Financial brokerage companies are institutions that provide a mediation service between the seller and buyer in the money markets in return for a specified commission, and this is done through trading platforms provided by these companies to investors, through which transactions are executed at any time without obstacles because these markets are characterized by the availability of liquidity All the time.
The process of choosing a forex company is one of the most important decisions facing investors or those who are thinking of trading in the forex market, as there are dozens of trading companies competing with each other to provide the best services on the Internet. These companies are trying to distinguish themselves by responding to the needs and desires of investors in the financial markets to bring the largest number of them to open trading accounts with them.
What is the commission of brokerage firms?
The “spread” – the difference between the selling price and the purchase price – is the main commission that trading companies receive from investors in the financial markets. This commission is obtained by the company when opening the deal directly, and the brokerage companies get this commission regardless of the outcome of the deal, whether it is profitable or losing.
It is also known that companies trading in different currencies and financial assets increase the value of their commission as the amount of money being traded increases, for this reason only these companies offer traders what is known as financial leverage. The trader when using the leverage increases the size of the amount with which he opens the trades, which automatically results in an increase in the commission of the forex company.
For example, suppose a currency trading company charges a “spread” commission on the EUR/USD pair of 3 pips, and the actual account capital is $10,000, in this case, the pip value is $1. That is, the value of the company’s commission on each EURUSD transaction is $3 without the use of leverage.
But if the trader wants to use a leverage of 10:1, in this case, the amount he trades becomes $100,000, and the pip value becomes $10, which means that the company’s commission will become $30 on each trade where leverage is used. Its amount is 10 times.
So as it turns out, the difference in the company’s commission after the trader used the leverage in the previous example is $27 in favor of the brokerage firm. Measure that out on the thousands of trades that are executed daily, then you will realize why Forex companies allow traders to use leverage. Some brokers charge other commissions and additional fees which will be highlighted in this article.
How do I choose a trading company?
1: Regulation and Licensing – the licenses obtained by trading companies to conduct their business
As the most important and first thing that a trader should look for before choosing the company he will work with is whether to license this company or not, as unfortunately large numbers of fraudsters took advantage of this phenomenon and established fake companies to swindle and steal people’s money under the name of forex companies, and unfortunately the large numbers This company is oriented towards the Arab world.
In fact, there are a number of international financial supervisory bodies that regulate the work of trading companies to preserve the rights of investors. The most famous of these financial institutions are mentioned below:
- UK Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA)
- Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission CySEC
- The US Commission for Regulating Labor in Financial Markets, a congressional committee of the CFTC
- The Australian Commission for the Regulation of Investments and the Operation of Financial Markets ( ASIC)
- The Swiss Financial Markets Regulatory Commission FINMA
In every country, there is also a commission to regulate and supervise the work of financial markets, and there are a number of other international financial bodies, but they are less well known. In one way or another, before choosing the forex company that he will trade with, the trader must carefully research it’s licensing and regulation, as this protects his money in the first place, and he has the right to sue the company in an official manner in case he faces any problems.
The Financial Conduct Authority requires these companies to separate traders’ funds from the company’s operating funds so that they are not used under any circumstances, and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is offering plans to compensate traders up to £50,000 in the event of the company’s bankruptcy and insolvency. In return, CySEC is offering similar compensation schemes for amounts up to €20,000.
It is the norm for forex companies to clearly indicate on their website and homepage the licenses they obtained to conduct their business as a brokerage firm, and this includes providing the license number and a direct link explaining this license on the website of the Financial Supervisory Authority through which it obtained this license.
2: Fees and commissions imposed by trading companies
Where brokerage firms in the financial markets charge a commission instead of the services they provide, the types of fees and commissions charged by companies can be highlighted as follows:
- Spread : It is the main commission charged for the brokerage service, as we mentioned earlier, and it is the difference between the selling price and the purchase price.
- Overnight commission : a commission charged by trading companies on deals that remain open for a certain number of nights and days. According to the provisions of Islamic Sharia and after extensive research, the overnight commission is prohibited, so the companies that offer an Islamic trading account do not charge this commission for those who use this type of account.
- Withdrawal and Deposit Fees : Some companies charge additional fees for deposits and withdrawals. These fees may be a fixed value for each withdrawal or deposit, or it may be a percentage of the value of the amount deposited or to be withdrawn.
