Forex Blog

This my first interview with a major Forex broker. Jaclyn, Public Relations Coordinator of the FXCM broker. Decided to answer some of the questions I’ve sent them via e-mail. The questions touch various topics and should be interesting not only to the current customers of the FXCM, but also to any trader who is interested in a current on-line Forex trading situation. Bad thing is that answers sound too commercial, in my opinion. But that shouldn’t be a problem anyway.

What important features distinguish FXCM among other Forex brokers of your kind? Why do traders pick you among others?

FXCM principally stands out for the high quality of our execution and our excellent trading signals. Our No Dealing Desk system gets prices and liquidity from 7 of the world’s largest global banks and financial institutions (we plan to add more in future). FXCM streams the best available prices we receive from these institutions, plus a clearly disclosed markup, to our clients. The markup is typically one pip on either side. This pricing model clearly aligns our interests with that of the trader. Furthermore, FXCM has very strong credit relationships with these financial institutions, based on over $350 billion in monthly notional trading volume. These credit relationships aim to provide FXCM clients access to both excellent prices and deep liquidity.

All live clients at FXCM also receive free trading signals. We have collected together a number of powerful trading signals and tools from both third party providers and the DailyFX research team into a site called DailyFX PLUS. This site includes over 100 technical trading signals per day, specialized strategy pieces, and twice daily SSI positioning and Open Interest data.

What qualities are vital for every successful Forex broker, in your opinion, those things that make brokers grow?

Clients care about making money. Giving clients the best system which helps them try to make money is the most vital growth strategy. Having excellent execution with deep liquidity, low spreads, and fast confirmation is essential. We feel our No Dealing Desk system provides these things, as well as a level playing field free of dealer intervention. Having high quality trading signals and tools, such as our interactive charts and DailyFX PLUS, are also important for the client’s success. Finally, traders need to be able to concentrate on their trading. They should not be distracted by worrying about their broker’s financial stability. FXCM comfortably exceeds all current and currently proposed minimum capital requirements in the USA, is regulated on 3 continents, and is now the only retail Forex broker to post its balance sheet publicly on its website. Our clients’ ability to trade with confidence is the key to FXCM’s future growth.

Being a big company, FXCM had more than $200 million revenue in 2006. Since then, how has it grown?

The FXCM Group continues to grow strongly. We can now boast over 100,000 accounts trading on our platform, and our nominal trading volume has risen from over $100 billion per month to over $350 billion. I August 2007, we set a new record of over $500 billion in nominal volume.

MetaTrader 4 trading platform is rather popular among Forex traders. Checking your site some time ago I didn’t find any signs of its support. But now you announce that you are going to add it soon. Will it be some FXCM customization of the platform or will you go with the generic MetaTrader 4?

We are planning a soft launch of the popular MetaTrader 4 platform in February 2008, with a full launch in March. MT4 is a very popular and useful front-end platform. We’re matching that with our excellent trading backend, the No Dealing Desk system. We expect Metatrader enthusiasts will enjoy taking advantage of our great execution system, and also enjoy being able to use Metatrader with a regulated and financially secure broker.

Being one of the leading Forex brokers, do you invest in the development of new instruments or features? Something innovative, that can only be achieved with the large team of professionals.

We are constantly bringing our extensive resources to bear on developing new products. We have recently introduced a large number of platform improvements, including fractional pip pricing, one-click trading, and the ability to trade from charts. We have also added many trading resources, such as trading signals in DailyFX PLUS and the innovative SSI. The DailyFX team of analysts is constantly expanding their scope and depth of coverage, providing insightful fundamental and technical analysis as well as actionable trading setups every day for range traders, news events, hedging, and carry traders. We plan to continue expanding our offerings in the coming years and to remain on the forefront of retail Forex innovation.

Please, tell us more about FXCM managed Forex accounts. Do you plan on adding more types of them?

FXCM currently offers two Managed Account Programs, the Sentiment Program and Sentiment Aggressive Program. These automated active funds utilize FXCM’s unique SSI data to trade, and have performed well in 2007.* You can view updated results on our managed accounts webpage. We are planning to release several new managed account programs that are not correlated with our current programs, further expanding our clients’ options for managed products.

