What is a Forex Broker?
A Forex Broker is an intermediary between the trader and the market, for that reason is a vital component of this industry. The funtion of the broker is to place the orders of Buy/Sell of the client and find a buyer / seller that in some cases could be the same broker (Market Maker), depending of the market conditions. The broker can work in one or more finantial markets depending of its specialization. Actually, most of the brokers allows the clients to trade with multiple intruments like the followings:
- Forex: Dozens of currency pairs are available to be trade in the Forex market.
- Shares (Stock Market): Hundreds of shares of the most important stock markets.
- Indices: The most important stock indices in the world like the S&P 500 and others.
- Commodities: There are a lot of instruments that can be classified and traded as a commoditie, for example precious metals, oil, grain, energy, corn and many others.
- ETF (Exchanged Traded Funds): The most important ETF for investors interested in diversifying their investments with this relatevely new and interesting instrument.
- Futures: Actually, many brokers allows to negotiate Futures contracts based in many instruments like Forex, commodities, indices, shares and others.
- Contrats Of Diference: There are contracts based in the many instruments as mentioned above.
- Options: Many types of options can be traded in many brokers, from the most common (like Vanilla Options) to the most exotic (like binary options).
- Bonds: In some brokers can be negociated the most important bonds like the US Treasure Bond.
- Others.
In the past, the Forex Brokers was specialized mostly in Forex Trading but due to competition between the different brokers (currently, there are literally dozens of these companies), now these companies offer an increasing diversity of instruments for trading. This allows traders to diversify their transactions, for example in determined broker an investor could be investing in Forex, stock indices, commodities, shares and other at the same time and through different derivatives such as options or CFD. In the case of the Forex market, the trades are made mainly through the spot market, however the currency pairs can be traded using all types of financial derivatives, many of which are also offered by these brokers.
Types of Forex Brokers
Basically, we can classify the Forex Brokers in three mayor types depending of its execution, the spreads and the way they funtion:
- ECN Brokers:These are companies that offer their customers the best prices to trade in the market since they are in direct contact with many market participants such as banks, Market Makers and other traders that are connected and trading in the same interbank network. In this way, these brokers are able to offer the best bid and ask quotes on their trading platforms based on those prices.
- Market Makers Brokers: These are agents or companies that regularly provide quotes for buying and selling in the market and are also willing to buy and sell at the prices stipulated. These brokers often act as the counterparty (if the trader buys the broker sells and if the trader sells the broker buys toi complete the transaction) in the transactions of its customers. It is the most common type of Forex broker.
- Non Dealing Desk Brokers :These are companies that employ a system that directly match orders from their liquidity providers (institutional traders) with their regular customers (retail traders).The different suppliers of liquidity send their best prices to buy / sell (bid / ask) in the market directly to the system, so that in the broker's trading platform, the customer has at his disposal the best quotes that can offer the company for open positions of both buying and selling.
List of Forex-Brokers
This is a list of the most important Forex Brokers that offers online trading services around the world. All these retail brokers are classified according to the type of broker to which they belong. This list contain a link to a general review on the most important characteristics of each company. Just click in the name´s broker or in "Summary".
ECMarkets | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Webmoney -Liberty reserve | Review |
Alpari | -NFA -CFTC -FCA -FRA | Non Dealing Desk/ECN | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $200 | 0.5-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Webmoney | Review |
FXCC | -FCA -CySEC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities | $100 | 0.7-2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Webmoney -Moneybooekrs -Neteller | Review |
Nordfx | -FCS | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Futures -CFD | $5 | 0.1-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit Card -Moneybooekrs -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve | Review |
Liquid Markets | -CySEC -FCA -BaFIN -CVNM | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -Indices -CFD -Futures | $2000 | 0.9-2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Paypal -Moneybookers. | Review |
| Atlas Capital FX
| -FCA -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $10 | 2-3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Webmoney -Moneybookers | Review |
Deltastock | -FCA -BaFIN -Others | Non Dealing Desk/ECN | -Forex -Commodities -Stock Market -CFD -Futures | $100 | 0.1-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers | Review |
Forex Club LCC | -NFA -CFTC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex | $200 | 0-0.6 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers -Alertpay | Review |
Easy-Forex | -CFTC -NFA -ASIC -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities | $25 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal | Review |
SpeedTrader | -FINRA -NFA | ECN | -Forex -Stocks -Stock Options -Futures -Bonds -Mutual Funds | $500 | 1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Check | Review |
AvaTrade | -BVI -ASIC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 2-3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller -Webmoney | Review |
SunbirdFX | -No information | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 0.5-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers -CashU -Webmoney -Liberty reserve | Review |
eToro | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities | $50 | 2 | Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller | Review |
eToroUSA | -CFTC -NFA | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Stocks Indices | $250 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller -Western Union | Review |
Questrade | -IIROC -CIPF | ECN | -Forex -Stocks -Stock Options -Gold | $1000 | 1-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Certified Cheque -Uncertified Cheque -Online bancking -Stocks certificates | Review |
Finexo | -CySEC -FCA -BaFIN -Others | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Stock Indices -Futures | $25 | 3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller -Liberty Reserve -Click and Buy | Review |
XEMarkets | -CySEC -FCA | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $5 | 1 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller | Review |
Neto Trade | -No information | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 0.3-3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Liberty Reserve | Review |
Plus500 | -FCA | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Moneybooekrs | Review |
Forex Club International | -KROUFR | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -CFD | $200 | 0-0.6 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers | Review |
RoboForex | It is a broker registered in New Zealand | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $10 | 0.1-0.9 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit cards -Moneybookers -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -cashU -Perfect Money | Review |
Real Forex | No information about it | Non Dealing Desk/ECN | -Forex -Commodities | $500 | 1.0-1.8 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit cards -Moneybookers -Paypal | Review |
Forex4you | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $1 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Liberty Reserve -Moneybookers -Webmoney | Review |
