I do believe that there is no need to emphasize to traders how important and necessary is it to select a regulated Forex broker to obtain their profits in the market. Indeed, Forex brokers play quite an important role in forex trading. As a mediator, Forex brokers are able to provide with traders exclusive Forex trading platforms and guarantee the security of their funds. Moreover, they can offer traders certain kinds of financial products that can meet with various needs of various traders; in addition, they are also the one giving Forex traders professional trading suggestions and helping them obtain profits as much as possible.
However, it is a little bit difficult for Forex traders to take their pick nowadays for there are numerous Forex brokers existing in the market, claiming itself to be the one that can create profits for traders as much as possible. Well, actually some Forex traders do deserve what it has claimed itself to be; while to the rest, most of the time its claims are just hollow promises.
Just like what has happened recently, the FX Direct Dealer LLC (FXDD) is revealed by the National Futures Associate (NFA) for its asymmetric price slippage settings, which means that clients’ orders are executed on the basis of whether the price slippage favored FXDD or its clients. And FXDD obtained the profit from asymmetrical method of price slippage that is based on the detriment of customers-reaching $ 3.5 million. Using asymmetrical price slippage settings that favored FXDD over customers; failing to supervise the trade; integrity of the firm’s electronic trading systems; falling to maintain complete and accurate records; and failing to review the use of promotional material; FXDD has violated five NFA compliance rules in total and it may suffer in penalty about $8m-$9m, even may be removed from NFA.
Actually it is not the first time such things happened; just in last year, Forex Capital Market (FXCM) was punished $16.2m by NFA and Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2011 because its incredible operation, such as slow server command, false error messages, flash trades, abuse of slippage and so on. Otherwise, peregrine Financial Group Inc.（PFG Best）, another famous broker for U.S. forex and commodity market for 20 years. In 9 July 2012, NFA served noticed to PFG Best and its affiliates that it was in violation of capital requirements, and there was over $200m missing from customers’ accounts. Now all its capitals are on hold as it investigates accounting irregularities following an apparent suicide attempt by the firm’s owner.
Well, I do believe the cases revealed are what all Forex traders not willing to see; definitely, who in the world want to see it happen that he had invested his hard earned money in the trading but only to find out it is just a scam? Then here we come back to what we have concerned at the very beginning of this article-how could Forex traders take their pick among the numerous Forex brokers available?
First, Low Spreads – Lower spreads save you money! The spread is the difference between the price at which a currency can be purchased and the price at which it can be sold at any given point in time. Forex brokers don’t charge a commission, so this difference is how they make money. In comparing brokers, you will find that the difference in spreads in Forex is as great as the difference in commissions in the stock arena.
Second, Quality Institution – Make sure your broker is backed by a reliable institution! Forex brokers are usually tied to large banks or lending institutions because of the large amounts of capital required. Also, Forex brokers should be registered with the Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Third, Extensive Tools and Research – Find a broker who will give you what you need to succeed! Forex brokers offer many different trading platforms for their clients – just like brokers in other markets. Brokers usually also provide technical and fundamental commentaries, economic calendars and other research.
Fourth, Wide Range of Leverage Options – Leverage is necessary in Forex because the price deviations are merely fractions of a cent. Leverage, expressed as a ratio between total capitals available to actual capital, is the amount of money a broker will lend you for trading.
The last but not least, Account Types – Make sure the broker you choose has the right leverage, tools, and services relative to your amount of capital. Many brokers offer three types of accounts: mini account, managed account and standard account.
In a word, no matter Forex traders are experienced or not, they all need to rely on the services provided by Forex brokers. Then do you have clear ideas of which Forex broker is the most reliable for you? Well, if you are looking for best online Forex broker list, then you came to the right place. I compiled top 5 Forex brokers at your first choice.
