The economy and FX market of France: general information

France is the second economy of the European Union and one of the most economically developed countries in the world. It’s distinguished by its industrial base and diversified production with well advanced strategically important industries (aerospace, energy, transport and communications, agro-industrial sector). Of the mineral deposits, the most significant are the reserves of coal, iron ore, bauxite, gas, uranium ores, and potassium salts. An important place in the country’s economy is occupied by scientific research and information services.

If we disassemble the structure of France’s GDP, then the services sector plays a key role. It gives 79.8% of GDP. The most important segment is tourism. The high share of the service sector in France’s GDP is largely due to the latter. 18.3% of the gross domestic product falls on industry, in particular, on mechanical engineering, the chemical industry and metallurgy. The leading branch of mechanical engineering is transport engineering, primarily the automotive industry. Agriculture provides around 2% of GDP and accounts for 25% of EU production.

French economic weight allows the country to play major roles on the international stage. France enjoys its natural advantages, ranging from its central geographical position in Europe to having access to the main commercial routes of Western Europe: the Mediterranean, the English Channel, the Atlantic. 

Besides, France is a member of the European Union (EU) and has trade policies similar to other EU member states with a common weighted average tariff rate. Together with other EU member states they have a number of bilateral and regional trade agreements that are also concerned with Forex trading as well. 

Forex market and regulations in France

France is potentially one of the most lucrative foreign exchange markets in Europe. Like many other countries in the EU, France has embraced the world of Forex trading with great demand. This is due to the fact that the French people have numerous opportunities to participate in trading on online markets: foremost, ubiquitous access, a wide range of available financial instruments, as well as government regulation.

Regarding regulation, Forex brokers in France are controlled by the Prudential Control and Restructuring Authority (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de resolution or ACPR), an independent regulatory body established in 2010. ACPR is responsible to the Bank of France and controls the financial activities of Forex brokers, financial institutions, insurance companies and other organizations playing a role in the country’s economy. The regulator prides itself on stabilizing the overall health of the French economy by laying down laws in parallel to its international counterparts.

ACPR also works in conjunction with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF). It should be noted that the AMF is subject to an important piece of legislation known as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). In accordance with this directive, all brokerage companies operating in the EU follow the harmonized rules. Thus, a license, such as the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) will allow the brokerage company to offer its services in France. Following all the rules, in our article, we reviewed brokers with the highest category of European licenses that officially accept clients from France and ensure safe and secure trading.

Another factor that boosted the popularity of online trading in France is the development of Social Trading. New market participants who don’t have the necessary experience, but want to step into Forex trading, can copy the deals of professional traders. And over time, they gain enough expertise to become experts themselves, or keep Copy trading and making passive income when their strategy providers close successful deals. 

In general, the opportunities for trading in France are quite diverse, ranging from well-known financial instruments such as currency pairs, commodities, and contracts for difference, but many auxiliary instruments are available to satisfy the needs of demanding traders.

Popular trading instruments in France

France, as a country demonstrating a very high level of stability, and most importantly, sustainable growth, is fairly open to innovations for earning money, including its online sector. One of these opportunities is mentioned above: the Forex market, which is very popular with residents, and it’s not surprising when you just look at the number of financial instruments for any type of trading strategies. 

Currency pairs trading in France

The national French currency today is considered to be the euro, as the French franc was completely withdrawn from circulation in 2002 as part of the EMU program aimed at bringing the economies of the member states of the European Union closer together. Hence, the most popular currency pairs include the euro such as EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, and EUR/JPY. French traders also have access to different major pairs, which have the highest and most significant indicators in terms of liquidity, frequency of use, total trading volumes, and turnover in the global currency arena: USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, and USD/CAD. In addition to majors, there is a wide choice of minor and exotic pairs, the liquidity of which may be lower, but at the same time, the spread is much higher and floating. In general, French traders have plenty to choose from, it all depends on the broker’s capabilities.

XM Group is a good choice for trading currency pairs since it has more than 55 of them in total, namely the popular Majors, no less profitable Minors, as well as Exotics with the advantage of high spreads. Not just focusing on currency pairs, the broker boasts of offering thousands of other financial instruments covering CFDs, commodities, indices, precious metals, energies, and stocks which, of course, is pleasantly surprising. 