Forexplace | -ASIC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -Stock Indices -Binary Options | $100 | 0.3-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Moneybookers -Neteller -Perfect Money | Review |
ForexCT | -ASIC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -Stock Indices -CFD | $500 | 2-4 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Liberty Reserve | Review |
AFM Forex | -SFDF | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities | $100 | 1 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Liberty Reserve -Alertpay | Review |
Youtradefx | -ASIC -FCA -FSC | ECN | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $10 | 1-3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers -Liberty Reserve -CashU | Review |
Forexyard | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 3 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Moneybookers -Western Union | Review |
Hy Markets | -FCA | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Futures | $50 | 2-3 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Paypal -CashU | Review |
Piptrade | -FCA | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Futures | $50 | 2-3 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Paypal -CashU | Review |
BMFN | -ASIC -FCA -FCS | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Moneybookers -Webmoney | Review |
FXCM | -CFTC -NFA -FCA | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities | $25 | 1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Checks | Review |
FxCast | -FSC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities | $10 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -Moneybookers -Alertpay | Review |
CKFX | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex | $100 | 3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card | Review |
FXPrimus | -FSC | Non Dealing Desk/STP | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $250 | 0.1-1 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card | Review |
GCI Financial | -FSC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Futures -Commodities -Stock Indices -Options -CFD | $2000 | 1-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Webmoney -CashU | Review |
FXOpen | -FSC | ECN/STP | -Forex -Commodities | $1 | 0.5-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -Alertpay | Review |
Hotforex | -FSC | ECN/STP | -Forex | $25 | 0-1 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Neteller -Alertpay | Review |
Markets.com | -CySEC -FCA -BaFIN -AFM | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $50 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney | Review |
AmigaFX | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -Indices | $50 | 3 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Neteller -Paypal -Moneybookers | Review |
ForexTrading | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $200 | 0.8-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card | Review |
IFC Markets | -FSC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $1 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve | Review |
iForex | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities | $100 | 2-3 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Moneybookers | Review |
Instaforex | -FFMS | ECN | -Forex -Commodities | $10 | 0.1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -Moneybookers -Alertpay | Review |
Agea | -SCMN | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -Funds -Indices | $1 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -E-dinar | Review |
Mercaforex | -CySEC | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -Indices -CFD | $100 | 1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card | Review |
FxFlat | -BaFIN | Market Maker | -Forex -CFD | $500 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card | Review |
Masterforex | -CRRMFM | ECN | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $1 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve | Review |
ClickForex | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities | $500 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Paypal -Moneybookers -Neteller | Review |
10Pips | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Moneybooekrs -Webmoney | Review |
Trader24 | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Binary Options | $250 | 2-3 | -Bank Wire Transfer - Credit Card -Moneybookers -CashU | Review |
FBS | -FSC | ECN | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $5 | 1-2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Webmoney -Liberty Reserve -Moneybookers | Review |
XForex | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities | $100 | 2-3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Western Union | Review |
4runnerForex | -No information | ECN | -Forex | $100 | 0.9 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Paypal -Moneybookers -Liberty Reserve | Review |
AskoBid | -CySEC | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $200 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Debit Card. -Moneybooekrs | Review |
Gedamo | -FI | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex | $500 | 1 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Paypal -Neteller -Moneybookers -Liberty Reserve | Review |
Admiral Markets | -FSA from Estonia | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $50 | 1-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card | Review |
Saxobank | -Regulated as an investment bank | Market Maker | -Forex -Futures -Forex options -Commodities -Equities -CFD -ETF -Bonds | $1000 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. | Review |
LoyalForex | -No information about it | ECN | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $50 | 0.4-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Alertpay -Liberty Reserve -Global DIgital Pay | Review |
UFXMarkets | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -Binary Options | $100 | 2 | -Bank Wire Transfer -Credit Card -Paypal -Webmoney -Neteller -Moneybookers -Western Union | Review |
Astonforex | -No information | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Futures -Options | $100 | 2-3 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. | Review |
HFX | -No information | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $300 | 0.3-3 | -Bank wire transfer. -Credit Card. -Western Union. | Review |
Finotec | -FCA | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD -Options -Futures | $200 | 0.5-2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card | Review |
Tradeview | -FFMS | Non Dealing Desk | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 2 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card -Moneybookers -Webmoney -Alertpay -Click and Buy | Review |
Bforex | -No information | Market Maker | -Forex -Commodities -CFD | $100 | 3 | -Bank wire transfer -Credit card | Review |
Forex Brokers Affiliate Programs
Due to the high level of competence in the field of Forex Brokers, these companies have been forced to seek new ways to attract new customers. One of the most effective methods for acquiring new customers are the AffiliatePrograms. These programs developed by some Forex Brokers, allow their affiliates to earn large sums of money promoting the services of these companies.
In other words, the affiliate programs of Forex Brokers pay their members to get new customers (traders) that open a trading account and fund it to trade in the financial markets such as Forex. Thanks to the marketing tools and the payment plans available to the affiliates, these affiliate programs are an excellent option to monetize web sites and blogs with subjets related to Forex and the market in general, for example. Also an affiliate without a website can earn money with an Affiliate Program of this type.
If you want more detailed information on the subject please use use the following link:
-List of Forex Brokers Affiliate Program
Trading contests offered by Forex brokers
Also, many Forex broker organize trading contest for demo accounts and real accounts which offer quite attractive cash prizes that can be used to trade in the market as additional capital or can be withdrawn from the account.
If you want more detailed information on the subject please use use the following link:
-List of the main trading contests offered by Forex brokers
