I’ve been looking at a few different brokers as well as some of the ‘how to choose a broker’ resources here on babypips, but does anyone know of a way to compare different brokers and the spreads they offer? Thanks for any help and happy new year to everyone as well.
Don’t get caught in the lowest spread game in choosing a broker. There are other considerations just as important like liquidity and keeping the spread nearly constant which means orders filled at the expected price without a lot of requotes or slippage. There is no point in trying for an extra pip in spread if that advantage is lost with delays in fills and slippage. Thats why I like fixed spreads brokers like FXSolutions.
CM is right with the other considerations. Go with an ecn is my recommendation!
I’ve been comparing a lot of brokers and I agree that it shouldn’t just be about spreads. There are some brokers that show low spreads but are in countries I wouldn’t trust. Right now, I’m down to Oanda and the new Free EXN plan at MBT. Think I’ll open live accounts on both and test them out.
Thanks for the tips everyone. The FX Intelligence Analyzer and the Forex Broker CyberSearch are pretty handy. I also looked at the free EXN that MB Trading offers and they show their own spread comparison, similar to the FX intelligence analyzer one. Interestingly, Mb shows their own spreads and those of their competitors in what looks like a ‘real time’ fashion, so that seems like a point in their favor in terms of being a broker that I might use for a live account.
In hindsight, I should probably have phrased the question a bit better because I think I was looking more for an easy way to compare the spreads of various brokers – not so much the one with the absolute tightest spreads. I will probably do more demo accounts with various brokers, but do my live trading with an ecn broker.
I’ve experienced slippage with FXSol on a stop loss set at BE. I was surprised. The next thought is…how many other stops may have slipped. A break even stop going negative is hard to miss, but locking in profit or SL it can easily be overlooked.
I’m just saying it’s possible with them.
Your first posting made you sound like a complete hopeless newbie. I like your approach in the latest posting and hope you are successful.
LOL, thanks, CodeMeister! It is entirely possible that I am still a hopeless newbie, but hopefully I’ll be one of those blind squirrels who finds a nut when it comes to trading. I’m definitely doing my broker homework!