Can't decide on broker

[sickjue]

Hey guys and gals, first time poster, long time lurker here.

Gotta say this is one of the best, if not the best, designed forex site on the Internet.

Anyways, my name is Jacky and I've been playing around with various free practice accounts at different sites, and now it has come the time for me to open a real account. Problem is, I do not know which one to choose. I have heard numerous good and bad things about various companies, but I'm more leaning towards either oanda fxtrade or forex.com. I heard fxcm has had some shady business dealings in their history, so I dunno.

Also, it seems like both oanda fxtrade and forex.com are large corporations so I guess it's more secure than the rest, has rated oanda as one of the #10 on their top 25 online start ups list with a valuation of $1.2 billions behind the likes of facebook, wiki, linkedin, etc. So my question is... which one will you recommend?

[Yarcofin]

I've only heard good things about OANDA

Forex.com makes me kind of wary since I was getting spam mail from some guy in India asking me to call him to say how my demo account was going.

I've been demo-ing with Interbank FX (IBFX) since February and I don't have many complaints. If I had to make a real account right now I'd go with them, or at least another broker that supports the MT4 platform.

[4xStar]

It took me a long time and a lot of research to decide .. but I went with FXCM which are also one of the largest brokers and so far (3 months) I am satisfied with them, particularly customer service. I have a service rep named Tangie and she answers my emails promptly, I can always reach her by phone if necessary, and the service in general is friendly and upbeat. My experience with them has been a positive one. No problems on the trade side either, the spreads are within reason, the executions seem to be as fast as anywhere else, the only drawback, they did not have the MT4 platform, but they will have it this month.
I preferred using a MT4 platform from another broker (Interbank) just to double check the quotes, so I am not particularly concerned whether they use MT4 or not. I love theor trading platform for executions, I prefer it to MT4. (MT4 is best for charting)

Hope that helps & doesn't further confuse

[dobro]

I have to agree with yarcofin - O. is a great broker but their platform is clunky. I have a live acct with them. I'm demo-ing IBFX as you just can't avoid MT4 eventually, it does more and many strategies are set up in MT4, some even with downloadable templates. Plus Mon-Thu they have a webinar for learning and you can ask questions at the end of the session. Runs approx 45 min. They have IBFX-U also for learning and no, i don't work or shill for them, just like their cust. svc and platform. Will open live there soon.

[greywolf238]

You know if you look up IBFX on ForexPeacearmy they only got 2 stars, but then again if you lookup almost any broker on there or other sites like Fxbastards, you would run away from all brokers..

[tymen1]

Yes, in the end it is up to you which broker you use.

You have had some good recommendations so far.

Decide what you want from a broker.

I personally use the GFT platform because the charting is Rolls Royce and I need this for my candlestick trading. I can personally recommend them

It might be an idea to download a demo version of a whole lot of brokers, see which ones you like to get a short list, try a few to see which are user friendly and a gut feeling may be the way for you to go.

Set some questions and give the brokers some phone calls to see what they say.

All the best !!

[sickjue]

Thanks for all the great replies, very helpful information indeed.

[GBLilleyUSMC]

While many others tell you to research for yourself and think about it, I will tell you what I really think and why.

First, when I was searching for a broker, I did not know enough about FX to make an informed decision, I just chose the one that looked the best and ended up going through several brokers before I found the best.

So Ill tell you: GFT no ifs ands or buts.

Heres Why: GFT provides the best charting package out there in my opinion. GFT will send cellphone alerts for price levels and indicators. They have excellent customer support, I have actually heard of them refunding money after making a mistake.

GFT also will allow you to open a seperate account to trade commodity futures, there are too many to list here. I don't personally do that yet but its a nice option to have open.

[JonnyFX]

Take the top 5 firms/brokers and investigate, demo them.
Decide if you must have MetaTrader platform or their
own proprietary platform. Research on your own and
then demo them some more. Then get going.
But whatever you do, stop wasting time Googling
for review sites. They all bite. Why? Because the
ratings are done by trolls and scammers like
the moron running ForexBastards. And don't think
that a hugely successful traders will have time to
run around forums and rate brokers. Please.

[sal500]

I just today saw a news release from GFT of how they've drastically lowered their spreads. Is GFT reputable enough? I see that they have $76mn in capital so well above the minimum capital requirements. How do others like GFT? Have the new spreads been as advertised?