Compare the 6 best commodity trading platforms & apps in 2023

By:

Max Adams

Max was the Editor of Education for Invezz from 2019-2021, overseeing the wider investment educational strategy. He has written for financial publications for over 5 years,... read more.

 & 

James Knight

James is a lead editor for Invezz, where he covers topics from across the financial world, from the stock market, to cryptocurrency, to macroeconomic markets. His ... read more.

Updated: Aug 5, 2023

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9/10

82% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

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Our testing process involves creating an account and trading some of the world’s most popular commodities, such as gold, oil, coffee, and natural gas. Some of our expert panel are CFD traders while others prefer to trade commodities futures and options, so a wide perspective of opinions played into the final results.

Each expert ranked their favourite commodity trading broker along with some honourable mentions and we put these together to create a final overall rating. Read on to find out which brokers and commodities trading apps we ranked highest and compare their best features.

Top commodity brokers overall for 2023

What are the best commodity trading platforms?

If you’re just looking for a place to get started, then the table below contains the best of the best. All you need to do is choose one and sign up. If, however, you want to know more about the top rated commodity trading brokers, then keep reading.

Most Popular

1

Min. Deposit

$ 10

Best offer

User Score

10

Up to $240 bonus!

Award-winning trading platform

Regulated and trusted broker worldwide

Start Trading more info

Payment Methods:

Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer

Full Regulations:

CySEC, FCA

77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

2

Min. Deposit

-

Best offer

User Score

9.4

Scope Markets is a regulated entity, following strictly the segregated accounts principal by offering a wide range of products together with Multi-Platform trading facilities.

Scope Markets offers one of the most comprehensive multimedia trading education libraries for traders all levels.

We commit to full transparency, excellence and continuous innovation.

Start Trading more info

Payment Methods:

Full Regulations:

3

Min. Deposit

$ 0

Best offer

User Score

9.3

World's biggest online bullion market

High-security vaults based Zurich, London, Toronto, Singapore and New York

Next-day withdrawals

Start Trading more info

Payment Methods:

Full Regulations:

Top commodity brokers

1. eToro. Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account

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2500

No. assets

$10

Minimum deposit

Commodities

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Great for beginners, simple to set up and get started Zero commission stock trading Popular ‘CopyTrader’ function lets you follow top traders Excellent customer service, with live chat support provided Over 2,000 CFDs available to trade

Comparatively high fees for withdrawals and account inactivity Does not integrate with the MetaTrader platform High spreads on some assets

Overview

We love eToro because it’s an easy place to trade the commodity markets. eToro makes it simple to dive in and trade 25+ commodities at competitive prices and with up to 20x leverage. Top assets available include gold, oil, and silver.

As well as being a broker that offers lots of investor protection, eToro offers a very social trading experience. You can easily see how the top commodities are performing every day, browse the latest analyst opinion, and copy other people’s trade suggestions from your desktop or the eToro app.

The fees: eToro charges a fee on commodity CFD trades through the spread. Commodity spreads start from 2 pips but can be much higher. Oil trades come with a 5 pip spread, gold trades with 45 pips. Overnight and weekend fees apply.

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77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

2. Capitality. Best for trading like a pro

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...

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Commodities

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Trade 2000+ CFDs in six markets Access institutional quality web trading platform Comprehensive market knowledge and education section

Unregulated offshore broker registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relatively high initial deposit required

Overview

We love Capitality because it gives regular investors the means to trade with pro data and tools. Capitality offers 2100+ financial instruments, including 10 precious metals and 10 more commodities, including energy commodities like crude oil and gas.

The Capitality web trading terminal gives you access to live market data, real time quotes, and super-fast trade execution, all without needing to download anything. There’s also a free economic calendar that lets you know when the big financial events happen so you can plan your trades accordingly.

The fees: Capitality charges its fees through the spread. Spreads start from 0.03 pips for crude oil, 0.1 pips for leading metals. Spreads on other commodities may be significantly higher.

