Choosing a Reputable Forex Broker
The Forex market is one of the most fast paced markets and people have managed to make millions through Forex currency trading. Forex trading has tremendous potential to reap huge profits provided you know the right way to do it. Being one of the most popular investment vehicles, it is easier to master the art of Forex trading by attending Forex trading courses or workshops. Forex education can help you a great deal if you want to be extensively involved in Forex online trading. In order to be a successful Forex trader, you need to have a proper Forex trading system in place that will include a good Forex trading software and smart Forex trading strategies to understand the historical trends and plan your moves accordingly. In addition, you will also need an efficient Forex broker to help you with your trading needs. Well, it can be a daunting task to find a good Forex broker, as the market is flooded with them and it may not be very easy to pick out the ones that may be best for your trading style. Most people prefer to manage their trading with the help of a competent Forex broker who has been around for quite some time and knows the rules of the game. If you are new to the Forex market, trading with a reputable Forex broker can be the difference between winning in this business and losing. The same holds true if you are working with a wrong broker and therefore, good research skills are required to track down the best Forex broker for your needs.
When looking for a Forex broker or a brokerage firm for trading the forex market, you must shortlist all those who have a trusted reputation in the industry. It helps to dig into their history and check on a few of these clients to ensure that they are genuine. This can easily be done online with the help of search engines such as Google, Yahoo and others. When looking for client feedback, make sure that you get unbiased opinions. It doesn’t help if you read glowing testimonies of a forex broker from their own website. Please note that testimony of clients should only be used for guidance and should not be the sole deciding factor.
For many, an ideal broker is the one who has plenty of knowledge about this business and someone who can guide you through the various stages of trading. However, you must be diligent when choosing such a broker and check on their reputation. There are countless brokers out there who are a reservoir of knowledge, are motivated to help you and gladly offer their advice. Forex brokers who are invariably new to the market may lack experience in spite of having other requisites of Forex trading. Trusting your finances with such a company may not be a good idea, as neither of you will be familiar with the roller coaster ride of ups and downs of the market prices. Thus, experienced brokers who have a long history are generally better and help to ensure that your money is in safe hands.
One of the easiest and probably the most reliable ways of finding a good broker is asking for references from friends and acquaintances. This will take away most of the burden of starting from a scratch and also give you a clear idea about what to expect from your Forex broker.
So, ask for referrals, research, and conduct a background check to find the best Forex broker who has profound understanding of the Forex trading business.
Watch the video related to forex broker
www.informedtrades.com — A look at the technical and value-added features (like news, charts, ability to trade from the web, etc) that currency traders should consider when choosing what forex broker they select.
Help answer the question about forex broker
Is there any Forex broker who gives free 25 or 50 dollars real account to begin trading?I have heard someone was giving 50 dollars free real account to trade with them. If anyone knows the brokers please recommend. Thanking you all in advance
Regards
About Author
Andrew Daigle is the owner, creator and author of many successful websites including a free forex training website called ForexBoost and a Free Forex Training Resource Blog for the Novice and Advanced Forex trader.
Tags: brokerage, currency, customer, forex, fx, maker, market, service
July 20th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
on the retail level yes on the institutional level no. Best Regards, Dave
July 20th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I don't recommend dealing in foreign exchange at all. You're more likely to lose money than gain. If you do try it, watch out for the scammers.
July 20th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
uhhh…. fx is not regulated in US?
July 20th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
You can check Finexo's foreign exchange trading services (FOREX) in Europe are sponsored by the financial company DonauCapital Wertpapier AG (#108851) and regulated by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the BaFin.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
my pleasure Joe thanks for the comment and for watching. Best Regards, Dave
July 20th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I haven't heard of any. You're probably better off where you are, paying a small commission to keep the spread small.
The spreads are terrible on the cross pairs, 8 and 10 pips. That's a $100 commission.
But really, execution is more important than the spread. If you pay a one pip spread but get 2-10 pips slippage, you're worse off than just paying the 2-pip spread.
I broker through FXDD (through PremiereTrade), and have been having real solid executions, right on the money, with no slippage at all until last Friday's Non-Farm Payroll report, and got raped for 56 pips from my order on the Euro. But there was some funny business with that report. My Entry Order executed at 8:29 a.m., one minute before the Report. Somebody was front-running, with advance knowledge, and everybody else got raped. How'd you do?
dredude52@yahoo.com
July 20th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Hi woodenfootspa, If there is something that you would like to have which is not offered by one broker then I think it makes good sense to open with 2 as it really does not cost you much besides a little bit of time to do so. Best Regards,
Dave
July 21st, 2009 at 5:04 am
Hi Dave
What do you think about getting two FX brokers. Using one for the platform the other for the research?
July 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have been trading the forex market for years and found many brokers to be scams. Some of the most popular brokers are just as bad and blame the traders and the market when they don't open and close positions as promised.
I have found some of the best brokers and reviewed them at http://www.forexlane.com/brokers.html
July 21st, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Hi there,
Well first of all I opened up my own firm 2 years ago so I can offer you some incite on this matter. I do everything from stock, bonds, mutual funds, insurance, annuities, wealth management, options, futures etc you get the point.
You are going to need several things.
1.) clients,
futures license
2.) e/o insurance
3.) you need to produce at least 200k in gross commission to even be looked at if your opening up a firm.
4) compliance officer
5) clearing company to clear you trades.
6) series 7 license (allows you to trade equities)
7) series 63 license ( allows you to practice in your state)
9) Insurance License
10) series 66 or 65 license allows you to charge for your advise and time.
11) and you need experience.
