The most common complaints, from my experience, are…
- Inability to withdraw funds.
- Huge spreads during times of fast market movement.
- Orders not executing. This includes both opening and closing orders.
When you find a broker that works for you, try using Tony Manso Forex software to make your trading life easier.
It’s important to understand that unlike more formal exchanges, the forex market is unregulated. You therefore depend on the general financial regulations of the broker’s jurisdiction, and the integrity of the broker themselves.
The right broker will depend on your location, account size and style of trading. So you will have to do your own research. But here are the issues you should be considering:
- Spreads and charges: what is the cost of trading with this broker?
- Liquidity and fills: do your trades get filled without excessive slippage?
- Regulation and security of funds: is the broker regulated by a trustworth regulator (the UK, Switzerland, Australia etc) or is it in a less recognised or offshore jurisdiction?
- Customer service: do they sort out issues and pay out in a timely manner?
- Platforms: do they offer a platform and/or API suited to your style of trading?
These are the main areas where problems can occur.
Depending on your style of trading, here are some retail brokers with a reasonable reputation in the trade:
- Dukascopy
- LMAX
- IC Markets
- Interactive Brokers
- Oanda.
You won’t go too far wrong with any of these.
The most common problem with many brokers is the order execution, especially during high volatility times. Therefore, before committing to any broker, I would recommend to trade their demo account for a while to get a feel on their order execution.
Personally, I prefer trading with true ECN brokers.