Questions about brokers

Hi guys, just wanted some advice for a broker that fits the following criteria.

1. Reliable and trustworthy with longevity in the market
2. No slippage
3. Does not close on worldwide public holidays and weekends, meaning that I can trade any currency at any time.
4. Still trying to figure out if fixed or variable spreads are better...so I will have to get back on this one.
5. No widening spreads during a news release (are there brokers out there that can do this?)

thanks guys.

I believe all brokers do at least one of these, so I would pick a broker that will hurt your style the least. I trade FXSol and have had no problems with them, but I do not trade the news. I get my 3-5 pip spread on the majors, and I'm happy.

andersenws

what about brokers who allow you to trade all the time that are reliable and have longevity in the market? Can someone give me some recommendations?

Well, I'm rather new at this myself, but I've been doing a lot of reading and learning on various forums, so maybe I can help.

EFX Group/MB Trading look pretty good, and I've been checking out a lot of brokers.

They have a thread in FF that you might want to read:

http://www.forexfactory.com/forexfor...ad.php?t=10002

I'm certainly no expert on this but, from what I've read, slippage is par for the course. As long as everyone else experiences it, too, then you know it's the market. If only you experience it, then you may want to look closer at your broker's activities.

The Forex markets are closed on the weekend, so there's no point in the broker's office being open. As for holidays, I'm not sure if things actually close, but the volume may be quite low.

Again, from what I've been reading, many brokers offer fixed spreads but have a dealing desk which trades against you and may end up costing you money in the process.

EFX (and others) have variable spreads which change with market conditions, but don't trade against you, which I personally prefer.

I don't trade during news releases so I don't know what EFX's spreads are during that time.

I do know that they are usually 1-3 pips.

Again, their spreads fluctuate with the market, so during volatile times they may change rapidly. I haven't seen anything over 5 pips so far, though.

Hope this helps a little.

BTW, I don't work for EFX nor am I affiliated with them in any way. I've just been checking them out and demoing on their platform and like what I see.

In2Blues

thanks for the response! Aren't there some brokers that are opened on weekends though? How else do you explain the price change when the forex opens back up on a monday?

As for the fixed spreads and dealing desk, I do not understand what is a dealing desk.

I believe Oanda is open on the weekends, although they widen their spreads during off hours (I heard 10 for Sterling)

andersenws

Forex market opens from 21:00GMT on Sunday and Closes at 22:00GMT on Friday.

Most brokers allow clients start to trade from 22:GMT on Sunday and shut down quote servers after 21:00 GMT on Friday. Mainly they try to protect clients stop-loss orders during thin market conditions.

ok great thanks. will your stop/loss or take profit level be automatically transacted for you as you cannot modify or make new orders on the weekend with most brokers?

And what is a dealing desk?

The only broker I know of that trades all the time is OandA

As far as I am concerned, prices outside trading hours will not trigger stop-loss or limit orders.

About dealing desk and such questions, plz read other posts in the forum to save time and resource.