Those are just a few things you need along with marketing etc.
I got to run I saw your post and thought I would give you a little info.
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:54 am
If you want to know if a forex broker is manipulating your trade, download two forex platforms and use them simultaneously. Their quotes must be approximately the same, if not, one is manipulating. I know and use a broker's platform that doesn't manipulate, visit http://easysolar.blogspot.com
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 am
Getting started with foreign exchange trading can be quite an exciting time for a new investor. It is important to start off on the right foot or one's investments may suffer. The first consideration for a new investor needs to be which broker is going to be used in assisting with trades. It shouldn't come as a surprise that there is no shortage of FOREX brokers that can be selected. This makes it evermore important for a person to do their research before selecting one. There are a variety of factors a person should consider:
Spreads – This is usually first on most people's mind because this is how the broker gets paid. A spread is calculated from the difference in buy and sell price at any given point in time. Essentially, the more of a spread, the more a broker is going to take as his profit. A broker that offers low spreads will be charging less for his services
Quality of Institution – The world of FOREX trading has a lot of money tied up in it. This usually means that brokers are in association with large banks or lending institutions. Check out the reputation of the institution and then the reputation of the specific broker. Make sure he or she is registered with the CFTC and the FCM. It would be unwise to use a broker that is not associated with both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Futures Commission Merchant
Research Capabilities – All trading markets allow individuals to use different trading methods and a quality broker will offer many types to his clients. The ability to research real time data, charts and receive support for various trading systems should not be undervalued. The bottom line is that a better broker will provide every piece of the puzzle that a person needs to make wise investment decisions
Leverage Options – Not every one that wants to get started with FOREX trading has the same financial ability. A person that has little money wants to make sure that the broker being considered offers high leverage options. This gives a person an opportunity to make more lucrative trades. A person with adequate funds still should make sure a broker has many available options
Account Types – Like all types of trading, FOREX brokers should offer different styles of accounts. A mini account should be an option for a person with minimal capital to start, usually around $300. A standard account usually begins around $2000 of initial capital. Last but far from least, premium accounts may require quite a large sum of money to be opened. Each step up in accounts will offer more leverage and services options.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
You can get the Leading Automated Forex Trading System Here for Free:
http://www.ava-fx.com/
Avafx has a forex autotrading service called Avafx Auto Trader, a platform that allows its forex brokerage clients to choose from various trading signals providers and have those signals traded automatically in their live trading account. With a free 30-day demo, decent web-based platform and comprehensive signals performance, the Avafx Auto Trader is a very good broker-based service to look at when comparing autotrading providers. This service does come highly recommended for traders looking to add autotrading to their forex portfolio.
Firstly, the Avafx Auto Trader platform is fairly easy to navigate and start up its 30-day demo. The demo allots an account of $100,000 to trade with. Avafx allows trading on 23 different currency pairs. The performance page is very comprehensive to compare and choose from the hundreds of expert trading signal providers: you can filter the trade signal providers by profit($), max draw down, profit factor, date started, average pip profit, winning percentage, and currency pair. You can also set your maximum number of trades that you wish to be open for your trading account, your lot sizes per signal provider, or maximum stop losses per trade provider. Right away you can pick up to 10 different signal providers, choose pairs and lot sizes, and have the platform take over from there, automatically trading your account with your selected trading signals. Your computer does not need to be on for the signals to be traded in your account, as this service uses a remote server.
Now, to go live with a live autotraded account there are a few rules. Your trading account minimum investment is $1000. Also, Avafx charges you 1 pip commission on each round trip trade on top of their normal spread to use their autotrade system. Seem unfair? Not really. Comparing ZuluTrade to Avafx Auto Trader, Avafx actually comes out on top. Yes, ZuluTrade does not charge a commission, however comparing the best signal providers, Avafx appears to have the best performing signals. Avafx’s performance comparison is actually much more user-friendly than ZuluTrade’s performance page: you can quickly compare important trading system factors like risk adjustment rate (RAR) and profit factor which cannot even be determined on ZuluTrade. Both do provide maximum drawdown for each signal provider, which is one of the most important. But when looking at the RAR, total pips accumulated divided by max draw down, the Avafx providers have a much better RAR than the ZuluTrade signals providers. Is that worth the 1 pip commission per trade? Absolutely. Now, if your trading account is $50,000 or more, you are then a VIP level account which means you will not be charged the 1 pip commission and you will get a better deal on the spreads as well. Another thing to note: Avafx is an approved broker for ZuluTrade. So, if you try out Avafx Auto Trader signals and are not impressed, then it will be very easy to set up a ZuluTrade account using Avafx as your broker.
On the negative side, the Help section and Support Center are not very helpful regarding the Auto Trader. However, the Live chat help was very responsive and they answered most of my questions quickly. There was one question that remains with Auto Trader: there is a very large disclaimer at the bottom of the trading platform about “Hypothetical trading results and performance data”. It is unclear if Avafx Auto Trader signals providers are using live trading accounts or DEMO accounts for their trading performance data. I would think that DEMO trading is likely to be less accurate than live trading performance data. Avafx support did not answer this question directly. Also the Avafx Auto Trader does not have the Margin-call-ometer that ZuluTrade does, which is a very nice feature that explains and guards against account margin calls. However, Avafx’s platform does have some decent features to help clients remain positive and not margin call their accounts.
In writing this review, only a demo account was used to try out the system and platform. Avafx insists that the platform and service are identical whether trading demo or live with them.
Overall the Avafx Auto Trader receives 4 stars and comes highly recommended.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 am
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Good series dave, thanks for the info !
regards
joe