Forex Brokers by Country

For a novice Forex trader looking for a broker, it may seem that there is an infinite amount of Forex brokers to choose from, and the choice may seem impossible. There really are quite a lot of different Forex brokers and even experienced traders sometimes have a hard time deciding which one to trade with. Different brokers offer different features and provide different services, some are more reliable than others and picking a broker that you can trust is very important. The key to picking the right Forex broker is to know what to look for. What are the most important differences between the different Forex brokers and how do we know to look for them?

I would like to cover three different aspects which differ Forex brokers from one another. I believe that these three factors should be first to consider when picking a Forex broker to work with. These factors are very important and should not be compromised under any circumstances.

Trading Platform Reliability

Every Forex broker has his own trading platform which is your interface with the broker. These trading platform come in different forms (browser-based, desktop platform, mobile platform) and as your direct interface with your broker is one of the most important aspects of choosing your broker.

Many factors should be considered when inspecting the different forex trading platforms but overall the most important one is its stability. Having all the features that you need is important, but it doesn’t matter how many different features the platform provides if it crashes when you need it most.

The most crucial times for Forex trading are when big economic events affect the market, but these are also the times that the trading platforms will be busiest. If you want to use these crucial windows of opportunity to make a profit you must make sure that your platform can withstand the load and will not crash exactly when you want to open or close a trade.

If you are an aggressive trader looking to make a profit from large, frequent trades put the stability of your platform as a top priority. More subtle traders, who do not monitor the market day in and day out can compromise on the stability of the platform if it comes in the place of different advantages.

Once you have assessed a platform’s stability you can also look into different aspects of a trading platform. Is it user-friendly or will navigating it waste you a lot of time? Does it provide all the features that you are looking for?

Regulation

The second aspect that I would like to point out is regulation. Is your Forex broker regulated and if so, by what countries or bodies?

Every country has its own rules when it comes to regulation and understanding the trustworthiness of different regulatory bodies is crucial when picking a Forex broker to trade with. The USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Switzerland, and the Eurozone offer strict regulation that can be trusted. If you choose a forex broker that is based outside of these zones, make sure that the broker is regulated by proper regulation bodies.

Be aware of your broker’s regulation as brokers that are not regulated can do whatever they want with your money and traders have been known to lose a lot of investments because their brokers didn’t play by the rules.

Capitalization

The third and final factor that I will bring up concerning forex brokers is their capitalization. Forex brokers that don’t have proper capitalization can’t stay competitive in today’s market. The reliability of a broker over time is based upon the number of funds that it has set aside.

Most brokers publish their capitalization status, those who don’t probably have something to hide and you should steer clear of those if you want to keep your investments.

Regulatory authorities require brokers to have a minimum amount of capital, but the amount differs from body to body. In the USA the minimum capital for a forex broker is 10 million dollars and is expected to be increased to 20 million in the near future.

Watch out for brokers who say that they are trustworthy because they trade in the interbank network. The interbank network is not properly regulated and is mostly used by large corporations and central banks and not by private traders.

These are, in my opinion, the three most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker to trade with. Check out the different possibilities for yourself and decide which factors are most important for you.

Read about UK Forex brokers

Read about German Forex brokers

Read about Australian Forex brokers

Read about Islamic Forex brokers