Wednesday 2 May 2012

Is IC Markets True ECN Cheaper Than FX Open?

By Johnny Timotherll


Some forex traders hate paying a fee to trade fx for a few years I was also one of these traders, however over the past three years I have developed a far better awareness of how the fx market actually works and I would never trade with a forex broker that does not charge a fee but instead hides their fees inside the spreads they display.

It is disappointing to see that lots of forex brokers still advertise themselves as being commission free, however it's crucial to be aware that nothing is free and that all brokers must earn cash somehow. Sadly forex brokers who don't charge any commission tend to be market makers and widen their prices so as to limit your money making chances and cash in on your losses. On the other hand forex brokers that charge a commission rate often do so as they hedge all of their deals or give you an ECN trading facility where it is possible to deal on zero or even negative spreads.

Forex traders that appreciate the forex market and have had an experience dealing with a market maker forex broker will at all times chose an ECN broker that charges a fee over a fx broker that hides their fee within the spread. Trading with an ECN forex provider guarantees total trading transparency in addition to making sure that you are always trading on the best spreads obtainable in the market.

Regrettably there are very few ECN brokers around, some also put up big obstacles to entry for example placing minimums on the amount which you can open a trading account with. I've conducted plenty of investigation into ECN forex brokers over the past one and a half years and have found that there are only a handful of ECN brokers that make it uncomplicated for retail clients to deal with.

Several ECN fx brokers however are not authentic ECN brokers as they simply use ECN prices to make a market behind the scenes, this means that the broker doesn't hedge your deals within the ECN market place. Fortunately, there are some reputable ECN brokers, it is very simple to tell whether a broker is genuine or not you can do so by checking their order execution times in addition to monitoring whether they pass on slippage to your account that works in your favor.

One other principal aspect that you should be familiar with is that a few so called ECN forex brokers will have limits on the distance you'll be able to place your stop loss and take profit orders away from the present market price. Any forex provider that does this is a market maker, this is done to prevent scalpers taking pips from the forex provider.

In my experience I've only ever traded with regulated True ECN brokers throughout the US and Australia. There are some good brokers in both countries. The ECN forex broker that I have been using for the last eighteen months is IC Markets. IC Markets prices are some of the tightest around and their commission rate is $3.50 per lot, that's very cheap in comparison to the majority of brokers. I am not here promote any one fx broker so you should try several broker platforms before making your final selection, however I am able to vouch for IC Markets.




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