Which is the Best Forex Broker to trade FX with? Any recommendations?

How to find the Best Forex Broker to trade FX with?
What you need to know before trading Forex?
The myths about Forex
Getting started with Online Forex and CFD brokers

How to find the Best Forex Broker to trade FX with?

This is the type of a question that’s on every trader’s mind.

But how does one define reliability? What do you need to know in order to choose a reliable broker? What are the good and bad conditions of brokerage services?

These questions are relevant not only for a newcomer but for every trader.

And that’s what we are going to talk about in this article.

First, let’s establish our criteria to define a broker’s reliability.

As practice shows, the following moments are the most important:

Trading conditions
Adding and withdrawing funds
Client reviews
Quality of client support

See the list of online Forex and CFD brokers

1. Trading Conditions

A broker is an intermediary between the trader and the market, that’s why you should take a look at the spreads.

If you pay too much for the spreads, you may be better off finding another broker.

Swaps are also important. Too many negative swaps while holding open positions can be a warning signal.

You also need to pay attention to the account type.

A Non-Dealing Desk (NDD) account means that the quotes are obtained directly from the market (STP broker technology), which is the golden standard of a reliable Forex broker.

Lastly, all the information about the trading conditions must be explicitly stated on the company’s website.

2. Fund Deposit and Withdrawal

Good brokers offer only reliable ways of adding funds.

Bank transfer and card payments are good examples of that.

Also, there are a few electronic money transfer systems such as WebMoney, Neteller, Skrill and UnionPay.

However, the former two options are the most reliable.

It goes without mentioning that the quicker you can add funds into your account, the more reliable your broker is.

And if you’re still unsure about your broker, don’t be too eager to add large amounts of money to your account.

Use demo account for training. Note how easy or difficult it is for you to conduct trade, and pay attention to what the leverage, lot, and spread are.

If you’re experiencing any lags when opening orders or have any other reasons for questioning your broker, remember: there are plenty of other broker companies on the market, you don’t have to take any risks.

And if you’re happy with your broker, go ahead, add the money and start working.

3. Reviews by traders

It is quite normal even for the best companies to have a certain number of negative comments on the Internet.

Unlucky novice traders, who could not stop their losses in time, blame brokers for their failure.

Also, there are trolls who would defame anyone and everyone for no good reason.

So, you must be cautious to trust online reviews.

It is always better to base your opinion on independent sources where people explain their view regarding this or that company. This can be forums, rating sites, or blogs.

There can be no doubt that the longer the broker has been in the market, the larger the number of reviews he will have collected. Thus, online comments can be tricky to trust.

There is only one sure way, and that is to become a client of a broker and make up your own mind based on past experiences.

But if you happen to see a flood of negative comments on a broker, it would only make sense to avoid them.

4. Quality of client support

In order to rate the quality of client support, you don’t need to look up information online.

It is enough to find the broker’s contact details and call them with your questions.

If you receive a warm response, adequate answers, and feel no tension in the conversation, it means you have probably found your broker.

See the Ranking of online Forex and CFD brokers

What you need to know before trading Forex?

You can hear a lot of people talking about opening a demo or a real account.

Various promising slogans from the broker companies always lure in new people who want to have a flexible schedule, work independently and have a steady income.

This dream can become your reality. However, there are a few basic things that you need to know before starting your financial rise to the top of the Forex Olympus.

1. What is Forex and how does it work?

Forex is an international market for currency exchange.

The way it works is very similar to any other market: buy low, sell high.

You buy a currency at one rate, sell at the other, and the difference is your profit.

This principle applies to investors, traders, banks, etc.

It’s worth to note that we live in a wonderful time when not only large companies but also anyone can gain access to the Forex market.

However, in order to make a decent profit there, you need to have a large amount of money in your possession, a million euros, for example.

In reality, one rarely can afford investing such a large sum of money, without taking all risks of speculative trading into consideration.

This is why broker companies are so popular; they can increase your funds by a few times, using the principle of leverage.
Let’s say you have the leverage of 1:100.

You invested $5,000, your leverage increases it by a 100 times up to $500,000.

All this provides an excellent opportunity for anyone willing to try their hand at trading in Forex.

2. It’s extremely important to choose the right broker

There are numerous broker companies that promise colossal profits to their potential clients, however you should keep an eye out for a few moments:

Trading conditions
Platform reliability
Spread width
Type of order to use
Reliability of connection with the broker
Conditions on Stop Orders and Entry Orders
Methods of managing open positions (phone, mail, skype, etc.)