Forex Broker No.1:IKON GROUP
Forex traders could expand their business and grow revenue by working together with IKON Group. IKON Group will give you the best compensation and services available. IKON’s offer will dwarf any other offer you receive from your competitors. This will not only help IKON’s clients to grow their business substantially, but also will increase their income significantly.
- Advanced order execution algorithms which enable unparalleled trading speed;
- Fully automatic dealing desk technology and services with no human intervention;
- Numerous trading tools, including MAM & PAMM, Virtual Private Servers, Trading Facilities for partners, White Label Technology and many others
- Most flexible and lucrative conditions for Introducing Brokers.
- Highest level of Security of Funds.
- Trading margins up to 1:500
- 24/7 multilingual, first-class, comprehensive Customer support;
- Numerous trading technologies including charts, technical indicators, line studies, custom indicators, scripts and trade signal generation
Forex Broker No.2: Etoro
Etoro offers a completely intuitive trading platform that is suitable for anyone, from novice right through to professional traders. There is a video tour through the system to get everybody ready to place their first trade.
- Etoro offers you a very reliable Forex trading system.
- The platform itself has a beginner’s mode which is easy to use and takes on a fun vibe, to make trading very visual and enjoyable.
- The platform has actually just won a World Finance Award for the ‘Most Innovative Trading Platform 2010′, which gives a real indication of just how good it is.
- There is a full education section that allows you to learn the fundamental and technical aspects of the industry and develop your strategies with their Forex tutorials and trading guides.
- There is also a full suite of professional tools including online Forex charts, graphs, up to the second financial news, trading orders and history.
- A practice account can be opened for free and you can start using their platform in real time with virtual money, which is great for novice traders to gain confidence, or develop strategies under real trading conditions.
- You can start real money trading with just $50 and with leverage starting from 5:1.
- You can trade with eToro 24 hours a day.
Forex Broker No.3: Easy Forex
Easy-Forex has a proprietary trading platform that provides 24/7 access to the Forex markets. Easy Forex started in 1998, with the philosophy that they wanted to help ordinary traders to be able to trade as easily as big players and banks could.
Easy Forex is also very good for the newbie to Forex, and provides comprehensive Forex training programs as well being very easy to use, you can also trade over 100 currency pairs.
- Easy Forex is totally online Forex broker with no software to download or run, everything is online. It means that someone can trade anytime and anyplace with an Internet connection.
- You can use credit cards or paypal to make deposits and withdrawals are organized with a phone call.
- There are full accounts or Mini Accounts start with a margin of as little as $12.50. There are also other accounts including Gold, Platinum and a Tailor Made Import-Export account.
However, I think I am obliged to figure it out for you that there are some cons of it for your reference. - The spreads are generally higher at Easy Forex for example 3 pips on the EUR/USD pair.
- Also there is no demo account for traders to practice on.
Forex Broker No.4: Trading Point
Trading Point of Financial Instruments is a Cyprus based online forex broker licensed by the CySec and authorized by the FSA UK and the BaFin Germany. The broker complies with MiFID standards and is licensed to operate financial services worldwide. The holding company was founded in 2009 and currently maintains its headquarters in Cyprus from where it operates its services to global investors.
- MetaTrader Forex broker.
- Web-based and mobile trading platforms.
- Muslim-friendly accounts are available.
- Generous bonus system.
- Very low minimum account size.
Forex Broker No.5: GoMarkets
GO Markets is a major provider of online foreign exchange (Forex) trading services, offering margin FX and commodities trading to individuals and institutional clients world-wide. Our multi-bank liquidity feed, fast execution and flexible leverage options set us apart as an industry leader.
- MetaTrader 4 Forex broker.
- Futures, shares and CFD trading.
- Very low minimum to start trading.
- Free education and e-books for all real account holders.
Besides trading with those Forex brokers listed above; traders could also choose to trade with banks directly and have their trading orders such as BoA, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and CitiGroup; trading with banks can help them have their orders executed in a logical way and thus providing more profits potentials.