My neighbor shared with me last week that her regulated bank/mortgage company decided to call in her loan.
In order to beat the clock, she is under contract for less than expected.
Regulated American financial institutions can do whatever, whenever they choose.
I would think that might be a very good idea - just judging by the rudeness and hostility with which my longer post above, about the many advantages of futures, was met, you know? 
That hostility had nothing to do with Future trading.
-You mean the presumptuous, condescending one? 
I tried a demo account with LQDFX copying a signal that trades only XAU/USD. My demo account’s performance was terrible compared to the trader. I switched to trying a demo account and then a live account at FX Choice, where performance was almost as good as the signal provider’s. (I have an old account at FX Choice opened when they accepted U.S. clients.) At LQDFX swap charges were high and the disparity between my entry/exit prices and the trader’s was great. This led me to give up on LQDFX. However, good to know your experience has been different. I might try them out with a signal that trades forex rather than a metal.
I am writing to update my recent posts about Forex Chief, including sharing what information I can regarding criteria you posted for including a broker in your list.
I have not traded in a live account with them yet, but I do want to report on my initial contacts with them, which I find encouraging.
There is nothing on their home page about U.S. clients. They have online chat available over several platforms 24/7 (yes, even on weekends). I posed several questions, which they generally answered within a few minutes. When I asked if they accepted U.S. residents as clients, they replied that they accept clients globally. I later wrote back that their listing on several sites says they do not accept U.S. clients; I asked if this is new that they accept U.S. traders, and they said no. (They also commented that they are not responsible for information from outside resources, as it does not depend on them.)
They have been in business since 2014, which is longer than some other brokers on the BabyPips list. However, when I first checked them out not long ago, their website said they were regulated by Vanuatu; now it is Mwali. This seems to be a very recent change, and I don’t know what to make of it. However, that they are 9 years old and have a 4-star rating on Forex Peace Army are positives.
After I set up my account, I clicked on the various links as if I were going to make a deposit. The only options that displayed were crypto. I asked about this, since their website refers to bank wire as an option. I asked if this might be because my identity had been verified yet, and they said yes. However, it is now several days after I have been verified, and still the only options I am offered for deposits are Binance Pay, Coinbase, and “Crypto”. I have not followed up with them on this yet, because I am not ready to make a deposit. I connected a demo account to Signal Start several days ago, and there has not been even one trade opened by the trader since then, so I don’t know yet how they will work with this particular signal.
Referring to your criteria, here are my comments so far:
Forex Chief accept clients globally. “We provide 150+ trading instruments: Forex (majors, minors, and exotics), Metals (gold and silver), Commodities (crude oil and gas, including WTI and Brent), Indices CFDs (10 leading stock Indices), Stock CFDs (stocks of the world’s most famous brands).” I also see these crypto pairs available to trade on MT5: BTCUSD, BCHUSD, LTCUSD, ETHUSD, and XRPUSD. They offer both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. I could not find “stocks of the world’s most famous brands” on MT5; I did not look on MT4.
Forex Chief is reasonably welcoming to U.S. clients. At least there is no language on their home page discouraging us from applying to open an account. The tone of their chat responses was matter-of-fact, which was fine with me.
It sounds like they have a legally established business, but I am not in a position to evaluate that. I don’t know whether Mwali prohibits them from offering services to U.S. residents. (Maybe that’s why they moved there!)
I don’t know how well capitalized they are, but they claim that they act as a liquidity provider for other forex brokers. Since they have been in business since 2014, I presume they are “in this business for the long haul.”
I have no personally experience trading with them yet, but they have a 4-star rating on Forex Peace Army and 4.4 on Trust Pilot.
From my research, they have met at least criteria 1 and 2, so I propose adding them to the list in Group 1. I expect you would want reports from BabyPips members about dealings with them before you would consider naming them a Trusted Broker.
The only glitch I have with them so far was with changing the main password for my account, which I wanted to do because they had sent the initial password to me in unsecure email. But no matter how many times I tried, my new password was not accepted. I carefully followed all the password rules, including that it had to have at least one special character. I asked them if there was a limit to the length of the password: No. I asked if there was a list of allowable passwords: No. A few days later I noticed that the initial password they had sent me had no special characters. So, despite their instructions, I tried a new password that did not have a special character, and it was accepted. (I let them know about this through their ticket system, and they thanked me for bringing it to my attention. And, unlike some other brokers, they did not send a copy of our exchange to me via unsecure email!)
caffelatte: Regarding your latest post, your recommendation (that we add Forex Chief to our List) was the most detailed recommendation we have ever received. You went above and beyond the minimum required, and you are to be complimented. Kudos, and thanks!
I doubt that anyone here will object to adding Forex Chief to our List. But, I will wait a couple of days to read any comments that might be forthcoming. Assuming there are no serious objections, I will make the addition NLT Tuesday.
Thanks again.
For future reference, a new broker qualifies for our List if the first two (of five) criteria are met. The remaining criteria are generally examined over the subsequent weeks and months, to determine whether that broker should be retained and, if so, whether that broker qualifies for the Trusted Broker designation. With your research and your post, you have begun that review process for us, and we thank you.
Guys: We have a recommendation for a new broker. Let me know what you think of it.
Just got the word that Prosperity4x is merging with Envifx
Dear Esteemed Customer,
We trust this message finds you in great health and high spirits. We fully acknowledge the recent frustrations you’ve experienced due to the temporary lockout of your Prosperity4x account, and for that, we offer our heartfelt apologies. Please know that we have been diligently toiling behind the scenes to catapult your trading experience to new heights.