To work with maximum profit, the broker provides a choice of four trading accounts Micro, Standard, XM Ultra Low, and Shares. Besides, there is a special one – a demo account where traders can practice their skills and knowledge. The undoubted advantage will also be the presence of negative balance protection, which ensures that the trader doesn’t face losses in excess of his initial deposit.

In addition to competitive trading conditions, the broker monitors the safety of its clients. In order to protect traders, XM group complies with all the requirements of international and European regulators such as kisses, BaFin, AFM, FIN, ASIC, IFSC, and DFSA.

XM group also takes into account the needs of traders for constant and ubiquitous access to transactions. That’s why the broker created the XM all-in-one mobile app, where you can manage your accounts and trade all the instruments offered by XM. Besides, there is an option of a free VPS service, with which the user receives his own separate IP address and constantly functioning 24/7 support. 

Commodities trading in France

Today, commodity trading forms the backbone of the global trading ecosystem. As for France, the country is rich in various minerals, it has significant reserves of iron ore, uranium, bauxite, potash and rock salts, coal, zinc, copper, lead, nickel, and oil. Other exported commodities include vehicle parts, wine, wheat and gold. With the advent of online commodity trading, French traders have gained access to global commodity markets such as Forex with a relatively modest amount of capital. For many, commodity trading is the preferred way to protect funds and reduce the overall risk to their portfolios. Fortunately, Forex brokers provide great opportunities and favorable conditions in a variety of commodities, all you have to do is open an account with the broker and start trading.

HF Markets have long won the trust of European and international commodity traders. In particular, HF provides the lowest costs associated with the conclusion of contracts and flexible leverage on Forex Gold trading. But other assets are no less attractive, and their choice is quite large, including currency pairs, metals, deposits, stocks, Cryptocurrency, and many others.

The European community has recognized this broker and entrusted him with licenses from such regulators as CySEC (Europe) and FCA (UK). It entered the world market with licenses DFSA in Dubai, FSC in the Republic of Mauritius, FSCA in South Africa, and FSA in Seychelles. 

HF provides trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4 and 5, with mobile versions for iOS and Android. In addition, platforms and support work in many languages, including French that is so necessary for a full-fledged work

As for the aforementioned Copy Trading tool, the broker provides HFcopy. Copy trading is actively used by millions of its clients to make a profit both with beginners to copy trades of pros, and experienced ones to provide their developed strategies.

Stocks trading in France

Following the merger of a number of exchanges, the main stock exchange in France is Euronext Paris, part of the Euronext European network. There are 1,078 companies listed on the exchange with a total market capitalization of EUR 2,341 billion, as well as bonds and ETFs. The list includes established and heavily traded companies such as Total, L’Oréal, Sanofi, Airbus and BNP Paribas. Traders who want to gain access to Euronext Paris trading tools can contact an international broker. There are many brokers on the market. Each gives the opportunity to trade stocks. Basically, they differ in the convenience of a mobile app for trading, commissions and a list of available instruments. After analyzing all the indicators, we have provided the best companies for you.

NAGA Markets occupies a leading position among brokers not only in connection with stock trading, but also in a wide range of other instruments, namely Forex, ETFs, futures, commodities, and metals that can be traded on MetaTrader of both versions 4 and 5 and the author’s platform NAGA Webtrader. In order not to be tied to the desktop, the broker created the NAGA application for iPhone and Android, where you can buy and sell any instruments, automatically copy the best investors or chat in the NAGA messenger.

The broker also has a useful tool in its arsenal that you can use in trading methods – Social Trading. With Social trading, users can interact with others, watch them make trades, and duplicate different trades. The latter will be much more convenient with the help of an innovative feature called NAGA Autocopy.

The NAGA recognizes the importance of strict regulation and is therefore overseen by such bodies as the FCA, CySEC, MiFID II, and MiFIR. Clients of the European branch of NAGA don’t have to worry about non-trading risks, their interests are protected by European law.