FXCM has been involved in the controversial Refco bankruptcy case. How did this fact affect your business, if at all?

Refco held an investment stake in FXCM, but was not involved in FXCM’s day-to-day operations. This stake has been sold to a very large investment bank and a number of other investors. You can read more about it on our website.

Considering the recent popularity of the e-currencies and the on-line payment systems, does FXCM plan on adding such options for the funds deposits and withdrawals, PayPal, at least?

As a trading firm regulated in the USA, UK, Hong Kong, and Canada, FXCM exercises strict anti-money laundering (AML) procedures. While these e-currency services are convenient, they are also fairly anonymous, and do not satisfy these strict AML standards. We do not currently plan to offer them.

What do you think about allowing trading accounts’ size below $300? With micro-lots maybe?

As I mentioned before, FXCM is compensated through a disclosed markup to the prices we get from several global financial institutions, acting as sort of an agency-model broker. That means that FXCM’s revenues are purely based on volume. So, FXCM is concentrating on attracting high-volume traders. We offer an expansive Gold Program for large accounts, which offers free professional charts with backtesting, specialized reps, free wire transfers, and exclusive trading commentary from our senior strategists, Kathy Lien and Boris Schlossberg. Of course, as one of the inventors of the Mini Account, FXCM has many advantages for small traders as well, including No Dealing Desk trading. All mini accounts get the same powerful trading signals in DailyFX PLUS that all other accounts get, and any new mini account holder at FXCM can get our popular FX Power Course for free. I believe the FX Power Course is a great introduction to the market, as it covers many of the basic skills that all traders need to develop.

Does FXCM plan to acquire any smaller Forex brokers in future? To increase your market presence, or to enter regional or very specific markets?

FXCM already has a worldwide presence, with clients in nearly every country. We are planning to expand our support for the Middle East by opening a Dubai office this year. As for smaller Forex brokers, it is important to note that legislation has been proposed in Congress to raise the minimum capital requirement for US-based Forex Dealer Members again, this time to $20 million. The recent raising of requirements to $5 million has already resulted in significant consolidation in the Forex market, and we expect that if this new requirement passes, there will be further consolidation.

Currently FXCM is offering a very useful Forex informational resource — DailyFX.com. Are there any plans do provide more such helpful resources in future?

One area that we have greatly expanded our offerings is the DailyFX Forum. You can access it from the DailyFX.com website. Our analysts are active participants in the forums, creating and facilitating discussion amongst traders. FXCM plans to add new sections and services here. We are also constantly improving and expanding our offerings on DailyFX, as well as our free webinar series and popular online courses.

In my opinion Forex is far from gambling, but taking in attention the current U.S. governmental campaign against on-line gambling, do you think it is possible that the Forex trading (at least through "dealing desks") will be banned as gambling?

Forex is a newly regulated industry, and we need to uphold a higher standard of conduct. Dealing desks can work well for both client and broker, but there is a very real perception that dealing desks have an inherent conflict of interest between their clients’ profit/loss and their own firm’s bottom line. FXCM’s No Dealing Desk system eliminates this potential conflict of interest, and I think it is in the industries best interest to move in this direction.

* Past performance is not indicative of future results, as returns may vary according to market conditions.

Jeff MacKenzee, the account manager of the eToro partners team agreed to answer some of my questions regarding eToro’s innovative Forex trading platform. eToro is known for brining to the on-line Forex market trading some untraditional types of Forex trading. eToro platform doesn’t look like any other and can be easily understood by someone who never read about Forex or charting. More information about eToro is available here.

eToro is a relatively new Forex trading platform, what long-term goal do you set for yourself as a trading platform?

eToro’s goal was to create a visually engaging interactive platform based on real-time financial information and transactions, while translating the financial information into several real-time intuitive visual representations and allowing traders to execute multiple financial transactions in an easy “one click” interface.

