2Bull Forex Blog

OANDA provides many Foreign Exchange services besides FXTrade, their FOREX trading platform. They provide conversion tools and currency charts for businesses to integrate into their sites and indexes and information for travelers.

OANDA’s currency converter, OANDA Rate, was actually the first to be introduced to the Internet, in as early as 1995. Today over 35,000 organizations use the company’s many tools to update and manage their online services.

In addition to the services above, OANDA offers FXLabs, in which the new tools the company OANDA has developed can be tested by users, thus allowing them to enjoy an enhanced trading experience with them. Amongst the tools are supportive ones, such as live feed information, charts, comparisons and history of currencies. Also available, is are newest trading tools, an FXManager platform for brokers, and the FXContest platform that allows the one to compare himself to the performances of other users.

When arriving at OANDA’s site, you immediately understand that the company has many services to offer, however this portal structure of the site makes it a tad overwhelming for an individual user to understand where he should actually begin.

Traders have a separate mini-site (https://fxtrade.oanda.com/)which includes all the resources needed for opening accounts and trading FOREX.

OANDA’s proprietary applications are web-based Java platforms, offered in English only. FXGame is a demo version of the software, which is a complete replica of FXTRade, the real money version. Both are updated with the same live figures, and offer the same trading tools and resources. The only difference is the real money.

FXGame is not limited in time or funds, and you can keep practicing your trading strategies until you feel confident enough to go on to trading on FXTrade.

Registering for FXGame is quick and easy and requires only a few personal details. Registration for FXTrade is long, requires building a full personal profile, and identification forms must be sent in to the company prior to making a first deposit. This is different from other platforms which allow depositing money and starting to trade immediately.

To withdraw funds for the first time you are also required to set up a user profile that includes your bank account details, even if this wasn’t the method you used to deposit. Once the profile is set up, withdrawal process is rather simple. Funds will be returned to the same payment method with which you made the deposit.

When opening an account, you may choose which currency, out of 7 available options, you want it to be in. In many cases, this saves the trader the need to convert his own funds when making a deposit into his account.

Another procedure to complete when opening a new account is to decide the leverage you want for it. OANDA offers much lower leverage than other platforms, not wanting to enable the high risks. They recommend a leverage of 1:20 and offer a maximum of 1:50 (whereas most platforms offer 1:200).

Once logged in, using the application if fairly simple and intuitive. It is easy to open new positions and then edit them. There is full information on the history of positions, transactions and activities in the account. The desktop can be set according to your personal preferences, to provide you with the tools most valuable to you. So you can decide which pairs you want to see and in what order, and you can set the form of the charts to be the most convenient for you to use.

There is an abundance of resources offered by OANDA: news, analysis, calendars, calculators and much more, offered either on web pages or in separate Java platforms, all which can be accessed via the trading platforms.

OANDA claims to “be obsessed” with offering the lowest spreads in the market. They are the first who offered pipettes, meaning that they offer spreads as low as 1.2 for EUR/USD. In addition, the spreads are the same for traders of any size. So even if you decide to trade only $1 – which you can on this platform, you will receive the same spread as someone who is trading $10 Million (the maximum size of a single trade). These low costs are made possible by the high liquidity the company has access to thanks to their many members, as well as the banks they are partnered with which include: JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Canada.

OANDA prides itself with the accessibility it provides to users discussion forums from anywhere within the site or the trading platforms. The community of users provides powerful information from which users can learn about FOREX and using OANDA’s platform and services.

With all its products, resources and users discussion forums OANDA offers a complete FOREX trading experience. While it will definitely take time to master all these tools, the trader using them will eventually be able to manage his trading strategy to make the most out of using this platform.

Based in Germany, ForexWebTrader is a partnership between Saxobank of Denmark and ForexWebTrader Global Investments of the BVI. ForexWebTrader has been around longer than many competitors, having been founded in 2003. It deals only with the forex market, unlike some other sites which offer trading in different securities arenas.

It’s easy to get started. While no practice account is available, forex traders can begin with as little as $25. Registration is through email. Once you sign up, you’ll be directed to a page with more information on creating your user name and password. You can use Visa or Mastercard, a bank wire transfer, or e-gold for sign-up. When you withdraw funds, they will be returned via the same currency.

ForexWebTrader has no shortage of functions to help you trade effectively. Along with a live chat option and email help, the platform gives you a wide selection of charts to view and calculate past, present and future currency movements. Updates regarding global and economic announcements are published 24 hours a day. You can also read up on the professionals’ picks and projections for the day’s trading.

