Forex Capital Markets, or widely known as FXCM, is a New York based company that was founded back in 1999. This successful trading group was the first forex broker to list on the New York Stock Exchange and it’s known as a market leader in financial stability and transparency. FXCM provides high quality online trading platforms including Active Trader, MetaTrader 4 and Mirror Trader. This online broker is under the strict regulation of the FCA, NFA and CFTC, thus it’s also one of the trading operators traders can trust. Some of the pros of FXCM are excellent trading tools, mobile trading app and superb customer support.
Trading Offer
If you want to try forex trading, then the broker we highly recommend is FXCM, a well-established forex and CFD trading operator. Users at this site can choose to open practice account, mini account with only a $50 investment or a standard $2,000 account. Mini accounts get the chance to trade with only 18 currency pairs, whereas the standard account offers 40 different pairs. The execution type for the standard account is no dealing desk, while for the mini account is dealing desk.
The equity range also differs for these two; thus, the minimum account equity can range from $50 to $20,000, while standard accounts don’t have a limit. The FX lot size at FXCM is 1,000, while the forex leverage is up to 400:1 for mini and 100:1 for standard accounts. The number of CFD instruments and the CFD leverage are the same for both accounts – 22 instruments and 200:1 leverage. FXCM offers to its traders a total of five trading platforms and those are MetaTrader 4, Trading Station, Mirror Trader, NinjaTrader and ZuluTrade. Holders of mini accounts have access only to the first two platforms, while standard users can trade on all platforms.
FXCM provides its customers the opportunity to make six different types of orders and those are close order, market order, entry order, limit order, stop order and OCO order. All these tools are very helpful for controlling your potential loss while trading and thus it’s really great the site features them. Users have access to hedging feature if they have a standard account, while scalping is a concept that’s prohibited by the operator. Users that try to manipulate the platform by using the scalping technique will have their accounts immediately closed. Relationship manager and service teams are available only to active traders at FXCM.
Spreads, Fees, Margins
One of the main advantages of joining FXCM is the site’s tight spreads that can be as low as 1 pip. The broker offers a whole table that lets users get informed about the spread on various currency pairs. For example, EUR/USD has a 0.5 spread, GBP/USD 0.7 spread and GBP/JPY has a spread of 1.6. Traders can easily find the commission rates of the operator which are separated in two sections: one for the most popular seven currency pairs and another for all the others. The commission per side and the round turn depend on the trade size. Therefore, trade size of 1,000 has $0.04 commission per side and $0.08 round turn. These numbers are $0.40 and $0.80 on trade sizes of 10,000. Accordingly, if the trade size is 100,000 or 1m, the commission would be $4.00 and $40.000 respectively, whereas the round turn would grow to $8.00 and $80.00. The margins per 1k lot at the site vary from $5 to $100.
Bonus Information
It’s a real shame that FXCM doesn’t offer any welcome bonuses. However, that’s yet another sign that the operator is focused on attracting serious and high volume traders that don’t really need a bit of free cash in order to learn how to trade. Up till August, the broker did have a limited offer of $150 free cash for new customers that came with leverage with up to 400:1 and tight spread of 1.5 on EUR/USD. However, the minimum deposit amount in order to be eligible for that offer was $5,000. This offer has expired, but the info might give you an insight in the bonus offers you can expect from FXCM.
There are no VIP scheme and promotions either. However, the operator does offer a special account for active traders that deposit at least $25,000 and trade 10 million national per month. Some of the benefits offered to such users, that are considered in fact to be the site’s VIPs, are relationship manager, dedicated service team and FIX API connection. Also, these traders are eligible to make free bank transfers, get free VPS service as well as FXCM apps.
Website
FXCM offers a pleasant trading experience available via several channels. Users have the option to start the platforms instantly using the web based version, download them into their computers or get the native mobile apps for trading on the go. One of the strengths of FXCM is its website as well; simple and not too ornamented, this site allows traders to easily find any information they need by opening the appropriate tab or using the search bar.
