Best Paper Trading Platforms in the UK (2026)

Since 6 January 2021, FCA-regulated firms have not been allowed to sell crypto derivatives, such as crypto CFDs, futures and options, to retail clients. That ban is still in place. Offshore exchanges that offer UK users 100x crypto futures are doing so outside UK protections.

For practice this matters a lot. If your plan is to trade live in the UK, practise spot crypto with no leverage, or the products you can actually buy. Our order flow tools read Binance Futures data, and the heatmap and footprint are still useful for reading where liquidity sits, but treat them as analysis, not as a product you will trade.

From 8 October 2025, the FCA allowed retail investors to buy crypto exchange-traded notes (cETNs) listed on a UK recognised investment exchange. They are treated as Restricted Mass Market Investments, so expect appropriateness checks, and they are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Practising spot Bitcoin and Ethereum on a simulator is a reasonable stand-in, because a cETN tracks the underlying coin.

The FCA applies the same retail leverage limits as the EU: 30:1 on major forex pairs, 20:1 on gold and major indices, 10:1 on other commodities, 5:1 on shares and 2:1 on crypto-linked products where those are allowed at all. Margin close-out at 50% and negative balance protection apply too. Set your practice position sizes to fit these limits.

The US regular session runs from 14:30 to 21:00 UK time for most of the year. For about three weeks a year, in March and around the end of October, the clocks change on different dates and the session runs from 13:30 to 20:00. The London Stock Exchange is open 08:00 to 16:30.