Forex Broker Guide

Introduction

The following is a list of questions you may like to ask yourself, your broker and other traders about a particular firm you have in mind. You can use this checklist to narrow down your selection of forex companies to fit your requirements. You might also like to read the forex broker ratings page on this site to see how other traders are rating and reviewing other brokers.

The following links will also give you some background information on U.S. FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants).

• Selected Financial Data for FCMs
• NFA Background Affiliation Status

1. Word of Mouth

• What do other traders say about the broker?
• What is their customer service/dealing desk like?

2. Safety of Funds

• Is the broker regulated?
• What regulatory organisation are they registered with and what protections does this afford you?
• Are client funds insured against fraud at the firm?
• Are client funds insured against bankruptcy of the firm?

3. Execution

• What business model do they operate? i.e. Market Maker, ECN or NDD?
• How fast is their order execution?
• Are orders manually or automatically executed?
• What is the maximum trade size before you are put on manual execution?
• Are all clients trades offset?

4. Spread

• How tight is the spread?
• Is it fixed or variable?
• Is it larger for mini accounts?

5. Slippage

• How much slippage can be expected in normal and fast moving markets?

6. Margin

• What is the margin requirement? e.g. 0.25% (max 400:1 leverage), 0.5% (max 200:1 leverage), 1% (max 100:1 leverage), 2% (max 50:1 leverage), etc.
• Does it change for different currency pairs or days of the week?
• Is it the same for standard and mini accounts?

7. Commissions

• Do they charge commissions? (Most market makers commissions are built into the spread, whereas ECN's charge a small fee)

8. Rollover Policy

• Is there a minimum margin requirement in order to earn rollover interest?
• What other requirements or conditions are there for earning rollover interest?

9. Trading Platform

• How reliable is it during fast moving markets and news announcements?
• How many different currency pairs can you trade?
• Do they offer an Application Programming Interface (API) for automated trading systems?
• Does it offer any other special features? (e.g. One click dealing, trading from the chart, trailing stops, mobile trading etc.)

10. Trading Account

• What is the minimum account opening balance?
• What is the minimum trade size?
• Can you adjust the standard lot size traded?
• Can you earn interest on unused equity in your account?

Recommended Forex Broker

Why Hotspot FX?

HotspotFX is a forex ECN (Electronic Communications Network) that routes your orders to the best available price from its partner banks and/or other traders. HotspotFX offers 1-3 pip spreads on the majors, instant execution, no dealing desk, one click dealing and an anonymous trading environment.

Broker, not a Market Maker

HotspotFX acts as a broker, matching up orders between buyers and sellers and charges a fee for the transaction ($3 per $100,000 traded). HotspotFX does not profit by taking the other side of clients orders.

Earn the Spread

Every trader on the platform has the option of being a market maker. Clients can enter in their own bids and offers into the platform either inside or outside the spread, and if their bid or offer is hit, they can either eliminate or earn the spread.

Free Charts & News

Every client receives free charting from FXTrek and a free subscription to Market News International, a live news feed.

Screenshots

Click on the image for a larger view

Click on the image for a larger view

Details

• Founded:
  • January 2001
• Regulated By:
  • US CFTC. Member of NFA #0351580
• Safety of Funds:
  • Insured with a Fidelity 14 Bond
• Trading Hours:
  • 24 hour trading from 6:00 PM EST Sunday - 4:30 PM EST Friday
• Execution:
  • ECN type model (Electronic Communication Network)
  • Average execution time is 17 hundredths of a second
  • Clients trade instantly on live, multibank prices (no requotes)
  • Unlike dealer platforms, Hotspot FX does not trade against client orders
  • Hotspot FX is not a market maker and does not run a trading desk
  • Individual prices are good for up to 10 million units of the base currency
  • Good for scalping
• Platform:
  • Clients have the ability to act as a market maker and earn the spread
  • Ability to trade inside the spread by entering your own bids and offers
  • Clients can see real-time display of all bids, offers and quantities on the platform
  • One click dealing
  • Free charts from FXTrek
  • Free news feed from Market News International
  • API available for automating trading systems
• Typical Spread on Majors:
  • 1-3 pips. Sometimes choice (no spread) on EUR/USD
• Margin:
  U.S. Dollar-based currency pairs and cross-currency pairs (except Polish zloty):
  • 2% of open position for accounts up to $100,000
  • 3% for accounts above $100,000
  • 4% of open position for USD/PLN (zloty) and the cross currency pair EUR/PLN (zloty). This 4% PLN margin requirement is maintained on all accounts
• Commissions:
  • $3 per 100,000 units of the base currency
• Currency Pairs:
  • (16) - EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, EUR/JPY, EUR/CHF, EUR/GBP, USD/PLN, EUR/PLN, AUD/JPY, GBP/JPY, EUR/SEK, CAD/JPY, CHF/JPY
• Minimum trade size:
  • 100,000 units of the base currency
• Minimum opening balance:
  • $7,500

• Free Demo Account - Sign up for a free demo account with instant access to your account. Note that the demo only reflects business being carried out on the demo. Stop and limit orders can only be entered on the live platform.
  
