i’ve been planning to start trading live, and i’m struggling to find a trustworthy broker. I’ve read a few posts on the forum, and checked out ratings on various brokers on ForexPeaceArmy, 100 forex brokers, and earnforex. I have found that for every single broker there are contradictory comments and opinions. I don’t even care about comission or spread anymore, as long as the broker is not a bucket shop. Any bulletproof ideas? What brokers do the Babypip-bloggers go with? (Maybe one of them will stumbe across this )
When reading broker reviews, keep in mind that many people will blame their broker for their own shortcomings … in other words, they suck at trading, mess up, and then say ‘This broker is a scam!’.
In general, if you go for a broker whose regulator is in the US, Australia or Europe, there is no danger of withdrawal issues, especially if customers’ funds are kept in segregated accounts … this way, even if the broker goes broke (^^), your money is safe.
As to bucketshops: all brokers will process your orders in-house, unless your position size is substantial; even ECN brokers do this, ‘collecting’ their customers’ orders until they are sufficiently large to pass on to their LP.
But this doesn’t mean that they are bucketshops.
It never hurts to go for a properly regulated ECN broker; maybe you should concentrate your search on those.
If you’re in the US here is a quick short list to check out, FXCM, GTF, IBFX, and Oanda. I believe they are all market makers/dealing desk type brokers, not ECN. All seem to have a pretty good track record and are used by babypips regulars.
If you download and demo trade on their platforms slowly you should be able to find a broker you like and feel safe trading with.
For 3 years I’ve used and have been very happy with Oanda. If I was going to open a second account I would be very comfortable with any of the three others I’ve listed.
I guess i’ll go with FXCM then. I just received account details of an account that i had with them ages ago, and totally forgotten about after loosing all my money. :8:
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