Forex Brokers Reviews

Forex Broker Vinson Financials Launches Website and Turnkey Partnership Solutions

Vinson Financials, a leading forex broker, today announced the launch of its new website as part of its expansion and innovation strategy. In addition to highly competitive trading conditions, it is now also offering an award-winning turnkey partnership solution for introducing brokers.

Vinson Financials, a leading forex broker, has provided investment services across the globe for over 10 years. The company is licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), licence no. 184/12 and offers forex, CFDs, precious metals, futures and indices trading.

Today, Vinson Financials announces the launch of its new website, complete with advanced charting, coaching tools, daily news and technical analysis. A further six languages will be introduced shortly.

Vinson Financials aims to make trading easier and more transparent, offering six account types within two simple plans. As a no dealing desk (NDD) broker, Vinson Financials offers STP accounts for those seeking exceptional execution speeds and superior pricing as well as fixed spreads for traders who prefer no slippage and tighter controls on their trading.

Vinson Financials also provides attractive terms for partners, including introducing brokers and white labels.

Senior Manager, Victor Zachariades, explains: "Our team has a number of years in the industry, and our vision was to create a better client but also partner experience, providing unique benefits, to build trust and enhance partnerships."

Vinson Financials provides turnkey partner solutions combined with coaching, consultancy and competitive escalating rebates and commissions, which have contributed to its recognition as a leading player in industry partnerships.

"Our VIP Partner package offers a sophisticated plan with high tech automated payout features, facilities for monitoring client performance, rebates and commissions, as well as marketing support, including custom websites and full training on cutting-edge platforms," says Zachariades.

Education is also a key aspect of Vinson Financials' trader offering. "We believe that an educated trader can make informed trading decisions, allowing them to capitalize on market opportunities and maximize returns," says Kenny Simon, Head of Asian Markets and FX Training. "Aside from our extensive online resources, we have seminars in locations around the world, interactive one-on-one training, customized seminars, training programmes as well as platform walkthroughs for traders," says Simon.

Zachariades continues: "We believe that fairness and transparency along with fast execution, competitive pricing and superior education provide the best trading experience, making clients loyal to us as a broker. At Vinson Financials, we will continue to build this foundation of trust between us, our clients and partners."

Traders Join Exodus as Forex Probes Add Pressure on Costs

The foreign-exchange market is losing a slew of traders from big banks as a probe into alleged manipulation of benchmark rates widens and pressure mounts on the industry to reduce costs.

More than 30 traders from 11 firms have been fired, suspended, taken leaves of absence or retired since October, when regulators said they were investigating the market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. London-based Barclays Plc (BARC) and Zurich-based UBS AG (UBSN) have been the worst-hit, each suspending at least half a dozen employees, the data show.

“That’s a considerable percentage of the workforce,” said Brad Bechtel, managing director at Faros Trading LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who estimated the world’s largest banks have 80 to 160 voice traders for spot rates in the currencies market. “That explains the lack of liquidity in the market, and why what would normally be considered a small trade can actually push the market around more than normal.”

Regulators around the world are investigating allegations traders colluded to rig key foreign-exchange benchmarks used by investors and companies by pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the WM/Reuters rates are set. At the same time, banks are trying to fight shrinking margins by replacing humans with computers, accelerating a longer-term shift in trading onto electronic platforms.

About 200 traders at smaller firms focus on spot exchange rates, Bechtel estimated in an e-mail.

UBS gained less than 1 percent to 18.40 Swiss francs today in Zurich. Barclays rose 0.8 percent to 252.2 pence in London.

‘The Mafia’

Authorities are examining whether bank traders communicated with dealers at other firms and timed trades to influence benchmarks and maximize profits. Some exchanged information on instant-message groups with names such as “The Cartel,” “The Bandits’ Club,” “One Team, One Dream” and “The Mafia.” No firms or traders have been accused of wrongdoing by government authorities.

Regulators from Bern, Switzerland, to Washington opened inquiries into the $5.3 trillion-a-day market after Bloomberg News reported in June that traders colluded to rig the WM/Reuters rates. No firms or traders have been accused of wrongdoing by government authorities.

Chris Ashton, global head of spot trading at Barclays, was suspended last year along with other spot traders at the bank in London and New York. New York-based Citigroup Inc. (C) said in January it fired its head of European spot trading, Rohan Ramchandani.