As the on-line Forex brokerage market looks more like oversaturated now, how do you feel about your future? Was it hard to enter this market? What were your main principles to start providing retail Forex trading services?

eToro provides its traders with the most professional tools, surrounded by a friendly interface. eToro is currently offering advanced trading options like stop loss and take profit, enabling people who have little understanding of trading methods to learn what exactly those options are, and how to take advantage of them. The platform also stands out in the market with its community feature, allowing traders to interact with other traders, share advice and even compete for prizes. In addition, eToro is offering some of the lowest spreads on the market, as low as 2 pips on EUR/JPY for example.

You have developed a custom and very original trading platform for your clients. Why did you choose this way and not offered some generic trading platform, like MetaTrader?

eToro’s advantage is in its simplicity. eToro is the only forex platform that deals with the mental element of entering a new and unknown territory, that most inexperienced traders get when they first have a look at other forex platforms. The user friendly interface allows millions of people around the world to start trading and learn what Forex is, using simple graphics instead of complex charts.

Seeing as your platform doesn’t offer powerful tools for market analysis and trades execution, would it be justified to say that you as a Forex platform aim on the newbie traders rather than professionals?

Professional traders might find eToro extremely useful, eToro offers some of the lowest spreads on the market and unlike other platforms it does not limit scalping. Professional traders know they can enjoy that combination and generate large profits. The newbie will certainly find eToro to be the easiest platform to start trading on and will enjoy the practice mode where he can trade with demo money with no real financial risks until he feels more experienced to try trading with as little as $50 of real money.

Currently you are offering a variety of payment methods to fund the trader’s account, like wire transfer, credit card and PayPal. Do you plan adding more options to deposit/withdraw money?

eToro currently supports Wire transfer, Credit card, Paypal and Western union. Should there be a demand of any other means of payment we will gladly consider it.

Especially in the light of some types of trading offered in eToro platform, do you think that Forex trading is some sort of gambling? Or do you prefer to present Forex as a form of active investing?

Forex is the largest financial market in the world, which according to the The Bank of International Settlements carries a trade volume of $3.2 trillion per day. Yet very few people actually trade that market because they are hardly any places in which one can learn how the Forex world works. eToro presents the movements in a more appealing manner, while explaining to the traders why things happen. Moreover, eToro’s news ticker lets the traders know when important announces are expected, and warns for volatility. All of those actions are intended to make people understand that Forex is far from gambling and that there is a reason why, for example, a change in interest rates in the United States will also cause changes in EUR/USD rates.

eToro brought innovative approach to the quite old-fashioned Forex trading market. Do you plan any new features for your trading platform, or do you think that it is it already overloaded with them?

eToro is constantly improving its platform and launches newer versions, The possibilities are endless. eToro is working in 2 levels in order to improve the platform: financial improvements, like the recently integrated stop loss and take profit; platform improvements, offering the traders new trading methods on top of the ones currently available.

eToro is regularly holding different traders’ contests and competitions. Are they popular among your clients? Do you plan keep them as the regular events? If so, will you be increasing the prize funds?

eToro introduces social elements such as chat features and championships, the idea is to create a trading community that will allow traders to share ideas and ask questions regarding the trades. The trading championship is very popular among traders, and championship leaders often share their trading methods and tips in order to teach the other traders how to trade successfully.

The user support is one of the basic and most important parts of the Forex brokerage. As far as I know traders often leave different on-line brokers just because of their lack of a quality support. How do you approach the user support problem?

eToro has a large support group that is dedicated to assist our traders either via phone, email, or live chat. The support staff is qualified and trained to help with technical issues regarding the program itself, and of course any questions regarding trades, deposits and withdrawals.

What form of market analysis would you recommend to your clients? Do you offer any educational materials on Forex market to them?

The eToro forum has a dedicated section for forex education, For example - the admin posted a list of the major announcements and their effect on the markets, referring them to the calendar on www.forexfactory.com in order to help them prepare for market volatility.

What is, in your opinion, the main quality the Forex trader should possess to succeed in trading? Is the Forex trading really for everyone?

