# ECN Forex Broker



## moyes (21 March 2013)

Please could someone recommend a forex and CFD broker that is not a bucket shop and market maker? I was thinking about using Thinkforex in Auckland, NZ but too many bad reviews saying that they are a bucket shop who hunt your stop losses. I would prefer a ECN or STP broker instead of a market maker. I was considering Pepperstone or Gomarkets but I am not sure how reputable they are. I will do some searching online to find out more.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## albaby (22 March 2013)

Not recommending but have had no problems with Pepperstone for forex,Fp Markets for CFDs,you can go broke with either of them if you don't know what you are doing.Al


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## cogs (23 March 2013)

With spot trading Pepperstone's pricing seems quite honest and overal quite efficient, albeit their stop/limit order distance is always 20 pips, they have minimum spread settings (never zero), and slippage quite often, not too large but annoying.

It is easy to see now days stop hunting has been passed on to the institutions and big guys, its no longer the brokers so much that chase out stops, either way its a very lucrative method and just std with FX volatilty/noise.

I see FXOpen have done a push lately and I am keen to switch over as they have zero spread from time to time, zero stop/limit orders distance is zero, but I am yet to experience slippage as I haven't opened an account yet, just asked a few questions and experienced theri demo price feed which obviously could vary from live, but reflects their statements and replies.

Might want to steer clear of Go at the mo, seems some funny biz is going on with them

Don't trade micro's, only minis and full contracts and you will get a more realistic experience. You might want to get a demo with Infinity (or similar) and have the platform running the same time as your final choice here in Oz/NZ so you can compare pricing.

My bit.


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## cogs (23 March 2013)

Might be a few caught out with this tho: http://forexmagnates.com/metaquotes-warns-brokers-about-illegal-plugins/

Might be many working frantically over the weekend the 'unplug' the plugin.

I see pepper is offline all today, longer than normal.


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## cbc1 (23 March 2013)

Hi Moyes,

Yea M8 you can trade exchange CFDs via comsec ( auz / non forex ).  Then it will be you vs other people on the market.  They only act as a broker and they aren't interested in taking your $ of you.  They will let YOU choose what price to enter into your CFDs.  So no funny bizzo.

After all a CFD is just that isn't it.  When to parties agree to exchange the value of somthing.  That is what you get with comsec.   


Also you should look at either futures or options for your forex trading if you don't like the market makers for forex.
Same deal,  you will be up against people on the market and YOU choose the prices.

Best of luck moyes.


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## cogs (24 March 2013)

> They only act as a broker and they aren't interested in taking your $ of you



Shill? Commsec? No fees (a bank)? IRESS?

Last time I traded gold futures via commsec I had to chase the fake sell orders up $10 before it became obvious to see what commsec or SFE was actually doing!


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## TulipFX (24 March 2013)

We like ICMarkets. 0.1 spread on EURUSD (and others small too). Commission $7 per round trip.


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## moyes (25 March 2013)

cbc1 said:


> Hi Moyes,
> 
> Yea M8 you can trade exchange CFDs via comsec ( auz / non forex ).  Then it will be you vs other people on the market.  They only act as a broker and they aren't interested in taking your $ of you.  They will let YOU choose what price to enter into your CFDs.  So no funny bizzo.
> 
> ...




Thanks for tip. I am looking at trading futures instead of forex because that market is more regulated and has a lot less bucket shops and dodgy brokers. Does Etrade in Aus ring a bell? What are they like?

After doing some research about which broker in forex is a bit more reputable than the rest, I have boiled it down to Dukascopy.....and then maybe Pepperstone. I'm not sure about these IGmarkets, FXopen, SaxoBank,Oanda, Axitarder, Armada. Those names came up online often but i'm not sure what their reviews are like.


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## TulipFX (25 March 2013)

Pepperstone, ICMarkets (MT4 brokers)
Dukascopy, Saxo (non MT4 brokers)

They would be my recommendations. We have used Pepperstone & ICMarkets with sizeable accounts. If you'd like to get discount commission on ICMarkets, PM me and I will put you in touch with our account manager.

Armada is based in Eastern Europe (questionable fund security & regulation). They are a White Label of LMAX (better off investigating them).

