I am having a hard time on choosing a broker. Every time I decide for one I read some bad review about it and get confused again. I am intending to start with a micro account and go for scalping method, since it is the method I feel more comfortable with. Time execution is very important to me. Can you guys give some good broker names that have a good time execution and that is a NDD broker.
Thanks
Well I use MT4 on Oanda. Working great for me so far!
Hi,
Take a look at Deltastock (deltastock.com) and my forums (techtradercentral.proboards.com). Deltastock offers everything (well based on the little bit of information you’ve furnished anyway) that you require, has only one or two BAD reviews (which I’ve managed to prove beyond a reasonabe doubt were made by other ‘broker plants’ i.e. the competition trying to destroy what WAS a five-star rating on forexpeacearmy.com) and will serve you well. Scalping is no problem (especially given that, for example, through the L2 NDD/STP module the spread on EUR/USD, for example, can be, and is most of the time, anywhere between 0.1 and 0.5 pips on a ‘normal’ day and order exection is instantaneous). On a PERSONAL note though: I don’t know how long you’ve been ‘at this’ but unless you have a LOT of experiene and are quite ‘nimble on the fingers’ you’re wasting your time and money trying to scalp but ‘that’s just me’. I’ve seen scalpers ‘come and go’ here over the years and there are only a very select few who are able to make money scalping so just bear that in mind. Of course: if you’ve been demo trading and scalping FOR A GOOD FEW MONTHS IF NOT YEARS and you’ve proved that you can make money scalping well, then, who am I to tell you otherwise. Just don’t fall into the trap of testing your scalping methods for a week or two, fool yourself into thinking ‘hey this is easy’, and then ‘bet the farm’ on a live account. It just does not work that way.
Regards,
Dale.
Hey Dale!
Thanks a lot. I have been trading on demo for 3 months, but after reading some reviews that when you put real money the problems with closing orders start, I was not sure about the brokers. I am not expecting to make a lot of money ritgh now. I want to open a micro account with a money that will not be missed if I loose, around $3000. My goal is not to make a lot of money but try the real thing since it will work a little bit different from the demo, and then see how it goes. But before opening a real account, I want to choose the broker and work with its demo for at least one month to be familiar with the plataform and test my skills for a little bit more.
Hi,
Unfortunately, in most cases, that’s how it works i.e. demo and live being two different ‘animals’ (and this ASIDE from this horrible thing of ‘trader psychology’). I know this from bitter experience from my very first broker!!! When I started out I really knew nothing and felt comfortable trading USD/ZAR. In a few weeks I made a (relatively anyway) small fortune demo trading and did INDEED think ‘hey this easy’. I opened a live account with the same broker and I think I wiped out my first real $500 in about 30 minutes. Admittedly in those days for me there was no such thing as risk or money management so I would EVENTUALLY have lost the money ANYWAY. But what WAS apparent is that on the demo account I could open and close positions ‘in the twinkling of an eye’ whereas on the live account, well, a totally different story. I think their ‘record’ was holding a market order to take profit as ‘pending’ for something like 20 minutes by which time, of course, the position had turned from a profit to a loss. NEEDLESS to say though: closing out losing positions was NO problem!!! That (and a few more ‘anomalies’ for want of a better description) is what makes the difference between a ‘bucket-shop’ and a genuine broker. Unfortunately the only REAL way to find out is to open and fund a live account. Of course you can read through all the broker reviews but you have to learn to sift through the GENUINE trader compliments and trader gripes from the ones where a trader was trying to trade full lots of EUR/USD on the daily charts with $100 in his account and thus could NOT manage risk!!! That type of thing. And unfortunately and in my years of experience: the number of decent and reputable brokers can be counted on one hand and that’s no joke or exaggeration.
But I’ll say this for you: $3 000 is a good amount to be starting with. At very least you’re not undercapitalized and can manage risk adequately on just about ANY timeframe on just about ANY instrument and with just about ANY technical trading system (including mine that most times use HUGE stops) so you’re already off to a better start than most. Also: you don’t appear to be a member of the ‘get rich quick’ fraternity. Yet another thing in your favor let me assure you. So keep it up and don’t ‘lose it’ and don’t ‘get ahead of yourself’ and you’ll do JUST fine IN THE LONG RUN.
Regards,
Dale.