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3. Public. Best for sharing beginner trading ideas

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...

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Commodities

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Commission free stock and ETF investing Share and compare your portfolio on a social trading platform Trade crypto, fractional shares, and alternative investments

You can't trade on margin or use leverage No forex, options, funds, metals, or bonds

Overview

We love Public because it’s a social platform where you can share trading tips and get ideas from other people. Public offers 9,000+ financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies and stocks from around the world.

Alongside a community of other investors all sharing their ideas, Public offers real time news and information so that you can see the full picture before you invest. And the assets don’t just include your run-of-the-mill assets; you can make alternative investments in things like handbags and comic books as well.

The fees: There are no fees for investing in stocks during regular trading hours in the US – 9.30am-4pm EST. There is a $2.99 fee for trades outside of regular hours. Alternative investments, including cryptocurrency, are charged a 2.5% fee per transaction.

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Top commodities brokers for your needs

Which is the best commodities broker for beginners?

eToro is the best option for beginners. If you’re just starting out with a retail investor account, then you want to prioritise finding trading platforms that make it as easy as possible to trade commodities. eToro does that and more with an excellent demo account and plenty of beginner-friendly features.

What’s the top commodity broker for day-traders?

For day traders who want to trade commodities regularly, it’s best to go with a reliable trading broker like AvaTrade that lets you trade commodity CFDs. AvaTrade offers low fees and good leveraged trading options on a wide variety of precious metals, hard and soft commodities.

What is the best commodity trading app?

Skilling is the best commodity trading app. The best apps combine powerful tools and charts to help you spot key technical indicators with low fees to maximise your profits. Skilling does this to great effect. It also offers plenty of investment advice to help you along the way.

Which is the best broker for spread betting commodities?

The best way to spread bet commodities is to sign up to City Index. City Index offers over 20 commodity instruments with tight spreads, and you don’t have to pay any tax on the profits. 

Read more: the best commodity spread betting brokers

Which commodities broker has the most payment methods?

eToro offers the most payment methods of any commodities broker we tested. As well as all of the standard options like a bank transfer and card payment, there are ten more options available, including PayPal. If you’re looking for a specific way to pay, here is some more information on how to trade with different payment methods.

• Trade commodities with AMEX
• Trade commodities with Apple Pay
• Trade commodities with credit card
• Trade commodities with debit card
• Trade commodities with Google Pay
• Trade commodities with Neteller
• Trade commodities with Payoneer
• Trade commodities with PayPal
• Trade commodities with Paysafecard
• Trade commodities with Skrill
• Trade commodities with Venmo

What is a commodities broker?

A service that acts as a middleman for the buying and selling of commodities. Commodities are raw materials such as gold, silver, and crude oil, and a commodity broker lets you trade these materials in a variety of different ways.

What makes commodities different from other assets, like stocks, is that you rarely want to actually own them. While you may sometimes want to hold physical gold, it’s not practical for a trader to take delivery of barrels of oil and find somewhere to store them while you wait for a good selling price.

For this reason, commodity trading platforms give you a lot of different options in terms of how you can trade. For commodities traders who are new to the game, CFD trading is by far the simplest. Here is a run down of all the options that might be available.

