Ok, so I’ve been researching brokers for two weeks now since I decided to open a demo account and start my journey trading FX.
Being in the U.S. left me with not much to work with as far as brokers go especially when I wanted to go with a true ECN broker who wouldn’t be trading against me. My only options for true ECN brokers that accept US clients were unregulated ones.
Well, I have finally narrowed it down to two, Oanda and IG.
My question for those who have had experience with either one or both. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on which one you recommend for a beginning Trader knowing what you know now?
Thanks.
Being in the U.S. left me with not much to work with as far as brokers go
Have you considered other investment vehicles? Futures, Currency ETFs…very liquid and transparent, little to no commission, and US-Friendly.
I have not considered Futures, Currency ETFs but will be taking a look at them now that you mentioned it.
Just last night I opened a demo account with Oanda and am messing around with that right now. Can’t seem to find the stop button to stop buying or selling, lol.
Not so straight forward like the “Investing Game” I started playing with from the Google play store.
The learning journey continues.
I’m with OANDA and have been for almost 2 years, but I’m in Canada. I never liked their online or desktop platforms, however, it’s been some time since I’ve used them, but you can download the MT4 platform from their website, which is very user friendly.
Tradingview is another popular platform that supports OANDA, I prefer it because it’s live so you can open it up on any computer and your charts stay up to date with your previous changes. OANDA also has a decent App, fxTrade for your phone. I wouldn’t recommend doing your analysis on your phone, but it’s good for placing your orders and monitoring your trades.
Hi @SavdByChrist, I’m using IG. I did look into Oanda. When I was doing my initial research the spreads seemed a bit tighter but that could be my imagination. I Think if you are going to be using MT4 and not needing a lot of live customer service, I think it’s 6 of one or 1/2 doz
You could alway open a demo account on each test drive and then decide.
KC
I’ve always traded through Oanda so I cannot provide comparisons. However, if you’re starting out with a small account then I would recommend Oanda since you can trade in units smaller than 1,000 lot size. This allows you fine grain control over your risk.
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Thank you MattyMoney.
I’ll be checking out Tradingview tonight.
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Definitely will be opening a demo account with IG after I get the hang of Oanda’s platform.
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I like the fact of being more in control of my risk QuadPip. Huge plus since I’m definitely not wanting to take huge risks. Not afraid of risk but the more control I have over it and the smaller it is, is great.
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I am with Onada from past six months and I always prefer to trader with them, they are just great and I have no problems with them.
Yes I’ve been finding my way around their FX trader app and finally figured out how to stop or close the trade Lol.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a “true ECN” broker for retail forex traders. In order to trade on an ECN, you need to have a credit line with a prime broker (PB) which is unattainable for retail traders.
If you’re looking for a U.S. forex broker that gives you access to an ECN-like environment, check out Forex.com’s DMA account and Interactive Brokers.
Thank you Pippo. I agree that Forex’s.com would be the closest thing and I like that you can trade Bitcoin through them but their customer reviews are very bad and have stayed away for that reason. I’m really enjoying Oanda’s demo account right now. Even though I opened an IG demo account as well I’ve haven’t even used it. I will be trying it out later today. One thing I already dislike about IG is I’ve been getting calls from a number I didn’t recognize and just noticed an email today from an IG rep. stating he has been calling me and haven’t answered so he emailed.
Thinking it’s sales rep. wanting to convince me to go with them.
Thanks again Pippo.
Regarding IG I have noticed a few times that during times of volatility that it would take a few seconds to close a trade. I’m dealing in .01 lots but that could be an issue for much larger sizes.
I would think the equipment being used has to be taken into account as well.
Thanks for the info frandlost.
So I opened a demo account with Oanda and IG and the Oanda demo is far superior versus the IG demo in my opinion. For instance on the Oanda demo account I can trade all the currencies while on the IG demo account my options were EURO pairs and USD pairs. Not only that but they had tons of info from related news to calendars and many options to customize the Oanda app to my liking.
I’ve made a choice to go with Oanda. Will start live trading within a week.
Thanks to all who were able to offer their knowledge and experience with each of the brokers. I appreciate it.
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Sure will.
I just hope Oanda’s live account is like the demo account or very close to it.
Time to get me feet wet.