Personal Reasons

While many personnel moves were prompted by the probes, some people pointed to other motivations while stepping back.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY)’s global head of spot foreign exchange, Darren Coote, resigned from the London-based firm for personal reasons, people with knowledge of the move said earlier this month.

James Pearson, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s head of trading for currencies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is taking a five-month sabbatical, also for personal reasons, the Edinburgh-based company said this week.

Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) said this week that its global head of foreign exchange, Kevin Rodgers, will retire in June. Rodgers, 52, plans to focus on academic and musical interests, according to the Frankfurt-based bank. His decision wasn’t prompted by the inquiries, according to a person briefed on his plans.

KCG Announces Trading Results for June, ITG Releases Liquidity Estimation App

By Forexminute - Yashu Gola | Forex Industry News | Jul 15, 2014 11:09PM BST




KCG Holdings Inc. published trade volumes for the month of June on Tuesday.In terms of market making, KCG posted an average of $23.5 billion in transaction volumes, which is 8.2 billion shares and 3.4 million transactions per day in US stocks, a notable decline from the volumes recorded in May.

The company recorded $0.6 billion more, totalling $24.1 billion, singling out KCG as one of the few companies that posted poor results contrary to its peers in the institutional and retail electronic trading who posted higher transaction volumes in June.

KCG BondPoint on average stood at $129.4 million daily in fixed income par value, much lower than May’s reading of $130.7 million daily. In June as a whole, the consolidated U.S. stock volume on average stood at $227.3 billion and 5.8 billion stocks traded each day.

In the meantime, leading research and execution brokerage ITG launched its ITG FX Trading Cost Index Application on Tuesday. The app, which is targeted at portfolio managers and forex traders, is updated on a daily basis. The ITG FX Trading Cost Index approximates the cost of liquidity for twenty currency pairs, considering the notional trade value and the intended trading time.

“The ITG FX Trading Cost Index Application is the first of its kind in the foreign exchange space, leveraging the power of ITG’s industry-leading FX transaction cost database,” Ian Domowitz, ITG Managing Director and Head of Analytics, said in a press release. “The app is a free and easily accessible reference tool for investors who want to quickly check estimated FX trading costs.”

The index will also provide users with dealer and ECN estimates using historical costs and smoothened out for implied volatility and recent trends in costs.

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How to Choose a Forex Broker

Are you ready to open a live account and trade real money with a forex broker? Take a look at these factors you should consider in choosing a forex broker.

The forex industry is a fast-growing one and there’s an overwhelming amount of brokers that are already in business or are setting up shop. The sad truth is that not all of these forex brokers are doing honest business, as some may be “bucket shops” or scammers that are out to take your money.

Make sure you’re depositing your hard-earned cash with a reputable forex broker by choosing one that is regulated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures and Trading Commission) when in the U.S. or other regulatory agencies in offshore brokers. In Australia, ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) is in charge of regulating forex brokers in the country while FSA (Financial Services Authority) regulates those in the U.K.

It’s important to conduct business with a regulated forex broker because they are required to keep clients’ money separate from company funds and are also required to comply with capital requirements. Regulatory agencies make sure that brokers always maintain sound financial structure and that their employees are supervised against unlawful activities.

Another important factor to consider when choosing a forex broker is its customer service. Since most brokers offer online platforms and are open for trading 24 hours a day, their customer service should also be easily accessible online at any time of the day. This is because you might be opening an account with an offshore broker and might need to talk to customer service to settle account issues outside of office hours in their area.

In addition, having a reliable customer service builds good trust between a forex broker and its clients. You should be able to contact them easily if there are disputes regarding your trades executed or orders that aren’t filled.

Lastly, reviews from other traders definitely help in finding out about a broker’s reputation. After all, they’re the ones who have already had experience trading with that particular broker you’re considering so it’s best to get information first-hand from their reviews. They may have a few things to share about the broker’s quality of service, ease of using the platform, slippage, or bid-ask spreads.

There are several resources online that display these reviews on various forex brokers. A little research goes a long way when it comes to making sure that your funds are secure and guaranteed from fraudulent activities.

Platform diversity down under: Pepperstone set to launch MetaTrader 5

Australian Forex broker Pepperstone is building its portfolio of online trading platforms and has unveiled plans to roll out Metatrader 5. The name of MetaTrader 5 has appeared in the list of platforms supported by Pepperstone with a promise that the release is “Coming Soon”.