ForexWebTrader, available in six languages, offers trading on live tradable prices from the Price/Trade panel. Trading on live tradable prices couldn’t be simpler. The One-Click-Trading feature allows you open and close positions instantly. Once enabled, One-Click trading feature is available for 30 seconds. It will then be disabled again as a safety precaution to prevent you trading inadvertently.

This site also enables you to customize how and at what price you trade securities. For example, a Trailing Stop is attached to the stop-loss feature. It allows you to automatically adjust the level of your stop loss so that the stop is always a pre-specified distance from the last best market price. Trailing stops that dynamically move your order in your favor until the market reverses.

ForexWebTrader also allows you to open positions using versatile trade orders to:
Market Trade – To buy/sell the currency at the market price
Entry Order – Opens a trade at future price you specify if hit or breached
Entry Stop – A type of Entry Order: to buy/sell at a less favorable price
Entry Limit – A type of Entry Order: to buy/sell at a more favorable price.
Market Order – An order to buy/sell at earliest Market Price, used while the market is closed.

You don’t have to be at your computer to trade. As part of ForexWebTrader, Mobile WebTrader allows you to manage your account while away from your computer. Open and close positions, place orders or just monitor the current prices. With Mobile Trading, you are no longer locked to your computer.

The Swiss and Danish banking authorities have given the necessary authorisations for the acquisition of Synthesis Bank by Saxo Bank.

Synthesis Bank specializes in different types of trading, one of which is FOREX. This would be helpful for those interested in various types of trading or investing as they could keep their accounts in one place. However, the company and web site appear to spend much less time and effort on FOREX than on other investing areas, such as stocks and futures.

You can open an account online, through the mail, or via telephone. However, with all three methods, you must still send certain documents, including copies of your passport and proof of residency, to Synthesis in Switzerland via regular mail – different than many other sites. The bank takes deposits via wire transfer or foreign currency, free of charge.

While there is a free demo account, it’s good for only 20 days, not 30 like many other sites. It’s easy to sign up – just fill in your contact information and the site immediately sends an email to your account. The demo account is extremely helpful in showing you how the Synthesis Bank system works and to help you become familiar with the trading environment. The company does call you to help you convert to a permanent account if you so choose.

If you have trouble, help is available via 24-hour live chat and through email. This reviewer tested the email system twice, and both times, had a response within a couple of hours. The website is active in five languages, but the platform is download only.

To help educate investors, Synthesis Bank holds a series of free “Trading Bar” workshops in Switzerland. The company also offers free daily emails with trading information and analysis.

PIPS range from 2 points for major currencies to 4 for some others.

While this site does include much important information, there appears to be some important information missing, such as withdrawal information and fees.

The company caters to four different types of investors:

• Private clients
• Institutional investors
• Asset Managers
• Business partners with client networks

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.

MG Forex has recently in August 2008 updated their trade platform with a new version called DealStationFX. This new version has many new features:

1. The platform is even more customizable, with more room for adding tabs and workspaces to add more charts to be viewable at your fingertips.
2. Trailing stops are now available.
3. Trades can be made directly from the charts by right clicking, and one click trading is also featured.
4. New technical indicators have been added to the mix
5. Economic events can be “plotted” on the charts to make sure that traders are aware of when important news data is coming out.
6. A more comprehensive account management area where withdrawal forms and account reports are available.

In many ways this new trade platform can compete with many of the best platforms available.

Not previously mentioned in this broker review, MG Forex continues to offer these features that many brokers do not offer: Trading accounts can be based in several currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, and CAD. Also, they offer “Flexitrading” which means with one account a trader can trade fractions of a lot or normal lots. Another nice feature is focused for money managers who use this broker. With one trading account, multiple client accounts can be added, so that with one click these managed accounts can be traded and managed from one account screen. They also offer all the back office accounting for handling managed account clients and easily calculating commissions that you might charge them.

MG Forex continues to strive to be relevant in a constantly changing atmosphere that is forex trading, while still being one of the oldest retail brokers out there. They currently have a promotion that if a live account is funded via paypal, MG will refund any paypal fees. Additionally, a live account funded via bank wire transfer, MG will refund the wire fees charged by the bank. Their customer service is also very good and responsive. Also available is a managed account fund, for those who would rather let a professional do the trading.

At first glance everything about www.mgFOREX.com and the MG Financial Group seems simple. They offer one main platform, the DealStation, which is available in a number of versions. They offer one type of trading: FOREX. They offer a limited number of crosses: ten popular pairs. Even deposits are acceptable in only two forms: check or wire. But once the trader starts digging in to the MG FOREX Web site, he will find that the brokerage service is like a big puzzle, with scattered pieces that have to be put together in order to see the big picture.

