By dealing with the best forex broker, you can not only become a better trader but it will also help ensure that you make more profitable trades. Some offer a higher level of service to their clients, while others provide the simple basics. The best forex broker is simply the one that most effectively meets your needs as a trader. What are the benefits you can get from a good broker?
- A trading platform: These platforms are essential tools for brokers, since they not only provide you with ways to analyze currency price movements and execute trades. They are a way for you to interact not only with your brokers but also with the markets.
- Trading advice: The best forex broker is not just one who will simply execute your trades but also provide you with tips as to how to make winning trades. This is particularly important if you are just starting out as a currency trader and have limited experience.
- Demo accounts: No one can argue the value of using a demo account to learn how to trade in the forex markets without having to risk real money. But these accounts are not just for beginners, but also for more advanced traders who want to try out their trading systems in a no-risk environment.
- News and analysis: The best forex broker has a wealth of resources on his site for traders to use, ranging from widgets such as currency converters and spread computation tools, to a forex calendar that gives you an overview of upcoming political and economic developments that will impact the markets, and articles offering analysis of which currency pairs to trade. They may even have podcasts in which they analyze market developments and give their predictions for how trading will go in the coming weeks.
- Different lot sizes: Not all traders can afford to trade in the typical 100,000 unit lots, so brokers offer smaller lots of 10,000 units and even less to ensure that more people can participate in the markets.
- Leverage: Forex brokers typically loan money to their clients so that they can make larger trades even with only a relatively small amount in their trading accounts. Leverage is usually expressed as a ratio and shows how much your trading deposit will be multiplied. For example, if the broker offers a leverage of 1:200, with $500 in your account you can trade as much as $100,000, which greatly magnifies your potential profit as well as, of course, giving you higher potential losses in case of losing trades.
- Technical support: The currency market is open 24/5, so the best fore broker will provide customer services within this time frame that allows you to speak to a knowledgeable customer rep at virtually any time if you have problems with the trading platform, since downtime can cost you money by missing profitable trades.