Okay serious..which Broker...

I've been researching brokers for a week now. Goddamnit! It's easier to work out a profitable forex trading system than it is to find a decent broker. Literally! It took me less than a week to think of my system and test it out over 2 years, and its taking me longer to find a broker!

There are so many out there, and no matter where you look there are good reviews and terrible reviews. I can't work out who's telling the truth?

So this thread was created to simply ask the question. "What are the brokers that will not steal my money and trade fairly?".

Please do not write answers like: 'ECN brokers', sarcastic jokes about there not being any or any other spam.

I'd expect if you'd recommend a company you would have traded with them and found they will give you those hard won profits.

Cheers,
Scotty

gft all the way for me tried others but nothing matches them.

i use dealbook web platform and mt4 for charting and it works flawlessly

regards damien

How much money are you going to open your account with?

What country do you reside in?

Serious questions.

Dukascopy Bank via an Introducing Agent (IA)





Trade to trade well, no excuses.
JD

I can share my experience with Oanda. I am not trading a year with them yet, but I like what I see. Quick execution, low spreads, friendly staff.

And it also fits me great because I started with a low amount of cash. The only minus I see is their platform, but you can always use other platform for charting.

Thank you for your time,
Albinas

i tried oanda disconnected everytime i entered a trade or just after the london session open and wouldnt open for like 4 hours after. i had an account with them for a week then i closed it quicksmart

regards damien

InterbankFX

I've had no problems with them whatsoever.

I'm thinking a deposit of 10k and if the strategy works maybe future deposits of 20k per year. but I'd like 100:1 leverage and the option to mobile trade and 24/5 customer service. I live in Australia.

I've check 100forexbrokers etc but they don't really answer the question of whether I can trust the broker 0.o

I would love to go with OandA but they offer at most 50:1 lev. I've asked if I can be specially considered for 100:1 but they're not interested (I expected as much)

Thanks a bunch guys for your replies so far!

GFT. I've never been f*cked by GFT in all the years of being with them. That is the reason they are my "premier" broker, and I have accounts with a lot of brokers.
*Lowest Spreads in the industry.
*Platform is solid. - I would never trade Dealbook for MT4/5
*Data feed is fast/accurate.
*Customer service is the best in the industry.
*Deposit/withdrawals are fast.
*No connection problems.
*$80+ Million with the NFA.
*Live Chat, Email, Telephone support and sales.
My vises with GFT are the new 5th decimal in pricing. Just this week GFT introduced 5th decimal pricing. Not at all excited about it. Was told the 5th decimal would lower the spread, but so far I haven't seen the spread any lower than they have been. They used the "lower spread" as a selling point for the 5th decimal, when in fact my pairs spread were higher than usually on Sunday trading. EurNzd, before 5th decimal on Sunday trading were 10-12 pips. This past Sunday, the spread for my pair was 25-40 pips. Not at all happy about that as I like to jump on this pair for the opening of the week. The spread has been stable throughout the week at its normal 7-8 pips. So GFT is on my "shit list" for that. All the other pairs, like the majors, were fine and at times a 1/2 pip lower than usual.

My other favorite broker is Interactive Brokers. Low spread and insurance on your funds. In addition, I don't only trade forex but I also trade equities and some futures with IB. The problem, customer service is bad and I don't like their java trading platform. If you don't need customer service for anything other than opening the account, you should be fine. If you too don't like their Java trading platform, definatly invest some time and a little money in an external trading platform, like NinjaTrader - which is what I use.

If I were you, I would first try to find an Australian broker you can live with. The reason is if something requires legal or regulatory relief, it will be MUCH easier for you to be dealing with a company in your home jurisdiction.

10,000 is a lot of money, but not enough to litigate over internationally. Different story if they are inside your own country, where regulatory authorities will be more amenable to helping you, a citizen.

That aside, with 10,000 you have a wider choice than some. If you can't find an Australian broker, you'll want a serious heavily regulated business, that has FX as one of its many offerings or is a real bank, They should be a big business with a brand name that they are motivated to protect,making them uninterested in screwing people in their FX operation.

With more than 10.000, but less than 25,000....

Interactive Brokers in the US fits that bill and is as inexpensive as you'll even find with out being an intitution. $10,000 US is their minimum account opening size.

