CKFX

When you access CKFX’s website, the first word that comes to mind is “simplicity”. The site is as simple and empty as can be, with very little information. Do not let that fool you though, CKFX has a nice offering and in some cases, even outdoes its parent, Forex Yard, for who they act as an introducing broker. The registration and deposit process was easy and straight forward with the ability to deposit funds using a bank transfer or credit card; all the major cards are accepted. The withdrawal process turned out to be quite easy as well only taking up to 5 days to withdraw funds. In terms of the trading itself, their Forex Yard Trading Station platform is easy to use and full of functionality. Some features included in their downloadable platform include Stop Losses, Take Profit, charts and graphs, trading history, and the support for commodities like gold and silver. In addition to their standard platform, they also offer a Java-based platform that is compatible with Macs and does not need to be downloaded, which can be a huge advantage to many new traders. CKFX’s website is available in 5 languages, English, Dutch, Spanish, French, and Italian, while their platform adds a few more including Arabic, Finnish, German, and Swedish. CKFX supports 30 different currency pairs with the typical spread for major pairs being 3-5. They offer a demo account to practice trading on their platform and also enable you to trade with a super-mini account that can get you trading with as little as $100. As soon as the account has over $999, it is automatically converted to a standard account. They offer a maximum leverage of 200:1, which is not the highest in the market, but is also not too shabby. Although they offer a mini account, CKFX charges deposit and withdrawal fees on that account only, a price you have to pay for trading such small amounts of money. In terms of their service, they are available by email, phone, and live chat, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. They not only advertise these forms of communication, I found them to be very responsive when contacted. The only issue I had with their chat was the fact that they were very hesitant, a little TOO hesitant to admit to me that they are an introducing broker for Forex Yard. They offer some basic Forex training on their site answering questions anywhere from “What is a pip” to “How is it calculated?” In addition, they offer a tour of their platform, in which they show you different screen shots of the platform and an explanation of each one. CKFX is based in Cyprus and is EU regulated. They seem to be a reliable broker, and are offering a very attractive promotion to new traders. If you open a demo account, then decide to go live, you can take your profits from the demo into the real account and begin trading with real money. There is some “small print” to this promotion such as a minimum of 20 trades in the demo account and a minimum 500 transactions in the real account within 3 months, but all in all, it is a nice bonus for people who join CKFX, and one that definitely gives them an edge over the competition and a reason to trade with them and not with Forex Yard.

