# Which forex broker do you use?



## ThingyMajiggy (23 May 2008)

Hey

I was wondering from the others here that trade forex, which broker and platform do you use?

I am finding it hard to find a decent broker, have used a few demo accounts, from AvaFX and GFT, they were the ones I liked the most, but it seems a bit difficult to open an account here in AUS with them. Yet everything else feels like a half sucked mintie to use. 

And no....I don't want to use IB.

Cheers,
Sam.


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## tayser (23 May 2008)

2 brokers:

Market Maker: Oanda
ECN: MB Trading ('EFX').

Australia blows for FX brokers.


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## ThingyMajiggy (23 May 2008)

Yes, yes it does!

What about the likes of CMC or IG for FX? Waste of time? 

Thanks for the reply so soon


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## Kaizen (23 May 2008)

Oanda. Great spreads and easy to use platform.


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## tayser (23 May 2008)

ThingyMajiggy said:


> Yes, yes it does!
> 
> What about the likes of CMC or IG for FX? Waste of time?
> 
> Thanks for the reply so soon




Depends on your style of trading, I need to use ECNs for scalps, although I intend to use my MM Oanda account for swing / longer term trading (because they offer much better rollover than MBT) in the long run - CMC, IG, Go Markets (used to be called Pacific Trader) - they're all market makers.


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## Young Gun (23 May 2008)

Oanda havent seen anything come close to this broker (if you have a small ammount of capital). 

There is no mininum trade size, no mininum account openning balance, no mininum account size, no brokerage, no platform costs, very cheap spreads and the platform is java based so you can use it on any computer wihtout installing software. 

If you are learning the ropes this is a great broker. Where else can you buy 2 ounces of gold lol ?


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## ThingyMajiggy (23 May 2008)

Looks good, I have looked at OANDA before, really like their platform, might open an account with them, whats it like as far as withdrawing and funding the account? Is it a hassle being based in the US?


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## Young Gun (23 May 2008)

I haven't had any expirience withrawing funds however  transfering funds to the overseas account was abit confusing (well for me anyways). I ended up signing up with paypal and sending it from pay pal to oanada which worked.


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## tayser (23 May 2008)

If you're AUD denominated with Oanda, ignore half of the directions on their website and just send *AUD* directly to the IBAN number for the JP Morgan Account in London in their deposit instructions.

see this post: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=269258&postcount=10

^ bank account numbers may have changed so check first.


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## BentRod (24 May 2008)

Oanda here also.

I use Alpari for intraday data though.

As for funding account, I just funded in USD with credit card.


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## tayser (24 May 2008)

HAve you tried withdrawing?  They're just going to credit your credit card account (and therefore if you want to get the money, your bank will treat it as a cash advance), no?


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## ThingyMajiggy (24 May 2008)

Alright, I have set up an account with OANDA, been confirmed and waiting for me to fund it, yay!  Will see how it all goes...

Thanks for the help


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## ThingyMajiggy (26 May 2008)

So how do you go about withdrawing funds? Is it a 1-2 day process? 

So you reccomend me to bypass ANZ and put it direct into the OANDA account? Can I physically goto my bank and do that or is it better to do it on the net?

Cheers,
Sam.


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## tayser (26 May 2008)

Do it over the net, they're going to charge you either way - most banks make you apply for international access.

Check with Oanda's internal system that the JP Morgan IBAN hasn't changed before sending any money.

And make sure you transmit in the currency that you've selected at Oanda, otherwise you'll get slogged for FX rates which are out of your control once your bank sends it to Oanda's agent bank(s).


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## >Apocalypto< (26 May 2008)

ThingyMajiggy said:


> Yes, yes it does!
> 
> What about the likes of CMC or IG for FX? Waste of time?
> 
> Thanks for the reply so soon




I traded FX with IG markets for over a year never had any problems. So I would not say they are a waste of time. I would not look to scalp with them. But for all other trading on FX they're fine in my books.

I now use Oanda and Alpari (Alpari not a active account any more) using MT4 platform.

Main reason left IG for Alpari then Oanda, I only want to trade FX to tempting having the other markets there!

Cheers
Joseph


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## ThingyMajiggy (27 May 2008)

Ok I went and put some money into the account, I physically went to an ANZ bank and put it in with cash, now I went back on the OANDA site, the account management and said yes I have sent it, now it wants me to create an account "profile" asking me which account the money came from, it was cash, didnt come from any account? also it wants me to enter the SWIFT code for my account, how the hell do I know this? I am with Bank SA, so do I just enter all my normal account details?


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## tayser (27 May 2008)

what a mess... Did you read their instructions before doing the transaction? Why did you go to an ANZ branch???  Did you tell ANZ which account to send it to (the London JP Morgan IBAN codes)? And did you give ANZ your Bank SA account details?

Oanda want to know your SWIFT code of Bank SA and your Bank Account number *of the account you sent money from* so they can help identify you.  I don't understand why you went to ANZ when you can use Bank SA's online international payments (it's bound to have it).

This could be pretty hairy as if you went to ANZ to deposit money and then told them to send on to London, Oanda's only going to see it's come from ANZ and not you...  don't be surprised if money gets returned - to ANZ minus a few fees.

https://fxtrade.oanda.com/your_account/fxtrade/deposit_funds.shtml

_"New Clients

To avoid delays, please ensure you have completed all the steps to open an FXTrade account before sending any funds to OANDA. In particular, you must send proof of identification to OANDA as the final step in opening an FXTrade account. Until OANDA receives and verifies this information, you are not authorized to deposit funds into your FXTrade account.

You will receive a confirmation email from OANDA when your account is authorized for funding. Please wait to receive this email, then follow the instructions below to deposit your funds with OANDA."_


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## ThingyMajiggy (27 May 2008)

I went to ANZ because of past experiences when I have tried to fund my account with Bank SA, it was going to take ages and I could just goto ANZ and it would be in the next day etc. So this time I just went straight to ANZ, they sent it to the JP account, I had all the details for them, she knew I was with Bank SA, I wouldn't have thought it would matter being cash, what does it matter what bank I actually did the transfer through? Could of got the cash out of any account and gone to any bank and put it through. I have entered my details on the account management and also applied for the BankSA International transfer thing, which takes 1-2 days to get anyway, now just waiting to see what happens...

I have had my ID authorised ages ago, thats one of the first things, I have recieved all the emails saying yes its okay to go ahead and fund your account, so I don't see how what bank I did the cash transfer from would be an issue.


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## tayser (27 May 2008)

Oanda only lets you withdraw on the method that you sent money to them.  So if you didn't send it from the account you'll eventually want to withdraw funds from Oanda into, you might run into issues.

Introducing a 3rd party bank into the equation has the effect of distorting where the money has come from - from Oanda's perspective.

When they receive money, JP morgan will report the bank account the money was transmitted from and as you've used a 3rd party bank, it's going to be reported as coming from ANZ - not the account number you put in their system (and not the account number that you're going to withdraw to) - your Bank SA details.

See how it pans out, you might have to explain this to Oanda.


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## klrman (8 September 2010)

I've heard many people really like Oanda, but they only allow 50:1 margins.  Can any of you recommend someone equally as reputable as Oanda that has a web based ECN that allows margins of 200:1.


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## tom82 (9 November 2010)

ForexCT
Go Markets
IBFX Australia
Oanda

(Not in any order)

Not had any problems with any of them.
Great service.


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