Axitrader are Australian, but inferior to Pepperstone & ICM. OandA were my first broker 7 or so years ago, but have fallen behind in their offerings. FXOpen have been kicked out of a number of countries for not meeting requirements, I'd steer clear of them too.

Hope that helps.


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## cbc1 (25 March 2013)

Cogs?

Um....... 

Re : your post,

I can't believe how many mistakes you managed to pull off in 1 sentence,

FIRSTLY:

Comsec dont trade futures full stop.

Secondly:

Comsec isn't connected to the SFE WHATSOEVER.

Thridly:

The SFE dont trade any futures over gold WHATSOEVER.

Try again m8,

And what I meant by $ is comsec will take a brokerage fee off you for placing your order on the market and thats it,
unlike otc who have many tricks up their sleeve to squeze your hard earned $ off you.


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## moyes (6 April 2013)

TulipFX said:


> Pepperstone, ICMarkets (MT4 brokers)
> Dukascopy, Saxo (non MT4 brokers)
> 
> They would be my recommendations. We have used Pepperstone & ICMarkets with sizeable accounts. If you'd like to get discount commission on ICMarkets, PM me and I will put you in touch with our account manager.
> ...




Thanks for sharing this. I have heard via the grapevine that ICmarkets has been known for hunting stop losses...How true that is, only time will tell. I might consider them but I will first test them out.. I also heard via an ex-employee of Thinkforex that Thinkforex is another broker from Australia that should not be trusted. I use to use their demo platform and that seemed ok but never went live with them to get an idea how good they are.

I have heard good things about Axi Trader and Pepperstone. I might try either one. What is your opinion on LMAX? They are regulated from what I know.

I can also get rebates either through Aslan group or Cashbackforex for Pepperstone and Axi. What does your company offer?

Finding a reputable forex broker is not an easy task! Thanks again for sharing.


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## AverageJoe (20 June 2013)

I am not sure that brokers hunt stops. Its more like a funtion of the large liquidity providers that the brokers are attached to.


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## >Apocalypto< (21 June 2013)

+1 for Pepperstone razor edge acc... been using it since 2012 love it no issues $7 com round trip with tight spreads. 1.2 pip spread on the GBPUSD right now


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## cogs (21 June 2013)

Yeah, your generally correct, brokers don't stop hunt but 'Stop Hunting' is standard practice and a necessary part of FX order filling.

You place a stop or pending order in the queue (visible), and it becomes part of the market depth for bots, institutions, banks, whales and flexible server side settings of brokers platforms to fill.

Trade longer time frames and broker choice becomes a lot easier.

Just my bit.


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## DB008 (23 June 2013)

I recently opened a Pepperstone account.

Turns out that it is not OSX friendly. Need parallels to run it (cross-over platform).

I will close the account shortly.


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## weasel (29 June 2013)

DB008 said:


> I recently opened a Pepperstone account.
> 
> Turns out that it is not OSX friendly. Need parallels to run it (cross-over platform).
> 
> I will close the account shortly.




Any broker offering MT4 will be the same in your case. 

You could use the web interface instead, that works on any browser regardless of the OS. 

Also, I heard a rumor on ForexFactory that Pepperstone will be getting CTrader platform. That will run on OSX too.


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## pingu4392 (15 August 2013)

Alpari has ECN


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## TulipFX (15 October 2013)

cogs said:


> Yeah, your generally correct, brokers don't stop hunt but 'Stop Hunting' is standard practice and a necessary part of FX order filling.
> 
> You place a stop or pending order in the queue (visible), and it becomes part of the market depth for bots, institutions, banks, whales and flexible server side settings of brokers platforms to fill.
> 
> ...




Interesting side note is that stop or pending orders sent to an MT4 broker aren't seen by the market. They only reside on the broker's system and processed when the price is hit by the broker.


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## rrayne20009 (8 November 2013)

I am newbie trader at ***** and have a classic account there.They also offer ECN account there.


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## graceb (9 November 2013)

rrayne20009 said:


> I am newbie trader at ***** and have a classic account there.They also offer ECN account there.




How long are you trading with your broker,is this really a good one?


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