Please help me select a Broker that meets my requirements

Hi Folks,

I've tried demoing quite a few brokers for the last 6 months, and I'm now looking to go live with a small amount of money. To say the least, I have quite a headache from all the reviews and threads I've read, along with all the demoing I've done. I like some of the demo accounts I've tried, but I am well aware that things are often a little different when it comes to opening a Live account.

I'm located in the US and need to find a broker that meets the following criteria. If you would be so kind as to recommend a few brokers that might fit the bill, I would greatly appreciate it (I'm fine with you ranking them). Like I said, I've found a few that seem they may be good, but I've read horror stories about almost all the brokers out there to make a confident decision without some feedback.

 

1. Reasonable Variable* Spreads
2. Initial Deposit < $500USD
3. Accepts US Citizens
4. Leverage of 1:100 +
5. MT4 Platform
6. Server Stability - the occassional 1-2 min hang is acceptable, but I'll be tradng the 1m and 5m timeframes so anything more than that will have a serious negative effect.

*I'd actually probably prefer a fixed spread. However, all but 1 of the many fixed spread demo accounts that I've tried have given very, very strange results on the m1 charts. To see what I mean, open a cross pair like EUR/CHF and zoom in to the 1m time frame on a broker like FXDD, and you should see that the chart movements are extremely static and don't look random at all. I'm not sure why this is but would be interested in hearing why. It's a shame, because a lot of the recommended brokers I've heard about give these same results. Maybe one of you can point out the correlation between fixed spreads and these whacky charts for slower moving pairs.


Please recommend more than 1 broker so that I know your recommendations are legitimate. If you could expand on why you feel they are good recommendations, that would be even better.

Some that I'm closely considering are:

Alpari US
EXNESS
FXCM
Deltastock

However, I'm totally open to any suggestions. Even the ones listed above have plenty of negative reviews out there. Thanks in advance!

Hi Craig,

I'm also new to both forex and this forum (this is my first post here), and I'm also looking for a broker for myself. See anyone else in this thread could give me some recommendations. I see that we share a lot requirements in common, except that I'm neither Australian nor US citizen currently staying in Australia. Anyway, I think there are also some points that you should also put into consideration when choosing a broker.

1. Your trading strategy:
I share my case here, though a bit long. I've read some comments about brokers here and googled some comments about brokers. Since reviews here towards FxPro are generally positive, almost none negative I could see, so I've applied for it and deposited USD500 and started trading. Then the problem came out, because I'm doing breakout strategy so I can't always stay in front of the computer to keep up with the process. In my demo accounts in FXCM and Alpari I would set a 15-20 points t/p or t/s. However, the minimum limit for t/p and t/s for MT4 of FxPro is 50 points (i only knew it when i started using it), together with the spreads, I had to overcome at least 6x points to take a profit (depending on currency pairs). So when false breakout happened, I became cannon fodder.

2. Deposit and Withdrawal methods:
As far as I know, most brokers demand a fee for bank wire transfer, which would be quite a significant issue for small deposit accounts like ours. And you have to know how long does it take for the money withdrawn to actually appear in your bank account. Moreover, many brokers now accept credit card for withdrawal and deposits, but there are many restrictions, you'd better look them up. Some brokers are good that they have their own visa/mastercard, e.g. FxPro and IBFX. The IBFX even requires no charges for purchasing, so IBFX has been on my observing list, but there're too many negative comments about it outside, don't know whether they're true or not, though.

I hope the above points here can help.

I'd been googled for reviews about certain brokers like Alpari, FXCM, IBFX and FxPro etc. but later i found out that some sites were actually in a partnership or sponsored by certain brokers. That's why I come here.

Why not go ECN and use MB Trading if you dont need hedging- $400 deposit. Their leverage factors in the currency price so it'll be less than 100:1 for some currencies but you'll be getting a raw feed (since that seems to be your #1 requirement) - Dont even think about Alpari US (you'll get verrry slow order entry and numerous requotes)

How about Alpari UK? I'm currently applying an account at Alpari UK.

Guys i am too new and was going through lots of reviews..and found out TDFX is good...i checked the reviews and found they allow scalping, EA though few complaints...They are regulated and got license from swiss,cyprus and germany. also one of preferred brokers of FF.

VV important: they dont close your accounts all of sudden when you started making profits...no widening of spreads. they have three accounts Mini, standard and premium spreads differ from the type of account.
micro lots possible.

i have made up my mind after checking FPA site reviews.

Good luck.