Indices trading in France

Indices are endowed with a large number of advantages over other contracts, among which it is worth noting the ability to trade a large number of shares at once, which diversifies risks. In addition, indices have high predictability and profitability. Traders with little experience are sometimes intimidated by tracking the performance of dozens of companies that are included in a particular index. In practice, there is no need to analyze every company on the list. It is enough to understand the market trends and monitor the main geopolitical events. In the case of France, with a stable and strong economy, index trading is one of the most secure options.

The main stock index in France is the CAC 40, a free-float market capitalization-weighted index that tracks the performance of the top 40 listed companies. It is considered the most representative indicator of the French stock market, which includes the largest companies such as tire manufacturer Michelin and cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal. Related indices are the CAC MID 60, which indicates the performance of the second 60 largest companies, and the CAC 40 GR, the Gross Total Earnings Index, which shows the capital gains of CAC 40 companies over time. 

CFD trading in France

An alternative to buying stocks and indices is to trade them with CFDs. A trader can buy a CFD on a particular stock by speculating on the difference in the price of the underlying asset, without having to own it. There is an option to open long or short positions. French traders can trade CFDs on the mentioned above CAC 40 index as well as stocks, currencies, Cryptos, and commodities.

Cryptocurrency trading in France

Cryptocurrency trading in France is absolutely legal as French society in general are very open to digital assets and Blockchain: an estimated 3.34% of French residents own digital currencies.

The French regulatory framework is considered innovative and different from the EU as it became the first country to apply the approach described in their “PACTE Law” which concerns token issuers and digital asset service providers. Besides, the French Directorate General of Public Finance requires income from the sale of Cryptocurrencies to be taxed. Savings in Cryptocurrencies are also taken into account when calculating the “wealth tax”.

France, specifically Paris, at the same time was the venue for the first Blockchain Week Summit in 2019 and hosted the Ethereum Community Conference. In addition, the credibility of digital assets as a reliable diversification asset has increased due to the financial crisis related to Covid-19 in 2020.

As for the use of Cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, it was announced back in 2019 at Paris Retail Week that Cryptos would be officially accepted as a payment method at dozens of major retailers, including sportswear giant Decathlon and perfume brand Sephora. This has partially come true – you can buy Decathlon and Sephora gift cards with Bitcoins.

In general, the Crypto industry in the country is thriving and if you want to try trading this financial asset, international brokers based in France are the best option for you as they are licensed by the top regulatory authorities and will provide you with a safe and secure environment.

AvaTrade is a broker that can provide its clients with all the conditions to keep up with the times and earn on new financial instruments such as Cryptocurrencies. In particular, traders have plenty to choose from, for example, the most popular Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, Litecoin, Bitcoin Gold, and EOS. Of course, such a large and well-known broker has not only Crypto but hundreds of other financial instruments: stocks, securities, indices, commodities, currency pairs, and CFDs. 

The company has an impressive regulation base. So in the EU, there is a branch of AVA Trade EU Ltd, registered in Ireland and accredited by the Central Bank. In addition to Europe, the broker is accredited by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the British Virgin Islands FSC, and the Japan Financial Services Agency. In South Africa, AvaTrade is accredited by the South African Financial Conduct Authority (FSCA).

All trading terminals of the AvaTrade are adapted to work both through desktop computers and for using mobile devices. It should be noted the diversity of the company’s trading platforms: ZuluTrade, DupliTrade as well as MetaTrader 4 (MT4) (and in some places MT5).

eToro is probably the most globally famous broker that offers many Cryptocurrencies starting the list with Ripple, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and others. Bitcoin, for example, is one of the most traded Cryptos on eToro. Approximately 1 in 25 trades on eToro involves buying bitcoin.

The broker’s activity is licensed in several countries of the world: Cyprus – CySEC, Great Britain – FCA, Australia – ASIC, and Seychelles – FSAS. The broker also has offices in the United States and an American license for trading in Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies.

Top Forex brokers in France

There are a large number of brokers on the French Forex market, providing services for both beginners and professionals. In order for trading to be successful, it is important at the initial stage to choose an honest and reliable intermediary. Experts recommend paying attention to the license, initial deposit, trading platforms, a variety of financial instruments, as well as absence of commissions. The presence of all the above criteria will allow you to avoid serious mistakes when choosing a broker.

