist, and it is worth being straight about that rather than printing a guess. Its general terms say only that the entity you can open an account with “depends on your country of residence and the products you wish to trade”, that some services may be restricted in some jurisdictions, and that it is your responsibility to know the rules where you live.
What can be verified from the regulatory page, rather than assumed:
What can be verified from the regulatory page, rather than assumed:
- There is no US-licensed entity, so US residents are not served.
- There is no EU or MFSA entity, so EU residents get no MiFID protections and no investor-compensation scheme from Deriv.
- Sanctioned jurisdictions — Iran, North Korea, Syria and the rest of the standard list — are excluded through the group’s AML obligations rather than through a published page.
The practical test is the sign-up form: choose your country of residence and Deriv will either offer you an entity or tell you it cannot. Do that before you plan around a particular product, because Derived Indices in particular are not available everywhere. Checked 25 September 2026.
Synthetic Indices & Tutorial
Learn Before You Trade with Deriv
New to synthetic indices?
Synthetics are simulated markets that run 24/7
Volatility, Boom & Crash indices offer constant movement
They’re unaffected by news or trading sessions
Start on a free demo before trading real funds
Pros and Cons of Deriv
- 25+ year track record (since 1999)
- Licensed offshore: Labuan FSA, BVI FSC, VFSC, CIMA & FSC Mauritius (no EU licence)
- Unique 24/7 synthetic indices
- No commissions or funding fees
- Very low $5 minimum
- Deriv Bot — no-code automation
- MT5, cTrader & proprietary platforms
- 4.3/5 on Trustpilot from 73,440 reviews, no consumer alert
- No raw/ECN forex account
- Forex spreads not the tightest
- Offshore entities for high leverage
- Some products restricted in the EU
- No US clients
Deriv Pricing & Account Plans
Deriv keeps costs simple: floating spreads, no commissions, and no deposit or withdrawal fees.
| Account | Spread | Commission | Min deposit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | from 0.5 | None | $5 | Open Account |
| Financial | from 0.5 | None | $5 | Open Account |
| Zero Spread | 0.0 + markup | None | $5 | Open Account |
With no commissions, no funding fees and a $5 minimum, Deriv is one of the most accessible places to start — especially for synthetic indices.
Deriv vs IC Markets vs XM
How does Deriv compare with two popular regulated forex brokers?
| Feature | Deriv | IC Markets | XM |
|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD spread | from 0.5 | from 0.0 | from 0.6 |
| Commission | None | $7 round turn | None |
| Min deposit | $5 | $200 | $5 |
| Synthetic indices | Yes (unique) | No | No |
| Platforms | Deriv·MT5·cTrader | MT4·MT5·cTrader | MT4·MT5 |
| Trustpilot | 4.3/5 from 73,440 | 4.8/5 from 56,694 | Rating withdrawn |
Verdict: Deriv is in a class of its own for synthetic indices and beginner-friendly automation, with a superb review record. For the tightest forex pricing, an ECN broker like IC Markets is sharper — but no one matches Deriv’s synthetics.
Compare further: Exness vs Deriv · Best XM alternatives.
Why Choose Deriv as Your Broker?
★ Trustpilot 4.3/5 from 73,440
Synthetic indices · $5 min
Deriv
Synthetic-index pioneer since 1999
★ 4.3 / 5 · 73,440 reviews
$5 min · no commissions
Unique 24/7 synthetic indices
Open Account →Deriv is one of the longest-running online trading brands, dating back to 1999 (with Binary.com/Regent Markets heritage) and run today through a Guernsey-registered holding company. It’s regulated only offshore — by the Labuan FSA, the BVI FSC, the Vanuatu FSC, CIMA and the FSC Mauritius, with no EU or MFSA licence (deriv.com/regulatory, checked 17 September 2026) — and is best known for its proprietary, 24/7 synthetic indices that you can’t trade anywhere else.
What stands out: a 25-year track record, a 4.3/5 Trustpilot score across 73,440 reviews with no consumer alert against it, no commissions and no funding fees, a very low $5 minimum, unique synthetic indices, and beginner-friendly tools like Deriv Bot (no-code automation) alongside MT5 and cTrader.
What to weigh: Deriv has no true raw/ECN forex account, so its forex spreads (from ~0.5 pips) aren’t the tightest, high leverage sits on offshore entities, and some products are restricted in the EU.
Bottom line: Deriv is an excellent, well-reviewed broker — unbeatable for synthetic indices and beginner automation. If your focus is the tightest forex pricing, pair it with (or compare it to) an ECN broker like IC Markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Key questions about Deriv — regulation, synthetic indices, fees, platforms and leverage.
Yes, but only offshore. Deriv’s licensed entities are regulated by the Labuan FSA (Malaysia), the BVI FSC, the Vanuatu FSC, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the FSC Mauritius. Its St Vincent and the Grenadines and Samoa companies are registered, not supervised. deriv.com/regulatory lists no EU or MFSA licence (checked 17 September 2026), so EU investor protections do not apply.
It is a real, long-established business — trading since 1999, with every entity, company number and licence published openly on deriv.com/regulatory, and a 4.3 Trustpilot score across 73,440 reviews with no consumer alert against it. That is a deeper and cleaner review record than almost any broker on this site. The caveat is regulatory rather than reputational: every Deriv licence is offshore (Labuan FSA, BVI FSC, Vanuatu FSC, CIMA and FSC Mauritius), and its St Vincent and Samoa companies are registered rather than supervised. There is no FCA, ASIC or EU entity, so there is no compensation scheme behind your balance. Checked 25 September 2026.
Five US dollars, or the equivalent, which is among the lowest minimums of any broker we review. The payment method matters more than the minimum in practice: cards, e-wallets, bank transfer, crypto and Deriv P2P are all supported, and Deriv charges no deposit or withdrawal fee of its own, though your payment provider may.
They are price series Deriv generates itself with a random number generator — Volatility, Boom and Crash, Step and similar — rather than instruments tracking a real market. Because no exchange is involved they run 24 hours a day, every day, and are unaffected by news, central banks or session times, which is the appeal. It also means there is no underlying market to reference and Deriv is the counterparty to your trade. That is not hidden, and the volatility is defined in published specifications, but it is a different proposition from trading EUR/USD and worth understanding before you size a position.
Floating spreads from around 0.5 pips with no commissions and no deposit or withdrawal fees. Deriv does not offer a raw/ECN forex account.
MetaTrader 5, Deriv cTrader (which is also where copy trading now lives), TradingView integrated for charting and dealing, plus Deriv’s own Deriv Trader, SmartTrader and the no-code Deriv Bot, and the Deriv mobile app. Two platforms often listed elsewhere are gone: Deriv X has been retired and now redirects to Deriv MT5, and the Nakala copy-trading product no longer exists. Checked 25 September 2026.
Up to 1:1000 on specialised accounts via its offshore entities. Deriv has no EU or MFSA entity, so no EU leverage cap applies and limits vary by entity and jurisdiction.
Synthetic indices, forex, stock indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, basket indices and derived FX.
No. There is no US-licensed Deriv entity, so US residents are not served. Deriv does not publish a full country blocklist either — its terms say the entity you can open an account with depends on where you live and what you want to trade, and that checking local rules is your responsibility. The quickest reliable test is the sign-up form: pick your country of residence and it will either offer you an entity or decline. Derived Indices in particular are not available in every market.
Yes — a $5 minimum, free demo, easy proprietary platforms and the no-code Deriv Bot make it very beginner-friendly.