FIRST and foremost is the plain and simple fact that the broker you first start with will probably NOT be the broker you end up with in a few years — not only are they constantly changing to meet competition, enforcement is getting stronger (as phoenix and clint point out) and many of the smaller and more crooked shops will simply drop out.
MB with the adoption of the MT4 platform, makes it far easier for a lot of newer traders and is a rather simple platform to get used to, but to be honest, although they have variable spreads and their spreads are higher than MB’s, I use FXCM as their platform is so user friendly (to me at least) that what they take from me in spread is easily recovered, simply because of the speed of working their trades.
I would imagine, as competition increases, more and more will adopt the ECN style, which as has been pointed out, pretty much reduces any of the real or urban legends we hear about some brokers.
allow me to point out that “slippage” is real with ANY broker, which is why LEARNING the market, support and resistance and trend following is so important — if you simply close a short term trade MANUALLY, one can expect slippage from any broker, especially if the market is moving quickly.
widening the spreads is NOT used to grab sl’s, but rather to slow down the ability of “scalpers” to make more profit, but making the trade “not possible” in some cases because there is not enough room to make a profit and cover the spread at the same time, and while there are certainly brokers who will drop you for their version of “scalping” (Crown was notorious for that — make more than ONE trade of less than 6 pips more than once in two days and they would drop you — LOL), it will take you time to find one trading situation you like, and next year you may change your mind.
if you wish to scalp with real money, have an upfront talk with the management on their policies, and then see if they hold to their word ---- if not, go somewhere else with YOUR money.
what you really need to look for in a broker, if that is your choice, is how many pips AWAY from market price will they allow you to change your tp point ? There are some, like the russian brokers, who allow zero pips, meaning you can alter your sell limit ANY time you wish and there are others with up to a 15 pip limit, where you cannot alter your tp point if within 15 pips of the present market price — needless to say, THAT policy will not let you scalp successfully with limit orders, leaving you to manually close an order, and thus subject to “slippage”
Cutting back to the chase though, right now you havent a clue as to what you dont even know, so take a demo from most any reputable place, set the equity you use to THE SAME AS WHAT YOU WILL OPEN A REAL ACCOUNT WITH, and learn forex.
it takes longer than you think to become “competent” and even longer to become good, and “good” does not come from following some “system” but rather from understanding how the market works, and trust me on this one, that takes a bit of time !
go forth and LEARN every day, and every day you will know more and more and after close to a year you will be fairly decent, if that is within you.
Forex is actually rather simple, but that doesnt mean its EASY, and like anything else new, you have to learn the culture, methods and tricks before you get to wear all the stripes !
LEARN WELL
