I am wondering if anyone has any warnings or reasons i shouldn’t use Oanda as my broker … if there is another better I’m all ears but unless someone knowledgeable tells me different i think I’m going with these guys … thanks … any pointers much appreciated … and yes I’ve read as many posts as i can stomach on who is the best broker and what is the best platform … I’m actually more confused than when i started and haven’t really found a good review of the top brokers or platforms that isn’t somewhat bias. So this is my solution … jump in lol 
FXCM is better in my opinion. I use to use Oanda and had many complaints, then I switched to FXCM and fell in love. I feel like Oanda wanted me to lose trades and they just didn’t care if I made or lost money because they were making money. FXCM is much more personal and their educational materials are second to none.
Oanda has a larger market cap, but as FXCM is a publicly traded company they need to reveal their financials in much greater detail. With it’s larger capitalization (and reserves) Oanda would be much better suited to weather an economic downturn.
Given my current outlook on the U.S. economy (and the lower spread for scalping), I trade with Oanda. I’ve tried both brokers and honestly there was very little difference besides the spread cost. Both have pretty good support.
Hello to the OP!
I agree with rjegabbi and jadd806, and as an FXCM customer I am, of course, biased…
There have been many recent threads on this topic: have you looked at them? You may find no new answers here, in that nothing has changed, in a way, since the previous threads, and that is, that nobody can say for sure that one broker is better than another… it all depends on your trading needs and expectations…
Cheers.
Somewhere in this forum there was a post about how FXCM was sued and had to replace 6 million dollars in fee’s and punitive damage to it’s clients. Oanda hasn’t had such a case as far as I am aware of. I started with Oanda, but I researched the hell out of them before I actually signed up. Jadd is correct, Oanda has the highest market capitalization as far as US brokers go so it would weather economic downturn far better than FXCM. Hope you still go with Oanda. They have been great to me. I just don’t trade GJ with them anymore because they spiked spreads against me during a news announcement but that’s typical with most any broker so I wouldn’t be too concerned. Look up lawsuits against FXCM if you decide to go with them rather than Oanda.
Good luck!
Please read Jason Rogers’ replies regarding the lawsuits against FXCM from its clients:
Doesn’t look very promising when jason says “hey go here and check out FXCM’s comments on our invester relations page”
----> http://ir.fxcm.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=238885&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1527595&highlight=
only to find out, the page doesn’t exist! nicely played. Not saying you are at fault PipMeHappy, just pointing out Jason’s link doesn’t shed any light on the situation… and he is a representative from FXCM.
My advice. Just stay away from FXCM, honestly, Oanda is a safer choice.
Thanks all for the great information but like before I’m just as confused … Are these two the only real choices cause i was reading reviews on armada markets and they looked good, but being new i have no real idea what I’m looking at. I’ll probably just start a small account with all of them and see… thanks again.
[QUOTE=“Zeeky;618644”]Thanks all for the great information but like before I’m just as confused … Are these two the only real choices cause i was reading reviews on armada markets and they looked good, but being new i have no real idea what I’m looking at. I’ll probably just start a small account with all of them and see… thanks again.[/QUOTE]
Market capitalization my dude. It’s very very very important. Research largest capitalized brokerage firms in the usa and why it’s important. You will get your answer.
ok thanks and i see that armada is out of the country but looking it up “market Capitalization” thanks
[QUOTE=“Zeeky;618657”]ok thanks and i see that armada is out of the country but looking it up “market Capitalization” thanks[/QUOTE]
No problem man. I’m just looking out for you.
Ooh. Make sure you look up broker market capitalization.
ok i got
FXCM 63 mil.
Oanda 128 mil.
Is that about right and why is this so significant … both seem more than capable of surviving most storms and if one came up that was strong enough to tap 63 mil … then little old me is probably toast anyway … or am i reading this wrong?
Was thinking, yes, having more money makes the company safer if something bad happens. But what if times are good. I mean they are richer for a reason and that reason is usually because of there costumers. So i think you are saying that a company needs to show that they can weather any storm by having a large market capital. But they accumulate that capital through us! So finding the happy medium seems more prudent. A broker that is safe but fair or at least somewhat fair lol. Unless again I’m not understanding the whole picture.
