How do you tell the difference between a market maker and a ECN?

Hi!

Just went through the babypips school so I am a pro now :rolleyes:

As a “babypro” I am looking to start a demo-account somewhere within the next few weeks, after I’ve sorted out a few other hundred questions about FX;)

As I see it trading through a market maker does not seem that appealing, especially since they can trade against you, larger risk of slippage and also strange rates and numbers (if you are really unlucky).

So how do you tell if for example Oanda is a market maker or a ECN?

//Mikey

It says so right on their website
"OANDA is a market maker and a trusted source for currency data."

Now that you told me I see it!

Also found this link that had a pretty good explanation for the DD, NDD, STP and ECN brokers. Scroll down after the list of brokers to read the article.

100forexbrokers.com/stp-ecn-brokers

Don’t be put off by a “market maker” broker. It doesn’t directly imply that they are taking trades against their clients. A good broker will match client orders and hedge the excess position with big banks. This ensures best pricing and liquidity for clients and no exposure risk for the broker.

I don’t even believe there are genuine ECN retail brokers, because there’s no way they are going to pass your order for 12,000 EUR to the interbank market. They’d think it was a joke! Interbank lots are in the millions folks!

I found one that I will check out - Nordmarkets.
Since I live in Sweden myself it feels good to have a broker “nearby” so to say.

They seem to have all flavours. State that they offer ECN accounts, but the account I will demo is the Mini which is a single-bank STP, to Nordea which is the largest bank in Sweden.