5 Tips for Picking the Best Online Forex Broker

You just discovered online forex trading and you want to get started trading forex with the best online forex broker.  Where do you turn when there are so many different brokers offering seemingly different offers?  In this post  I'll help you pick the best online forex broker for your needs.

There are five main things to consider when picking online forex brokers:

1. Do you like their forex charts? They all have free charting software included, but each broker's forex charts will be different.  You can usually try the forex chart software for free in a demo (practice) account.
2. Do you like their platform? You should be able to easily navigate any online forex broker's platform. Placing market, limit and stop orders should be easy for you to understand and do. You can practice this in a forex demo account.
3. How much to open an account? The minimum will vary according to the forex broker. This could be as low as $25, or several thousand depending on the online forex brokers you look at.
4. What's the spread? The spread is the difference between the bid & ask price. Tighter spreads (smaller numbers) means more money for you. Most brokers will be fairly competitive.
5. Are they legit? Although legitimate new forex brokers emerge online from time to time, avoid brokers that are brand new, don't have a professional website, don't have a decent alexa rating (should be under 200,000).  Alexa Tip: search for a website and you'll see it's alexa rating. If they aren't in the top 200,000 worldwide, they are too new or too rinky-dink for you to mess with them.

So how do you pick the best forex brokers online?

Option #1 (laborous, full due dilligence): If you want to go through lists of online forex brokers to make sure you're getting the best deal, you can check out forex-ratings.com for comparisons of online forex brokers.  They've got a list 49 top online forex brokers along with ratings. I don't fully agree with the ratings personally, but it is a good list to examine if you're looking to do some research.

Option #2 (easy, follow my picks): Over the past 10 years, I've seen plenty of online forex brokers come and go. Here are my top five picks for the best online forex brokers. I'm picking them because I've either used them, or people I know and trust have used them.  My picks also all pass my 5 guidelines above for good forex brokers.

1. Fxcm (Forex Capital Markets) – I've always liked FXCM. I started in my first demo account almost 10 years ago with them, and I've always liked using their platform. I've found it easy to use and they are a completely legitimate online forex broker. Plus with their micro-lot account, you can now trade forex for only $25!
2. ACM – The favorite of many forex traders that I know. Their platform is a little more advanced, but when you trade forex online for awhile you'll start to like ACM more (like when you try a MAC, you understand how difficult windows is).
3. Easy Forex – The name says it all. A good broker for beginners. They are well established and have a great reputation for an online forex broker. Their platform and free forex charts are easy to use & you'll enjoy using them.
4. eToro – this broker has managed to emerge everywhere online virtually overnight. They may have gotten a higher ranking on my list (as they did on forex-ratings.com), but I haven't had a chance to check them out yet, but from what I can tell they are a decent forex broker. This is one broker I will be checking out soon, but I believe you'd be safe if you checked them out before I did
5. Oanda – this is a major forex broker that's been online for a long time. They cater to slightly more experienced traders, but beginners can use them successfully. They call a demo account an "fxgame account," but it works the same as a demo.

There are certainly other good forex brokers online, but these are my top 5 short list of the best online forex brokers.  If you were to pick any one of the 5 forex brokers above, you'll probably have a great experience with their demo account, trading platform, and forex charts.  If you want even more forex broker choices, feel free to explore 49 forex brokers & reviews to choose from!

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