In our opinion, it is needed to break the “circle of silence” that surrounds Forex trading. Forex is indeed complicated - but as the phrase (attributed to Albert Einstein) goes - “any scientist who couldn’t explain to an eight-year-old what he was doing was a charlatan”.Most traders tend to say that they can’t explain how to trade Forex because it is too complicated, we at eToro think that even the Forex world can be explained using a fun and intuitive platform.

eToro is a new player on the on-line Forex market, it still has to gain traders’ confidence and the loyalty of its customers. But in every business industry the leading positions always have been conquered with innovations and extraordinary approach to the traditional methods. So maybe eToro has some interesting future? If you have any comments on this interview or ideas for the future interviews you can leave a comment here, or via the contact form.

Recently I’ve asked management from FXOpen to answer several questions in a format of an interview to get more information on this fast developing on-line Forex broker. Denis P., FXOpen Head Manager, agreed to answer these questions and now I can present them to you. They are an on-line Forex broker which was previously known as FXEgypt and rebranded to FXOpen just about two months ago. You can find more information on this broker here.

You’ve re branded from FXEgypt to FXOpen recently. Was it a successful step for your business?

FXOpen gives an impression of a broker that targets mainly Muslim traders, or traders from generally Islamic countries. Is it your marketing strategy? Or is this a misunderstanding, and that your business model is equally structured for any kind of a Forex trader?

FXOpen began it’s business from Egypt. Our first project was FXEgypt which was targeting Egyptian clients and people located in and around Egypt, and of course, most of them are Muslims. Since early 2007, our company has developed a lot and opened new markets also in Islamic countries, but that doesn’t mean that we are marketing for Islamic traders exclusively. FXOpen offers the same quality of service for any client from any country and any culture.

Your trading software, MetaTrader 4 is a powerful trading platform. MT4 holds great potential for people to program their own automated expert advisors. Do you limit your traders in using automated experts?

Yes, MetaTrader 4 is a great program from a company called MetaQuotes. We do allow EA trading, however, there is a restriction on the quantity of trades that may be opened at the same time. You may have a maximum of 100 positions open at the same time. Apart from that, there are no other restrictions for automated expert advisors.

Trading courses are available on your site. Do you think that it is important for Forex brokers to educate their clients? Do many of your clients take advantage of this training?

Currently we do not offer online courses, but you may attend live seminars or courses proposed by our representatives. This option is very popular in Egypt for example. We believe that all traders, not just absolute beginners should have a good understanding of the market and how to trade it before risking their money in a Forex trading account. The training may take one week, one year, or even longer, but this investment in training is something that will pay for itself over and over again.

FXOpen supports almost all e-currency methods of payment that are currently available. Do you think that e-currencies are the future of Forex trading, or you are just trying to keep up with the customers’ demand?

E-currency transfers are very popular with our customers. We believe that e-currency methods of deposit/withdrawals have a great future due to their convenience and the fact that internet businesses, all relying on convenient e-currencies have exploded in popularity in recent years. However, quite a few clients are using the traditional wire transfer method.

What’s your point of view on those that treat Forex trading as a gambling? What are the main differences between trading and gambling, in your opinion?

When you treat FX trading as gambling, you become a player in a casino and as you know, the casino always wins. If anyone wants to become a trader he or she needs to understand that a trader’s job is the same as a doctor or chauffeur… A Doctor’s mistake may cause health problems, a chauffeur’s mistake, a car crash. Mistakes by traders causes money loss. While there are often, unexpected or unplanned situations that arise during the trading week, for the most part, the FOREX market works according to a well defined list of rules, like the rules of Physics. Following these rules will usually give a positive result.

There are many on-line Forex brokers available nowadays, and you appear to be one of the most popular. What special features help you to attract traders? Do you have a secret weapon that is an essential component of your success?

Success is constructed from small steps, combined to make the whole. Support+Promotion+Services and a bit of luck of course, all combine to make FXOpen a attractive broker to work with. Our main target is to serve each client as if he or she is the company’s only client. Private contact and personalised service is very important to us. Our clients are our friends.

Forex trading in the Islamic world is quite a controversial topic, due to its overnight interest payments and marginal nature and the perception that it is a form of gambling. What would you say to Muslims that want to trade Forex?

