The UK is home to a large number of forex & CFD brokers, many of which offer the very popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform to their clients. In fact, the UK is today one of the most popular countries in Europe for these companies to incorporate. As a result, the national financial regulator, known as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has extensive experience in dealing with forex brokers, and have developed a streamlined framework for doing so.
MetaTrader 4 is in many ways the classic trading platform among forex traders. It was one of the earliest platforms that enabled online trading in the foreign exchange market from anywhere with an internet connection. The platform represented a huge step forward for ordinary users in the forex market, which had been - and to a large extent still is - dominated by financial institutions and professional players.