ive been looking at brokers for the last couple of days but im having trouble picking one. right now im just looking to demo trade, but id like a broker thats platform for demo is the same for trading live. when i go live, ill be swing trading with $1000.
it seems like im getting a bunch of mixed reviews from the various sites that im checking out, whether its demo platforms being different from the live trading platform or just terrible customer service. any help is welcome. and appreciated.
‘Oanda’ without a doubt. Signed up for a demo account myself and its a very good platform. You can also use MT4 as well if you like but i think their platform is good enough as it is. You can also set your own fantasy money, whether it be $100, $1000 etc; which makes it better and more realistic.
If you love your money dont choose oanda, if the mods of babypips allow it I would like say some nasty things about the above poster.
Oanda are market makers, they don’t acre about you they will screw you up or a;l makers do.
Don’t choose delta-stock their representative on this forum I couldn’t care what his name is is one annoying poster, he will try to sell you all he can about why delta-stock is the ****. Don’t listen to him.
look for a broker that offers STP,also who is regulated heavily .
also check the pips is it fixed or variable ?
Look up fxcm and try their platform.
Mate if this our first time trade there’s a 90% that you will blow up your account. so think wisely about your broker.
Its the first step in being a profitable trader. or a great loser one.
Go for a Broker which are:
Highly regulated
Have good customer support
Have ECN Trading
Offer Bonus on Every Deposits
Have many EPS for deposit and withdraw
Have Demo contests weekly
Have Informative Forex forums
All the best 
Regarding number 3… not so much: Execution type should fit the trader. STP/NDD, MM, or ECN all are valid choices…just keep an eye on total cost per trade.
Regarding number 4, I completely disagree with you here. I actually use deposit bonuses as a red flag. Online casinos give deposit bonuses… that business model relies on the broker taking on the market risk for your trades, or expecting you to over trade your account to make it back in fees. I’ve never known a tier 1 brokerage who only take large account traders to do deposit bonuses… think about that.
Number 7. That’s what this forum is for, no? I’d rather the forum not be owned by a broker to keep conversation neutral.
It is true that most of the traders make profit in demo account but in live account same result does not repeat. There are number of factors behind it like emotion, trading strategies etc.
Each broker has both good and bad reviews therefore I want to suggest you for AVAFX, FXCM or OANDA.
Hi,
I appreciate the confusion you must be going through; choosing a broker first time around is a dangerous scenario.
You’ve said you want to swing trade, I swing trade as well. Personally, I use Pepperstone ( highly regulated, ECN, 5-day New-York close charts). I would avoid brokers offering bonuses if I were you…
PS: You are welcome to join other swing traders in the Price Action thread, it’s a goldmine of info: 301 Moved Permanently
All the best!
Just to add to point number 3.
ECN execution and true ECN accounts are different. Many market maker accounts that do not place your trades directly into the market are not true ECN, market makers hedge off your trades with the rest of their clients into a pool. Eventually the market maker will have a total pool of net shorts and a total pool of net longs, the difference is then placed onto the market to offset the total risk.
True ECN accounts mean that you trade gets directly placed into the market…and for a True ECN account you will be looking at nothing less than a $10,000 deposit.
The fact that your instinct is to ‘say nasty things about the above poster’ says it all about how professional your approach to this stuff is. And if you happen to find the Deltastock rep on here annoying, is that not entirely irrelevant to whether OP would find Deltastock to be a good platform for his/her needs?
There is altogether too much unpleasantness creeping in around here over the past few weeks, so please try to separate your opinion of other posters here - which is irrelevant to the question OP asked - from your opinion of the various brokers out there, which is relevant.