What is the most important characteristics when chosing broker?

[Micke256]

What is the most important characteristics when chosing a broker?

I'd really like to know..

For me, it's that they have many currency pairs, and as a second parameter, it's their chartpackage.

[DrForex]

The most important feature is that they must be located in a jurisdiction with proper regulation OF RETAIL FOREX or second best retail investors.

And obviously they must be in a goodstanding with their regulator.

Secondly it helps that it is not an absolute new start up and very small business operated from a garage. (With all due respect to their ability to become a second )

Thirdly have a look at the top managers - are they sales people or traders? Makes a big difference to how they view you.

Fourthly and most importantly - if they push maximum leverage and minimum account size, and narrowest spreads they go to the bottom of the table.

But at the end of the day they are all promise and no deliver and deep down they need most of their clients to lose capital to their pockets. It simply is not possible to have a successful brokerage, with high tech and rent overheads, good, well paid specialist personnel and the like with only a small client base trading retail lots.

In other words, they have to churn clients, that means they have to do marketing that is ... what shall I say ... uhmm .. uhm ... slightly misleading (if you know what I mean).

[WRR]

Here a few more:
Minimal or no slippage.
Prices that reflect the broader market.
Fast execution. No delay from order entry - 5 seconds max.
24/6 excellent customer service.
Platform that is stable on your computer.
Free DDE feed at broker prices.
WRR

[tim_nn]

For me, the most important is that they must not be holding the other side of my trade and therefore trading against me. I want them to be winning when I'm winning so that they have every incentive to be on my side.

(In the UK, this is achievable with some of the spread-betting firms who will "front-run" their successful clients, i.e. quickly accepting all positions from them and over-hedging them, thus ensuring a share of the profits for themselves. It's genuinely a win/win situation. It also confers the added advantage (over other forms of trading, including many of the so-called "direct access" ones with so-called "banks" some of which are simply bucket-shops) that because the spread-betting firms are strictly regulated by our Financial Services Authority, which examines every trade made by every client, everything is honest and any mistakes will very quickly be corrected. There are a number of other advantages, too).

[Smooth Operator]

Do the brokers with the narrowest spreads try to make up for it in other ways? I have been paying a 5 pip spread to trade GBPUSD and I'm tempted to switch to a broker with a spread of 3 pips.

[tim_nn]

Originally posted by Smooth Operator
Do the brokers with the narrowest spreads try to make up for it in other ways?

I think they vary. Some do, perhaps. Sometimes the ones with the narrowest spreads have difficult trading platforms and lots of re-quotes. Others have spreads that are very changeable. On Oanda, for instance, the EUR/USD quote is sometimes as low as 1.8 pips but sometimes as high as 12 pips. The problem is that everyone's experience is different, and there are therefore about as many opinions on "who's best" as there are traders!

Originally posted by Smooth Operator I have been paying a 5 pip spread to trade GBPUSD and I'm tempted to switch to a broker with a spread of 3 pips.

I suppose it depends what sort of trading you're doing. If you're talking about longer-term positional trading it's probably not worth the hassle, especially if you're otherwise satisfied with your current broker. On the other hand if you're scalping, opening and closing positions all day long, then it would make a significant difference.

Personally, I'd rather pay a pip extra to deal with a company I trust and one that has good customer service in the event of any mistakes/accidents, but that's just my view.

[rob]

__________________
DrForex
www.dayforex.com
Bird Watching in Lion Country:
Retail Forex Trading Explained

Hi Dr Forex,
In case you don't know the rules here (amazing after 125 posts)
please read this:

"No Advertising!! (Spam)
1.1 MoneyTec does not allow advertising (spam) of any kind on the forums, either trading or non-trading
1.2 Advertising (spam) includes, but is not limited to, posting your URL,"
http://www.moneytec.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=13&categories=Members+code+of+conduct+%28Guidelines%2 9

Good luck on spamming other sites.
P.s. If you are a genuine paying adverstiser ,sorry . In that case I think there should be a note on your posts saying so.

[DrForex]

rob

I would have liked to just say "OK", but in doing so, I would have violated the rules of the forum - "Post padding".

With respect to formal advertising - I have been in contact with MoneyTec since October 2004 regarding certain advertising on the forum. But responses were and still are hard to come by.

The rules, with respect to new threads complaining about other participants' behaviour, calls it pointless. That's another point to ponder (and rule to negotiate).

Oh and I'll have to watch out that I don't pretend to know something it if i don't really know something ...

Well, now I atleast know the rules.

PS: Spamming is defined in the rules as making posts that does not add value to the thread topic, which I suppose make this (and your post) spamming in that sense.

Please refer to my earlier post in this thread to see my contribution to the topic.

(Now I should be safe .... Oh no ... my offensive Signature is in that post ....

I also see one shouldn't post the same thing twice. So would this reference to the earlier post be violation of the "no post twice" rule ... ?

.... I give up ...

Thanks anyway