3. Learning is the only way

Everyone’s heard of the American Dream, pursuit of happiness and riches, but we say: “Keep your head down, and your tail up.” Before you get your first profit, you need to put in some work: take your time with training, learn different strategies, specifics of financial markets, and study how other successful traders operate.

Don’t forget about the goals that brokers pursue, what makes up their profit? What’s better: no commissions or minimal spreads? The decision is yours, although you should not have to go far for the answer.

4. Learning a trading platform

Forex is a very large market and also one of the most liquid ones out there.

In order to become a successful trader, you need to follow the latest economic news, and that’s why there is a special software known as a trading platform.

Trading platforms gained popularity with the rapid expansion of the Internet.

They ensure safety and create a convenient environment for trading.

Trading platforms are available for PC’s, phones, tablet PC’s, smartphones, and almost any other gadget that allows you to install third-party software.

The main functions of a trading platform include displaying currency pairs with their exchange rates in the real-time mode and an interface to complete transactions.

5. Understanding two basic types of market analysis: fundamental and technical

Without the proper market analysis, your trading is bound to fail.

You don’t necessarily have to know all the details of the analysis when you start out, however you must understand what factors influence the market behavior (world economic news), and be able to properly interpret current trends.

6. Managing capital

When working with funds and managing capital, we first need to determine the ratio of the actual deposit to the trade size.

The main principle is that the loan should not exceed 10% of the total deposit.

In the future, you will need to expand your views for a more comprehensive understanding of capital management principles.

7. Trading strategies

If you want to work out your personal strategies, you need to get familiar with the already existing ones.

And there are a great many available.

As you probably know, everything in our lives follows a trend, so does the Forex market.

For example, a lot of people think that EUR/USD and GBP/USD currency pairs show little movement during the day but speed up at night; AUD/USD and NZD/USD movements often coincide.

Thus, based on similar observations, were created the following strategies: Martingale, Grid, Scalping, Day Trading, Arbitrage, Anti-Martingale, Breakout, Trend following, Trading the News, etc.

With time, you will understand what strategy suits you best or work out your own strategy.

However, you must remember that you should always have a plan in mind if want to make a profit.

8. Use demo account for training

Before moving on to the real trading, you must gain enough experience with the demo account.

Patience is a virtue, if you ignore this opportunity to train, it’ll come back to bite you.

Remember, you must know how to open an order of any type including Entry Orders and Exit Orders (Take Profit, Trailing Stop, Stop Loss, etc.).

You must also know how to use the indicators, adjust the news feed, and so on.

Once you are comfortable with these things, you can open a real account.

To conclude, we should note that currency trading is no game. Nothing great comes without effort.

The Forex market, too, has its own rules and principles that you have to abide by if you want to succeed.

If you don’t learn the math, you won’t solve the problems, just like if you don’t know how to control your voice, you won’t be able to sing.

The Forex market is a serious financial industry that demands experience and fundamental knowledge.

See the list of online Forex and CFD brokers

The myths about Forex

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market ) is a global decentralized market for the trading of currencies.

The word ‘Exchange’ refers to any trading place for changing one kind of asset to another (stocks, futures trading etc.).

Unfortunately, as in any other business there are both honest and dishonest companies.

Due to the latter ones, there are a lot of myths, lies and tales about Forex in people’s mind which creates false perceptions of the financial markets for both novices and experienced traders.

In this article we shall attempt to dispel these myths and prejudices so that you will be able to understand correctly the essence of the trading process in currency markets.

Unfortunately, many traders who once used to be promising market players, have left trading forever, having believed in this false perception.

1. Forex is a mere lie.

We all know how gossip arises: “One my friends told me how his friend was fooled…”.

Without fully understanding the situation and then making judgments based on such statements one could be forgiven for supposing that the Forex market is a lie.

There are a lot of traders, especially novices, who invested a lot of money without having enough training or experience.

Without sufficient knowledge and understanding of the trading processes, they are likely to lose their money fast.

Afterwards, these people follow the standard ploy: they spread information about this “awful” Forex market disregarding the vital details of their lack of experience and knowledge of the markets.

It is important to remember that there are a lot of people who are genuinely making or have already made money in the Forex market.

However, this is the result of learning the system over many years, hard work, purposefulness and diligence.

2. I can make money in the Forex market fast and easy.

The high liquid Forex market opens immense possibilities for anyone who wants to attempt trading on the Forex Exchange.

Consider this: the high number and variety of brokerage companies, materials for training and vast leverage which allow for returns far exceeding the trader’s deposit create an illusion of becoming extremely rich extremely quickly- just like in a fairy-tale.

