The first step in choosing a broker is finding out what your choices are. You don’t just walk into a restaurant, knowing what to order right away, do you?
Not unless you’re a frequent customer there, of course. More often than not, you check out their menu first to see what they have to offer.
There are two main types of brokers: Dealing Desks (DD) and No Dealing Desks (NDD). Dealing Desk brokers are also called Market Makers, while No Dealing Desks can be further subdivided into Straight Through Processing (STP) and Electronic Communication Network + Straight Through Processing (ECN+STP).
What is a Dealing Desk Forex Broker?
Forex brokers that operate through Dealing Desk (DD) brokers make money through spreads and providing liquidity to their clients. Also called “market makers,” Dealing Desk brokers literally create a market for their clients, meaning they often take the other side of a clients trade. While you may think that there is a conflict of interest, there really isn’t. Market makers provide both a sell and buy quote, which means that they are filling both buy and sell orders of their clients; they are indifferent to the decisions of an individual trader.
Since market makers control the prices at which orders are filled, it also follows that there is very little risk for them to set FIXED spreads (you will understand why this is so much better later). Also, clients of dealing desk brokers do not see the real interbank market rates. Don’t be scared though, the competition among brokers is so stiff that the rates offered by Dealing Desks brokers are close, if not the same, to the interbank rates.
Trading using a Dealing Desk broker basically works this way:
Let’s say you place a buy order for EUR/USD for 100,000 units with your Dealing Desk broker. To fill you, your broker will first try to find a matching sell order from its other clients or pass your trades on to its liquidity provider, i.e. a sizable entity that readily buys or sells a financial asset.
By doing this, they minimize risk, as they earn from the spread without taking the opposite side of your trade. However, in the event that there are no matching orders, they will have to take the opposite side of your trade. Take note that different brokers have different risk management policies, so check with your broker regarding this.
What is a No Dealing Desk Broker?
As the name suggests, No Dealing Desk (NDD) brokers do NOT pass their clients’ orders through a Dealing Desk. This means that they do not take the other side of their clients’ trade as they simply link two parties together.
NDDs are like bridge builders: they build a structure over an otherwise impassable or hard-to-pass terrain to connect two areas. NDDs can either charge a very small commission for trading or just put a markup by increasing the spread slightly.
No Dealing Desk brokers can either be STP or STP+ECN.
What is an STP broker?
Some brokers claim that they are true ECN brokers, but in reality, they merely have a Straight Through Processing system.
Forex brokers that have an STP system route the orders of their clients directly to their liquidity providers who have access to the interbank market. NDD STP brokers usually have many liquidity providers, with each provider quoting its own bid and ask price.
Let’s say your NDD STP broker has three different liquidity providers. In their system, they will see three different pairs of bid and ask quotes.
| Bid | Ask | |
|---|---|---|
| Liquidity Provider A | 1.2998 | 1.3001 |
| Liquidity Provider B | 1.2999 | 1.3001 |
| Liquidity Provider C | 1.3000 | 1.3002 |
Their system then sorts these bid and ask quotes from best to worst. In this case, the best price in the bid side is 1.3000 (you want to sell high) and the best price on the ask side is 1.3001 (you want to buy low). The bid/ask is now 1.3000/1.3001.
Will this be the quote that you will see on your platform?
Of course not!
Your broker isn’t running a charity! Your broker didn’t go through all that trouble of sorting through those quotes for free!
To compensate them for their trouble, your broker adds a small, usually fixed, markup. If their policy is to add a 1-pip mark-up, the quote you will see on your platform would be 1.2999/1.3002. You will see a 3-pip spread. The 1-pip spread turns into a 3-pip spread for you.
So when you decide to buy 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002, your order is sent through your broker and then routed to either Liquidity Provider A or B.
If your order is acknowledged, Liquidity Provider A or B will have a short position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD 1.3001, and you will have a long position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002. Your broker will earn 1 pip in revenue.
This changing bid/ask quote is also the reason why most STP type brokers have variable spreads. If the spreads of their liquidity providers widen, they have no choice but to widen their spreads too. While some STP brokers do offer fixed spreads, most have VARIABLE spreads.
What is an ECN Broker?
True ECN brokers, on the other hand, allow the orders of their clients to interact with the orders of other participants in the ECN.
Participants could be banks, retail traders, hedge funds, and even other brokers. In essence, participants trade against each other by offering their best bid and ask prices.
ECNs also allow their clients to see the “Depth of Market.” Depth of Market displays where the buy and sell orders of other market participants are. Because of the nature ECN, it is very difficult to slap on a fixed mark-up so ECN brokers usually get compensated through a small COMMISSION.
