3 Tips for Choosing a Forex Broker

Forex
Foreign exchange is the largest financial market in the world with an average traded value in excess of $4 trillion per day. It functions a little differently to other financial markets in that there is no central marketplace, so all trades must be placed through brokers. A large number of these brokers exist, and that means there are a lot of options for traders to choose from. So how can you narrow them down to find the right broker for you? Here are three important things to consider.

Currency Pairs

Not all brokers will offer the same currency pairs, which means that there are some that you can immediately discount. There are a lot of currencies to choose from, and it’s important to identify the pair or pairs that will best complement your trading strategy. This compatibility will be vital to your success, and this means that it’s very important that you choose your broker based on the currencies they offer, rather than your currencies on the basis of your broker. If you choose one of the four ‘majors’ you’ll find that you have far more choice, as almost all brokers will offer these combinations. For more exotic pairings, it may take a little longer to find a suitable enterprise, but you should keep looking until you do.

Customer Service

The Forex market trades around the clock, and this means that you should be able to contact your broker at any time. Your trades should never be delayed because of limited opening hours, and nor should you ever be denied access to people who can advise you. With reference to this second point, it’s incredibly important that you are put into contact with human advisors, as opposed to automated response mechanisms. These are often time consuming to deal with, which can waste valuable minutes in a fast-moving market, and are not refined enough to provide the level of response you require. It’s usually relatively easy to assess the level of customer service offered by a broker through your initial dealings with them. If you find that your enquiries are met by long waiting times, automated responses, or inadequate or hasty answers to your queries, then walk away.

Trading Platform

Your access to the market will be granted via your broker’s trading platform. As such, this platform ought to be easy to use, aesthetically pleasing and have a wide array of analytical tools, like the MT4 from Oanda. Many brokers will offer a demo account to allow you to trial their facilities, and it’s always worth taking advantage of this to see how the platform suits your style. If you have any issues, however niggling, with any aspect of the portal, then look elsewhere; you simply can’t afford to have the speed of your trades, or the accuracy of the information driving your decisions, compromised by poor performance.

If you can find a broker who satisfies each of these criteria for you then you’re onto a winner. Sign up with them today!

Comments

  1. While you may not be as successful as they have been, following the advice presented here gives you a leg up on other Forex traders.
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    manually, meaning a trading expert conducted a technical analysis, studied market behavior and other determinants to determine the path
    foreign currencies are likely to take, and automatically, which entailed the use of forex program or
    software to generate signals.