Basic Introduction to the Forex - Part 5 (Selecting A Broker)

To trade on the forex you need an account, and to set up an account you need a forex broker. There are many forex brokers available on the internet, and to select among them we have to consider certain criterea And before we look at that, in case you don't know what a broker is, he is an individual or a company that executes your buying/selling orders on the forex. Certain brokers may or maynot take a commission for their services. Firstly, you need a registered Forex Broker. The Forex is not a well regulated market considering its size and there are different agencies regulating (or trying to) regulate the Forex. One agency to check with is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They handle registration in the USA. To check please visit www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/ Secondly, the broker software provided should be good. Check them and see if they offer real time quotes, if they allow real time market entry, if graphs and other analysing tools are provided, if there is an account summary (including profit-loss, margin, open positions, closed positions),charts and preferable a customer care center built in. Broker programs fall into two categories, downloadable programs, and on the net accessable ones. Whichever you prefer, you must have a high speed internet connection to trade. It is a must if you have to ascertain the markets moves in real time. Other points to note - Brokers should offer atleast the USD,GBP,EUR,CHF,JPY,CAD,AUD (the major currencies) - Spread usually matters, the smaller the break, the more ideal the broker. This can be done by comparing the bid/ask rates offered by various brokers - Leverage, the more the leverage, the more money you can trade and the profits can be much more higher (or losses more damaging).Or rather the smaller the margin percent, better the dealer - Trading should be possible 24 hours a day from 5pm EST Sunday to 5pm EST Friday - Free Charting and Technical Analysis would be another thing to watch out for For newcomers, I would recommend Marketiva for a host of reasons. The most important one being the fact that they offer a $5 Free bonus. Continue to Basic Introduction to the Forex - Closing Notes Go Back to The Forex