Take european brokers, they have 100% secure account deposits, as they conduct separate account management. For your account size, I´d take WH Selfinvest or Varengold. Varengold starts at €500, this is an offer from CashbullFX, an introducing broker.
WH Selfinvest starts at €2,5k but, it caps the spreads to 3 pips and has an excellent reputation. Our WH Selfinvest representative claims most of his clients are loyal for more than 3 years.
Try this. I found it to save a lot of time. Fill in what’s important to you and search. For me I’m looking for a regulated broker who’s been in business for 3 years or more, STP/NDD, no commission, swap free, allows scalping and 1 click trading. Like I said you can fill in what’s important to you and see the brokers that offer it, then compare them. Great tool, I wish we had it here.
Hey Lucalou,
‘dpaterso’ gave you some very good advice…
It is difficult to make money scalping long-term, because the short-term trading is now in the hands of machines,
so humans are fighting a losing game… The bigger gains are in the longer-term trading, as Anton Kreil pointed out
in his UCL lecture (see my link in Forextown) last November, at least for human traders…
High-frequency Trading (HFT) has been the topic of much discussion of late, and here is just one recent article covering the
issue:
High-frequency trading is ‘legalised scalping’
Regards
You’ve been given some great advice. Or maybe it’s great but not for you?? Let’s see. . . In your original post you said, every time you settle on a broker, bad reviews make you hesitant. Let’s try a different approach. Starting with a micro account , using a scalping strategy. You need to define scalping as related to you. For example, when I talk about scalping to me it means in and out in under a couple of minutes. I consider any trade that I open and close between NY open and close as short term but not scalping. You need to define it for your self. You also said, execution is very important and you’re looking for a NDD broker. I don’t think I missed anything. Le me start with 2 of the 4 are very active traders and knowledgable. The other 2 even though they haven’t been around as long participate since they came here. So I don’t think there’s any hidden agendas.
So lets start with their advice. Juice is a new trader to the forum and recommended Oanda. Oanda may be a great broker, but they won’t work as well for you as for some others because they are a market maker and their accounts are swap free. Not to say they don’t have a lot of great things to offer, but the things they don’t offer is generally not good for scalpers who are trying to have their trades executed as fast as possible and not working with a lot of pips to spend.
Next is Dale his site. Although he is a Market Maker, he also offers ECN STP. Been around for a while. No good if you are from the US, he doesn’t take you. He says that if you use the NDD/STP spreads are low, however according to what I read you can’t scalp if you sign with him. That doesn’t mean I’m right, but if you choose him you’ll want to make sure you can scalp. He offers you his opinion on scalping which is really good, as he’s just offering an opinion, not stating his opinion as fact. Depending on what program you are using in regular trading there is no commission, but there is on the Level 2 he was explaining. He does not offer swap free which again as my friend the last bear says, it’s tough out there we need all the help we can get especially if you’re giving scalping a whirl; Like no commission, swap free. Again he has several good points as well, but STP NDD. Commission free, swap free are important for any scalping or short term trading.
Molbollinger offers a security tip related to European brokers, and the account security they offer. Very important to a scalper He offers WH Selfinves or Varengold. Both been around for a while and should fall under the European secutity . They don’t except US citizens though. Both offer STP neither offers ECN. Both are no commission, Varengold is swap free, WH Selfinves is not swap free.
PeipMeHappy says its’ difficult to make money long term because short term trading is in the hands of machines. Again his opinion and it might change after you define scalping. In my opinion it is difficult to make money long or short term, if you don’t employ a solid trading strategy along with a money management system that is geared toward your trading method and goals and apply both with patience and discipline.
Bottom line is it’s a tough business and you need all the help you can get. So if you want to scalp or short term trade, you might want to look at a broker, that’s regulated, been around for a while is not a market maker, who allow’s scalping and is no commission and swap free. Look for your broker first services they offer or don’t are facts. Reviews by traders are opinion. When you evaluate traders opinions, look for if and how fast the broker responds. I agree with Dale as far as peace army, but their are other reviews that yo can look at. Don’t only check out if they’re bad reviews, check how many there are and how they are handled. Again my opinion and like I said in the beginning nothing but respect for the 4 brokers who I mentioned and contributed, only make sure advice when given is applicable to you.
Good Luck
Gp
Good broker is broker which is regulated and give maximal service. They can make their trader feel comfort when trading.
Based on my own experience I would recommend Armada Markets. I have been using them over 8 months. Fair and solid broker