Dukascopy

Dukascopy is a Forex broker service with full access to the Swiss Foreign Exchange Marketplace. The company is regulated and controlled through the ARIF and the FFA (Federal Finance Administration) for financial intermediaries, which means tighter control with a particular focus on preventing money laundering. And yet, when looking for the right Forex broker, you’ll want to choose one that will pay equal attention to your money as it will to your individual needs. Read on in our comprehensive Dukascopy review to determine if this Forex broker offers the services you need. General Information Maximum leverage: 1:100 Minimum deposit: $1,000 Minimum deal size: 10,000 Languages available: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese Trading Platform Dukascopy offers several trading platforms, including the popular MetaTrader 4 platform, which is also offered by many other leading Forex brokers including Ava FX and FXCM. The company also offers a downloadable JAVA based platform for manual trading, and the ‘JFOREX’ platform for autotrading. A web-based platform is available for those who prefer not to download the program, and a platform is available for iPhone users as well, though it seems that other mobile and “smartphone” users cannot trade when they are away from their desktops. Unlike Forex Club, which offers distinct platforms for both novice and experienced traders, all traders that use Dukascopy will be required to use the same platforms regardless of their skill set or preferences. Therefore, you may want to try the company’s 14 day demo account before committing to this broker. Dukascopy’s trading platforms are safe, thanks in part to the strictness of the Swiss Foreign Exchange Marketplace. Trading can be done securely online through one click trade to an unlimited number of accounts. You can also trade over the telephone. Features The most unique feature that we discovered during our Dukascopy review is the contest that the company offers each month, in which the trader with the best achievements will win a Cartier watch – but this feature is hardly the most useful. There’s no question that this incentive is inviting and exciting, but we believe that traders will want to succeed for their own sake, even without the chance to win a watch! Perhaps more useful is the host of market material that Dukascopy provides including useful Forex signals and a plethora of technical analyses for those who prefer to make their own decisions. Among our favorites are the Currency Coverter, Forex Calculators and market updates directly to your mobile device. Ironically, while Dukascopy offers market updates to cellular phones, these updates do not include access to the trading platform, and thus, the usefulness of this feature is significantly diminished. Customer Service Dukascopy offers customer service 6 days each week via email and phone. Noticeably absent is live chat support, though we do give kudos to Dukascopy for enabling users to contact the company via Skype instead of incurring the expense of an international call. Email from Dukascopy (Click to enlarge image) Ease of Use Direct access to the Swiss Foreign Exchange Marketplace means a right of entry to perhaps the biggest pool of interbank Forex liquidity obtainable anywhere for banks, institutions, hedge funds or professional traders. Retail clients are not serviced through Dukascopy, which is one flaw. Nonetheless, Dukascopy is perhaps the most efficient FOREX broker around, thanks to the combined liquidity of centralized marketplaces and a number of banking-partners, making it the biggest marketplace in the world. There are sometimes daily network volumes that exceed $80 billion USD. Dukascopy uses real-time interbank rates with spreads like 0.5 – 1 pip on Majors, some of the best spreads available in the market. The spread will sometimes get as high as 4 pips on non-major pairs like GBP/USD. It is important to note, however, that a commission is taken for access to the marketplace. The standard commission is $20 USD per one million USD traded. Managed accounts will be charged an additional $20 USD per one millions USD traded. The commission is partially reimbursed depending on the monthly volume of the trader. All trades are executed within the network of FX participants and the trading is anonymous. Setting up a demo account is extremely easy. It’s just a matter of setting yourself up with a login and password. When you get into live trading there is second level security available through the use of visual encryption secure code. From there, you can choose to run either Java or Web-based software platforms. The program gives users the ability to act and react quickly depending on the market situation. The setup of the windows will allow you to easily monitor the market, examine current exposures, manage positions and view the progress of their equity, leverage and performance. The windows can be resized and moved around based on your needs. The bid and ask prices, volumes and market depth are all updated real-time. Final Thoughts Signing up for a Swiss broker is slightly more complicated than just signing up online. You are required to download the paperwork, complete the necessary information, and mail the documents to Switzerland. It is suggested that you email scanned copies or fax first to ensure that everything is sound before mailing your hardcopy. If you are opening up a private account, you will need to include a certified copy of your passport or any utility bill showing your residential address. You will be contacted if anything additional is needed. A standard bank order is needed for deposit to an account or withdrawal from an account. These are all standard procedures for any FOREX brokerage based in Switzerland.

IFX Markets

IFX Markets offers 24-hr Foreign Exchange trading to hedge funds, money managers and self-traders. The company is headquartered in Boston, Mass., with other locations in China and London. IFX Markets offers a wide-ranging trading experience. Traders can trade among 27 currency pairs, with 2 point spreads on both EUR/USD and USD/JPY, and 3 point spreads in other major currencies (GBP/USD, USD/CHF). Sign-up is easy and efficient, with quick (within a minute) email confirmation. You can use one of 10 currencies to fund your account, but must start with at least $500, which is much less than some other popular Forex sites. You may use a bank check, but it may take up to five business days for some checks to clear.  For deposits above $15,000, you must use a wire transaction. Unlike other sites, there was no clear information on using credit cards to complete transactions. A minimum transaction size is 1 lot, or 10,000 of the base currency. An account with a margin deposit of 1 percent would open a US$10,000 position and would require an initial margin deposit of US$100. With IFX Markets, you have the latest trading information at your fingertips. Through the online platform, you can execute trades directly from real-time streaming bid/ask quotes. Live prices are continuously updated via a trading software and you can at any time click on the current bid or offer and instantaneously execute a trade. IFX Markets does a good job making its information accessible to everyone:  The platform is available in 14 languages, and the website itself in eight. You can practice trading with a free demo account which is available in windows or java.  If you have additional questions or concerns, you can access the site’s user manual that walks you, step by step, through making transactions and reading the site. The manual uses both narrative and illustrations to clearly demonstrate how the site works. The site also includes a comprehensive economic calendar to help you make your trading decisions. It lists events such as reports on U.S. existing home sales, retail sales, etc. Executing a deal via the Internet is a simple, two-step process. Simply enter the number of lots and then click on the bid (buy) or offer (sell) for the currency pair you wish to trade - your deal is automatically executed. The dealing software automatically calculates the initial margin requirement based upon the notional amount of the deal, and if sufficient funds are available in your account, will accept the transaction. Deals are confirmed online, normally within one second, and the system instantaneously updates both your open position and calculates your current floating profit and loss. The dealing platform provides sophisticated order entry and tracking. Orders may be entered at any rate - inside or outside the existing spread - using the following orders types: • Market Order An order based on a current market price. • Limit orders An order with restrictions on the maximum price to be paid or the minimum price to be received. • Stop Loss orders Order type whereby an open position is automatically liquidated at a specific price. Often used to minimize exposure to losses if the market moves against an investor's position. You can also place orders via telephone: To get an idea of where your account stands, you can access your account statements at any time. To withdraw funds or close an account at any time, fill out and sign the Withdrawal Form. Requests to withdraw funds will be processed in two business days.  For withdrawals of more than $25,000, IFX Markets deals with wire transfers only.

