First I don’t know if this is the right section. But when I browsed this section, I found most experts reply in this section. So I am posting this here.
(Note : I am interested in dealing only with Australian brokers, so you are free to guide me to other traders.)
There are several Forex broker names in Australian Market I always keep hearing about from my friends and people who are into Forex Trading. Out of extensive research and meetings with representatives of these companies I shortlisted - ‘Synergy FX’ and ‘IC Markets’. While both have advantages of their own, which I will list as per my research. I have past experience of forex trading as my tool (But it’s always good to help other pro in forex trading to assist you).
I had a chat/phone call with representatives of both the companies, and apart from the services which all forex brokers offer, I will list only the main features -
Synergy FX - Negative Balance Protection and the Hybrid Account.
Whereas the Synergy FX is getting popular in my local area with more and more people opting for this, the only reason seems to be the ‘Hybrid Account’ (Synergy Hybrid ECN - SynergyFX)
That is just a quick overview, now I will wait for the forum members to reply with past experience from these two companies.
I’ve had no experience with Synergy, but I’ve been with IC Markets for 1-2 years now. I had a CHF position open during the SNB debacle (CHFSGD), and my original position size was 1-2% (can’t remember the exact figure), but ended up losing 4% due to illiquidity. Make of that what you will.
Otherwise, I haven’t spotted any funny business with IC Markets.
I would say the one where you feel more comfortable with. I have never traded with any of them, but just because ‘something’ is popular does not mean it is good. I would pick the one which suits you better and not because others are trading there.
Synergy is probably the most dishonest broker I can think of besides IronFX. They have horrific execution during news and are constantly looking for ways to take their clients money. They even purchased a once popular forum to con as many of the members to join them. Now the forum is all but dead due to all the over the top advertising for Synergy from the site “moderators”. Just one more thing Synergy has been able to ruin… Don’t join the pile of bodies friend.
The biggest broker in Australia is Pepperstone. I have been working with them for a while, and the experience has been excellent. Regulated, Good spreads, fast execution and withdraw, and excellent support.
When deciding on a broker (any broker for that matter) you should mostly be concerned whether they have segregated accounts, whether it is regulated by some authority (not that this changes anything, but still, you’ll have somewhere to complain if the need arises), and most important (which some traders ignore) is NEGATIVE BALANCE PROTECTION. Without it you may end up owing the broker. Everything else is just a nuance. The spread/slippage will affect you only if you are a scalper or use scalping EAs. If you are manual trader these can be ignored.