Year established: 1999
Minimum Deposit: Standard: $2000 Mini: $50
Spreads: 3 Pips
Bonuses: None
Certificate: RFED, FCM,CFTC
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FXCM Holdings, LLC was listed among the fastest growing companies by Inc. 500 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies three years in a row. FXCM Holdings, LLC has headquarters in New York, with offices around the globe in places such as the U.K., Japan, Hong Kong, France, Italy, and Australia. It is regulated and licensed in each of them.
As of June 30, 2010 FXCM has over 165,000 tradable accounts on platforms offered by FXCM. An average of over $250 billion in notional volume is traded each month on trading platforms offered by FXCM.
FXCM Trading Accounts
FXCM provides several account types designed for experienced traders as well as for those who are new to the FOREX market. The standard 100K account is ideal for experienced traders wishing to leverage the full advantages of FX trading. Opening a standard account requires an initial deposit of $2,000, and offers leverages of up to 1:200* for all traders who are outside of the United States, and 50:1 leverage for US-based traders.
The Mini Account is designed for those who are still new to online currency trading. It requires an initial deposit of just $50. Mini accounts can be opened not just in US Dollars, but also in Euros, Pounds, Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars and Australian Dollars.
FXCM also offers a training account, which is available for 30 days and loaded with $50,000 demo money. Platforms for all account types are identical, however a separate username and password needs to be used for each type of account.
The advantage of Trading Forex online is having the possibility to deal with no Dealing Desk1. With this option, traders basically trade on rates provided directly by the banks, which enables FXCM to offer low variable spreads. Typical spreads for FXCM traders are 2.6 pips for EUR/USD and 3.1 pips for GBP/USD, with similarly competitive spreads for other major currency pairs. FXCM also offers the possibility to trade via a Dealing Desk, which provides traders protection against spread uncertainty. In these cases the spreads offered are typically 3-5 pips on the major currency pairs. Most recently FXCM updated their spreads and the numbers have lowered. The new spreads are offered on their site.
The registration process for real money accounts, both mini and standard, are long, and require, in addition to personal details, your financial details and employment information. If you are not a US citizen, approval of your account requires receiving copy of a photo ID and a valid utility bill to your name to prove your stated address.
Once you have an account number, depositing funds is an easy process. The payment methods available are Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Paper Checks and Wire Transfers. US residents may also submit electronic checks.
Trading Platforms and Features
FX Trading Station (FXTS), FXCM’s trading platform needs to be downloaded to your desktop. The environment is user friendly and intuitive to use, and can be customized according to the users preferences. The products offered are day trading, stop loss & take profit, as well as trailing stop / limit orders and entry orders. A hedging feature is available in No Dealing Desk1 accounts for clients of FXCM UK. The “At Best” feature, short for At Best Price, enables being filled at the best rate streamed to FXCM at that moment from all global banks and financial institutions they work with. This feature, as opposed to the standard “At Market Range”, prevents situations in which the price you intended to make the order at has expired.
FXCM now provides the FXCM App Store which is a professional and developed trading app for the MT4 platform. FXCM is now offering $225 worth of apps for free when you open a live account and deposit at least $2000. Some of the apps included are- Breakout2, 24 Hour Trend Locator, and Automatic Trendlines Indicator. These apps will make your life easier and more fun when you’re on the go. There are also regularly free apps provided in their App Store such as Forex news, different utilities for your trading, indicators, and more.
Charting tools and analysis data are available either from a website, external to the trading platform, or can be added on to the platform by plug-ins, which need to be downloaded as well.
FXCM now offers a toolbar to be downloaded to your browser, which provides instant access to FOREX market news and currency rates, and enables setting alerts for when the market reaches desired rates. The brokerage also offers free mobile Forex trading via apps for most smartphones and its new iPad and Android tablet application.
FXCM provides 24/7 customer support, including during the weekends when the market is closed. A Multi-lingual staff speaking over 20 languages is available at all times, via International toll frees calls, chat and e-mail. VIP support is offered to Gold accounts trading with over $25,000.
There are a few tools available to you if you are just getting to know the market and FX Trading station. Manuals for using FX Trading Station are available in several formats, as well as walk through videos that provide an overview of the platform’s main features. A support representative will introduce you to the system either via chat or over the phone. To get to know the FOREX market, free webinars are offered on a daily basis, trading tips are provided on their free news site, www.DailyFX.com, and an online “Power Course” (8 sessions of 45 minutes each) is offered for $19.99.
Forex traders who are looking for a bit of extra support can also take advantage of the web-based Mirror Trader which runs flawlessly with FXCM, allowing traders to automatically copy others in the hopes of increasing their profits.
FXCM is a large and strong company, with a large world-wide user base, high liquidity and large financial assets. This enables them to offer attractive rates, innovative tools and features, and high standards of customer support. We believe that these all make FXCM an excellent choice for Forex traders at all levels, no matter where they reside.
1 Please note FXCM Micro in its discretion may or may not offset individual transactions unlike transactions in most FXCM Standard accounts. Risk Warning: Currency trading involves substantial risk of loss, read full disclosure on their site.
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