BEST U.S. FOREX BROKER?
What’s the best of the rest, here in the U.S. ?
…MT4 or MT5 interface…
hyperscalper
It was Interactive Brokers… no Mt4 but they offered a true ECN w/ DOM & time of sales, but they were forced to go ECP only (>5 million in assets) since they are a broker dealer.
TD/Thinkorswim = no mt4, non competitive spreads and high commission costs.
Gain = multiple fines in past for very bad behavior, non competitive spreads, 20-25:1 on alot of pairs including majors!
Oanda = insane spread manipulation around news, even on some minor reports that are not moving the market.
If I was forced to trade in the US it would be CME futures since they offer much higher day trading leverage (120-250:1) compared to FX…
All the existing FX broker options in the US stink.
I’ve been logged into Evolve’s MT5 all weekend and i just logged into the website with no problems… I don’t see any restrictions on the website.
HyperScalper,
I have no problem with this approach. Rather than removing Evolve Markets from our List, I will revise the Note at the top of their listing to reflect your suggestion.
MrInvisible,
The problem is not with accessing the Evolve website.
The problem occurs when a prospective client, logging in from the U.S., attempts to begin the process of opening a new account. Then, that person gets the notification I posted above.
I see little choice for myself but to try to create an offshore corpororation and bank account to access foreign exchanges. But FACTA has caused the vast majority of banks to refuse us citizen originated corporations. Most of the european EMI reject you as well. Even the e residency for estonia is useless because of the scandanavian banks. Most of the smaller offshore areas are a scam, like the seychells.
There are residency work arounds, getting residency visas and dual citizenships. But to be profitble as an american retail is impossible, so I have to figure out how to not be american or retail lol.
So I’m stuck at the bank part…
Wow the ESMA thing is really really bad, and it stipulates crypto as well…I’m currently using a euro broker for crypto with 100x…and uh well I’d expat, I’d jump through any hoop to stay a customer, but that’s if the authorities don’t unfairly punish them.
POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL BROKER, WHICH IS
NBPFX.COM in BELIZE.
I hesitate because:
The reasons are 1) commission included in spread, and
no apparent spread plus commission ECN option, and
2) no crypto currency transfer mechanisms.
However, I wrote to them proposing that if they can
resolve those issues, I’d work with them. Will wait
for their reply.
They will accept U.S. citizens, however; and they do
reasonable KYC due diligence. I understand their staff
is largely Russian, but I’m investigating anyway.
Here is their contact page:
https://www.npbfx.com/en/npbfx/contacts/
Initials NPB come from: “NPBFX Company is specialized in providing trading services on FOREX and money market since 1996. Till 2016 service of private traders and corporate customers was carried out through a bank having license of Bank of Russia (JSC «NeftePromBank»).”
Will let you know what they say, and if I get a chance
to do a technical eval.
[EDIT] Although my documents have not been approved yet,
and there was no apparent issue with U.S. persons, some
documents refer to a prohibition. I opened a live MT4 account,
and hooked up. Looks good, except for my gripe that commish
is included in spread. I’ll report more if/when I hear from them
on official approval…
hyperscalper
Has anyone used ATC Brokers?
The only of these listed brokers that I have used is OANDA. I can say that OANDA’s REST API is well written, but you are right about their spreads.
In the Alphabetical List of Brokers in post #3, I have ATC Brokers listed this way:
ATC Brokers (US) — introducing broker (futures and forex) — presently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Do you have more up-to-date information about ATC Brokers?
It looks like they reached a settlement and didn’t have to go bankrupt after all. Their site is up.
Been there done that…
Unless you’re an expat with local employment & housing. It’s almost impossible these days to get an offshore bank account.
The passport of the account signatory nullifies the location of the offshore entity with banks. Secondary passports now show the place of birth and are useless. A non US nominee signatory is an option but that is an added cost and very risky.
You also have the additional problem of trying to find a bank that has USD corresponding bank relationships which most of the Caribbean banks have lost.
I have a list of a few banks that fit the bill from my prior research but they were high cost, required >30K starting capital and required a personal visit.
I completely lost interest when all the major UK/EU/AUS brokers required the US applicant with an offshore entity to be ECP Qualified (>5 million assets)
Ahh ok… as someone else mentioned it’s easy to get around that with a VPN/VPS. I guess they are simply reacting to what just happened with 1broker.
Guys, I just woke up to find that Finpro had changed their server times (my notification email was in the spam folder while all other Finpro correspondence arrives in my Inbox with no problem GRRRR)
The question I have is regarding their decision to make all hour bars close 5 mins late: 00:05, 01:05, 02:05, etc. Why do they do this? Is this to screw people up who trade on the news forcing the price action in the previous hour’s bar?
I have several strategies that work around hourly candles. I’m nervous how this may affect me.
No, not at all. Some like the change, and others
do not. It’s just a matter what you’re accustomed to…
My gripe is simply locating a GMT time when one
broker server is GMT+0 and another is showing GMT+3
but that’s really just something you get accustomed to…
For me, there’s not a lot more to it… Not a “candle guy”…
[Edit] I am not a candle guy at all but I can see that GMT+3 might affect 4h candle formation but it would not affect 1h or 5m or 1m candles, would it?
…found this discussion
http://www.profitf.com/articles/forex-education/forex-broker-server-time-gmt-offset/
hyperscalper
Finpro switching to GMT+3 is a good thing as the Sunday bars will cause people a lot of headaches with indicators and EA’s. My problem is not with changes in time zone; it’s the 5 min. delay they now have on most of the time frames: 12:05 (1hr TF), 12:35 (30min TF), 12:50 (15min TF). It’s not good. I might have to go back to FXChoice or try out Coinexx if they don’t change it back. And that’s a shame because I REALLY liked Finpro. 
I don’t get it?.. Why are you claiming there’s a 5 minute delay?
If it’s a bug, then they would fix it…? Your local system clock
is correct/synchronized, right? IDK if that is used by an MT4 platform or not…
[EDIT] I just looked at 5 minute candles, and they seemed perfect
to me, precisely starting the next candle when it should?.. And,
yes, the FinProTrading shows GMT+3 now…
hyperscalper
For example: a 15:00 hourly bar should start at the top of the hour - at 15:00. But the new bar doesn’t start at the top of the hour, it starts at 15:05. Now, when news comes out at 15:00, 5 minutes of the volatility is hidden in the previous hourly bar (14:05) because it doesn’t close until 5 minutes past the hour, or 15:05. Capice?
Now, if you are backtesting, or programming your EA to identify breakouts on the hour, or the 30min, or 15min, the true volatility of candles will not be reflected and your data will sometimes be vastly different going forward than what you’ve accumulated in the past through research.
The U.S. trading session starts at 12:00GMT. Well, not with 5 minute delayed candles it doesn’t. While the “real” trading session started at 12:00GMT, your MT4 platform will still be showing the 11:05 bar moving up and down for 5 whole minutes PAST the session open. This is problematic.
Look at 15min, 30min, 1hr, 4hr time frames to see an example of a 5min delayed(offset) candle.
You are correct – I found this 2½-year-old article on LeapRate –
So, ATC Broker’s U.S. branch, and their U.K. branch (which I wasn’t aware of previously), are both running normally, now that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy issue is resolved.
The U.S. branch (in California) refers U.S. clients to their U.S. affiliate – previously FXCM, but now ? This does not offer us an offshore opportunity.
Are you suggesting that the U.K. branch of ATC Brokers, acting as an IB, might refer U.S. clients to brokers outside the U.S.?