I’ve learned a lot of disturbing things about brokers and I was wondering which brokers you guys use and why. My trading style is to scalp on the 5 minute chart. I like to get into a lot of trades, and it seems to be going all right on the demo account, but from what I have read going live is a whole new ball game.
Could someone suggest some good brokers for this style of trading? What should be the primary things to look for in a broker aside from pip spread and how can I verify these things? I’m looking to open a micro account in the future, but I want to start looking into brokers now and get a better sense of what really goes on.
I have only been trading a short time myself. Until I started posting I spent a while reading forums and have read many things that many traders have said concerning a trading platform called MetaTrader4 (MT4). I have recently found a broker that offers MT4, and have downloaded the software, but, being a newbie and not knowing anyone that has exposure to this platforem, I bypassed it.
I can say that my experience has been with brokers within the U.S.A. and all that I have experienced have their own software. I have a few that I could comment on, but I will stick to what I have found works for me for now.
I use FXCM’s MarketScope 2.0 for my charting, as they offer everything I need in a charting platform, i.e. all my elements are available through this charting package.
Because they offer variable spreads however, I choose to use a different broker with fixed spreads as my account holder. I am considering CMS Forex for my next account as I have heard very good things concerning their banking and speed of transaction history. Infact, I haven’t heard anything bad about them. They do have some requirements, but, if you are truely at the level you need to be at to open a live account, you shouldn’t have any problems.
I have been with a few brokers and my favorite is Oanda. Tight spreads, nice platform, nice charts (although they do not offer weekly and monthly timeframes). They do not offer MT4.
I can’t say who is the best broker as I have only been trading live for about two months and with the same broker, on a micro account.
I trade with IBFX and so far love them here are my following experiences with them:
customer support: any questions I had I got answered instantly via web chat. I’m sure they heard my same noob questions over and over so already had the answers to them.
Execution of trades: Good. I use pending order sell stops and buy stops only. You get the, “off quote,” or, “requote,” message sometimes when trying to close, but that is only because price is moving and no longer where you were trying to close. If you just click, “yes close,” quickly it only ends up being off a few pips, often in your direction anyway.
Platform: They are integrated with MT4, which happens to be the charting package I like anyway.
Acccount set up/ Funding: I wired the money in my account and it showed up the same day. I had to fax a few papers for proof of who I was.
Connectivity: Only disconnected once on me and I’ve been trading just about every trading day and letting the platform run many hours past when I was done trading. Was able to reconnect inside of 30 seconds. This was in the middle of a trade, but the only one time it happened so far. I even did a very small value per pip value trade, and let it run the whole night to see if it would still be connected in the morning. Yep it was. Of course if my DSL connection had gone down that would have created a disconnect on my end.
6: spread: I only trade the GPD/USD currently. Sticking to one pair for sake of consistency and learning how one pair moves. Anyway, the spread they quote is almost always what it is, which is 4 pips. The only time is gets really big 10-20 pip spread is a couple of minutes during a news release. So, if you are worried about spreads check what they quote and it will probably be pretty close on that pair.
7: Scalping: I did it for two weeks winning or losing between 5-15 pips a trade. Personally I hate scalping, but I think it could work just fine at IBFX with the right pair and a currency that doesn’t have a huge spread. I don’t know what their policy is on scalping, but if what a rep said to me is true I don’t think they will have a problem with it. I was told the following in not these exact words by IBFX: “we are a market maker but not a deal desk. We don’t trade against our traders. We create a market using a pool of banks to create liquidity. We make money of the spread only. So, it is in our best interest that you keep trading with us and trade often. Traders who lose their accounts and quit don’t trade, so it wouldn’t make any sense for us to trade against them. We would be chasing away our own customers.”
IBFX sounded good until I came across these reviews.
Interbank FX Reviews | IBFX | Forex Trading Broker
It seems people are getting requoted quite often. It may be due to a lack of understanding or volatile markets I wouldn’t know until I try it myself. I sometimes get requoted on my demo account, but that is because the price is moving pretty fast.
Anyone notice that they are getting requoted way too much using IBFX? I’m not sure what to believe.
I’m new to forex and checking out brokers. So far i’ve used 3 or 4 different platforms including MT4. Currently i’m using FX solutions(GTS Pro), which i’m liking. ACM is nice, but only offer 100:1.
IMO, those people don’t understand volatility and price movment. If I try to close at 1.4753 and the price moves to 1.4758 in the time it take my order to reach the server you will get a requote message or an off quote message. As some of those reviewers have implied it does not continue until your trade is no longer profitable. IMO, another example of traders blaming the broker for their own downfalls and lack of understanding. If their is no one at the other end currently buying or selling at the price you wanted you are not going to get it.
If price is no longer there then you can’t get that price, period. I’ve found that the best way around the requote is to either:
Set a take profit.
Set a trailing stop.
Wait until price stalls for moment and close.
In 1&2, the order is already set. So, you don’t have to wait for the order to reach the server. So, it catches the price as it’s available. Where as if you are simply trying to close as it hits an exact profit price you may get a requote message.
I find I get the requote message on high momentum moves. Which makes sense becaues price is moving quickly.
I believe you can also set the, “maximum deviation,” and this will get rid of the problem. But, I was told by another IBFX user that it almost always hits the maxium deviation.