Best Forex Brokers 2019
Here at Top 10 Forex Brokers, I try my best to assist you to choose the most suitable forex broker for your experience and trading style. I consider several factors while reviewing and ranking forex brokers. In this article, I am going to talk about the most important six of those factors.
First things first, I find no excuse for not to repeat that working with a reliable forex broker comes before anything else in forex trading. You may have found the holy grail and your strategy could be making thousands of bucks every month consistently. However what good is it to be if you selected a vulturous forex broker?
These are the most important six criteria to consider when choosing a forex broker;
Regulation
This should be the first and by far the most important question to ask your forex broker. Compliance with strict standards and safety of your funds come before any other affair in trading in my humble opinion and it is ensured by the strict regulation. Imagine that you have a winning trading strategy under your disposal and you are earning a decent amount of money on forex trading, however consider whether it really matters, if you are not going to be able to withdraw your profit from the broker.
FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), CFTC (US) and SEC (US) are the regulators which I respect the most and I would comfortably say that any broker that are under the jurisdiction of those regulators are to be trusted. They will ensure that the broker you are trading with is not located in a tropical off-shore island where you are going to be able to reach if anything goes wrong with your account and trades. So regulation, regulation, regulation guys… but of course by a reputable regulator.
The Broker's Past
A company’s history tells a lot about its success and customer satisfaction. You know very well that a fraud company cannot stay in the business for long time. This is particularly true for forex sector. I would recommend you to look for your forex broker to operate in forex business for at least five years. Scams only survive for few years and even less if they are regulated by one of the strict regulators such as FCA, ASIC and CFTC.
Spreads and Commission
Spreads and commissions are the primary criteria for many investors when they choose a forex broker. It makes sense since traders’ goal is to earn money and lower the spread and commission higher the profit for trader. Especially for those traders whose trading strategy is based on scalping and short term trading, lower cost of trading determines the difference between a winning and losing trade. No doubt that this is crucial however it is at third place on my list because, again, how it matters if you get super low spreads from a broker but it is not regulated and you don’t know if you could withdraw your profit.
Deposit and Withdrawal Options
Before you start 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.
Instruments and Products
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 go through your broker’s instrument list and no, gold is not there. Phew, you have just missed a potential profit dude. I am the same. I am trading forex pairs most of the time but I still would like to have other instruments at hand. Not only precious metals though. Make sure that CFD indices, oil, agricultural and soft commodities are present and ready for trading on your platform.
Trading Platforms
You have been trading with MetaTrader for long time and it is the only way for you to trade. Now you have signed up with a new broker just to see that they are not offering MetaTrader. Ouch, big frustration. Most of the brokers offer MetaTrader as the standard trading tool but it is not rare to see brokers developed their own platform and only providing clients with their unique trading software. If you were planning to use an EA programmed for MetaTrader, you were most likely not going to be able to do it. So it is always a good idea to ask your forex broker up front what trading software they provide.
So based on those six criteria, what are the best forex brokers in 2019? After trying and trading with more than hundred forex brokers, these are the top 5 forex brokers considering and combining regulation, withdrawal and deposit methods, spreads and commissions, trading platforms and brokers overall reputation;
| Broker | Info | Regulator | Next Step |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Headquarters: USA |
CFTC, NFA, CIMA | |
 |
Headquarters: UK |
CySEC, ASiC, FCA | |
 |
Headquarters: Cyprus |
CySEC, IFSC | |
 |
Headquarters: Cyprus |
CySEC | |
 |
Headquarters: UK |
FCA, CySEC, Seyschelles FSA |
Canadian Regional Regulator Issues Warning Against AvaTrade
Canadian regional financial services regulator The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) has issued a warning against the well-known forex broker AvaTrade. Specifically, FCAA has announced that it launched a Temporary Cease Trade Order versus Ava Trade Limited.
The watchdog explained that AvaTrade is operating an unregistered online trading platform for trading forex and CFD under its jurisdiction.
FCAA states that AvaTrade is not a registered and regulated company to prodive trading services in Saskatchewan or other jurisdictions in Canada.
