There are several fx brokers in Australia, some are white label forex brokers and others are core forex brokers. The two latest forex brokers to hit the forex trading scene in Australia are IC Markets and Vantage fx as I’m always interested in trying new forex brokers I thought that I’d test both of these firms to see what all of the hype was about.
Before I share my analysis with you I thought that I would let you know that both brokers use the Metatrader 4 platform and have quite tights prices, however IC Markets is a real ECN forex broker and Vantage FX is a market maker broker. Being a market maker forex broker is not a problem so long as the broker doesn’t play games with the spreads when you begin earning money, however unfortunately this is a huge problem with most market maker fx brokers.
After trading utilising the Vantage Fx live trading platform for two months I discovered that their spreads were fair and remained relatively tight over news periods. One thing that did upset me was that when I attempted to deal any amount bigger than two standard lots their execution speed would fall significantly, it was as if my order was being sent to a dealing desk to be manually filled. When dealing in sizes of lower than one standard lot I did not have any issues at all though I’m certain that if I started to make money my execution speeds would have been slowed down no matter what.The Vantage fx platform is Metatrader 4 so this is a really a big advantage for this company as I am able to use my expert advisers without any issues. Their server appears to be fairly dependable and did not disconnect me all the time which was on the list of big problems that I have had with a few of the other Metatrader 4 brokers in Australia in the past.
I discovered the service at Vantage fx to be pretty average, they were able to help me with a good number of things, however they do depend on their clientele being familiar with Metatrader 4 and do not help too much with the initial trading platform setup, this would be a problem for brand new fx traders who’re not familiar with the Metatrader 4 trading platform. I attempted to contact them after-hours on a number of occasions and seemed to get through to the exact same tired and ill-tempered guy each time, he was not really helpful in any way. After hours support is certainly not this fx brokers expertise.
IC Markets also use the Metatrader 4 trading platform which is obviously a massive plus for them also, one of the attractive aspects of this forex provider is that they’re a true ECN forex broker which is unlike nearly all other Australian brokers. After 2 months trialling this forex broker, each time I traded I continued to be amazed at the spreads they were showing me. I had always heard that ECN forex brokers were able to show superior prices than their market marker colleagues, however I didn’t realize that the spread differences could be that large, I was often able to deal on Zero spreads on IC Markets Metatrader.
I had read several forum posts stating that the execution speeds of a number of ECN brokers can be slower because orders need to be confirmed in the ECN market place before they are filled. During my two months of trading with IC Markets I did not notice any latency problems at all, my deal execution speed was actually faster with IC Markets than with Vantage FX.
One of the major advantages of ECN forex brokers is that large deals can be placed without any delays or rejections. I confirmed that this was the case with IC Markets. I experimented with deals as much as 7 standards lots in size without speed or slippage issues, I would have tried placing larger trades but I was restricted by my account balance.
I contacted IC Markets a couple of times just to see how good their support was and I found that they were very helpful, they guided me through the Metatrader platform and were able to help with a few forex trading queries that I had, this was a real surprise to me. I tried contacting them after hours expecting their support to deteriorate however this was not the case the person I spoke to understood the Metatrader platform well.
If I was to suggest one of these broker platforms to members of my forex trading group there is no doubt that it would be IC Markets, Vantage FX however is still a really good forex broker, however they wouldn’t be great for active forex traders or those using expert advisers. IC Markets is an effective all round forex provider their spreads are extremely tight which is excellent for scalpers, there are no trade size restrictions, they provide the Metatrader trading platform and their service is extremely outstanding and certainly the best that I’ve experienced out of all the Metatrader 4 brokers in Australia. I personally now deal with IC Markets myself.
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Filed under Currency Trading by on Feb 29th, 2012. Comment. 
Forex trading works by using currency and stock markets from a range of countries to set-up a trading market where thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands are traded and exchanged every day. This marketplace is comparable to the stock marketplace, as people obtain and sell, but the market and the over all outcomes are much much more substantial. Those involved in the forex trading markets incorporate the Deutsche bank, UBS, Citigroup, and others such as HSBC, Braclays, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, and however others such as Goldman Sachs, ABN Amro, Morgan Stanley, and so forth.
To acquire concerned in the forex trading markets, getting in touch with any of these big broker assistance businesses is heading to be in your best interest. Convinced, anybody could get concerned in the forex marketplace, however it does take time to learn about what on earth is popular, what’s not, and just where you need to place your money at the moment.