Forexyard

Special for Daily Forex Users Open an account with Forexyard and get a 100% cashback on your deposits, worth up to $300. Click Here to register ForexYard is a retail forex broker that was established in 2004 and based in Cyprus.  They offer a dealing desk brokerage, meaning they take the other side of your trades.  Twenty-seven different currency pairs are offered as well as 3 commodities:  gold, silver, and oil, plus stock indices.  ForexYard offers very competitive fixed spreads.  With the option of a web-based or downloaded trade platform, good customer service, flexible margin trading, and some additional features not offered at other retail brokers, this broker is recommended for experienced and especially beginning traders in the forex markets. The ForexYard website is easy to understand and navigate and opening a demo or live account is fairly quick and easy.  They accept major credit cards or bank wire transfers for depositing into live accounts, as well as Western Union Money Transfers.  Credit card deposits are immediate to start trading live, while wire transfers can take up to 3 days to process.  They also offer a free trading course upon registration that is actually pretty good and goes over the basics of trading the forex market.  Beyond the free course ForexYard also features several well-written tutorials for their trading platform and also for explaining several commonly used technical indicators. Live accounts with ForexYard can be as small as $100.  They feature either a super mini account (for accounts smaller than $1000) or standard account.  The ability to trade the commodities (gold, oil, silver) can only be permitted with standard size accounts.  The super mini account is ideal for a beginning trader to put the minimum amount of risk on but still get the feel and practice of trading a live account.  Also, with standard size accounts there are no fees associated, but with the smaller trade account there is a $25 fee for all withdrawals.  Withdrawals require a form to be filled out and faxed along with proof of account holder and address.  Withdrawals can be processed by sending to your credit card that was used to fund the account, or by wire transfer to your bank.  Process time is questionable:  the website states that “withdrawal process time will take no less than 3 days” but does not state a maximum time for processing.  Also, ForexYard is very strict about now allowing scalping trades. The ForexYard trade platform is easy to use and somewhat customizable.  The tutorials offered on their website along with the help section on the platform itself is very helpful for quickly getting started trading.  They do not offer any feed for Metatrader4 or eSignal charts.  But trading with their proprietary platform and charts is fine for intraday or swing trading.  They offer all the usual order types including trailing stops. ForexYard customer service is pretty good.  They can be contacted via telephone, email, or live chat on the website.  The live chat responded immediately, while email response took 1 day.  The only aspects to this broker that are questionable are that the terms and conditions are vague about profit withdrawal and about their ability to withhold your profits.  The bank guaranteeing their accounts was not disclosed during this review process.  ForexYard is not regulated by the NFA or other organization. **Currently ForexYard is offering to credit $300 to a live trade account for super mini accounts, or $1000 for standard accounts as long as a minimum of $1000 is deposited.