However, as is well-known, life is not a fairy-tale, and the stories of instant success conceal the fact of every day hardworking.

In other words, it’s almost impossible to make money fast.

But after you attain experience and knowledge, you’ll soon be able to make profitable deals and good money.

3. In the Forex market people lose the shirt off their backs and their savings.

This myth belongs to the series “One my friend gave his last shirt off his back in the Forex market”.

Indeed, there are people who have lost large amounts in the Forex markets but it is important to remember that nobody forced them do what they did.

If you follow this way of thinking, one can say that people draw on their savings for shops, restaurants and other entertainment.

However, this is the conscious choice of the individual.

The conclusion here is as follows: don’t give your last shirt and don’t make investments using banking loans and mortgaged property.

Let your first steps in the Forex be small and well thought out.

Don’t be in a hurry: start with a small deposit and step by step you will be able to increase your fortune.

Never risk what you cannot afford to lose and always carefully consider your next move.

4. The Forex market is only good for short-term deals; it’s not a serious business.

In fact, in comparison with other financial markets, Forex is better suited for making short-term deals.

However, it’s not worth focusing only on intraday trading or scalping strategies.

After choosing a currency pair as an investment tool (as well as stocks, futures, or securities), you can then consider a long-term strategy and in such a way protect yourself from the market noise and deals based more on emotion.

Moreover, if you keep in control of your emotions and have a target in terms of the profit you wish to achieve, you will more often than not achieve good results due to the long-term strategies.

5. I’ve found an ideal strategy.

As it well known, the Forex market is rather volatile, and this is good. However, price movements depend upon many factors.

Due to these factors, there are moments when it is impossible to predict the state of the market, and a trader sooner or later will have to face losing some of his investment.

This is the reality of the market and it is important that you understand this fact.

For sure you can attempt some form of Forex-alchemy to find some “unbeatable” strategy, but most probably your attempts will not be crowned with success.

The best strategy is a comprehensive analysis of the world economic situation combined with different hedging techniques and tools.

A good trader is a flexible trader.

6. It’s all under the control of the Forex market, and there is no sense in trying it.

After having failed in the currency market, some traders often try to justify their ill-considered deals or mistaken decisions by blaming brokerage companies and international banking operations of dishonesty and fraud.

They are then, more often than not extremely keen to share their opinion with the whole world.

However, anyone can become a victim of fraud, and the Forex market is not an exception.

However, traders must always consider their own financial safety and always apply common sense.

If you don’t want to become a victim of fraud, you firstly need to find a competent, honest Forex broker.

Don’t choose a broker based on advertising on the Internet, but make your decision based on your personal communications with a brokerage company, real customers’ feedback and the style of the brokerage company that you are considering.

Let’s say that we are considering a STP-broker.

This kind of a brokerage company is directly interested in your profit and will never let his customer lose money.

In other words, take the smart approach, analyze information and thereby minimize your risks.

7. I will only work with Bucket Shop brokerage companies, as they have the highest leverage, don’t charge fees and therefore offer the best return.

Bucket Shop brokerage companies can afford to offer attractive leverage.

No fees and minimum requirements to a deposit attract Forex market novices in the best way possible.

Unfortunately, not everyone understands that this leverage hides your own risks.

STP-brokerage companies charge fees and make no secret about it as it’s the main source of their profit unlike Bucket Shops whose profit is based on your losses.

Think about this very carefully.

8. The risks in the Forex market are too high. The game is not worth the risk.

The question regarding risks is not a simple one.

Imagine that you have never invested your money (just as the risks in the Forex market are high, banks can also face crises, and if you invest in real estate, you can become a victim of a real estate developer).

Let us assume that you just get your salary, live paycheck-to-paycheck and invest nothing. Do you think that you bear no risks?

In reality you do; you can be fired, your company may become unable to pay your salary, or your money could even be stolen from your home.

This only goes to show that, one way or another, we always bear risks no matter how we try to avoid them.

The Forex market as with any other business bears some risks.

However our task is to minimize them.

What is better: to invest and increase your fortune or spend your income proving yourself that Forex bears too high a risk? The decision here is up to you.

However you must remember: very few people in the world who genuinely make an effort to achieve their goals achieve nothing.

9. News release trading is an easy way to make money.

There are a lot of experienced traders whose main strategy is to trade in news releases.

This makes market novices follow more experienced colleagues. However, you should remember that the impact of the regular news releases cannot be always predicted for sure.

The fundamental analysis as that any kind of forecast is just an opinion and not a 100 percent true fact.

It should be noted that graphs do not show the information immediately as there can be lack of liquidity.