Ok sorry to keep coming back here but i have been studying these two brokers for a bit now and -
I like the platform for FXCM way better than Oanda or MT4.
The spread seems way better with Oanda … Might need to read some more cause i don’t really understand this like should.
FXCM is STP on web but MM on desktop(as i understand it)
Oanda is MM
Honestly if it weren’t for the platform i think i would go with Oanda just because of the better spreads. and good rep. , But the platform is important to me so is there an alternative … like a charts platform that i can use on my desktop and trade with whatever broker though that? So lost … sorry to vent here, but this should be the easy part …
Okay. Market capitalization is important for reasons of a downturn in the economy… Higher chance of getting your money out if things go south. As far as the platform goes, it depends on what type of trader you are. I trade straight stats using only the data my broker provides me (oanda). I do not use charts or indicators to make my trading decision so my choice of a broker may vary completely from yours. To me, I want a reliable data source that’s free, widely used and hopefully “trustworthy.” I haven’t attempted to use FXCM’s data, but I have tried a few others brokers and have come to a conclusion that the data I get regardless of where I get it is pretty much the same. Close enough to the same that it doesn’t matter to me if they vary slightly. My goal is to find patterns in the numbers using mathematics etc vs using a platform and trading off of PA, using other technical’s (indicators) or fundamental analysis. But I don’t necessarily have the only way, its working for me so I guess that’s all that matters. You have to figure out what works for you and stick to it mainly. It could take a few months, few years… it really just depends. But if you do not stick with it, it doesn’t matter which broker you chose, you will not succeed.
excellent thanks again … i personally enjoy the charts. I don’t have any experience but that is what pulled me to this in the first place … i like tweaking things … UI or whatever so that is half the fun for me. I understand what you are saying though and will stick to what i like and feel comfortable with once i find it. thanks again
No problems! Good luck and slay some pips xD
Hi Zeeky,
I’m glad to hear you’re a fan of our Trading Station platform 
FXCM is unique in that we offer our clients the choice between No Dealing Desk (aka NDD or STP) and Dealing Desk (aka DD or MM) forex execution on all the platforms we offer. That means you can trade on the platform of your choice with the execution type of your choice.
While FXCM believes that NDD execution provides the best all-around trading experience, we also offer DD execution as an option for traders whose primary concern is low spreads. You’ll find these spreads to be competitive with other brokers that use DD execution including Oanda.
Above is a snapshot I took of the live spreads table on Forex Factory comparing US brokers using dealing desk execution.
I’d link to that forum directly, but I don’t think that’s allowed here :58:. If you’re interested, I encourage you to view the table on their site for yourself to compare the spreads in real time.
[QUOTE=“Jason Rogers;619381”] Hi Zeeky, I’m glad to hear you’re a fan of our Trading Station platform FXCM is unique in that we offer our clients the choice between No Dealing Desk (aka NDD or STP) and Dealing Desk (aka DD or MM) forex execution on all the platforms we offer. That means you can trade on the platform of your choice with the execution type of your choice. While FXCM believes that NDD execution provides the best all-around trading experience, we also offer DD execution as an option for traders whose primary concern is low spreads. You’ll find these spreads to be competitive with other brokers that use DD execution including Oanda. Above is a snapshot I took of the live spreads table on Forex Factory comparing US brokers using dealing desk execution. I’d link to that forum directly, but I don’t think that’s allowed here :58:. If you’re interested, I encourage you to view the table on their site for yourself to compare the spreads in real time.[/QUOTE]
Another valued customer I see. And a 98% chance you guys get to keep double whatever zeeky deposits plus commissions. I’m not against FXCM. All brokers do this. It’s just a sad sad story if you ask me. What’s really sad is that I finally came to this realization.
Hi PipMeHappy,
I appreciate your efforts, however, the link you posted is actually for an unrelated case that was later dismissed by the court in November of 2011 :57:
Hi Leg0nd,
The post you’re referring was made by me over 3 years ago. Over that time, our website has gone through many updates, so it sometimes happens that a link that worked in the past is no longer active now. That said, I was able to find the updated link for the official statement I referred to in that post. An advantage of being one of the only retail forex brokers that’s a publicly traded company (NYSE ticker: FXCM) is that a record of our past statements is readily available on our Investor Relations page.