10Pips

10pips is a broker that deals with multiple markets including Forex, commodities, stocks, equity indices, and more. Their website is user friendly, easy to navigate, and is a clear indication of what you will get when you begin trading. While I could not help but notice that some basic information one searches for on a broker's site was missing, everything became very clear once I downloaded the 10Pips platform and began to trade. When it comes to registering and depositing money with 10pips, the process is relatively easy with a lot of different options, such as all major credit cards, and bank transfer. They offer their services in 11 different languages and their trading platform in 26, so no matter where you are in the world, you will be able to trade with 10pips. They offer an advanced downloadable trading platform, and offer a tutorial with a few screen shots accompanied by a brief explanation on how to use the platform. Not exactly a state of the art learning experience, but better than nothing. Their platform supports the various market standards in functionality including Entry Limit, Trailing Stop, Stop Losses, Take Profits, immediate transactions, and more. 10pips offers their customers a free demo trading account, and they claim that you will be up and running within five minutes, something that was not too far off from the truth. One of the unique and extremely useful features offered by 10Pips is the ability to deposit and withdraw money directly from the trading platform with no need for faxes, web forms, or 3rd party services to get your money. You can also start trading with a minimum deposit of $100 and a 200:1 leverage. Their platform does offer an advanced charting solution in real time to accompany your trading, a blessed initiative, and something other brokers should implement as well. Other advantages of 10pips is their no commission guarantee, no dealing commission, no withdrawal commission, and no rollover commission, not a bad start. 10Pips also makes it very clear to their customers that they offer 24 hour customer support, but the very standard chat feature that is offered by almost all brokers is unavailable with 10pips, and as of now, I have not received an email back from their representative. The truth be told, with such an easy trading experience, there really is no reason to contact 10Pips, but I would not mind having the option to contact them. 10pips.com is based in Belize and their primary audience according to them is the UK, US, European and Asian markets. Information about the company such as when they were established is also missing, and as I mentioned, was not yet answered by their customer support. 10pips offers some trading bonuses as well, such as a $20 welcome bonus with no deposit required and a 30% bonus on a first deposit. They offer their traders competitive spreads and many different local solutions. 10pips seems to be targeting traders who want an all in one solution for the various markets. It is true that 10pips offers support for many different markets, and besides the missing support features, I found 10Pips to be a very competitive all around broker.

FXPrimus

FXPrimus is a new force in the Forex industry and based on our FXPrimus review, it is a force to be reckoned with. They offer their customers the industry standard Meta Trader 4 platform with the ability to trade both from your home computer as well as your smartphone, a feature not yet adopted by many Forex brokers. The registration, deposit, and withdrawal processes with FXPrimus are all relatively simple and straightforward with support for money bookers and the major credit cards. One of the unique characteristics of FXPrimus as opposed to many other Forex brokers is the fact that there is no dealing desk and therefore FXPrimus does not trade against you. They offer straight forward processing, which basically allows the trader to be treated as if they were an institutional bank and not a retail trader. This means a much more leveled playing ground for the trader, and leaves the trader in a better place knowing that the broker is being up front with them. FXPrimus offers its traders many different options in terms of trading accounts including micro, mini, and standard accounts, allowing traders to open an account with as little as $250. However, while that is a relatively minimal initial investment, FXPrimus' 500 to 1 leverage allows traders to trade with very high volume. The execution of FXPrimus' trading platform is also top notch with close to no slippage under normal market volatility. This broker works in conjunction with various tier one banks enabling the best quotes the market has to offer. FXPrimus did not stop at Forex and they also support metals, CFDs, and Forex options allowing traders to add some variety to their trading portfolio, not to mention the ability to scalp your various instruments. Trading with FXPrimus, you will also enjoy extremely low spreads such as 2 pips for the major currencies. The list continues with support for Islamic accounts, audits by Ernst & Young, as well as full FSC regulation. However, as usual, there are some down sides to FXPrimus. For starters, they claim to have 24 hour support by email, phone, and chat. However, after a few checks I conducted, their chat support is far from available 24 hours a day, in fact, the site said it was offline for the majority of the time I was conducting this review. Their email support was also not responsive enough by my tests. In addition, their website, which is the first impression a trader gets and should therefore be easy to use, was far from it. Much information I searched for was missing from the site, such as payment options and others, not to mention that the site as a whole is poorly organized and written. However, as important as an organized website is, what is more significant when choosing a broker is their trading features, and FXPrimus impressed me on that front. They seemed to have thought about everything and gave me the confidence to trust them as a dependable broker. Between their audits, their regulation, and their generally competitive offering, I would recommend this broker to any FX trader.

