Finding the right Forex broker - Move Your Money

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 01:01 AM PST

The world's Forex market is a huge beast with over $5 trillion traded on it every day. Open 24-hours a day, five days per week, it is the largest financial market in existence. Traders pick out a currency pair such as the USD/GBP and then predict if the price will go up or down in future. If you make the right call, you make some money! One thing you will need to do in order to start trading though is sign-up with an FX broker online.

The issue for many traders though is the sheer choice in this area. There are hundreds of FX brokers you could trade with and not all are reputable. Even those which are genuine may not suit your trading style or have all you need to enjoy trading. This makes it vital to do your research and to pick the right broker to use carefully. But what is the best way to go about this?

Check out online reviews

One of the best tips is to look at online reviews before choosing a forex broker. A simple search online under the broker's name will throw up all you need to know about them from real traders who have used the service. If you do a general search for reputable brokers to use when trading FX, you will also find professional sites that review individual brokers or bring together lists of the best around to consider. This will help give you an objective, third party opinion, about which are worth trusting your money with.

Give the customer service a call

This is something of an old trick but it still works like a charm today. Very often, a quick telephone call is all you need to get a feel for which broker is right for you. If their support team answers the call quickly and deals with you in a courteous, friendly and helpful way, then it is a good sign. Naturally, if they are rude or you can never get through to anyone, it might be a sign to avoid them. If there is no phone number, then try the Live Chat feature or send off a quick email. How quickly they reply and the quality of their service is the key consideration to look out for.

Check if they are regulated and secure

This is perhaps the biggest factor to look at before using any online FX broker – the fact is that the best Forex brokers will be regulated. However flashy their website and however many positive reviews you have found, steer clear of unregulated brokers. If they are not governed or regulated by a professional body, you could have no legal remedy if something goes wrong. It is also often the sign of a scam broker site. You should also check that the broker you are looking at has a licence to operate that is current. While checking this, you should also ensure that the broker's site is secure and uses tech like SSL to keep your data safe.

Look at what features they offer

Choosing the right broker is not only about staying safe online. You also need to make sure the one you pick has features that you will find useful. You could otherwise sign-up with a genuine broker but have a poor experience. Many traders will look for a Demo Account feature as this gives them the chance to practice trading or the ability to try out new strategies with no risk. You should also look at what currencies or assets they carry to trade. If you want to trade an exotic currency for example, not every broker may carry it. By looking at things like this, you will find the broker which has exactly what you need.

Ask friends

Checking online reviews is a great way to track down the perfect broker to trade Forex with but asking around your network of friends is also worthwhile. They may for example use a broker you like and can offer an extra trusted opinion on what it offers. By the same token, they may mention a broker you have not heard of and give you a new name to conduct further research on. By using your friends in this way, you are getting a unique angle on which may be the ideal platform to trade currency on.

Take your time and get it right

If you were needing some helpful tips on finding the perfect FX broker to use, hopefully the above has helped. By doing some research and thinking about what you want in any brokerage online, you will be able to find one that meets your requirements. Of course, being careful in which you use will also keep you safe from online scams and cybercrime.

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How To Find The Best Forex Demo Accounts on the Market - Emirates Business 24/7

Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:21 PM PST

How To Find The Best Forex Demo Accounts

The term "Demo Account" refers to a special kind of practice account. Anyone can use these trading accounts to become familiar with an online trading platform and its features in a low-risk environment.

As recently as 2005, most people would simply do "paper trading," which refers to keeping track of a series of hypothetical trades on paper. Today, "paper trading" generally refers to trading in a kind of digital "practice environment" where you don't risk real money.

In 2019, most forex brokers offer some kind of free demo account. For the most part, brokers offer these demo accounts intending to provide traders the ability to test if the platform will fulfil their needs. If you are not sure which platform to go with when you are just starting out than you should check out our list of the best trading platforms of 2019.

Forex Demo Account Advantages

If you're looking for a new broker, signing up for a demo account might be the quickest and most risk-free method for testing if that trading platform has all the features you need. It's generally recommended to do this before putting any real money into an account with that broker.

Demo accounts can also be used to evaluate trading strategies and test trading robots. By using a demo account, traders are able to see how particular trading strategies would perform based on real-world data without needing to risk real money during the learning process.

Trading platforms provide charting features, indicators, and functions that are invaluable in the trading process. Signing up for a forex demo account can provide you with the valuable experience needed to confidently and quickly use a new trading platform. The more adept you are with the trading platform, the more likely you will trade profitably.

Forex demo account disadvantages

Probably the most significant disadvantage with a forex demo account is that it's not real money. This removes risk, but it also removes any potential gains. Connected with this, you don't experience the intense emotional swings of real-life trading. This means demo accounts don't help you develop a resistance to emotional trading. Emotional trading is trading based on what you "feel" is the right trade. Emotional trading – instead of trading based on a strategy – is one of the leading causes of failure on the market.

Inexperienced traders also tend to be complacent when using a demo account to practice their trading skills. Subconsciously, they know that there is no real risk involved, and so they may take more significant risks then they would do in a real-money environment. This lack of emotional experience with emotional control can cause the research and learning acquired from the demo account to be less than accurate, and therefore, less than reliable in the real world.

Lastly, some demo accounts are completely removed from real market trading data. That means essential real-world factors – such as lag time, slippage, and latency – might be invisible inside of the demo account.

Alternatives To A Demo Account

If a demo account doesn't seem to fit your needs, you might consider a micro account. Micro accounts are funded with real money and can be used to simulate actual trading. For example, if you were to make it $2000 trade inside of a demo account and that $2000 trade were to increase significantly, you wouldn't make any money. However, had you been trading inside of a micro account, you might have received some of the profit.

Another benefit of micro accounts is that they provide you with real-market conditions such as surprise news, slippage, and latency. Each of these things can dramatically affect the success (or failure) of a trade.

Trading Psychology And Demo Accounts

There's a surprising amount of psychology involved in forex trading. It can be mentally and emotionally challenging, requiring that forex traders have complete control over their emotions along with a fact-based strategy for their trading behavior. If you take the demo account seriously, it can be an incredibly useful way for you to improve your mental and emotional fortitude for trading.

Account Size Management And Demo Accounts

No matter what form of trading or investing you are involved in, risk management it's fundamental to your success. There are many different ways to manage risk and one of them that is related to demo accounts is account size management. Account size management is where you attempt to avoid significant losses in your account by choosing the size of your trades in proportion to the size of your account.

For example, if the trader has $100,000 in his trading account and decides to use 20% trade sizes ($20,000 per trade). If the first trade is lost, the account will lose 20% of its value. If two more losses of 20% happen, the account will be drawn down a total of $60,000. That trader must make a gain of 150% just to break even.

Compare that to a trader who decides to use 4% trade sizes. If this new trader also loses three sequential trades (the same as the first trader), he would've only lost $12,000 and could reach breakeven with a 17.6% gain.

Especially in times of significant market volatility and adversity, risk management is the key to staying solvent. Account size management within a demo account is a great way to develop your account size management skills.

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