Are you a trader in financial commodities and other such items? If yes, then it is quite likely that you will find this FXCM review interesting and informative.
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Choosing the right broker for dealing with financial products is not easy. This is because of a number of reasons. To begin with, many of us are beginners without the right knowledge and information about the various online trading platforms.
Therefore, before choosing a broker, there is a need to gather the right knowledge and information. It would be a good idea to research and look up as many online brokerage platforms as possible and then make a decision.
There are many such products available in the market and many believe that FXCM could be one of the best options. Hence, it would be a good idea to have a complete and impartial FXCM review. We are hopeful that it will help the readers and other stakeholders to have a reasonably good idea about this service provider.
Further, this FXCM broker review will also try and point out the positives as well as the negatives of FXCM broker which will help the traders, customers, and other stakeholders to take the right decision based on facts and figures.
Basic Information about FXCM
Founded in 1991 in the United States, FXCM of late has shifted its focus out of the U.S market and has now started catering to some other regions. To align themselves to the emerging and changing market situation, they have started going in for rebranding as well as market positioning.
In fact, they have started a new company known as Leucadia Company and it is owned, managed, and run by Jefferies Financial Group. The company’s shares are listed on the NYSE. It is a part of the S&P400 index and also is a part of the Fortune 500 list of Firms.
Hence, when all the above points are taken into account, there are reasons to believe that it is a well-known reliable, and respected name. This fact is further corroborated by the various FXCM Forex broker review articles. Though there is no doubt that FXCM has had a troubled past, FXCM has been able to become the second-largest Forex brokerage firm for retail customers outside Japan.
FXCM Security & Regulations Review
FCA
FXCM is primarily regulated by FCA or the UK Financial Conduct Authority with a license number of 217689. It would be pertinent to mention here that FXCM went through a rough patch in 2014. There are many FXCM broker review articles to confirm this. It is believed that FCA fined FXCM to the extent of GPB 6 million dollars for some fraudulent transactions with its traders.
However, this has been forgotten and the fine was levied on a defunct parent company. Since then FXCM has been fully compliant. Things certainly have looked up after the parent company sold its stake to the Jefferies Financial Group. It would be pertinent to mention here that today, each and every trader who is a part of the FXCM broker setup is protected to a sum of GPB 85,000 under the transparent and trader-friendly Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
AMF
It also would be pertinent to mention here that FXCM also is regulated by AMF. AMF stands for Autorite des Marches Financiers. FXCM is regulated in France by the AMF. Additionally, the service provider also is regulated in Australia by ASIC or the Australian Securities & Investment Commission. It also is regulated by FSCA or Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa. The French operations are also quite impressive from the regulatory standpoint because the traders are protected against possible loss to a maximum amount of Euro 70,000 as per the directives given by FGDR or Fonds De Garantie Des Deposits Et De Resolution.
At the end of the day, there are enough reasons to believe that clients and traders are insulated from the company funds. This is as per the mandate given by FCA for the UK operations. Further, it would be important to know that each third-party institution has a credit rating that is equal to Quality Step 5 of FCA credit.
Hence, it is quite obvious from this review that the FXCM broker is fully compliant as far as the regulatory requirements are concerned. The brokerage house over the past few years has stood up to its expectations and has been doing a wonderful job as far as winning and regaining the trust of traders is concerned.
Is It Safe?
When we factor in the above things, it is quite obvious that FXCM is a low-risk trading house. It has been able to notch up an impressive Trust Score of 92 out of a possible 99. The parent company of FXCM is also a reputed and well-known publicly traded entity. Further, it does not operate a bank. On the whole, it is quite obvious that the money of the traders and clients is quite safe because of the stringent regulatory framework that it has subjected itself to. The client’s money is well protected under the regulatory framework. FXCM has had an unblemished and impressive history apart from the aberration that it had to go through in 2014.
Trading Platforms and Tools
The success and reliability of any online trading house are determined to a large extent by the kind of tools and platforms that it offers. Based on many reliable FXCM broker review articles, there are reasons to believe that FXCM has been able to set high standards when it comes to making available various tools and also the right trading platform.
It is comparable to the best in the industry. There were many studies done by independent houses and they have been unanimous about the quality of the platforms and tools that FXCM has been able to offer. It is considered to be the best as far as class, performance, dissemination of information and other such attributes are concerned.
It uses the well-known and proprietary Trading Station along with a number of other such platforms. These include NinjaTrader 8, and Trading View. All these have one thing in common and it is their ability to support algorithmic trading. FXCM also perhaps is one of the few that offers ZuluTrade that is suitable for social copy trading. Finally, it also uses another powerful platform by the name TWS or Trader Workstation and the same has been powered by IBKR or Interactive Brokers. This is basically used for trading in stocks.
There is no doubt that Trading Station is the most sophisticated and popular trading platform. If you look at any good FXCM review you will be able to get the right feedback about it. This is because it is strong, robust, reliable, and easy to learn and use. It suits the skill levels of different types of traders.
It also comes with the famous Marketscope 2.0 charting tool. This is a powerful tool that runs parallel to the main window. It also offers the traders to have a look at the historical slippages that may have happened and the various trading costs that the traders have incurred while trading.
