In order to trade forex, we need to open a trading account at a broker and deposit a certain amount of money. The deposit size for each trader varies, but so that money management can be implemented freely, the amount must be in the range of thousands of dollars. Even though we believe the brokers will keep the funds well, the funds will not grow if we don't trade at all. For this reason, some traders deliberately look for forex brokers who pay interest on funds that are not traded.

The amount of interest paid to traders in forex brokers' interest on margin is usually adjusted as an annual interest (annual rate/per annum) but is calculated and distributed every month. This feature is quite interesting, although only certain forex brokers offer it. Which forex brokers pay interest like this? And what are the conditions? Here's the list.

RoboForex

RoboForex offers interest between 2.5% to  10% on its clients' account balances. The amount of interest is adjusted to the lots traded. This benefit applies to all types of live accounts in RoboForex, including ECN accounts and copy trading. For your information, RoboForex provides 5 types of accounts, most of which only require a minimum deposit of $10. Thus, traders can get free interest with just $10 as long as they can maintain the specified number of lots.

There are no restrictions on using the interest generated at this broker. Traders can use it for trading or withdraw at any time.

LiteFinance

LiteFinance provides interest on the balance in a special SAFE account. On this account, LiteFinance offers a floating interest of up to 20% p.a. This means that the interest range can change depending on the size of the trading volume on other accounts. Why is that?

The SAFE LiteFinance account is actually a non-trading account, so it can only be opened and topped up to earn interest. Nevertheless, the interest can be withdrawn daily with no complex requirements. There is also no minimum or maximum deposit limits on this account.

The following is the formula for the annual interest:

FIR% = (K × L) / T

Where:

• FIR: Floating Interest Rate
• K: The company's participation factor set at 10.1
• L: Number of lots traded and closed in the last 30 days.
• Q: Deposit amount in SAFE account increased by 5%

eToro

Presented as an interest on balance, eToro provides annual interest of up to 5.3% per year for its clients. The pioneer in social trading rarely holds promotions to attract new clients, so the interest paid on balance is quite an intriguing program from eToro.

However, please note that this benefit only applies to traders with a minimum balance of $10,000. Additionally, traders need to visit the eToro club before activating the program. The amount of interest received will be calculated daily and paid monthly.

Saxobank

This well-known Danish broker is affiliated with a bank, so it is understandable how they offer interest on traders' positive balance. Indeed, Saxobank stated that their interest on uninvested cash amounts up to 4.06%. However, it is not explained whether the interest is distributed daily or annually.

On a positive note, Saxobank does not require any lock-in in periode. So, funds deposited into an account can be used to open positions or withdrawn at any time. This broker also does not impose a maximum limit on the paid interest rates.

Apart from those names, there are actually other forex brokers that have been paying interest rates to clients for years like OANDA. However, cuts in benchmark rates in various countries since 2015 have pushed those brokers to withdraw their interest programs, because low interest rates mean they have to bear quite large costs or apply negative interest rates to their clients.