No Dealing Desk Forex Brokers
Which type of broker should I choose? A dealing desk broker? Or a no dealing desk broker?
That’s completely up to you! One type of broker isn’t better than the other because it will all depend on the type of trader you are. It’s up to you to decide whether you’d rather have tighter spreads but pay a commission per trade, versus wider spreads and no commissions.
Usually, day traders and scalpers prefer the tighter spreads because it is easier to take small profits as the market needs less ground to cover to get over transaction costs.
Meanwhile, wider spreads tend to be insignificant to longer term swing or position traders.
To make your decision-making easier, here’s a summary of the major differences between Market Makers, STP brokers, and STP+ECN brokers:
| Dealing Desk (Market Maker) | No Dealing Desk (STP) | No Dealing Desk (STP+ECN) |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Spreads | Most have variable spreads | Variable spreads or commission fees |
| Take the opposite side of your trade | Simply a bridge between client and liquidity provider | A bridge between client and liquidity provider and other participants |
| Artificial quotes | Prices come from liquidity providers | Prices come from liquidity providers and other ECN particpants |
| Orders are filled by broker on a discretionary basis | Automatic execution, no re-quotes | Automatic, no re-quotes |
| Displays the Depth of Market (DOM) or liquidity information |
Brokers are not evil… Well most of them aren’t!
Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, forex brokers really aren’t out to get you. They want to do business with you, and not run you out of business! Think about it, if you lose all your money in trading, they too will lose customers.
The ideal client of dealing desk brokers is the one who more or less breaks even. In other words, a client who neither wins nor losses at the end.
That way, the broker earns money on the client’s transactions, but at the same time, the client stays in the game by not blowing out his account. In essence, brokers want their clients to keep coming back for more (trading)!
6 Crucial Things to Consider When Choosing a Forex Broker
The retail forex market is so competitive that just thinking about having to sift through all the available brokers can give you a major headache.
Choosing which forex broker to trade with can be a very overwhelming task especially if you don’t know what you should be looking for.
In this section, we will discuss the qualities you should look for when picking a broker.
1. Security
The first and foremost characteristic that a good broker must have is a high level of security. After all, you’re not going to hand over thousands of dollars to a person who simply claims he’s legit, right?
Fortunately, checking the credibility of a forex broker isn’t very hard. There are regulatory agencies all over the world that separate the trustworthy from the fraudulent.
Below is a list of countries with their corresponding regulatory bodies:
- United States: National Futures Association (NFA) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
- United Kingdom: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
- Australia: Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
- Switzerland: Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC)
- Germany: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFIN)
- France: Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)
- Canada: Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)
Before even THINKING of putting your money in a broker, make sure that the broker is a member of the regulatory bodies mentioned above.
2. Transaction Cost
No matter what kind of currency trader you are, like it or not, you will always be subject to transaction costs.
Every single time you enter a trade, you will have to pay for either the forex spread or a commission so it is only natural to look for the most affordable and cheapest rates. Sometimes you may need to sacrifice low transaction for a more reliable broker.
Make sure you know if you need tight spreads for your type of trading, and then review your available options. It’s all about finding the correct balance between security and low transaction costs.
3. Deposit and Withdrawal
Good FX brokers will allow you to deposit funds and withdraw your earnings hassle-free. Brokers really have no reason to make it hard for you to withdraw your profits because the only reason they hold your funds is to facilitate trading.
Your broker only holds your money to make trading easier so there is no reason for you to have a hard time getting the profits you have earned. Your broker should make sure that the withdrawal process is speedy and smooth.
4. Trading Platform
In online forex trading, most trading activity happens through the brokers’ trading platform. This means that the trading platform of your broker must be user-friendly and stable.
When looking for a broker, always check what its trading platform has to offer.
Does it offer free news feed? How about easy-to-use technical and charting tools? Does it present you with all the information you will need to trade properly?
5. Execution
It is mandatory that your broker fill you in the best possible price for your orders.
Under normal market conditions (e.g. normal liquidity, no important news releases or surprise events), there really is no reason for your broker to not fill you at, or very close to, the market price you see when you click the “buy” or “sell” button.
For example, assuming you have a stable internet connection, if you click “buy” EUR/USD for 1.3000, you should get filled at that price or within micro-pips of it. The speed at which your orders get filled is very important, especially if you’re a scalper.
A few pips difference in price can make that much harder on you to win that trade.
6. Customer Service
Brokers aren’t perfect, and therefore you must pick a broker that you could easily contact when problems arise.
The competence of brokers when dealing with account or technical support issues is just as important as their performance on executing trades. Brokers may be kind and helpful during the account opening process, but have terrible “after sales” support.
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