- Inactivity fee : a commission imposed by some forex companies on accounts where no deal is opened for a certain period. Some companies, for example, impose this commission if the trader does not execute any transaction within a period of 3 months, others within 6 months, and so on.
- Commissions on additional services provided by companies : Some trading companies provide additional services that are not found in other companies and charge certain fees in exchange for allowing the trader to use such tools and services.
It is very important for a person who wants to trade in the financial markets to see the list of commissions and fees charged by the company, and the company must make this clear to traders clearly and unambiguously. On this basis, the trader can also choose the trading company that matches his needs and desires.
An important thing to note, which is that the overnight commission is considered fatal to the account, especially if the transaction made losses and took long days to start profiting. Here the trader will be surprised that the profits that he started making after a long period of waiting have gone as a carryover commission to the forex company, and this puts him in a bad mood that may affect his decisions.
To get acquainted with the concept of the spread and a number of other important concepts, we recommend reading our article entitled: Forex Terminology.
3: Methods of withdrawal and deposit with trading companies
Where trading companies try to cover as many withdrawal and deposit methods as possible, which include:
- Credit cards of all kinds.
- Banks and electronic wallets such as PayPal and Neteller.
- Conventional bank transfers.
- Withdraw and deposit using digital currency wallets such as Bitcoin and Ripple.
It is important for the trader to learn about the issues related to the different withdrawal and deposit methods, as they are completely free in some companies, and in others, some of them are for a fee and others are free. The trader must also know the time taken for each of the different withdrawal and deposit methods, knowing that this period of time also varies from one company to another, for this reason, the trader has to research well so that he can get to know the forex company closest to his goals and needs.
4: The financial assets provided by trading companies to investors
Brokerage firms try to provide as many financial assets as possible for trading through their trading platforms to meet the needs and desires of all clients. These assets include (currency pairs, stocks, precious metals such as gold, energy sources such as oil, indices, mutual funds, binary options, and digital currencies).
Some brokers offer more than 1,000 financial assets for trading and some offer less than 100, some allow cryptocurrency speculation and some don’t. For this reason, the investor must know the types of financial assets that he will trade so that he can choose well the companies that allow his trading.
Online trading is done in a speculative way, get acquainted with the trading school with the concept and idea of speculation.
5: The founders of the company and its record of achievements
Getting to know the founders of the company and its record of achievements is also important, as some brokerage firms were established by experts in the financial markets “with strong experience and a long history.” These names will certainly add a strong value to the company and will contribute to its transfer by providing more distinguished services.
On the other hand, the trader should look at the awards that the forex company has received throughout their career, how strong this award is, the institution that gave it and why the company received this award, as some of them get awards because of their customer services, some because of the trading platforms, and some because of the services Education and so on. This also helps the trader a lot in choosing the most suitable trading company for his vision and strategic goals.
6: Trading accounts provided by brokerage firms
Some currency trading companies offer more than one type of trading account to suit the different needs of traders, there are standard trading accounts and Islamic trading accounts in addition to the demo trading account, in addition to other accounts under the names of “premium” or “VIP” which are allocated to traders Adults who trade with large amounts of money, and this type of account provides him with many professional advantages that are not provided for other types of accounts.
Since these types of accounts differ in their features and characteristics, the trader must research well so that he can identify the type closest to his needs, desires, and goals.
7: The trading platforms provided by the trading companies to their clients
One of the most important things that brokerage firms try to distinguish themselves in is Fintech, which is mainly represented by trading platforms and various financial instruments. The trading platforms are the main interface that the trader will deal with, through which he will execute various transactions and place various trading orders and use technical indicators and structural graphics in the process of analyzing the market trend. For this reason, the process of researching the capabilities of the trading platform is one of the most important decisions facing the investor before thinking about choosing the trading company.
There are many types of trading platforms available in the forex market, but the most famous and popular is the Metatrader 4 (MT4) and the Metatrader 5 (MT5) platforms. These platforms are characterized by their accuracy and speed in executing orders, in addition to being virtually free of technical problems, apart from their simple and easy-to-use interface. These platforms also provide a wide range of features that make the trading environment easy, smooth, reliable, and enjoyable at the same time.
There are other types of trading platforms, some companies design their own trading platforms, so it is also important to know their advantages and disadvantages and compare them so that the trader can find the best and most appropriate option.
8: Customer services and the website of the trading companies
Forex companies provide customer services in several ways, including (live chat, e-mail, phone call, or direct communication with branch offices spread all over the world). But not all companies use all the previous methods of communication, so the trader must know these methods well so that he does not face any problems in communicating when necessary.
