FXOpen - best ECN spreads

For the past 8 months I have been demo and live testing each type of account from several popular, well regulated brokers. I have attached screenshots of all the mt4 platforms and cTrader platforms i have been testing, some mt4 platforms i installed 3-4 times in order to test each type of account a broker offers simultaneously

The way I tested them was with the use of an indicator for mt4 called fxrm spread history which basically tracks the spread for the chart which it's loaded onto, but you have to keep the platform running on a selected time frame, once you change the time frame or close the program, the spread history resets(which i'm sure most of you probably know), and another indicator just to visually monitor and compare the spreads(both indicators attached). So basically I would leave the platforms running as much as possible and keep a log of as many pairs as I could on nearly 50 platforms daily, and i can safely say, FXOPEN's ECN account has the BEST OVERALL SPREADS, i just WISH i still had the log file, but since my laptop's cam stopped working last week and the dell service tech decided formatting my laptop without my knowledge would make things better, the log file and numerous other important documents were lost

FXOPEN'S ECN account can be opened with a deposit of just $1000, very reasonable commission of 2.5$ per side, 4.85$ per round lot and the lowest overall spreads of any other comparative broker. The only other brokers that were close competition were Armada and ICM Markets, but oddly they both had identical spreads on their ECN accounts with only a pip or two different in a couple of pairs, and both compared to FXOPEN were just 1pip lower on EURUSD, which when accounted with the higher commission of 5.4$ per round lot leaves a mere difference of less than half a dollar. Having said that, ALL the other pairs had higher spreads than FXOPEN and even on EURUSD half the time the spreads were the same or lower

FXOPEN also offers swap-free trading options for muslims which i wanted, which Armada and many others didn't offer, and even if they did had some sort of mark-up to the spread or a higher commission. The only problem I noticed with FXOPEN is the lag in time for order execution, sometimes taking upto 10-15 secs, VERY rare slippage/re-quotes or disconnections, and I just wish they had cTrader

Since i'm paranoid about brokers dressing up their spreads on demo accounts, i opened quite a few live accounts with either minimal funding or none at all just to compare them to demo spreads, and there was virtually no difference

I am neither a rep for FXOPEN nor an IB, you can read some of my earlier posts, i was just looking to find the best suited broker for me, and i'm sure we all want the tightest spreads, lowest commission and most favorable trading conditions possible, and FXOPEN offers all that

Just sharing my views, to each his own

Cool dude, good work.

I personally wouldn't worry about finding the lowest spread broker because if you can't trade for shit it doesn't really matter.

I also think withdraw, platform connection and slippage is more important. If you have a medium size account and only open 1-3 trades a week does a few dollars saved really make that much difference, compared to peace of mind that you are with a good broker with a good rep. No offence but FXopen has been registered all over the world. The CEO's name is Dr. Alex K, like WTF. That would be the first CEO that doesn't even use his surname. It sounds like one of the Nigerian scam emails that gets sent to my spam folder.

Sorry for bashing your broker.

Heres a couple of other bucket shops that have low spreads also, Enjoy.

I have traded with many brokers .starting from oanda .mb trading ,fxdd ,instaforex alpari roboforex and many others i dont remember .no one of them is willing to lose there money for you .they are all pocket shops to hunt your money down .if you want to trade forex you need top tier account with a big banks or brokers that offer clearing accounts .no liquidity provider will lose his money for you .they are out for your money believe it or not you dream to make thousands and millions .they just dream to get your pennies and it really matters in a market of 4 trillion it will be a high percent for them .they say winners never talk because they are wining and dont want to share it i am a winner and a big one .if you make money in forex you will suffer from many other problems like connection problems and withdraw problems .because they really dont clear the transactions all the forex brokers above are scams looking for your money .this is the real truth take it or leave it .i am a trading systems developer and analyst i provide advice for investors and the thing that i advice them never send your money or give it to some else he will never return it back you want to trade and make money use bank accounts only open a bank account in uk or europe and deposit money for long period of time three to 6 month you will end with good profit on large big amounts off course but to waste your hard earning little money with scams you will never gain any thing but delusions in your mind

Thanks for sharing your awesome views, i check myfxbook daily, and i've also done my homework. You will will notice perhaps a handful of questionable brokers from the one's i tested, just because i wanted to. And let me get this, you're saying FXOPEN is a bucket shop broker, no better than the brokers you want me to enjoy with?

Sweet bro, good job

Who do you trade with?

Appreciate the advice, sounds like you had some bad experiences

Well at least they have a London branch now with FCA regulation, which adds some credibility.

No, I was showing 2 other bucketshops. I wouldn't trade with any of the ones I showed the spreads for including FXopen. I was just merely showing that the lowest spread brokers are not always the best.

I have an account with Lmax and recently opened another with Dukascopy.

and what about futures trading ?

What do you think about LMAX?

Fxopen now regulated by FCA UK, congratulations !

fxopen.co.uk

Fair enough. I have demo traded with LMAX and Dukas for about 4 months, everything was great until i learned the min deposit required to open an acccount was 10,000$, same with Dukas since the min with Dukas is 5000$ and there's no mt4 for Dukas.eu. I didn't include them in the list coz I was looking for brokers with a min deposit of upto 1000$. How has your experience with Dukas and what's your monthly trading volume, any trouble with s/l hunting or withdrawals?

And you do know FXOPEN is a bridge to Dukas right? And i quote..

"Firstly, if you research the FXOPEN ECN, you will find that its a bridge to Dukascopy. Not its own individual network. Which means higher liquidity and yes, real live market. I doubt it will effect news traders or scalpers, but the comission round turn is enough to deter any scalpers who have no idea of the concept and get ''lucky''. It has an order book based on the ECN network provided by dukascopy, the volume in the order book is there.


You will find dukas will refer anyone looking for MT4 to fxopen, and Fxopen will refer the people who want another platform to dukas.

Given the reputation of Dukas in the PROFESSIONAL (non cent garbage accounts) fx world, I would say this is a good move for any broker who nets positions. A market maker wouldn't be able to handle such a transformation. But as it has been publically mentioned, fxopen nets positions. Which is only trading vs a minority of their clients rather than trading against the majority.

If you can manage to make money lag trading (as maxey does) on the ECN, I am 100% sure you will get your profit. Because the funds are only going into liquidity, not through a dealing desk. You will get instant execution in any ECN providing the liquidity is available. If you are trading over 100 lots in a thin market, you may have a liquidity issue, and trouble getting a fill (the market isnt a free market, there has to be a buyer for every seller and vice versa).

Now that this thread has been educated, you may want to continue being your illiterate selves, thats fine. I will not personally be trading @ fxopen ECN, as I already trade at dukas. But, I can tell you, that a company like Dukas, would not put their reputation on the line for someone to bucket orders in an ECN.

And a last little piece of information. The minimum lot size in the real market, is 10,000 USD. If every bucketshop followed the laws of the market, the CENT accounts that you mention, wouldnt exist. Which in turn means that if you are still trading a cent account, you wouldn't exist, because there is no possible way of getting live market fills on a few bucks. Fx is only speculated on in 10k lots. Which is why thats the minimum on any legitimate ECN. Or bank platform."

Taken from this thread http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=180543