askObid

askObid is a new Forex broker that puts a strong emphasis on user experience. Their site is highly innovative and designed to perfection with all the information a trader would need available to them. AskObid is a feature-packed broker both in terms of their trading features as well as their overall offering. AskObid's main attraction that separates them from the majority of brokers is their customizable, easy to use, Web-based trading platform. What this means to the trader is easy and flexible access to their trading environment from any Web-enabled computer anywhere in the world. AskObid claims to recognize the importance of Forex knowledge, which is clearly an accurate statement if I am judging by the amount of resources invested in their Academy section. They offer traders a very informative and thorough education center, which would come in handy to new traders just getting started in Forex. While I found the information there to be very useful, there were multiple sections in the Academy part of the site that were incomplete or empty, but being a new broker, it is understandable that the site is a work in progress. AskObid is regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange commission and also complies with the MiFID. In terms of askObid's advantages, the available payment methods are more flexible than any other Forex service I have encountered. The methods include all credit cards, debit cards, and more than twenty other possibilities. In terms of withdrawing funds, askObid makes it very easy to get paid. All you need to do is click Withdraw in the platform and choose one of over twenty payment methods. AskObid offers the standard 21 day free demo account, which is of course something every trader should take advantage of. The demo account has no limitations and it will enable you to get to know the trading environment as well as your own trading strategy. The trader can also choose from one of three trading account types depending on trading style and available capital. The options are Silver, Gold or Platinum. The account types differ on various factors such as maximum deposit, spreads, personal trainers, access to webinars, mobile alerts, referral awards, and more. In terms of the bonuses offered by askObid, they differ based on your trading account. For the Silver account, there is a 10% award on up to a $1,000 deposit. For the Gold account, there is a 15% award on up to a $15,000 deposit, and the Platinum account has a 30% award up to $30,000. As you can see, askObid is a very impressive broker, but their most impressive feature is definitely their trading platform, which enables you to trade all the majors as well as gold and silver. In the platform, you can see what others are trading, enable one click trades, as well as completely customize the interface of the trading environment. Once you open a new position, it is listed in your open positions, at which point you can add stop losses or take profits. The one thing I did not like so much was the defined 200:1 leverage, which cannot be adjusted. In general, the platform is one of the most intuitive interfaces I have ever used. It is very user friendly and does not take long to master. Additionally, askObid has great customer service in my tests with a highly responsive chat feature that I found to be very helpful and professional. They also have an online form to send them an email or the option to have one of their representatives call you back, all options I found to be effective and timely. There really is a lot more to be said about askObid's service, such as their trading tools including market analysis and reviews, as well as their advanced financial calendar, but to sum it all up, askObid is a serious contender in the Forex market and one that with minimal work can become a leading force in this multi billion dollar industry.

FOREX

If you’re looking for a reputable Forex broker and the ability to trade over 50 currency pairs, Forex.com may be just the broker you’re looking for. Forex.com is operated by Gain Capital, a financial services company that’s been in business since 1999, and even a cursory look at Forex.com will confirm that this online trading website was developed by industry veterans. Read this full Forex.com review to determine if this is the broker you’ve been looking for. General Information Founded in: 1999 Headquarters: New Jersey, USA Maximum leverage: 50:1 Minimum deposit: $500 Minimum lot size: 10,000 for a mini account, 1,000 for a MetaTrader4 account Languages available: English, Chinese, Russian, Arabic Regulation: NFA Email from Forex.com (Click on image to enlarge) Ease of Use Throughout our tests of Forex.com we were continually impressed by the intuitive design of the company’s website and its trading platforms. Specifically useful is that unlike some other Forex brokers, Forex.com keeps its contact information obvious and accessible in both the trading platforms and the website, so that traders with questions can get live help instantly. There were several notable conveniences that Forex.com offered during the registration processes. When we opened a demo account, we were pleased to see that we were automatically logged in, instead of having to receive a username and obscure password via email as other brokers required. When opening a live account, we were exceptionally impressed to see that all necessary tax forms were not only presented during signup, but were required during the process. On the whole, the registration process was entirely straightforward and, as promised by Forex.com on the start page, it did take only about 10 minutes. The biggest problem that we had during our Forex.com review was figuring out how to switch between the different platforms, or rather, to download the FOREXTrader PRO platform once we’d logged into the web-based platform. A quick chat with the customer service team solved this problem. Another small inconvenience that we encountered was that when using the site’s search feature, you can’t simply enter your query and press enter – you must click on the ‘search’ button. Needless to say, this quirk is hardly a reason to reject Forex.com. Rather, it’s clear from our lack of serious criticisms that Forex.com is extremely comfortable to use in all regards.