Most of the forex trading companies provide technical support services for 5 days a week throughout the day “24” hours, but some of these companies provide these services throughout the week for 24 hours a day, and this certainly gives them an advantage over other companies.
The company’s website is very important, through it the trader can learn about the nature of the company’s business, and he can delve into the knowledge of all the services provided by the company and access any information he needs from the information we mentioned earlier.
For this, it is necessary for the site to be simple, easy to use, with a distinctive interface, and in which all the information needed by the trader is clearly and unambiguously displayed. It is also important that the website and technical support services are available in as many languages as possible to meet the needs of customers from all over the world.
9: Other services and offers provided by trading companies
Global trading companies are trying to distinguish themselves, by providing more services and offers in order to attract the largest number of traders. These offers and services are explained below:
1. Automated trading
Some forex companies allow traders to program their trading strategies through the company’s servers and platforms to operate automatically at any time during the day.
2. Social trading
Many global trading companies are currently offering social trading services, according to the needs and desires of traders and customers. This type of platform allows the novice traders to copy the trades of the experts and make profits, and also helps the experts in marketing and selling their trading strategies for a fee.
3. Bonuses and contests
Some forex companies offer bonuses to traders on deposits, sometimes up to 100% of the value of the amount deposited, and some offer bonuses without a deposit. For example, we mention Xm trading company that offers a bonus of 30 USD without deposit.
You may be interested in learning about the evaluation of the Xm and Iq options and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Many companies also organize competitions for real and demo accounts and offer financial and material prizes, but it should be noted that the financial supervisory authorities require the forex companies that offer bonuses to set a minimum number of contracts that must be traded so that the trader can withdraw the bonus.
4. Technical analysis and fundamental analysis services
As a matter of facilitating traders and putting them in the picture of what is happening in the money markets on an ongoing basis, trading companies provide technical analysis and fundamental analysis services to traders for free. Here, it should also be noted that the financial supervisory authorities require brokerage firms not to provide buy and sell recommendations to traders, not to provide the investment portfolio management service, and not to provide any information on market trends. However, some trading firms provide trading signals services through third-party service providers. the third.
5. Research and education services provided by trading companies
In the context of competing to provide the best possible service, some forex companies offer educational services through special academies through their website that suit the needs of traders. It also provides from time to time market research on a monthly basis or the like to help traders get to know what is happening in the market and in order to help them make the right trading decision.
6. Trader safety
One of the important things that forex companies should pay great attention to is the encryption of their website in addition to securing various payment methods with the latest technology, in order to protect the privacy of personal data and financial accounts from theft, loss, and damage.
7. Ancillary financial instruments
These are additional services provided by companies for different purposes, some for a fee and others for free. Examples of these tools are the various trading orders, as some companies design their own stop-loss and take-profit orders, in addition to many other financial tools and auxiliary technical indicators.
These services and other offers are certainly considered to be of high value to many traders and are also important for deciding whether or not to open an electronic trading account with a company. Therefore, it is important to research all relevant details, so that the investor can actually choose the company closest to his needs and desires.
The best trading companies are those that fulfill the following conditions
- Regulated and licensed by law
- Get low commissions from traders
- Several withdrawal and deposit methods are available
- Withdrawals and deposits are done in a short time without problems
- Availability of the largest possible number of financial assets for trading
- The company has a record of achievements and has won a number of international awards
- Provides more than one type of trading account
- It has reliable and approved trading platforms with many features and without technical problems
- Customer services are available all the time and in several languages
- It offers a number of auxiliary financial tools and invests well in financial technology.
Conclusion
There are a lot of articles on the Internet titled “The best brokerage company, or the best forex companies in a particular year. This is illogical, as the goal is most often to promote such companies, as we mentioned in this article that there are many things that can distinguish between different forex companies.
Also, the company that suits the needs and desires of a trader may not be in harmony with other traders, so the process of choosing a reliable brokerage company falls on the shoulders of the trader himself, as he is the most knowledgeable of his needs and desires and he is best able to know the company that suits these needs and desires more than others.
We in the trading school will review and evaluate a number of the most famous labor brokerage companies according to the previous data, in a way that helps traders to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each one of them, and in a way that helps them strongly to choose the company that is consistent with his desires and needs, which will help him, God willing, to Achieving its full investment objectives.