Trading is a JOB and isn’t gambling at all unless you want to treat it as a game or a get rich quick scheme. Every single successful trader out there today has approached the market as a career choice rather than a passing fancy in the hope of a quick buck. Training, dedication, and persistence is essential to trade Forex. The swap interest issue is something that we take very seriously for our Islamic clients. As you may know, Islamic Shariah Law forbids Muslims from dealing with any form of Riba (Interest, Usury), so for our Islamic clients, unlike many other brokers, we offer a swap free account option where no overnight interest is earned or charged to their accounts.

Fundamental and technical analysis often contradict each other. In your opinion, what is the most successful approach to Forex trading?

Most traders (about 90%) are utilising technical analysis only. However, technical traders often consider fundamentals when reading the charts. To ensure your success, you should always bring a least a little of the fundamental considerations into the charts before making trade decisions.

What are the future plans of FXOpen? Are there any new features planned, if this is not a commercial secret?

We have recently launched a brand new website http://www.fxopen.com, and have introduced an advanced trader’s cabinet. We have several promotions running already, which you can check by visiting http://www.fxopen.com/OurPromotions.aspx. We are also planning to add new trading instruments during October and increase the speed and reliability of the trading servers. FXOpen will always work towards upgrading our services to fulfill all of our client’s needs! Our open door policy is our commercial secret. When the client talks, we listen and bend over backwards to make them happy. This is the FXOpen edge.

Hope you learned something interesting and useful about FXOpen and their view on Forex trading from this interview. If you have some comments regarding this interview or FXOpen broker, feel free to leave them here, or send via this contact form.

MetaQuotes Software Corp. conjointly with ODL Securities, Alpari, FXDD and Traders’ Magazine is starting its second annual Automated Trading Championship for Fore trading. In this contest traders compete not only in their trading skill, but in their programming skills. All orders and positions management is done by the competitors’ fully automated expert advisors for Metatrader 4 platform. This brings some new and original excitement compared to traditional trading contests, because once an expert advisor was submitted and championship started, trader/programmer can’t influence the trading process at all.
This is not the first time MetaQuotes Software organizes such championship. Last year was debut for the Automated Trading Championshiop 2006 which dragged attention of 258 developers from all over the world.
This time almost 750 participants already registered themselves on the Championship website while it is still 44 days left for the registration period (which ends on 21st of September). The contest will start on the 1st of October and will last almost three months till the 21st of December.
The prizes for the winners of Automated Trading Championship 2007 (three traders with the highest balance available at the end of the contest) are quite high and are likely to serve for the potential competitors as a great motivation to develop and improve their automated expert advisors and trading strategies in general. 1st Prize is $40,000, 2nd - $25,000 and 3rd - $15,000 - so it is $80,000 in total - quite impressing, isn’t it?
I would like to wish all those who will participate in this contest a good luck and a profitable trading. By the way, MetaQuotes Software held an on-line interview with me on the topic of automated trading and Forex trading in general. It is now published at their website and you can find it here.

FXcast Forex broker gladly accepted my offer to give an interview for EarnForex readers. Niklas (member of FXcast IB Management) answered my questions about Forex trading, FXcast past and future plans and a present Forex brokerage market condition. A brief description of FXcast can found here.

For how long do you offer your on-line Forex trading services now? Does FXcast have any off-line brokerage experience prior to starting a site?

We offer online trading services with FXcast since over 2 years now. FXcast has worked as broker in a protected private environment. The website has gone public on the 1^st of May 2007 after huge investments for automation and effectiveness of our website information and the procedures behind it. The goal is nearly 100% automated processes from account opening to withdrawals from trading accounts.

The founders of FXcast have each more than 15 years experience in brokerage, system development, customer relationship management, risk management, execution and whatever is important for our core business.

Why ‘FXcast’? Any particular reason for this name?

The name is a synonym for Forex Forecast – the only method in our opinion to trade successfully in the market. If it is a technical analysis based forecast or an economic based or a mixture of both – without a fundamental analysis and resulting forecast trading is only gambling. If a trader wants gambling – fine. If he wants profit he must stop gambling and start serious trading.

With so many other retail on-line Forex brokers, it takes some really distinctive advantages for a new broker to get into the market. What can you call FXcast’s main features to attract traders?