The puzzle begins with “MG.” What the “MG” in MG Financial Group (the company behind www.mgFOREX.com, stands for is a bit of a puzzle. (It’s not on the site, but it stands for “Money Garden.”) Their exact relationship to FOREXnews.com, a news and market resource, is also a bit of a puzzle, as is their relationship (and links) to other software sites. In the FOREX environment, where a trader may be investing large sums of money, any uncertainty about a broker and its business ties may be unsettling to some.

However, what is not a puzzle is that the MG Financial Group was founded in 1992, that they are registered with the National Futures Association and Commodity Trading Commission, and that every trading contingency and its effect is touched upon somewhere on the site. This protects both the company and the trader.

The foundation of MG FOREX is the DealStation. Made up of a few easy-to-read panels (Account Status, Current Rates, Chart, Open Trades, Open Orders, News), the platform can be deployed as a Java applet (one-time download), a Web-only (HTML) version, or as one of two mobile versions. Only the Java platform is available in multiple languages: English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and German. A first-time trader can choose which version to demo and which type of account to select: a regular virtual trading account or a contest account to compete for a monthly prize.

The DealStation allows four types of trades: market, stop, limit, order cancels order. There are no change orders, only cancellation orders. Trades can be made from the rate chart or the “Open” panels. All trades are confirmed through pop-up screens.
Any positions that are open by 3:00 p.m. EST will be assessed rollover fees. A trader can also earn rollover credits if certain requirements are met, as outlined on the site.

The DealStation dashboard is as customizable as the Windows Operating System’s “View” menu. That is, you can move the panels around and they can be minimized, maximized, cascaded, or tiled. The only chart that appears on the dashboard is a candlestick chart. Additional charts (bar and line graphs) require a separate download. For more chart options, the trader can subscribe to and download additional software. A special e-mail alert news feature (alert!fx) requires a trip to a separate site. News is automatically supplied from Dow Jones, but downloads or links to other sites (FOREXnews.com) is also offered. These are all pieces of the puzzle for the trader to fit together himself.

Learning to use the DealStation isn’t too difficult because there are so few bells and whistles. Besides the Demo account, MG FOREX provides a user guide, video tutorials, and descriptive Web pages. The Demo Account is free, but the “Ultimate Demo Contest” is not. The user must fork over $500 for 12 monthly chances to win up to $3,000 in credit towards a live account. You’ll find more details on the contest on various pages on the site. Also, on diverse pages, you’ll find what is really most important to the FOREX trader: the numbers.

A trader can open an account with $200, although the site recommends $1,000. The maximum number of pairs that can be traded is shown in some places to be 10, in others to be 12. Currencies include USD, EUR, and GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, and JPY. Spreads are fixed at 3 to 8 pips. Margins range from 1:50 to 1:400. Trading size is set automatically at 100,000, but the trader can use “flexiTrading,” which allows fractional units beginning at 10,000 (considered .1 unit).

At MG FOREX, as is true for all sites, the user must read the documentation. This is soon apparent when applying for a “live” account, which is the real one with the real money. Registering for a demo account is quick and easy, but applying for a live account is somewhat complex. The new user must wade through 4 sign-up screens, a 7-page Customer Agreement, with numerous places in which to sign or initial, and a 5-page application. These must all be completed and faxed to the company for processing.

Deposits and withdrawals also require paperwork. Deposits may only be made by check or wire. The trader gets one “free” withdrawal a month, but must pay $15 for each additional request. Meanwhile the “free” wire transfer will cost $25 for USD accounts, and $35 for EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD and CAD accounts. If an account slides into arrears, the trader will be assessed an interest rate equal to 3 percentage points above prime.

MG FOREX is one of the few sites that doesn’t employ some kind of hard-sell tactic to pressure new users into signing up for a real account. Representatives don’t call or deluge you with e-mails. In fact, the company is so quiet, you may wonder what is going on. The site furnishes a New York address, but their trading window does not coincide with New York trading times. Live chat also seems disabled. Generally, though, MG FOREX just seems to be a small, solid company. Any griping about the service has to do with spreads (what else is new?), rollover fees (which are specified on the site), and the lack of trailing stops.

Many FOREX traders enjoy researching the market, so searching to complete the puzzle that is MG FOREX may be enjoyable as well. This is truly a site for the hunter-gatherer. After you’ve gathered all the pieces and put them together, you have a proven, rather simple-to-use trading tool.