Offering the best conditions and security, here is a list of the best Forex brokers that our experts recommend for Forex trading in France:

NAGA Markets in France

NAGA Markets is not only a well-known Forex broker whose services are used by traders from all over the world but also as a social network for traders. The company offers retail and institutional trading services across a wide range of instruments across multiple markets including Forex, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Stocks, Indices, Metals, Energies, Bonds, and CFDs. NAGA clients can top up their trading account by bank transfer, using payment cards, through the electronic payment systems Giropay, Skrill, Neteller, Paysafe Card, and Klarna, as well as using Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and NAGA Coin).

For quick and convenient deals, NAGA offers trading using the web version of the NAGA TRADER terminal, the mobile version of NAGA TRADER for iOS and Android, and the MT4, widely known in the trading environment.

As far as regulation is concerned, NAGA is an authorized broker with CySEC in Cyprus, which gives it the ability to serve EU clients in accordance with European MiFID and ESMA requirements. In addition, NAGA maintains a branch office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines through which it can provide online trading services to international clients.

HF Markets in France

HF Markets is a brokerage firm conducting trading activities with such assets as currency pairs, precious metals, indices, stocks, Cryptocurrencies and CFDs, and more. With the broker, you can open several types of Micro, VIP, Premium, Fix, and Auto accounts. The advantages include the absence of commissions and a small initial deposit. 

For beginners and professionals, social trading is also available. You can subscribe to successful traders and copy them, or vice versa become a service provider.

The company is subject to CySEC and the FCA (Europe), the FSCA (South Africa), the DIFC (Dubai), and FSA regulators. 

As for trading platforms, clients have the option to choose MT4, MetaTrader 4 Web Terminal, or dedicated mobile trading apps for Apple and iOS devices. As a result, you will be able to work and open deals anytime, anywhere.

XM Group in France

XM Group is a one-stop broker for all types of assets, including currency pairs, contracts for difference, stocks, gold, energy, commodities, and more. Traders have several types of accounts at their disposal, depending on the initial deposit and personal preferences: Micro, Standard, XM Ultra Low, and Shares. All of them feature tight spreads and negative balance protection, allowing you to trade loss-free. And for beginners, a demo account is available, which is allowed to be used indefinitely. 

The broker supports MT4 and MT5 terminals, both options are available on PC and in the mobile version for iOS and Android. In addition, the broker provides a VPS service that ensures uninterrupted operation of the terminal if the trader uses trading advisors and copies transactions.

A nice addition is that you can deposit and withdraw funds in different ways, ranging from bank cards to various electronic payment systems, where everyone will definitely find a convenient way for themselves. In addition, the company offers interest-free deposits and withdrawal of funds, which also allows the trader to work in favor of his capital.

As for regulations, the broker has received international recognition and the trust of millions of users, having obtained licenses from such regulators as ASIC, CySEC, IFSC and DFSA.

AvaTrade in France

AvaTrade offers trading in financial instruments of any choice on the Metatrader4 terminals, the AvaTradeGO application, and the AvaOptions platform. For fans of social trading, copying trades of experienced traders through the ZuluTrade and DupliTrade services are available as well.

Since the broker has a very large arsenal of financial instruments, for the convenience of traders, there is only one type of real account. Nevertheless, for those who want to test their knowledge of online trading, the broker provides a demo account.

AvaTrade adheres to the highest standards of secure trading and spares no effort in protecting the financial assets of its clients: the company holds several regulatory licenses, including ASIC, FSA, Abu Dhabi, and British Virgin Islands regulators.

It may seem a lot, but the good thing here is that you don’t have to limit yourself by choosing only one broker. Most of the trusted Forex brokers we mention above provide demo accounts, so you can register with several of them and check out how their platforms are suitable for your needs. It’ll allow you to test multiple trading strategies and get the most out of advanced features present on the market today.

Also, it may be a nice part of your portfolio diversification strategy: with one broker you can trade on your own, and fund Social trading with another, making some passive income.