Today, we are thrilled to unveil an extraordinary partnership that has been in the works for several months – a collaboration that promises to redefine your trading journey. Prosperity4x is joining forces with EnviFX in a groundbreaking alliance that is set to elevate your overall customer experience to unprecedented levels.
-Perhaps clarification can be provided regarding what criteria or additional data you require for a suggested broker-candidate to be eligible for consideration?
-If I recall correctly, when Coinexx acquired/merged with (was it FINPRO?), similar promises were made about how the merge was going to benefit traders in so many ways, but nothing positive ever came from it. I am getting old, though, so maybe I just forgot.
No additional criteria or data are required. More than enough has been said HERE about criteria. And caffelatte"s exhaustive POST suggesting Forex Chief offered more data than we have ever asked for, or expected, in an initial recommendation.
In my POST above, I said that we have a broker recommendation, and I asked what you think. Maybe my question wasn’t clear. Let me try again:
Based on what caffelatte has presented, what do the current participants in this thread suggest? Possible answers to that question might be: (1) Add Forex Chief to our List, (2) Don’t add Forex Chief to our List, (3) I don’t care one way or the other, or (4) I still don’t understand the question.
There was a time when there always were several members who weighed in on every decision we made regarding additions to (or deletions from) our List. And we prided ourselves on the fact that we did things by consensus.
Maybe that time has passed. Maybe interest in this thread has died.
Before we pass judgement on Forex Chief, maybe there is a more important question we should answer: Should we just close this thread, and move on?
Yes.
There’s huge selection bias in the context of this question, @Clint , because you’re asking mostly (not entirely!) enthusiastic participants in the thread and are therefore extremely unlikely to hear from anyone who might be feeling that they were previously damaged by “advice” or “recommendations” in this thread.
I don’t doubt that the thread was useful and helpful to some people, too.
I don’t doubt that you yourself are one of the most helpful, useful, productive and beneficial members the forum has ever had.
But I still think you should close the thread and move on.
Maybe toward encouraging people to trade futures.
Especially people in America, given your regulators.
History is not on the side of this thread.
Eventually it will be almost impossibly difficult for people in the USA to trade spot forex or CFD’s.
That was perhaps avoidable, 20 years ago, but it isn’t, now.
Sorry if I’ve touched a raw nerve with anyone.
Feel free - as ever - to shoot me down in flames just because you don’t agree with my opinion. You won’t, by doing so, change the reality that it’s my opinion. Sorry if that offends anyone.
No, let the thread die out on its own.
In 15 years time, this thread served its purpose, but with the advent of social media, it is much easier to find out about offshore brokers, offshore brokers are popular with Americans now more than ever before.
I will certainly be disappointed if this thread closes or dies. I have followed it for several years, although about a week ago is the first time I posted. I relied on this thread and reviews at Forex Peace Army to learn about and choose previous brokers. I especially appreciated that you all maintained a list of Trusted Brokers. Not sure I would find that on social media, but I don’t know, because I don’t participate in it.
After a break, I am getting back into copy trading spot forex. These last comments make me wonder if this is going to work out or I should be doing something else.
that really makes me want to spring to the defence of Clint and other participants here and mention that this thread is FAR more reliable, and a FAR better and more trustworthy source of information, than anything you can ever read at Forex Peace Army, which is all just ridiculous nonsense by comparison
but it will obviously surprise nobody here that i agree for the most part with Pipsteroid
i think whether you close the thread or let it continue depends basically on which you care about more: freedom of speech or protecting inexperienced people yet-to-trade or almost yet-to-trade (either is a perfectly defensible position, of course)
for many years, i have had nothing but respect for Clint (and some others here), but that doesn’t change the reality that i personally know people who have opened accounts at brokers “recommended” here, because they were recommended here, and been defrauded by them - i don’t “blame” any of you for that, it was the victims’ responsibility, i know (and they know) … but for myself, i wouldn’t be sorry to see the thread closed
It would’ve been useful for you to ask them to post evidence of this fraud here, otherwise we have an offshore broker hater telling us about a fraud we do not know exists.
Somehow I seriously doubt this ever happen.
-Your question was clear. I was simply asking, if, in order for a broker recommendation to be considered for consensus vote (and recognized by you, the admin), should we be providing additional data, such as what caffelatte provided for Forex Chief.
Multiple suggestions have been made recently, by both, myself and SmallPaul, but those suggestions did not seem to garner any response by you. So, what are your expectations?
For example, if your expectations are that people should provide some details and do a little bit of legwork prior to making a suggestion, then that is understandable and reasonable, but it would be helpful for us to know that in lieu of feeling like we are being ignored. Wouldn’t you agree?
i agree
i did but (understandably, surely?) they didn’t want to
yes; you do
as i said myself, a few posts earlier: “perfectly understandable, too: why should anyone prefer the word of a random stranger in a forum over their own experiences and that of others they know?! this is exactly why only legal change can protect people”
i can’t help that, sorry
it’s interesting … i always openly express my respect for this thread and its compilers, and i know and acknowledge freely that you’re all 100% well-intentioned, but i can rarely post in it, myself, without being called a liar by someone 
that’s probably why you get only one-sided views expressed here, for the most part
3. I have no issues with adding Forex Chief to our List.