Regulation

When I review the forex brokers, regulation is by far the most important element for the ranking. Without regulation, you are like an easy prey for a brutal lion in African Savanna. You are going to get to the dinner plate sooner or later.

Regulation ensures a sound and credible trading environment and security of your funds. Without it, it is like the Wild West. No laws, no ethics, no justice. An unregulated forex broker may lure you for depositing money through illusive marketing promotions and fake promises. Of course, they will treat you well as long as you make deposit and you don’t earn money. The moment you begin making money on your trades, you are going to feel that you are getting scammed with shady practices such as widening spreads, slowing down order executing time, slippage and more. Actually majority of the time, you will not even feel that you are being crippled by the Broker performing those unethical activities.

Forex brokers who are regulated by the reputable financial watchdogs such as CFTC in the US, FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, CySEC in Cyprus and FINMA in Switzerland are like those lions in African Savanna. However, they have masters who train them how to behave and punish them at the moments of brutality and aggression. Therefore, regulated forex brokers are hesitant and discouraged to scam their clients.

This is why traders should always pick the forex brokers that are regulated over the unregulated forex broker offering attractive trading promotions and promises. Regulation itself is not enough though. Strong regulation by a reputable and strict watchdog would be the right choice.

Deposit and Withdrawal Methods

Before you start forex trading and profiting on your trades, you first should deposit funds into your forex account. And in order to be able to spend your profit, you first must withdraw the funds from your account. Therefore you should ask your forex broker how easy it is to deposit and withdraw funds and what options they offer. The most common two methods for deposit and withdrawal are wire transfer and credit card. However, say you are only willing to deposit money into your account by Neteller, so you have to ask the broker if you can do it by this certain way before even sending your application and submitting your documents. Make sure they offer the methods that suit best to your preferences.

Range of Markets

Okay, you have been trading forex all the way till now however you have just read a report and are convinced that there is a great buy opportunity on Gold. You skim through your broker’s instrument list and see that Gold is not there. Phew, you have just missed a potential profit dude. In order to avoid these type of unpleasant situations, it is always a good idea to go over the list of the markets and trading products offered by the Broker. Make sure that the Broker that you are considering is offering your favorite trading instrument with favorable trading conditions.

Spreads, Commissions and Other Trading Costs

Many forex traders’ only concern when choosing a forex broker is spreads and commissions that are going to be charged on their trades. It is definitely plausible to think that way since a trader’s goal is to make money on trading and lower the spread and commission, higher the profit for the trade. In the case the trader’s strategy is based on scalping and short term trading, the significance of lower spreads and commissions shoots even higher and they become one of the main determinants for profitability of the strategy. Therefore, all else is equal, choosing a forex broker that charges lower spreads and commissions over another forex broker charging higher spreads and commissions would be a correct move.

Customer Support

Even though it is overlooked by many traders, customer service is one the most important factors that I consider when ranking forex brokers. The extent and capacity of the customer support is a major determinant across online forex brokers in my humble opinion. The customer support includes speed and overall quality of the support agents, availability of live chat and assistance during global trading hours, provision of educational resources and regular market analysis.

Providing a quality and extensive customer support is an indicator for the Broker’s pro-client approach. That is the reason that every forex trader should give a lot more importance on this aspect of forex trading.

Trading Platforms

Let’s say that you have been trading with MetaTrader since the beginning of your trading career and it is the only way for you to trade. Now you have registered with a new forex broker just to see that MetaTrader is not among the trading platforms that they offer. What a big frustration! Super majority of the online forex brokers offer MetaTrader as the standard trading software. However, it is not rare to see that forex brokers to offer only their built-in platform. Therefore, if you are intending to use an Expert Advisor programmed for MetaTrader, you were not going to be able to utilize it. Thus, it is always a good idea to ask the forex broker in advance that what trading platforms they offer.