We see a lot of unique selling points, amongst others 36 currency pairs, tight spreads, fast and exact execution. But undoubtedly a major point is the easy-to-use account opening and funding – with small amounts done within 3 minutes or less. And we have a lot more facts which let us dominate the crowd: the transparency of the customer relationship management procedures as an example. Each single process is documented in the member’s area. Customers are able to see each single personal action – deposits, withdrawals, account management, personal data maintenance and more which gives them trust and believe in our reliability. All is traceable and documented and we can avoid the usual misunderstandings in email and phone call procedures. We are fast in our processes. We think the fastest FX broker worldwide. This is our goal: fast, reliable, accurate and transparent and absolutely concentrated on our core business: Our mission is to provide the opportunity for individuals and corporate customers around the world to trade currency markets under the most favourable conditions, such as enjoyed by financial institutes, banks, or brokerage companies. No marketing phrases – just forex brokerage business.

Another important fact is: FXcast is best choice for partners. For the above reasons partners can recommend FXcast with a real good feeling to their customers. And: FXcast has a unique affiliation model, a great chance for everyone to build up a 4 level partner model and become a prime partner of FXcast climbing up step by step within the IB levels. Every customer of a partner has a chance to hire other customers by becoming a partner himself.

And this promotion model is absolutely fair. We hear from the market that very often customers bypass their IBs to become an IB themselves with the Broker and the IB looses his customers. This is impossible with FXcast. Each partner gets the same commission when he starts – so why now bypass the IB? There is no advantage for anyone. Winning successful partners is a big plus for an IB – they promote him to the next level with their customers and everyone earns – a typical win win situation.

Of course we know that other Brokers pay more to their IBs in the beginning. But big commissions must be earned – of course from the customer. This short term thinking is not our style. For a stable and profitable relationship FXcast is the better choice – the commission model pays back very soon and the chances are tremendous.

The only precondition is a financial oriented website – not even any knowledge of the FX market.

Forex trading is not gambling, is it? What would you say to the people thinking that it is?

I am not quite sure that you are right. What should hinder a gambler to use our Swing platform? It is of course a platform to trade in the FX market. But we have developed it mainly for beginners and customers who want to “test” this market without real knowledge and experience. How it reacts, how charts are running and what the influence factors are for trading – news, overnight situations, sudden market movements and more. And we offer this for real low risk – starting with 1 USD! Of course there is a gambling factor included as you cannot get out of the trade until S/L or T/P is reached – like a roulette ball – rien ne va plus. Is the Forex market not much more interesting as a Casino?

But for the Pro trading terminal you are right! Successful trading needs time and money for education. But all successful paper trading means nothing when it comes to the point of trading real money. Real money is different – this is pure psychology. Therefore we offer customers with 10USD or 10 EUR the option to start their career with a low budget before they try to make real profit. Even a 0.01 lot real trade is different from paper trading – an excellent chance to get practice. You have to learn it with a low real risk but real money.

Does FXcast have a division which trades Forex, or do you only offer services to retail traders and prefer to stay off the market yourself?

Currently we only offer retail services for self traders.

Forex trading is becoming more and more accessible to people of all income sizes. How do you describe your potential customer? A rich person who seeks to increase his investments or a young and purposeful woman or man?

Our customers come from each group of society and wealth. There are traders with 1 USD and traders with 1 million USD accounts and higher. We see all trader types and all kinds of risks. Important is that everyone is a customer for us, independent from the deposit.

We are neutral and try to fill customer positions to the best possible price – if it is 0.01 lot or 1,000 lot.

You have a lot of interesting features on your site, like many deposit options and your Swing platform. Do you plan any new features?

We have many options in our portfolio. Some more internet payments methods are just in programming. And a lot of new features, which we will publish when ready. Our business is an online business, fast and reactive – so must our website. We have to go with a fast market and we will do it.

Our customers and the market will see some real exiting and fundamental news coming soon. We will inform you.

What do you think are the main obstacles for the new Forex traders finding a right Forex broker with whom they can cooperate on a long-term basis?

This is in our opinion the transparency of processes, the trade execution, the service and a fair price. The customer should have the feeling that he is treated as a partner – not as a victim. Of course you have to feel comfortable with the trading platform.

