How do you know this, they don’t openly say this on their website, in fact there is small print saying “depends on account type”. Please show the evidence … thanks
I was under the impression that only Alpari’s “Direct Pro Accounts” were ECN.
I’d not only stay away from market makers. I’d particular stay away from market makers who have an ecn account besides. Because you can bet that they treat their mm acount customers different than their ecn customers. Probably not in the better direction.
For Alpari to trade ecn you need 20k at minimum I guess. If you have less I’d particularly read reviews regarding their order execution reliability:
Alpari | Alpari.co.uk reviews and ratings by Forex Peace Army
Read the terms and conditions. If they state that they will take the other side off your trade to offset risk then they are a market maker. I also agree with Bucks to stay away from brokers that offer both market maker accounts and ecn accounts. I trade with fxsol and they are a market maker but I dont have problems with them. I was thinking of switching over to FXCM when things slow down for the holidays. That was untill I visited there site and they have a side by side comparison Of there standard account (ECN) and there micro account (market maker). You get no real support no live chat only email support. The problem with that is I sent them an email to open an account look for some form they said they would send me and I have yet to hear from them. So I will be staying with FXSOL till I find someone better. But from what I have seen I have good performance and there spreads are lower that most brokers I have seen so ecn or not I am happy.
Agreed. The difficulty is that unless you read all the terms and conditions , you don’t really know whether the broker is a true ECN, MM or both. So it’s important to do due diligence and not just assume that what you read or what someone tells you is true.
I was actually on the phone yesterday to Alpari UK regarding their pro account, and it does seem that it is a true ENC account. They take no books on pro account trades, and the spread is at the decision of the banks of whom your trade is placed with. They only profit from charging commission on the trade volume amount.
Well, I found this broker when I googled ECN broker and I found some reviews on Sunbird and I decided to open an account after two weeks of satisfying demo trading. About their website, they write it pretty clear that they are ECN and I don’t expect any broker to blow my screen with the ECN issue. Anyways, I think that Sunbird’s pride is the “No dealing desk” which accomplished the ECN trading. Personally, I still hold most of my money at Alpari, but my next deposits will to Sunbird.
Take a small amount of money and trade with a market maker. If you make it then move to ECN. Do not do the opposite 
Do not forget, there are successful traders who trade an MM account. There are also losers who blame the broker for losses to find excuses for their bad trading(They are more people than in the previous category). ECN account will not help them.
So take $100-$300, trade with nanoµ lots. Then review your results. If they are good then move to an ECN. This is not a guarantee for further profitable trading, but increase your chance. It gives you confidence(Just be careful not to become overconfident). When your money grows, your stress and emotions do it too.
Best regards