Moreover, the first movements can be false.

To achieve success in trading news releases, you have to analyze the information you receive, open orders in time and use different financial tools.

10. The Forex market lives on its own.

Currency movements against each other depend upon the following factors: the policy of the influential banks, the state of economy, national conflicts, the unemployment rate, etc.

If a trader doesn’t take into account these factors and bases his decisions solely on a technical analysis, he risks bearing losses.

Any significant event in the world can render your technical analysis worthless in no time at all.

Consequently, the myth about the independency of the Forex market is a baseless one.

In our article we described the most popular myths that have spread among novices in the financial markets.

Remember that you can always find your own way.

You just need to see beyond your nose and not to stop at what you have initially achieved.

Your friend’s way is not your way.

Don’t try on someone else’s failures and don’t close your eyes to the gains of successful traders.

Always learn to make your own conclusions and always be on the lookout look for good advice.

If you decide that investing is not for you and you don’t accept the fact that many really do make money in the Forex, it’s your decision.

However, if you follow the rule “ If someone else can do this, then I can, too”, then that is also your choice.

Remember that you’ll never be fooled, if you are armed with enough information about the financial markets.

Don’t be idle; – fill the gaps in your knowledge.

Don’t invest money you cannot afford to lose and don’t argue with those who have failed.

Just remember that in 90 percent of cases it’s the traders who are the reason for their own failure.

Forex and CFD brokers Ranking

Getting started with Online Forex and CFD brokers

Before diving in and tackling the hardships of trading in financial markets, ask yourself, “What are my goals?” If your answer was “to make a profit,” then you’re definitely on the right track.

Whether you decide to make some extra cash or reach more distant financial goals, you will need to have a deep understanding of financial processes.

However, we won’t go into the details of that today.

In this article, we are going to talk about a more straightforward matter, although every trader has to go through it at least once. That is creating a new account.

A lot of us have some system for rating broker companies.

We browse through the websites, read the offers, take note of the spreads, fees, and other parameters of interest.

But a better way to get the information would be creating a new account.

Some people don’t want to spend their time doing that, much to their own detriment, we should say.

But let’s take a look at the advantages you can obtain by creating a new account.

1. Don’t hesitate, create a new account right now.

It will only take a few minutes of your time, but you will get the whole package of new features.

First, our distinctive feature. You will be able to check on a broker’s progress.

Have you received a check-up call from the client support service, or have they made you feel like you’re an appreciated client?

If the answer is no – that should be a warning signal.

Second, if a broker has any interest in their clients, they will take their time to call and tell you about their best up-to-date offer.

If you create accounts in several companies, you will be able to rate and compare different offers.

You must admit, this is a lot more than just reading through a website.

Third, a new account doesn’t put any obligations on you.

You won’t be pressured into doing something you don’t want.

Fourth, if you happen to decide to open a real account, a broker’s representative might offer you a very good deal just to win your favor. For you, this might be a unique opportunity that you wouldn’t want to pass.

2. Use your real personal data.

We understand that a lot of people want to keep their information private.

However, currently, brokers have a very high level of information protection, especially if we’re talking about a European regulated brokers.

All your personal data will be kept safe with us.

In case you don’t use your real data, you might forget the details later and lose the opportunity to get additional bonuses, unique offers, etc.

Finally, remember that investors are rich and widely respected people, that’s also why you wouldn’t want to fake your identity.

It doesn’t matter what amount of money you have when you join an online Forex broker.

You deserve to be treated with respect and will have the best experience if you use your real data: full name, phone number, and e-mail.

3. Remember that a small deposit can cause a great disappointment.

Unfortunately, as practice shows, the traders who come into the market with small deposits (less than $1,000) sooner or later lose their money.

This has to do with the fact that they are setting themselves up for the risks that they are not able to properly assess.

Only the top-tier professionals can allow themselves to safely trade with such small deposits.

That’s why we recommend you to seek advice from an independent expert as to what amount to start with using your instrument and strategy.

4. Safety comes first.

Do not disclose the login details to your account as well as to your trading platform.

Even if you’re talking to a professional client manager, please resolve all issues concerning your password over the e-mail or in-person (in the company’s office).

This will ensure the safety of your data.

Remember, if you have signed up but don’t want to open a real account for some reason, you will miss the currently available bonuses.

The broker might also lose their interest over time, and while you’re teetering as to when to start your financial career, the current conditions will change.

However, there is no need to rush if you are a novice in the market.

It would be best for you to talk to a reliable independent expert.

See the list of Forex and CFD brokers