Choosing a broker - abroad or home?

I am a long time stock and commodity trader (6+ years), and am looking at getting into the forex market over the next month or two.

I look at all the brokers listed at fxstreet.com and have a few questions:

1. Should I choose an overseas broker (e.g. Switzerland, UK) - it seems like they have tighter spreads. I am a California resident.
2. Some overseas brokers talk about swaps as some kind of commission/fee for a trade - what are they exactly?
3. Is it beneficial to have fractional lot sizes when placing orders?
4. Who do you and have you traded with, and which broker have you liked/disliked?
5. The consensus on chat boards seems to be Oanda.com as a winner... Does anyone have any advice on this broker?

Thank you for any help!

Home!!!!!!

imo ...

1. I live in Florida ... if u can, try to stay home and make sure the company is registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA ID #).

2. Swaps or Rollover is interest you pay or recieve for your trades. The more u get into forex u may come across different strats to benefit from interest and reduce the interest u pay. If you don't plan on holding your trades past 5pm (for most brokers), u won't have to worry about the swaps.

3. Depending on several factors about your trading, u will determine if using fractional lots will benefit u. For example: i'm a swing trader and look for reversals ... so i enter some trades with a small position in case the price goes against me and add more later for to get a better position ... if price goes my way right away, i will add more at that time ... for me it helps to reduce my risk ....

4. I'm probably still considered a newbie, but i've been trading forex for 1 yr 6 mo. I've traded live with GFT and Oanda ... what i didn't like about GFT was the way they handled their swaps ... something i don't want to get into right now, but it cause a lot of problems for me ... but i had no other problems and i was a successful trader with them ... i currently trade with Oanda ... they fit me perfectly ... imo .. their charts sucks and u need a sub account to hedge against your positions (if u like to hedge) ... I use metatrader 4 for charts ... imo ... very good and its free ...

5. Brokers are not 1 size fits all, so u will read bad experiences with all of them. Test out the brokers demo, but keep in mind their live account usually perform better.

Good luck to u and happy trading ....