• Open Live Account - Please name GoForex.net as your referring broker on your account application. Thank you!

Disclaimer:

There are risks involved in trading Foreign Exchange. Trading is not appropriate for everyone. Hotspot FXR, LLC does not provide financial advice. Consumers should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Current Ratings of Forex Brokers

Click on the headings to sort the table

Broker	Type	Options	Votes	Avg. Rating	Weighted Avg. Rating	Reviews
FXCM No Dealing Desk	NDD	Rate	14	6.7	6.4	FXCM No Dealing Desk Reviews
Interactive Brokers	ECN	Rate	4	7.5	6.4	Interactive Brokers Reviews
EFX Group	ECN	Rate Compare	3	7.7	6.3	EFX Group Reviews
North Finance	MM	Rate	2	8.0	6.2	North Finance Reviews
Gain Capital	MM	Rate	1	9.0	6.0	Gain Capital Reviews
IFX Markets (cbfx)	MM	Rate Compare	1	8.0	5.8	IFX Markets (cbfx) Reviews
Saxo Bank	MM	Rate	3	6.7	5.8	Saxo Bank Reviews
Oanda	MM	Rate Compare	10	5.9	5.7	Oanda Reviews
Interbank FX	MM	Rate	9	5.9	5.7	Interbank FX Reviews
CMC Markets	MM	Rate	4	5.5	5.3	CMC Markets Reviews
CMS Forex	MM	Rate	10	4.8	4.9	CMS Forex Reviews
GCI Financial	MM	Rate	4	4.0	4.4	GCI Financial Reviews
FX Solutions	MM	Rate Compare	6	3.8	4.2	FX Solutions Reviews
FXCM	MM	Rate	5	3.4	4.0	FXCM Reviews
ACM	MM	Rate	1	1.0	4.0	ACM Reviews
Easy Forex	MM	Rate	2	1.5	3.6	Easy Forex Reviews
GFT Forex	MM	Rate Compare	10	3.1	3.5	GFT Forex Reviews
FXDD	MM	Rate	3	1.7	3.3	FXDD Reviews
Forex.com	MM	Rate	5	1.4	2.8	Forex.com Reviews
Totals & Averages:			97	5.0	5.0

Other Brokers

Broker	Options	Votes	Rating	Weighted Avg. Rating	Reviews
Capital Forex	Rate	1	10.0	7.8
Windsor Brokers	Rate	1	10.0	7.8
MB Trading	Rate	3	8.0	7.5	MB Trading Reviews
GFX Group	Rate	1	8.0	7.1	GFX Group Reviews
Synthesis Bank	Rate	1	8.0	7.1	Synthesis Bank Reviews
FXCast	Rate	1	7.0	6.8
ICF Holdings	Rate	1	7.0	6.8	ICF Holdings Reviews
One World	Rate	1	7.0	6.8	One World Reviews
Mig Investments	Rate	1	5.0	6.1	Mig Investments Reviews
IG Markets	Rate	2	5.5	6.1	IG Markets Reviews
Crown Forex	Rate	4	5.8	6.0	Crown Forex Reviews
PFG Forex	Rate	1	3.0	5.4	PFG Forex Reviews
I-Trade FX	Rate	1	2.0	5.1	I-Trade FX Reviews
Totals & Averages:		19	6.6	6.6

Related Links

• 2006-2007 Ratings
• 2005-2006 Ratings
• 2004-2005 Ratings

Rate Your Forex Broker

"Rate Your Broker" attempts to give you an opportunity to share your personal experiences of trading with a particular forex broker/dealer. Given that many dealers treat different customers differently depending on how they trade, how profitable they are, and how much business they bring in, "Rate Your Broker" attempts to reflect the average trading conditions provided to an individual trader who walks in off the street.

Instructions: Rate as many brokers/dealers as you have traded with in the last 12 months on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the highest rating and 1 is the lowest. Do not rate the same broker more than once in each annual survey. If your broker is not listed, please enter it in the "other" column below
and give a rating. Employees, affiliates and IB's
of brokers are not eligible to participate.

Note: Questions marked with a * are required fields.