Such a move makes some sense when considering the more recent steps taken by Pepperstone, particularly its targeting of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Earlier this year, Pepperstone opened an office in Odessa, Ukraine, and launched a dedicated Russian-language website for its services. The website is gaining more functionality and also markets the pending launch of MetaTrader 5, which is well known in Russia in contrast to its relative scarcity in other jurisdictions in which most firms have stuck firmly to the ubiquitous MetaTrader 4 platform.

Admiral Markets continues to cast its net wide, prepares to launch MetaTrader 5

Admiral Markets’ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) licensed British operation is engaging in a degree of platform diversity, having recently made a subtle indication toward the imminent offering of the somewhat under-subscribed MetaTrader 5 platform.

The company added a ‘coming soon’ tab to its Trade Forex, CFDs, metals & more with authorized online broker - Admiral Markets website, denoting the MetaTrader 5 platform as its next addition to its range of front end systems.

In preparing to add MetaTrader 5 to its armory, Admiral Markets is making steps toward further providing platforms for all audiences, despite its London location, in which retail electronic trading companies are usually notable for their use of in-house CFD and spread betting platforms which are specifically suited to the domestic market.

Admiral Markets added Spotware Systems’ cTrader platform in May this year, which became available across Admiral Markets’ Cyprus-based business, and the company has demonstrated further efforts to diversify its offering more recently when it rebranded its British Virgin Islands registered division to MTrading, and began to offer accounts with a 1:1000 leverage ratio.

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Forex and CFD broker comparison Table
(Last updated on 27 August 2014)

InstaForex Review: Not That Good of a Broker

Quick Summary: This is not that good of a broker, and I say that mainly because they didn't return my money. Their spreads are also very wide, and their customer service is lacking for those who are not fluent in Russian. They are clearly targeting gamblers looking for fun more than serious traders.

Spreads & Instruments: The instrument list is impressive, with over 233 spot instruments and 72 currency options. 107 currency pairs, 85 single stocks and equity indices, plus commodities and bitcoin. In my opinion this is most likely a primarily B book broker who is probably relying on taking the opposite side of their clients trades as their primary source of revenue. They list their EURUSD spread as 3+ pips, which is higher than many brokers, and my experience trading with them confirms that they have higher spreads and higher rollover costs than many other brokers. As I typically trade on the daily timeframe, I’m not as sensitive to spreads as many other traders operating on shorter timeframes are, but even I noticed they were a bit wider and more expensive.

Pros: They are targeting the gambler portion of the market, and I think they are the most honest and unabashed about it. From the bright red design, to their use of selling sexual charisma, and their 1000:1 leverage with plenty of chances to win prizes, they are clearly about having fun and selling risk. This is clearly not for serious traders.

Alpari UK: 5 brokers already reportedly showed interest

Following the SNBomb, Alpari UK got into deep trouble and went into administration. Since the initial news broke, there were various reports of bidders for the troubled broker.

The number of parties interested has already reached 5. Some are still active and some probably aren’t. The initial attempt to find a buyer for the company over the first few days failed and the company went into administration. Here is the list

One question remains: is the interest real or is the publication about the interest to buy Alpari UK just a publicity stunt to show that the bidding broker is powerful?

If a deal indeed goes through with administrators KMPG, we will at least know there was one bidder that was serious all the way.

For the traders that have accounts with Alpari, the retrieval of money deposited with the firm.

1. ETX: “ETX has provided KPMG with a proposal to acquire assets of Alpari (UK) Limited. Over recent months ETX Capital has acquired Shelbourne markets and Ariel Communications and is continuing to expand its business aggressively both through organic means and acquisitions. As a profitable, FCA regulated firm offering multiple trading platforms and over 6,000 markets, ETX Capital considers itself to be one of a small number of firms able to complete this acquisition while at the same time protecting Alpari’s customers from losses. During the recent turmoil in the FX markets, ETX Capital’s active risk management helped the firm to fair extremely well and January is expected to be another profitable month for the firm.” via LeapRate
2. OANDA: Forex Magnates reports: “The move would expand the business of OANDA across the UK, the Middle East and North Africa region, where Alpari UK has been performing particularly well. For the time being, no information about the prospective offer put on the table has been obtained by Forex Magnates”
3. Iron FX: “Iron FX says it understands that court cases pending between Alpari UK and its majority shareholder” Forex Live reports.
4. Pepperstone: We covered this story here, and it was originally published in the WSJ over the weekend. The broker is based in Australia
5. FXCM: The US based broker that has trouble of its own, was the first to show interest according to Forex Magnates. We covered it here.

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