Worldwide banks will be the markets most significant customers on the forex markets, because they have many dollars to spend day-to-day, to bring in interest and this is just one strategy of how banks make money on the money you help save inside their bank. Think in regards to the bank that you cope with all the time. Do you know in the event you can go there, and receive money from ‘another’ country if you are heading out on trip? If not, that bank is most likely not concerned in forex trading. When you need to know if your bank is concerned in forex trading, you may inquire any supervisor otherwise you can look at the money information sheets that banks will report to the public on the quarterly foundation.
Being a beginner to the trading markets of Forex, you ought to are aware that a whole lot of people and establishments are involved in the industry. Not an individual person of firm has the total handle everything that comes about in the market place. Diverse currencies are being exchanged and can come from all components of the planet. Most of the time, the following currencies are being traded in the markets of Forex: the Eurozone euro, the US dollar, the British pound sterling, the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar as well as the Swiss franc.
All of them comprise just a small portion of the very long list of currencies in the Forex marketplace. London, New York and Tokyo are areas which have the important centers for trading in Forex. On the other hand, centers of smaller size are also out there in other countries.
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Filed under Currency Trading by on Feb 28th, 2012. Comment.
Yesterday I was in Brisbane presenting to a group of forex traders from around Australia, several of whom had been my former students a number of years ago and are now trading for a living in a full time capacity. On the list of the main subjects that I covered in my class was interbank liquidity and price creation, not surprisingly a number of the well-versed traders in the audience knew what I was talking about but it was astonishing to see that allot of forex traders still do not realise just how currencies are priced. In an effort to fill in the gaps I’ve written this short review.
As many people that have traded forex previously know, forex isn’t traded on an exchange but rather it is traded on an over-the-counter (OTC) basis. Trading over-the-counter is a brand new notion if you have traded shares in the past as no two fx brokers will be exactly alike, this really is very different to stock {brokers} who will always quote you the same {prices}. On the list of other main differences is that because there is no central exchange when trading forex over-the-counter there isn’t a physical exchange of any foreign currency but instead you are trading directly with the forex provider, which means when you open a position with your broker you can only close it with that broker nothing like trading shares where it is possible to sell your shares through any stockbroker.
Now you comprehend the notion that forex trading is conducted on an over-the-counter basis I will commence by explaining the fundamentals of price formation. As a result of the OTC nature of forex the majority of transactions arise between investment banks and forex brokers as such they are not reported on a central exchange, it is because of this that price creation within the world of forex is more difficult, however like shares and all markets there are several key players in the forex trading world that make liquidity, they are the investment banks. Investment banks produce prices in the course of their dealings with each other and in many cases they’ll quote prices through a system called EBS which enables one bank to see the prices quoted by a different bank. EBS however isn’t used by all banks, what this means is that there are other banks dealing on prices shown outside of EBS, essentially their own marketplace.
So what does this all mean to you? Well this means allot if you are dealing using a market maker or STP broker who will simply provide you with a price that they get from one bank or otherwise a price they derive themselves that is just dependent on the price they get from the bank that they deal with this means you may not always be getting a fair price. The excellent news is that there is now an alternative, there are a few providers that will offer you an aggregated price feed from a variety of banks and also allow you to take part in the pricing formation, which means that you can place your own bids and offers amongst those presented by a number of of the world’s largest banks. Forex brokers offering this kind of facility are called ECN fx brokers.
ECN providers are difficult to come by and operate in an extremely different way to traditional forex brokers. Aside from the superior pricing offered by ECN brokers they will always charge commission, for many forex traders this is unheard of however to the astute forex trader this is generally the best way to trade. One of the main benefits to paying a commission over a spread is the fact that you actually know how much you are having to pay your forex provider, their fee isn’t concealed in the spread. Paying a commission also means greater opportunity, since you’re paying the natural market price you are capable of getting choice or even inverted spreads something you’ll never witness using a conventional broker.
Before you all send me a million emails asking which forex provider I deal with I might as well save some room in my gmail account and let you know right now. Before I let the cat out of the bag I do want to make it very clear that if you look hard enough it is possible to find a couple of ECN brokers, just make sure you do your homework prior to opening an actual trading account as you will find many broker platforms available that claim to be ECN fx brokers but are really market markers. I’ve trialled just about all the ECN brokers and so-called ECN brokers and found that there’s just one true ECN forex broker and this is also the company that I personally trade with, it’s Australian based provider IC Markets. IC Markets have the best execution by a long shot and their pricing is probably the most precise that I’ve ever seen. As many of you already know I don’t endorse any particular broker, I just trade using the forex broker that I think has the best offering and most transparent pricing and that forex provider is IC Markets.
Filed under Currency Trading by on Feb 28th, 2012. Comment.