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The Foreign Exchange Market is the largest financial market in the world. However, this market does not have a central place where activities take place from. And because of this, any would-be investor who wants to make money off the Forex market must choose a broker. There are many of them on the internet. But unfortunately, not all of them are into it to safeguard your interest. The dishonest ones employ all kinds of tricks to steal or deny you a fair opportunity for trading in a transparent environment. Thankfully, we can use this Forex Brokers reviews guide to separate the wheat from the chaff. We can learn how to pick the right ones and ignore the dishonest ones who employ unethical ways of doing brokerage business on the web.
How to Choose the Right Forex Broker?
Regulatory Compliance
FX Brokers must adhere to very strict operational standards and requirements set by the regulatory bodies in their jurisdiction. If these requirements are breached, then the Forex broker in question can have their license number revoked.
These regulatory bodies make sure that Forex brokers are adhering to ethical ways of doing business so that retail traders and other players can enjoy a safe and transparent environment where there is fairness to all.
The best Forex brokers who are registered in the US will be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). NFA is concerned with developing rules, programs, and even services which ensure that the integrity of the Forex market is protected. This is for the overall benefit of the market, those who trade it and the investor in general.
And then there is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, otherwise known as the CFTC. This organization regulates the futures and options market with the US. Their main aim is to protect market users from potential fraud, manipulation, or abusive practices which may take place within the futures/options market.
Therefore, if this broker is based in the United States, they must be a member of these independent regulatory bodies. If they are based in the UK, you should probably check if they are registered with the relevant regulatory bodies governing Forex trading in that jurisdiction.
Beware of Forex brokers who donāt state their license numbers on their websites. If this is not mentioned anywhere in the āāabout usāā page or at the footer of the website, run! We have listed those Forex brokers scams, you should check them.
Forex Broker’s Account Details
(a) Commission & spreads
A Forex broker makes money by charging commission on a specific percentage of spreads traded. Others state that they make money off your trading activities by charging the spread difference. The spread difference is incorporated into every position that is opened by you. That is why every position must start in the negative zone as price climbs or drops in your favor. For instance, if you took a long position (Buy) for the EURUSD currency pair at the price of 1.45, that position would be opened at 1.4 or lower depending on the spreads which the broker is charging for that currency pair. You would automatically enter the market with a -0.05 pip difference.
Take note that some brokers charge very high commissions per trade. If you are the type of trader who enters several positions in a day, these charges could quickly add up and set you back with a large margin. Therefore, if you choose to work with a Forex broker who charges commissions, either change your trading style or look for a broker with affordable commission. This is why one should read authentic Forex Broker reviews right before he/she is going to select one and invest.
The same applies to spreads. Some Forex brokers have abnormal spreads, and they will always use excuses to defend their reason for charging high spreads. You see, abnormal spreads make it difficult to attain your financial goals. You can imagine if all your trades started at -15 pips against you. Thatās such a big difference in price so to speak. Avoid such scam brokers at all cost.
(b) Margin and leverage
Forex brokers can leverage your account to various ratios upon request. The most common leverage ratios are 50:1, 100:1. 200:1, all the way to 500:1. If your $1000 account is leveraged to the ratio of 400:1, it means you can control positions in the size of $400,000. Basically, leverage is just a loan extension which your broker gives to facilitate your trading. Generally, the higher the leverage, the more profit you can make. The opposite is also true. Unfortunately, leverage is a double-edged sword in the sense that when it magnifies your profits, it also magnifies your losses in case a trade goes against you.
Therefore, if you are a holder of a margin account, find out what leverage your broker can provide you with. Then choose this ratio according to your trading strategy.
(c) Minimum deposit and ease with which you can deposit and cash out profits
Most Forex brokers have a minimum investment for funding a margin account. Some high-end brokers will require a minimum investment of $500. Others will create different accounts for clients with different financial capabilities. It is for this reason that the same broker will accept a minimum investment of $50 or $300 for the account which you shall choose to open.
In short, you can trade with as little as $50. Others even let you start your trading with $20. Generally speaking, brokers offer different types of accounts with varying initial deposit requirements. Again, you need to pick an account that best suits your financial capabilities and trading preference.