• Trading CFDs. The simplest way to trade is with a CFD (Contracts for Difference). Trading commodity CFDs means you speculate against the price of a commodity instead of buying or selling the underlying asset. Most brokers offer CFD trading, and this is the easiest way to start if you’re new to commodity trading.
• Futures trading. Commodities are normally traded ahead of time, as they need to be mined, farmed, or extracted from the ground and the miners or farmers need capital in advance in order to carry this out. A futures contract is an agreement to buy a given amount of a commodity at a set price on a specific date in the future. Trading futures is extremely common in the commodity markets, and gives experienced traders the chance to speculate on future price changes. Most commodity futures trading takes place through the CME, the Chicago Mercentile Exchange
• Options trading. An options contract gives you the option to buy or sell a commodity at a set price before a specified date. Unlike when you trade futures, with an option there is no obligation to make the trade, and you can have both ‘put’ options (which allow you to sell at a certain price) and ‘call’ options (which allow you to buy at a certain price). Options are particularly popular with commodity traders but can be a risk for new traders, as you can find yourself losing money rapidly if you don’t understand how they work.
• Spread betting. Similarly to commodity CFD trading, when spread betting commodities you’re making bets on whether their price will rise and fall. The best spread betting brokers allow you to use this technique to speculate on commodities prices at speed and with leverage.
• Buying physical commodities. Some commodities brokers or trading platforms allow you to buy metals like gold and silver. This is more rare, but can be a way to get a physical asset like a gold bar or gold bullion that will maintain its value over time.
• Commodity stocks. With many brokers you can buy and sell stocks in companies that work with commodities instead of trading the commodity. A good example of this would be buying stocks in a mining or an oil and gas company if you think the price of oil is going to go up. This is a lot easier to understand than the vagaries of the commodity markets.

How do commodity brokers work?

They act as the intermediary between you and the market. When you want to place an order for a commodity, you go online and enter the details on your broker’s platform. The broker then finds a seller who’s willing to sell at the same price (or it may act as the seller itself).

Each broker charges a fee for this service, which you might have to pay in the form of a trading fee or commission every time you make a trade. Other platforms charge their fee by adding a small surcharge on top of the price of a commodity.

What should I look for in a commodity trading app?

With all the best online commodity trading platforms offering a good service to their users, it’s helpful to compare them on a few key metrics to find the right broker for you. Here’s a quick summary of what to consider when making your choice.

Design and ease of use

The point of most commodity trading brokers is that they make it easy for regular people to trade. You don’t want a platform to make the process confusing, as this could lead to you missing out on timing your trades right, or even making costly mistakes because of bad design.

Demo account

Especially if you’re commodity trader, find yourself a commodity broker that allows you to start out with a free demo account. This means you can trade assets like gold, oil, natural gas, and wheat with fake money – allowing you to learn the ropes and protecting you from losing any money when you’re still getting to grips with the commodity market.

Low fees 

It almost goes without saying that you want a commodity broker to charge the lowest fees possible for placing trades. The lower the fees, the more of your money can be used for trading in the commodity markets.

Small spreads

One thing to look out for is the spreads (the difference between the bid and ask price). Be especially attentive to this if a broker advertises itself as having ‘zero fees’ – as this means they are likely concealing the true cost of trading by applying higher than average spreads.

Payment charges

Not all trading platforms accept every payment method. Sometimes even the ones that do will apply fees for funding your account in certain ways. This is most common when making deposits with credit cards or PayPal.

Reputation and regulation

When trading CFDs, you should make sure you’re using a regulated commodity broker with a strong reputation. This means looking for a trading platform that’s regulated by the FCA, the UK financial conduct authority, or a similar regulator in another country. FCA regulations give your trading account a lot more protection and their approval gives you a lot of peace of mind that you have chosen a reliable broker.

Number of commodities available to trade

The range of commodities you can trade will vary from broker to broker, so be sure to check what each one offers before registering. The different types of commodities include agricultural products such as beef and wheat, precious metals such as gold and platinum, and energy sources such as crude oil and natural gas.

Trading options 

We have outlined the usual methods further up this page, but you will find that not every option is available on every platform. Some don’t allow you to spread bet commodities, some may have different limits and leverage offered for CFD trading, and more comprehensive trading platforms might allow you to trade other assets such as stocks, forex, and cryptocurrencies.

You may also want to find a broker that gives you access to the futures markets. Futures trading is a common way to trade and the best commodity brokers offer both futures contracts and commodity CFDs. Most experienced traders use a combination of both to be successful.