Nickname:*
Email:*
Broker	Rating	Review
ACM:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	ACM Review:
Alpari:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Alpari Review:
CMC Markets:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	CMC Review:
CMS Forex:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	CMS Review:
Easy Forex:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Easy Forex Review:
EFX Group:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	EFX Group Review:
Forex.com:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Forex.com Review:
FXCM No Dealing Desk:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	FXCM No Dealing Desk Review:
FXDD:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	FXDD Review:
FXLQ:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	FXLQ Review:
FX Solutions:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	FX Solutions Review:
Gain Capital:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Gain Capital Review:
GCI Financial:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	GCI Financial Review:
GFT Forex:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	GFT Forex Review:
Hotspot FXR:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Hotspot FXr Review:
IFX Markets (cbfx.com):	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	IFX Markets (cbfx.com) Review:
IFX Markets.com (London):	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	IFX Markets London Review:
Interactive Brokers (IdealPro Forex):	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Interactive Brokers Review:
Interbank FX:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Interbank FX Review:
MG Forex:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	MG Forex Review:
North Finance:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	North Finance Review:
Oanda:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Oanda Review:
Realtime Forex:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Realtime Forex Review:
Saxo Bank:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Saxo Bank Review:
Other:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Other Review:
Other:	10 - Best987654321 - Worst	Other Review:
* I have traded a live account with this broker(s) in the last 12 months and I am not an employee, IB or affiliate with this firm(s).
Send me occasional newsletters from GoForex

Forex Brokers Sorted by COUNTRIES

USA [13] UK [2] Canada [2] Australia [1] Brazil [1] Bulgaria [1] Cyprus [1] Denmark [1] Germany [1] Italy [1] Japan [1] Afghanistan [-] Argentina [-] Armenia [-] Austria [-] Bangladesh [-] Belgium [-] Belize [-] Chile [-] China [-] Colombia [-] Colombia [-] Costa Rica [-] Croatia [-]

Switzerland [6] Russia [2] Jordan [1] Latvia [1] Luxembourg [1] Hong Kong [1] Hungary [1] Poland [1] Sweden [1] Czech Republic [-] Ecuador [-] Egypt [ -] Estonia [-] France [-] Georgia [-] Ghana [-] Greece [-] Guinea [-] Honduras [-] India [-] Indonesia [-] Iran [-] Iraq [-] Ireland [-]

British Virgin Islands [1] ECN FX broker [1] Jamaica [-] Kazakhstan [-] Kenya [-] Korea (South) [-] Kuwait [-] Lebanon [-] Lithuania [-] Macedonia [-] Malaysia [-] Mali [-] Malta [-] Mauritius [-] Mexico [-] Moldova [-] Mongolia [-] Morocco [-] Mozambique [-] Nepal [-] Netherlands [-] New Zealand [-] Nicaragua [-] Nigeria [-]

Pakistan [-] Israel [-] Panama [-] Philippines [-] Romania [-] Saudi Arabia [-] Senegal [-] Singapore [-] Slovenia [-] South Africa [-] Spain [-] Sri Lanka [-] Suriname [-] Taiwan [-] Tajikistan [-] Thailand [-] Tunisia [-] Turkey [-] Ukraine [-] United Arab Emirates [-] Venezuela [-] Vietnam

Forex.com aka gain capital group-Forex Brokers

Welcome, my friends.

I`ll start reviewing with Forex.com.

From their site:

FOREX.com … division of GAIN Capital Group, one of the most respected online forex trading firms in the industry. The company’s flagship service, GAIN Capital, is used by institutional investors, professional money managers and experienced day traders from over 140 countries.

I can not agree that forex.com is one of the most respected online forex trading firms. After investigated a lot of sites found that there a lot of unsatisfied traders:

…This is the worst trading platform I have ever used. For starters the layout is appalling and account transaction statements won’t work. The java edition is very unstable, crashing every other minute. Secondly, execution of orders is slow and you are only successful after several attempts. Thirdly when I tried phoning them I was waiting for half an hour before I gave up, nobody answered the phone. Their live chat is useful but they’ll give you a phone number and then when you try it they’ll say there are problems with that line, duh! Fourthly, their 5 pip spread on GBP! Don’t waste your time and money with them…

…First experience in FX was with them. Absolutely horrid platform. Of dealing desk brokers, hard to get any worse, only ACM lies with them at the bottom of the barrel. Their rollover policies royally suck and they have all the disadvantages of a dealing desk broker with none of the advantages…

and 2 positive:

…I have traded equities and currencies for the last 15 years, I recently added Forex trading to the fold. I open my first account with FXCM and never even entered a trade. They have a rule which prohibits entering limit orders at or near the current buy/sell price. After checking out several other firms I learned this was a common practice. I had heard a lot of shady things about Forex but this was unbelievable, talk about stacking the card in the houses favor. I then began to search around to see if this was industry standard. Luckily it was not I came across Forex.com. There service has been outstanding from opening the account, to trading the account. Yes there platform is a little primitive but who really relies on there platform for trade ideas, for that matter I don’t really even think that the pip spread matters either. I looked at the spread calculator on ONA! DA, that is completely misleading because the only thing that matters is what price you actually buy and sell your position. In trading you are either right or wrong. When you are right you need to make more then when you are wrong or you won’t be trading very long. What matters is that the pip spread is representative of the real market. Anyway the reason I am so happy with them is that they allow me to enter limit orders, stop orders, stop limit orders, or cancel other (OCO, and If then orders. All of these orders can be entered at any price I choose. They also give me Advanced Get which is an e-signal program which include e-signal data that is a compilation of over 200 banks and brokers best prices. They give me the tools to see the real market and don’t block me from entering my orders at the presice place and time in the market. I don’t know what else a trader could ask for. By the way I have not had a margin call yet, but according to what they tell me is that it is all done by there computer system. They are from the east coast and I bet if Felix argued enough they would have eaten that error. In my 15 years of trading I have had plenty of error and bad fills. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. Don’t let it get to you.

- second one i can`t find at this moment

GAIN Capital Group is pleased to offer individual investors access to its award-winning trading platform and professional-level services via FOREX.com.

FOREX.com is a registered Futures Commission Merchant (NFA ID #0339826) and a member of the National Futures Association. As an FCM, FOREX.com is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), must uphold the highest standards and business practices and is subject to strict financial requirements and reporting. Interested parties can visit the NFA web site at any time to review FOREX.com’s record as an NFA member in good standing…”

Oanda-Forex Broker

History

OANDA was spun out of an econometric research and development firm called Olsen and Associates by founders Richard Olsen and Michael Stumm in 1995.
6 years later…
Early 2001, OANDA launched its leading-edge FXTrade platform, allowing clients to participate directly in the forex market the largest, most dynamic market in the world. From day one, FXTrade set a new standard for service and efficiency. By opening the forex market to a new world of traders through innovative, more efficient features. By offering tangible advantages to all traders, speculators, professionals, hedge funds or corporations. By redefining the market and changing the way forex trading is done.

Today
Well earned reputation for reliability and integrity.
Flexible platform, allowing a trader to have sub accounts in numerous currencies.
Quick and easy login, 33 pairs - exotics such as usd/zar, usd/nok as well as spot gold (xau/usd) and silver (xag/usd). Spreads are perhaps the lowest around (in allot of cases matching the institutional platforms) and continuously falling (eur/usd 1.5 pips, usd/yen and aud/usd 2, gbp/usd 2.7, xau/usd 60 cents).
Fast and reliable execution.
Flexible order size/leverage that can be easily and quickly modified.
There is complete freedom in selecting trade size as a trade can be anywhere from one unit (eg. 1 dollar) up to 10 million units and 5000 units(ounces) for xau/usd per order.
Demo - FX GAME never expires and is identical to FX TRADE. Allows traders to try different strategies before going live.

From www.oanda.com site

OANDA has three lines of business based on its currency database. They include:

Currency Conversion and Localization
- For individuals
- For Businesses

Decision Support Tools for Institutional Investors

Currency Markets Transactions Services

Partners
American Express, Air Canada, British Airways, Sheraton, AOL, Travelocity, Netscape, Time, Infoseek (Disney), Cyberian Outpost, iVillage, Ernst & Young, Nokia, FedEx, Microsoft, DoubleClick, Conde Nast, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Excite and 24/7 Media

FXSol general info--Forex Broker

Company name:

FX Solutions LLC

Headquartered in Saddle River, New Jersey.
A member of the National Futures Association (NFA), registered with and fully regulated by the CFTC. All client deposits are held by JP Morgan Chase Bank

Services:
Self directed and managed accounts, money manager platform, charting, news, daily FX commentary, full reporting and back office, money manager performance and column 13 reporting, 24 hour trading and adminstration support, 24 hour chat, complete Introducing Broker services.

Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish

Minimum Investment: $250

Commissions: None

Pip spread on majors: 3-4 pip

Maximal Leverage: 50/1 100/1 200/1 400/1

Mini forex trading: Yes

Trading Platform: FX Solutions Global Trading System (GTS)

Free demo account: Yes

Contact info:
Saddle River Executive Centre, One Route 17 South, Saddle River, 07458.
United States

Phone: +1 800 9698365
Fax: +1 201 3452211
Website Address: www.fxsol.com www.fxsolutions.com
E-mail: info@fxsol.com

Regulated by:
NFA(US), CFTC(US)