Help me to choose a broker -- Oanda, FXCM, forex.com, FXDD

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
1

Hi all,

I live in China, and I’m a newbie to Forex trading. I plan to deposit 5,000 USD to experiment Forex trading after I get used to the demo account. After I’m OK with 5K USD, I may invest not less than 10K.

I’m struggling to choose a broker, here are my criteria,

1, Allow hedging. I’m 100% wanting this.
Indeed I’m not going to hedge the same amount of money at the same time to earn quick money (which is often used in big news event). What I want to do is, I have a long term position which will be there for several weeks, then I do some short term positions (intraday or several days). That’s possible that I have two positions in two directions at the same time.

2, Money safety.
During my Googling, I found that some brokers close a trader’s account just because he/she earns too much money.

3, 100:1 leverage. 50:1 is not too bad but 100:1 gives me more flexibility.

4, Prefer to NDD (ECN or STP), but DD and MM is acceptable if money safety is guaranteed.

5, Regulates with NFA or FCA.

6, Support depositing using credit card. This is cheapest way for me, at least cheaper than wire transfer.

7, Easy to open an account. I prefer to open an account via internet only so I don’t need post a lot of certifications to the broker.

The other points except 1 are tolerant, but I really want point 1 and I think it will be important to me.

Now comes to the brokers I’ve done some research on. I’ve checked a little with Oanda, FXCM, forex.com, and FXDD.

Oanda, the most money safety one. 50 leverage. However, it doesn’t allow hedging.

All other brokers in my list are not as same money safety as Oanda.

FXCM, the one that’s really annoying me is the margin. Why margin for a lot of EURUSD is $750? That’s really weird and is not connected to the real price. Can any one explain to me?

Forex.com, as big as FXCM, but in the event that ECB put down the interest to 0.25% at Nov.7 this year, a lot of Chinese traders get network error and lost money. That scared me.

FXDD, not as old as Oanda, and not as big as FXCM and Forex.com, and registered in Malta…

So, what’s your advice of a proper broker for me? The one not on my list is OK too.

Thanks

3

Hi Wqking,

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

Based on your margin question, it sounds like you signed up for a demo account denominated in US Dollars from our FXCM UK website. The default margin settings on FXCM UK accounts require you to set aside approximately 0.5% margin for each trade. Below is a table showing the exact margin requirements for each currency pair:

Note that for accounts denominated in US Dollars, the margin requirement for currency pairs where USD is the base currency (such as USD/JPY) is exactly 0.5% or $5.00 per 1k lot. The margin requirement for currency pairs where USD is not the base currency (such as EUR/USD) is determined by taking a percentage of the notional trade size plus a small cushion. A cushion is added to help alleviate daily/weekly fluctuations. Otherwise, your margin requirement on a trade for EUR/USD would change constantly as the price updates.

The margin requirement for 1k EUR/USD is $7.50 which is why for a 100k position the margin requirement is $750. If you have a Euro-denominated trading account, then the margin requirement for all EUR-based pairs is exactly 0.5% or €5.00 per 1k, as you can see below:

FXCM UK accounts have hedging enabled by default, though this feature can be disabled by clients who prefer not to use hedging.

We make the safety of client funds a priority. That is why FXCM is regulated in major financial centers in the US (NFA/CFTC), Europe (FCA), Asia (SFC) and Australia (ASIC). In addition, we are one of the only retail brokers that is also a publicly-traded company (NYSE ticker: FXCM). That is why traders have entrusted us with $1.171 billion in client funds.

As I mentioned above, the default margin requirement on FXCM UK accounts is approximately 0.5% which offers up to 200:1 leverage to magnify gains and losses on trades.

FXCM offers clients the choice between two types of forex execution: No Dealing Desk (NDD) and Dealing Desk. While FXCM believes that NDD execution provides the best all-around trading experience, we also offer dealing desk execution as an option for traders whose primary concern is low spreads.

Regardless of the execution option you choose, there are no re-quotes or other forms of dealer intervention when trading with FXCM.

FXCM allows you to deposit funds to your trading account using a credit card, and there is no fee for depositing funds this way. You can also make free withdrawals back to the same credit card.

To open an account with FXCM UK, you can complete the online application on our website. In addition, we require you to fax or email us copies of two supporting documents: an ID (driving license or passport) and a proof of address (utility bill or bank statement).

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Jason

4

FXCM is pretty good enough, BUT I prefer to join in LiteForex broker…
WHY??
-Great and Famous broker
-Have great server, Very STABLE
-Fix spread 3pips, and Floating spread start from 0,2PIPS
-HEDGING,SCALPING,EA are allowed!!
-VERY FAIR and NEVER AGAINST us to get profit.
-Many Payment System there
-Many trading Instruments
-Many account Type (Lite,Real,PAMM,NDD,STP,& GDP accounts)
-Big Rebate
-Many bonuses
-Etc…

I’ve trade with for a couple of years, Never face problem with…
Their customers service is very welcome…
Sure, I like this broker…

5

Hey wqking

I would suggest you to start with two broker since you are planing to invest quite a good money. Just choose any two and half your investment. Remember it is always wise to use more than one broker with such investment.

6

I think FXCM and Forex.com are the best but it depends on your need, trading style and payment method. Just try them on demo and make decision later.

7

You are very wrong. These two brokers may be the oldest brokers, but they do not have the best trading condition. When it comes to lowest spreads and commission fees, I think these brokers are not the best options.

8

Forex Peace Army has listed Lite Forex as a scam broker! They recommend NOT opening an account with this broker.

To the OP do your own research and don’t listen to people like this who promote brokers that have a history of scamming their clients.

9

Using two brokers is a good idea and much more money safe, but I would only do it after I have some better money to invest with.
Thanks for the advance and I will keep it in mind.

10

Yeah, I mostly do my own research. But reading others’ review can give me some basic information. Up to now seems Oanda receives the least bad reviews.
I delicious-ed the site “Forex Peace Army”, it’s interesting, though Oanda gets only 3 stars and FXCM gets 2.5 starts there.

11

Oanda and FXCM are two of the biggest retail brokers in the world so therefore they have alot of reviews. People are more likely to write complaints than compliments. Also alot of newbies also cry scam when they make mistakes with their own trading ie not understanding difference between ask and bid and saying their stoploss was not hit, poor money management etc.

I would personally choose a broker that has 300+ reviews that have generally good reviews, been around for 15 years, regulated in either US or UK than a broker from Mauriitus that has 20 reviews and is rated 5 stars, unregulated and established only 2 years ago.