How to Choose a Good Quality Forex Broker
How to choose a good quality forex broker
After you are confident in the way you will go about trading the forex market, along with the money management rules you will implement, it might be time to find a good forex broker.
There are many brokers out there to choose from so, it is worth while doing some initial research before choosing a forex broker. Some things to look out for when choosing a forex broker include:
<br/>
Low Spreads
The spread is the main way forex brokers generate their profits. The spread is the difference between the price at which you can buy a currency, and the price at which it can be sold at any particular point in time. When looking for a broker, keep an eye out on their spread costs. The less the spread, the more money you will save and the faster you will be making a profit in a trade.
Quality registered institution
In the United States, forex brokers should be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) http://www.cftc.gov. They should also be a member of the National Futures Association. You can verify the brokers CFTC registration and NFA membership status at http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/. If the broker is not backed up by a reliable institution, don’t bother with them it’s not worth the risk.
A wide range of leverage options
Leverage is needed to trade currencies due to the fact that price movements are only fractions of a cent. In general, leverage is expressed as a ratio between the amount of capital you provide to the amount a forex broker will lend you. For example, take the example of the ratio of 200:1. What this means is that the forex broker will lend you 200 times the amount of money you provide. Just keep in mind the more leverage you use, the more risk there is in getting a margin call, however you also have the potential for larger profits and vice-versa. In general, when starting out with a small amount of capital, make sure that the forex broker you are using offers a wide range of leverage options. This will give you more control over the risk exposure you should be prepared to take.
A wide range of tools
The majority of the larger forex brokers offer a range of trading tools to their clients. Most brokers can provide you with real-time currency prices along with other various tools. Ensure that your forex broker provides all the tools you need to trade successfully. Other tools could include:
* Real-time currency price charting
* Technical analysis tools
* Fundamental analysis commentaries
* Economic calendars
The good forex brokers offer two or more types of accounts. For example the smallest account size is known as a mini account. Mini accounts require you to provide at least say $500, and with that you are offered a high amount of leverage. Leverage is required to profit from such small amounts of trading capital. Standard accounts also have a minimum capital requirement, usually somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000. In the end it’s important to choose a broker that has the right leverage and services that suit your needs to go with the amount of capital you have dedicated to trading the currency market.
Customer Support
Forex is a 24-hour market; therefore 24-hour support is essential. Can you contact the firm by phone, email, chat, etc? Do the customer support representatives seem to know what their on about? The quality of customer support can vary considerably from broker to broker, so be sure to check it out before opening an account.
One thing you could do is contact a number of forex brokers to get a feel of how quickly they can respond to enquiries. If they don’t respond quickly, and with a reasonable answer don’t give them your business.
Miscellaneous
It’s a good idea to talk to other forex traders in an effort to find out who are the better forex brokers out there. As in any industry or business, there are some dodgy ones. Forex brokers are no exception. There are many forums on the internet these days that are dedicated to discussing all areas of forex trading, including the discussion of forex brokers. These are great resources you can use allowing you to find some valuable information that could just save you being ripped off by some unscrupulous forex broker.
Conclusion
By taking the time and effort to do some initial research, you will be able to choose a reliable forex broker. This might just save you a lot of stress and troubles you may encounter if you were to choose any old forex broker.
Watch the video related to forex broker
www.informedtrades.com — A look at the transaction costs involved in forex trading (the bid ask spread, commissions, and how trades are executed) so that FX traders can properly understand how much their currency broker is charging them.
Help answer the question about forex broker
Can someone recommend a forex broker? I want to know about their regulations and where they have offices.?I’m thinking in investing in the forex market..
I have been studying the pairs but I still don’t know what broker to chose.
PS: if you can link me to their web site I would very much appreciate it!!!
I’m looking to try the demo, not the live account yet.
About Author
Trading-forex-online.com. Whether your interested in learning an already developed online forex trading system, or interested in a forex trading course, you should find something of interest here.
Tags: Best Forex Broker, broker, Choosing A Forex Broker, forex, forex broker, Good Forex Broker, How To Choose A Forex Broker, manipulation, scam
July 5th, 2009 at 1:02 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 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I really liked your channel and this video. If you need any help getting this video exposed I use a site called tubeviews.(net) It has really helped like 20 of my main videos get to the top in position.
There is software im using to send atleast 30,000 text message a day advertising my online business…it is amazing. I think they have free demos to try as well.
autotextsender.(c0m) and autotextmailer.(c0m)
Nice.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:31 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 6th, 2009 at 12:40 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 6th, 2009 at 7:34 am
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 7th, 2009 at 12:34 am
July 7th, 2009 at 10:19 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 8th, 2009 at 3:45 am
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 8th, 2009 at 4:42 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 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
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