Customer support

If you are trading commodities for the first time it can help to use a trading platform with excellent customer support. A good support service is available at all times during trading hours and ideally extends beyond that as well. A good online broker will offer 24/5 or 24/7 customer support.

Quick answers to key questions

Is CFD trading the best way to buy and sell commodities?

Generally it is the best option for beginners. CFD trading is a much simpler choice than choosing to trade futures or options, which introduce a lot more risk into the equation. When trading CFDs, the trading process is more similar to other financial assets and so easier to get to grips with.

It is also far easier to find a broker that offers CFD trading compared to commodities futures. If you already have an account with a broker, you might find it offers this form of trading already, whereas futures and options are more specialist.

Do brokers charge commissions or fees?

Yes, they usually apply charges for trading commodities on their websites or apps. These fees may come in the form of small commissions applied for each trade placed, overnight fees for CFD positions carried across to the next day, or spreads between the bid (buy) and ask (sell) price of each commodity when it comes to futures markets.

Do I have to verify my identity?

Yes, they require you to provide ID when signing up to their platforms. This is in order to comply with KYC (know your customer) guidelines and prevent platforms from being used for money laundering. Usually at least one form of photo identification is required.

Can I trade more than one commodity at a time?

Yes, brokers will allow you to trade a wide range of commodities. The best platforms will give you access to every different commodity market and allow you to trade in a variety of different ways.

However, each commodity market is different and is affected by very different factors. The price of gold, for example, acts in a completely different way to coffee or oil. Just because they are all ‘commodities’ doesn’t mean that you should expect one strategy to work for all of them.

Do I need any extra software?

Not usually, no. You can generally place all of your trades through their websites or mobile apps, with all trading data kept within your account. If you want to use other popular software such as Meta Trader 4, then you’re often able to integrate this with the broker’s trading platform.

Can I trade commodities on Android and iOS devices?

Yes. The majority of apps are available on both operating systems and function exactly the same. A few are exclusive to one operating system, though it is easy to find out where you stand by searching for an app on the Google Play Store or the App Store. If it shows up, you’re in business. 

How much do commodities trading apps cost?

They are usually free to download. However, costs can come in many forms, including subscriptions fees and commissions/trading fees that usually range from 1-2%. So, make sure to check your app for a detailed breakdown of the costs and decide if they work for you.

Should I use a commodity trading broker?

Assuming you want to trade rather than buy, then these trading platforms offer the widest range of options and are very simple to use. If you want to buy commodities outright – which is unusual but not impossible – then a commodities dealer is best.

Still undecided?

If you’re still considering which trading platform is for you, then the following pros and cons, along with the additional information and FAQs at the bottom of the page can help you make a final decision.

Where can I learn more about commodity trading?

The best way to start is to pick a specific commodity, such as gold or oil, and take a course or follow some of your favourite traders to learn more about it. If you want to sign up to a trading platform and start right away, then choose one with a demo account so you have the opportunity to practice before you put real money on the line.

Methodology

Helping people make better financial decisions is at the heart of our mission at Invezz. 

We periodically test more than 63 commodity brokers to provide our users with clear, accessible guidance on the investing options available. All testing is carried out by our panel of commodities experts, analysts, and active traders who sign up to each trading platform, conduct research, and score each service.

Our tests are designed to find services that offer a beginner-friendly, secure commodity experience at a fair price. To supplement our practical testing and experience, we research each broker to gather any further relevant information. We read online customer reviews, app reviews on the Play Store and App Store, and conduct user surveys to get feedback from real people about what works, and what doesn’t.

Each commodity platform is awarded a final score based on 130+ data points across 8 ranking categories: cost, reliability, user experience, deposit & withdrawals, investing options, range of products/markets, research & analysis tools, and the availability of educational & learning resources.

We work closely with individual brands to ensure all factual information displayed here is accurate. All data is then fact-checked by an independent reviewer. You can learn more about our expert panel and how we test, rate, and review platforms in our review process.

FAQs