Which Forex Broker/Dealer Should I Use?


A visitor to the site submitted an inquiry the other day:

I want to ask you to highlight to me some Forex Dealers worthy of trust

I generally don’t get into offering advice about specific brokers or dealers. My main reason for that is I haven’t really dealt with many of them sufficiently to have developed a worthwhile impression of them or their services. Also, I use little more than the most basic of charting, so in that regard I am not a good source of information in regards to relative attractiveness of the charting packages brokers offer. Besides, just because I say I’m comfortable with this broker or that dealer doesn’t mean everyone else will be. It’s a very personal sort of thing.

That said, for new forex traders I do recommend Oanda. I do this for very specific reasons. Firstly, there is no minimum account size. Secondly, Oanda has no fixed lot sizes. You can trade 1 unit, 1001 units, or 100,001 units. These two things let a new trader get into the market with very little money and be very specific about the risks they take. On top of that, Oanda has an unlimited demo (game) platform which operates just like the live one and doesn’t go away when you fund a live account. Because of this, Oanda is the platform I have used in my live classroom teaching, as well as in my book and course. Oanda is very well respected by everything I’ve seen, but it does have a limited charting package which turns some folks off.

By all means, if you have any thoughts or comments on any broker with which you have dealt share your impressions via a comment.

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About the Author
John Forman, author of this blog, has traded for more than 20 years, is a professional market analyst, and authored The Essentials of Trading. He is an active participant in trading forums, consults for trading related businesses, as published literally dozens of trading articles, and has been quoted in a number of books and in the media.
** See John’s full bio.

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  • Eric Reymbaut

    As a newbie (3 months) I have to agree with John. Oanda is a great broker to start with. Most brober will offer you a short period to get used to their platform but I found that it’s the market you should be getting used to and due to the unlimited time to operate a game account with Oanda, it allows you to trade (be it a game) at length until you feel ready to invest some real cash. Once you have some grasp of Forex trading you can always open various demo account to check other brokers’ platforms and choose accordingly.

  • peter

    Also look at cms with Visual Trader and Alpari with Meta trader4 both of which give a very sound and clear platform with small lots and mini lots. I deal with both platforms and have no complaints at all

  • Mike

    Easy Forex is web-based which means you don’t have to download anything. They offer one-on-one training for those that need it. An Account Manager will call you when you register to find out what help you need. They have a Free E-book to. No deposit fees or profit withdrawal fees. No maintenance margin either. You can fund your account in various ways and start trading when your ready.

  • http://www.theessentialsoftrading.com John

    Mike – To say “no maintenance margin” is flat out incorrect. I’ve never used Easy Forex, but of that I can be sure. It would mean you could open a trade then pull all of your money out, leaving no margin to cover the position. No broker will allow you to do that.

    As for the rest of it, my experience has been that stuff is the norm rather than the exception. The online platform isn’t something all brokers have, though.

  • James Ka

    I think for newbies like me the most important thing to look for in a broker is the safety of my money (is it easy to withdraw?) and whether the broker is honest in the trades (will the broker widen the spread of my opened trade? Will they do anything to make me loose money like manipulating my stop loss/trailing stop/limit etc?). I think a bad broker is a guarantee that your funds are 4/5 gone even before you start go live.

  • Forex Broker Reviewer

    My two cents, yes both Oanda and Alpari are good forex brokers. Easy Forex? Don’t think much of them but they may very well be OK for a newbie. I think their platform is kind of targeted towared beginners.

  • Watson

    You are right. For new comers in Forex market, Oanda is a good choice. Oanda offers unlimited time to get used to its platform which is not the case with other brokers.

  • Tatake

    What about forex-metal.com? I ‘ve seen many good posts and reviews about them.
    I am choosing forex broker for the live account.