When it comes to platforms, users that will go for the web version will be able to start them within seconds. All platforms load extremely fast and have a user-friendly interface. The download process is simple as well. After installation, starting the platform takes several minutes until you set everything up. Once again, the loading time is counted in seconds. For those with busy schedules that like trading on smartphones and tablet devices, there are the iOS and Android native apps that can be installed via Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The mobile version of FXCM comes with a much simpler interface where everything is designed to provide as easy and enjoyable trading as possible.
In addition to the real live trading platforms, users can quickly open a practice account that lets them test their skills and get familiar with the platform. Customers can open trades, use $50,000 of virtual money and trade online 24/5; all of that risk free and for practising purposes only. Furthermore, the broker provides many useful resources that can help rookie traders to become pros. The site offers market news and analysis on daily basis, guides as well as trading signals for entry price, stops and limits. Also, FXCM provides economic calendar of events that simply mustn’t be ignored.
Banking and Payment Options
FXCM doesn’t accept third party payments and the only methods users can use for funding their trading account are debit card and bank transfer. The company practices this so it can be sure that the money used for trading doesn’t come from suspicious activities and that the trader can afford it. As the operator recommends, for deposits less than $20,000 the best way to pay is debit card since it’s free of charge and takes less than one business day to process. However, if a customer wants to deposit more than $20,000, then the broker recommends using bank wire. Even though the financial institution often applies processing fees on the deposited amount, FXCM tries to cover these fees. Such deposits are usually credited to users’ trading accounts within 3-5 business days. The minimum deposit amount at this site is relatively high $2,000.
Withdrawals are usually paid via the same method used for making a deposit. There is no minimum cashout amount, but debit card withdrawals cannot be higher than the initial deposit. FXCM doesn’t charge cashout fees on credit, debit and ACH cashouts. Domestic bank wire requests, however, come with a $25 withdrawal fee. Withdrawals are usually completed within several business days.
Additional Details of the Broker/Company
FXCM is most certainly one of the best known forex brokers; one of the many reasons why this operator managed to build such a good reputation is its professional and friendly customer support team. The dedicated support team is available 24/7 (live chat 24/5) in order to assist customers, while the trading desk is available between Sundays 5:00 PM and Friday 4:55 PM ET. The contact options provided by FXCM are live chat, e-mail and phone. There are two separate e-mail addresses – one for general inquiries and one for account specific inquiries – and toll free lines in more than 20 different countries.
This online broker is perfectly safe and reliable; it’s regulated and licensed by several different jurisdictions. First of all, FXCM LLC is a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Also, it’s a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). Thus, if there are any disputes, traders can seek assistance from the NFA or the CFTC. FXCM takes a good care of its clients’ money by keeping it on a segregated bank account held with a third party. These parties have a good credit record and if any party becomes insolvent, the clients’ money cannot be used to reimburse other creditors of the company.
FXCM is owned by the FXCM group that has registered companies such as FXCM Inc. and FXCM Holdings LLC. The company is based in the United States, but it also holds offices in the UK and Germany. This group has been around since 1999 and it’s one of the longest standing companies in the business. Experience and hard work earned FXCM many prestigious rewards during the years and some of them include Best Forex Brand in North America for 2013, Best Retail Broker Execution for 2013, Best Proprietary FX Platform for 2012 and etc.
Conclusion/Experiences/Comparison
In conclusion, FXCM is one of the online forex trading brokers we highly recommend to both new and experienced traders. This fantastic trading destination is operated by a reputable company and regulated by serious authorities. Similarly to Trading 212, FXCM is regulated by several different licensing bodies, but unlike the first broker, FXCM has a pretty high minimum deposit amount. This US-based trading operator takes its customers very seriously and thus provides constant support in various languages. Unlike other brokers, FXCM offers more than one trading platform and hence provides its customer the chance to try different things on the very same site.