It appears that AvaTrade is the subject of several other warnings issued by regulators of other states in Canada such as Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Residents of Canada who have been contacted by AvaTrade are urged to contact FCAA by the regulator.
Announcement from the Directors of FCAA
An investor should always check to see if a company is registered to trade in the jurisdiction that the investor resides, before handing over their money. A company’s registration status can be checked by using the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search database at www.aretheyregistered.ca. Just because a company claims to be registered in a foreign country, does not mean they are registered everywhere.
AvaTrade is a broker that I have traded with before and included in my list. This warning from FCAA is a serious stigma on the reliability of AvaTrade. I have updated the Company’s review and rating in paralell to FCAA’s alert.
FCA Issues Warnings Against Three Firms
UK's financial watchdog FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has released warning against three firms that are unregulated by the FCA but offers financial services to the UK citizens.
New Power Gen Ltd t/a Strategy Markets
Addresses: 3rd Floor, 207 Regent Street, W1B 3HH
51 Marshall Street, Island Suite, Soho, London W1F 9SF
Palm Grove House, P. O. Box 438, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Strategy Corp Ltd, Palm Grove House, P. O. Box 438, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Telephone: 0800 031 5292,0800 031 5293,0800 031 5294,02038138577,07933855528,07599828738
Website: https://strategymarkets.co.uk/
Delta Capital Markets / ADT Group Ltd
Addresses: 86-90 Paul street London, EC2A 4NE
145-157 St John Street, London, England, EC1V 4PW
ADT Group, Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Marshall Islands MH96960
Axium Corporate 43 The Bowls, Chigwell, Essex IG76ND
Telephone: 08002461782, 02036218153
Email:admin@deltacapitalmarkets.com,s.lockhart@deltacapitalmarkets.com,info@deltacapitalmarkets.com,support@deltacapitalmarket.comAccounts@deltacapitalmarket.com,sales@deltacapitalmarket.com,m.baker@deltacapitalmarket.com,j.stone@deltacapitalmarket.com
Website: https://www.deltacapitalmarkets.com/
The last warning is against a clone firm which is using details of a financial service prodiver regulated by FCA.
Trade Korea (clone of FCA authorised firm)
Website: www.tradekorea.com
I advise attention and caution if you receive promotional email or text message from any of those three firms.
CySEC's Wrath on Senior Management of Falcon Brokers
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has announced very serious financial penalties on high level executives of Falcon Brokers and banned important figures of the firm from doing business in financial sector for several years.
CySEC has been investigating Falcon Brokers for suspected misconduct for last one and half years and the financial penalties came as the result of this investigation. The firm's CySEC license got suspended by the watch dog on 24 Sept 2015. For those who don’t have background about Falcon Brokers, the firm used to provide online forex trading products.
Four individuals who hold senior management positions at the firm are fined by a sum of €195.00 and banned to do any kind of professional activity in financial sector up to five years. The measures are introduced following the investigation's findings which showed that those individuals failed to impose essential operational requirements to safeguard clients' funds.
Have you realized that forex companies located in Cyprus are more prone to commit misconduct relative to brokers regulated by watch dogs like FCA and ASiC? Perhaps it is time for CySEC to sit down and consider reviewing its rules to audit the firms and tightening the requirements for acquiring license. Get more serious and stricter, CySEC.
CySEC Warns Against Buzztrade and Its Parent Company Airfine Pro Ltd.
Cypriot watchdog CySEC issued an important warning against Airfine Pro Ltd. The company was used to be regulated by CySEC until it renounced its license on November 2016. CySEC warns that Airfinance Pro has not yet informed that it has settled all its obligations. The company had to do it within three months following the rebuking of the license.
CySEC also warns that the websites www.investing-area.com, www.buzztrade.com, www.binaryroyal.com which are owned by Airfine Pro are still active and operational which should not be since the company lost its investment services authorization.
Binary options, binary options, binary options... They are the iffy and ugly back streets of the investment world. You should keep away from them especially if they are provided by shady firms.
Click for the full statement from CySEC about Airfine Pro and www.buzztrade.com.