What is more, Forex brokers offer multiple deposit and withdrawal methods for your convenience. Credit cards are just one way of making payments/cashing out. But most brokers now allow wire transfer as well as PayPal, Skrill and Neteller. Again, you need to choose a broker that will let you use a means of payment that is convenient to you. The speed with which you can deposit and cash out also matters. Most Forex brokers will be glad to share this information with you. So find out from them from best Forex broker reviews.
Currency Pairs Offered by Forex BrokersĀ
Liquidity is essential in Forex trading. Some currency pairs will get the most attention that others due to the frequency with which they are traded. The most common ones are EURUSD, GBPJPY, AUDCAD, and USDCHF pairs. Forex brokers donāt have trouble offering these currency pairs. In fact, they can even have a long list of assets to trade. What matters is whether or not the broker in question has a currency pair which youāre most interested in. If they donāt have it, you might need to skip them in favor of the next Forex broker.
Customer service
There are various ways in which Forex brokers keep in touch with their clients when there is need to. The most popular ways to contact a broker is through phone, email, or chat message. But the million dollar question is, how fast do they respond to queries or issues raised against them? How friendly are the customer service agents?
Luckily, this is something you can test even with their demo account. Find out if their chat functionality is effective by asking questions which you genuinely want to find answers to. Try raising an issue and see how fast they will attend to it. If they are always hesitant to respond quickly, you should probably look elsewhere.
You will also need to contact them when asking questions related to their spreads, licensing and other details. If the customer service agent is not willing to reveal important details pertaining to your trading activities, skip the broker. Secondly, if they donāt know how to answer questions precisely, then it means you will have trouble with them when you eventually fund a live trading account. This could be an indication of how incompetent they are. While investigating a broker for our Forex Broker reviews, customer service is a main criteria to rate the brokers.
Finally, you may also want to ask them details pertaining to their trade volume. If that figure is big enough, then it means that you will get better pricing as well as instant execution when entering or exiting the market. You could add this point into your list of must-have features in a Forex broker.
Forex Broker’s Trading PlatformĀ
The best Forex brokers on the internet will allow traders to enjoy the experience by providing them with world-class trading software. The software should generally be user-friendly and free from bugs. It should be pleasing to the eye and sufficiently equipped with tools needed to trade the market. This means that the software in question must provide all technical analysis tools which you normally rely on for your trading activities. If any of the tools needed for this job is missing, then you should probably be ready to face the disappointments of entering/exiting the market without it.
Generally speaking, MT4 software offers everything that you will ever need to trade the Forex market like a pro. The same applies to cTrader by Spotware. If you donāt like how MT4 feels or looks like, you can switch to a broker that offers cTrader instead. Ctrader is user-friendly, intuitive, fun and convenient to use even if you are a newbie. However, the software does not look or feel like MT4. These differences may be the reason why most people choose MT4 while others go for cTrader.
Also, this means that you must choose a Forex broker who runs the latest MT4 or MT5 software (if you prefer trading with MT4). But if you prefer to use cTrader, then it would mean doing a little bit of research since many brokers only run MT4 and MT5 software. These options are fully customizable and compatible with Forex robots. You may need to do a little bit of learning before you get the hang of it.
Another thing to note is that most Forex brokers offer these applications in 2 formats. You can either download or access them directly from your browser. This is a question of convenience anyway. Go for what makes your work easier.
Finally, the top Forex brokers out there will run trading apps that can be accessed on mobile devices as well. If you prefer mobile trading, consider it a plus.
Conclusion
While this guide is about choosing the best Forex broker to do business with on the internet, most of the work lies in researching and actually finding that broker. Unless you find a good Forex broker, chances are that you will struggle to make it in the competitive Forex market. Practice patience as you go through the ever growing list of Forex brokers who claim to offer world-class brokerage services to their clients. Find out if they can tick most items in your checklist of preferred FX brokers. Only commit when youāre confident about them. You should read our comprehensive Forex broker reviews right before you opt one to invest, there are hundreds of brokers out there and merely a handful of them are only genuine and profit giving. So always do an extensive investigation about brokers before you put your money in.