The main qualities of a broker
In order to choose the right broker for Forex trading, first of all you should know what qualities you need to pay attention to.
It should be borne in mind that what is on the company’s website does not always correspond to reality.
Many of the important points can only be verified in practice, and sometimes it is too late to change something.
Therefore, before making the final choice, you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons, and only then make a decision and fund your trading account.
It should always be remembered that the main quality of any broker is its reliability.
In my practice, I once had to deal with a company that positioned itself as a large dealing center; I was very surprised to discover that the company’s website had only existed for three months, and its traffic was only 10 people a day.
For practical trading, the most important qualities of a Forex broker are:
The speed of order execution - there are two types - at the market and at the stated price (instantly). The effectiveness of the strategy you have chosen often depends on this parameter.
For example, for scalping it is better to choose only instant execution.
By market - your order is executed in any case, even if during its execution there is a change in the current price; to reduce the number of requotes, the size of the deviation is set in points.
This option is more acceptable for medium- and long-term trading; there are practically no requotes (failures to execute).
Instantly - it is more correct to call this option “Exact execution”; if the price has changed, you will receive a refusal and an offer to open a deal at a new price. At worst, the order will be opened at a new price that is not always profitable for you.
Triggering of orders – traders rarely pay attention to this quality of the broker, despite its importance; pending orders or stops can be triggered either when they touch or when the price level is reached.
Touch – as soon as the price touches the specified level, your order is triggered, the best execution option.
By level - the price should not just touch the set mark, but stay at it for a certain time; in this option, most questions arise - “Why didn’t my order work?”
Trading restrictions - these include limiting the volume of trading operations and the maximum number of open orders during the day. The minimum duration of transactions can also be regulated, and if the condition is violated, the transaction is simply cancelled. This group also includes a ban on trading using automated trading systems (trading with advisors).
Minimum levels – this means the minimum installation value in stop points of take profit and stop loss orders. This limitation is especially often applied to the last order; it cannot be placed no closer than 10 points from the opening price, a rather unpleasant moment.
Available assets - that is, what is permissible to trade with a given Forex broker, a rather important point, since one brokerage company may allow trading only in currencies, and another - in cryptocurrencies, securities and futures. Sometimes the number of assets available for trading can reach several hundred.
You can clarify these points with the technical support service before replenishing your account.
In addition, when studying the qualities of Forex brokers, also pay attention to the description of trading conditions, their characteristics are publicly available on the website of any company, these are the size of the spread , the minimum deposit, the presence of cent accounts, the size of the swap commission on Forex and forced levels of closing unprofitable ones transactions.
You should always remember that the main commandment of any trader is that what is written can only be trusted after checking; I have more than once had to deal with the fact that most of the trading conditions in practice do not correspond to reality.