You don't need 100:1 leverage. You should never be trading your account so hard that the difference between 100:1 and 50:1 makes you not want to trade. You would be taking too much risk on one position if you just had to use all of the 100:1 leverage. To involved to discuss here, research it. No one I know that is successful at this trades their account anywhere near 100:1. Just doesn't happen. ( taking total account size into consideration)

IB has 40:1 leverage. You may not like that at first, but its plenty. Research this, because your statement that you need 100:1 makes me think you need some education regarding leverage, trade size, account size, risk of ruin etc.

They have everything else you want... you didn't mention platform, but they do have mobile.

They are a shop that courts self sufficient active traders who can take care of themselves, and in exchange give you executions at a professional's cost, speed and result.

Do a member search on this site for TraderKGB, he'll give you a hands on rundown, as I have not traded FX w/ them, only futures, options and stocks. They are however very well known in the futures world and are a world class outfit.

Heavily regulated, insured accounts.... your money is safe etc.

in australia we are limited to retail brokers

there is

fx solutions

gft

gomarkets

fxcm

and a couple of others i think but they are the top 4 not in any order fx sol has higher spreads than the rest. fxcm well i was reading posts recently that i wouldnt use them at all. gomarkets i tried but dont like mt4 and they were getting price spikes and i am with gft and wont go to another broker

regards damien

Another Aus option is AxiTrader. They used to be AxisODL but FXCM bought out ODL, so Axis is now independant.

The spreads are comparable to (often better than) GoMarkets, they also offer index and oil trading all via MT4. There are not many reviews on the net, but I didn't find any negative ones either. I'm currently trying them out.

I have been with GoMarkets since February and have not had any problems, and have withdrawn $x0,000 before without any problems, in fact it is cleared and available in my ANZ account the very next day.

Advanced Markets or www.amifx.com USA broker, NFA regulated, non market maker, veryyyyyy low spreads, and quickest damb order execution of any broker I've traded live with. Commissions could be a bit better but their not horrible either.

One thing you need to be aware of is new regulations are coming in the US in the fall. No one knows what they will be, but nothing really onerous is anticipated. The consensus is we will get limited to 50:1 leverage, which is not a problem.

However, after the 2000 stock market crash they brought in something called the day trader rule for stocks. Very ridiculous 4:1 margin and other bullshit that drove me from stocks to futures. None of the regs they put on with the day trader rule addressed anything at all with the stock market drop, but that's how they sold it... we need these regs to stop "speculators" causing wild market swings. It is possible that they won't do 50:1, they prosed 10:1 leverage, which is a problem, and would drive me offshore.

Sorry this is off topic, I've always wondered, why do you need an IA. Wouldn't they be looking at you trades in real time.

You want a IA with Dukascopy to cut their ridiculous commissions. You can save 45% on fees.

how about fxopen?

i reckon they're pretty cool.

I trade f/t here in Sydney with FXCM, I went with them due to their financial transparency (latest balance sheet ... http://www.fxcm.co.uk/fxcm-balance-sheet.jsp#) and the size of the organisation. Not sure what the comments are about them, but I have had no issues with them.

Their spreads move around a bit, but all in all they are ok, I swing trade, so a pip here or there doesn't worry me too much and is a very small price to pay for some safety. Execution has always been spot on.

Oh and BTW, 100:1 leverage is not only sending your risk of ruin through the roof, but completely unnecessary, work on your money management and you'll see what I mean. I used to trade with Oanda at 50:1, again not even close to needed with responsible risk management, and I make a living from this thing.

So all in all I would go with FXCM, perhaps second of the rank would be GFT .... best of luck on the markets.

Heard some some good comments about them.

They are going to move to UK shortly. Do not know what impact that will be.

Sorry, if this goes sideways, do not mean to hijack the thread. I would like to hear how others manage their account report. My money there is just a number displayed on computer. If their server is down. Then no one could even tell that money ever existed, or how much amount existed.

So how do you guys manage your account report? download report daily? Screen shot?

Cheers.

I am going to support Lex on this one AMI is a great firm to work with "true DMA" and the execution is excellent. Platform takes a bit of getting used to but at the end of the day if you scalp like I do and all you care about is execution I have not found a better place to this point.