The information “regulated” does not automatically mean that this broker is a good broker. How effective is his regulation organization? Which influence does the regulation have on the broker’s behavior in trading situations? We think there is much scam on the internet as in every business.

Have a look on the broker’s website - your prime contact to the broker. Is all information useful or is it mostly marketing and gimmicks? How fast do you find the relevant information? Are all processes explained carefully? Are there hidden fees? How easy can you get more information from the broker? Are there special email addresses for each category of questions? Does he have a live chat during his office times? How responsive is the broker to your email questions? Is there an area which shows all your past processes and everything which you have done with this broker for absolute transparency and reliability? How fast is deposit and withdrawal? Do you feel comfortable with the trading platform(s)? Does it hang in critical situations? Are there gaps in the charts? Are you stopped out in some situations and should not be? You must have a deep look for example if the broker sends you trading signals. Are they really helpful? We think you should better use an external independent provider.

A lot of questions – and there are of course more to ask. But the main question is: do you feel comfortable with the broker’s behavior? There is a big misunderstanding in the market: that the spread is important for your trading. This is simply a rumor and professional traders know that it is a very big well known fundamental error. Professional traders often work with increased spread for covering their cost with rebates. Why do they make profit? Only some important facts decide if you win or loose: your knowledge and experience as a trader and the knowledge and experience of the broker. But in no case the spread. A fair spread guarantees the profit of the broker – which is important for your long term and stable cooperation with him. If your broker does not make profit you will loose too. And if the margin of the broker is too small he will try to get it back from you – the customer.

Public forums are often not really helpful – many frustrated specious “experts” are claiming about brokers which do not let them make profit. The real reason behind is often that simply the system does not work. The well known scalping machines which make a million in some days – they are only working on demo accounts. But of course to point to the broker is easier than developing a successful strategy. Professional traders do not have the time to discuss in forums. They have to trade.

Whom do you see as FXcast’s main competitor in the on-line Forex brokers market?

We don’t talk about competition. We think we are unique with our procedures and service. But of course other brokers may think that, too.

What do you think about Forex scam problem in the on-line Forex brokers market? Is it a real threat for the business or will customers learn to recognize the fraudulent sites, leaving them without a prey?

This seems to be a real problem as these cheating shops spoil a big part of the market. But if customers follow the words from question 3 they will soon sort the wheat from the chaff. We are not part of this – as our IBs published on our website will tell you. By the way – we only publish IBs working exclusively and successful for us – always the best in each country.

What is your insight on the future of the on-line Forex trading? What role will e-currencies play in this future?

We think the Forex market is a growing market. As shares and other derivates are complex and expensive and you can only be successful with big amounts it will definitely grow tremendously. On the other hand the number of FX brokers will decrease. There are so many small shops without experience, knowledge and financial background on the market that most of them will not survive. Traders become mature and will see soon which brokers really offer good and fair business. This is the reason why we see our future bright.

E-Currencies will become more and more important. After the E*Gold disaster the market moves again. But not as some governments and banks want the market to move. The world is going www – and so will payment methods. We are excellently prepared – our online payments options will grow. For small deposits the best and cheapest way to fund accounts. Nevertheless – for big accounts the wire transfer from a bank will be the most important way.

In both themes we see a tremendous future for FXcast. We are no old fashioned broker; we are modern and cooperative; we can handle unlimited numbers of customers with our high automated processes per day hour or minute. The only restriction is the internet and hardware – both can be scaled. We do not need huge staff – we are here to serve our customers in the background. Our philosophy is as different from the FX broker jam as it could be. We are prepared for the future market – what about your broker?

What would be your advice for new Forex traders who are just starting their experience on the Forex market?

Do not believe marketing and “best spread”. Good quality needs a fair price. Too low prices make quality decrease. From there on, it’s learning and investing much time, over day and night. Trading is a 24 hours job. And finding a fair, reliable and good partner – the best you can find. Maybe FXcast.

As you see, FXcast thoroughly answered all questions. And, although, some of the answer can look too “marketing” and to some people - debatable, it is still a very good sign that broker wishes to communicate with its existing or potential clients. If you have any comments on this interview or ideas for the future interviews you can leave a comment here, or via the contact form.