Trading Station Web
It would be not out of place to mention here that FXCM offers a web version of Trading Station. This platform is packed with a number of interesting and impressive features. It is of a contemporary design. You can use it for having a look at some relevant headlines and news that may be of interest to you. Further, it also has a number of other useful tools and assists in the form of signals, headlines, videos, analysis, and other such things. These come from Trade Central. All these tools are easy to use.
It would also be pertinent to mention that the FXCM app store also offers a number of useful technical indicators, automated trading robots, and other forms of algorithmic trading. The good thing about FXCM is the algorithmic trading facility that it offers. It allows the users to get access to a vast number of such algorithmic trading platforms. You also get the support and assistance of a dedicated support team for handling all aspects of technical matters.
Mobile Trading Platforms
Because of a strong trading platform like Trading Station and MT4, FXCM is in a position to offer feature-rich, reliable, and efficient mobile trading services to its traders. These mobile platforms offer algorithmic trading facilities. Further, it also has 60 indicators and various types of multiple drawing tools. It allows trend lines to be drawn accurately and this is made simpler because of a magnifying glass which helps the traders to place the trend lines in the right position.
Products That Traders can Trade
Before we understand more about FXCM minimum withdrawal and other such things, it would be a good idea to have a brief look at the trading opportunities that it offers. It offers a total of thirty-nine currency pairs. This goes a long way in making Forex trading the most important and significant asset product as far as FXCM broker is concerned.
Additionally, they also offer nine different types of commodity CFDs, and also thirteen index CFDs amongst other products. They also offer cryptocurrency CFDs and these are five in total.
One more cryptocurrency basket has been recently added. Yes, there are a few traders who feel that the bouquet of financial products available is limited when compared to other such brokers. But if one looks at the mix of trading products offered by FXCM, it is quite obvious that it should be quite sufficient to meet the trading requirements for traders across various levels.
Spreads and Pairs
There is a big takeaway when you deal with FXCM broker. The broker is known to collaborate with ten different liquidity providers. They are also attached with a few other reputed and prime brokers. Therefore, as a trader, you can be sure that you will get the best prices as far as each trading session is concerned. When you look up some quality FXCM broker review articles you can be sure that they are a cut above the rest when compared to many other such brokers in the market especially in an online environment as far as spreads are concerned.
You may want to compare the Spreads with the Recommended Brokers we have on our website.
Account Types
Most traders who belong to the CFD account types are happy with FXCM because it caters to their requirements quite well. For example, traders who are based in the United Kingdom are in a position to take advantage of the famed Spread Betting Account. This offers a number of benefits including tax-free trading. Further, FXCM also is in a position to cater to institutional clients because of its proven prime brokerage unit. This is named FXCM Pro.
CFD Account
If you believe in high-volume trading, then you have many reasons to go in for the Active Trader CFD Account being offered by FXCM. The spreads are not bad and there also is a commission that is payable. The commission is $30 for every $1 million that is traded. Those who are able to increase their trading to $150 million as notional trading will have to pay a commission of $25 instead of $30 per million dollars of trading.
There is also special pricing available for traders whose volume is more than $500 million per month. Therefore, it would not be wrong to mention that FXCM provides a reasonably competitive trading environment when we compare them with other market players and brokers. The commission that is charged is also on the lower side when we compare them with other competitors.
If you are a trader who wishes to open a professional account, then you have to satisfy two out of the three different criteria.
The leverage for professional traders is enhanced to 1:400 while it is 1:30 for retail traders. Further, they also have different margin requirements for different types of assets. This also could impact leverage positively or negatively. You will have to spend some time visiting their website so that you are able to get the right information about the commitment of the brokers towards reliability and transparency. Many FXCM review articles are not too critical about this criteria.
Fees
A major portion of the revenues for FXCM comes from the spreads that are marked up across assets. The spread for EUR/USD is 1.3 pips. According to many traders, is on the higher side when compared to various other retail Forex brokers. UK traders are offered 0.7 pips and this is for EUR/USD pairs.
However, on the positive side, the commodity and index CFDs are priced quite competitively. Those who are into active mode of trading are offered lower spreads and it works to around 0.20 pips as far as EUR/USD is concerned. Further, there is a commission of $25 for every $ 1 million that is traded using the FXCM broker platform.
If there are big corporate actions such as mergers, dividends, and splits, these come with Index CFDS.
Apart from the above $40 withdrawal fee is charged from each trader and this certainly is a wrong and retrograde move on the part of FXCM. If an account is dormant for 12 months an inactivity fee of $50 is charged from the accounts of the traders. Additionally, $30 VPS hosting charges are also payable. However, the service provider is quite transparent as far as the charges are concerned and they are clearly visible on the right pages of their website.
Opening an Account
The FXCM account opening formalities are quite simple. There is an online application form and it is used for handling requests for new account openings. It is the standard operating procedure that they have been following.
The entire application opening process goes through three steps as far as FXCM is concerned. As per the regulatory requirements each and every account has to satisfy the required AML and KYC requirements. The traders are required to upload their proof of residence, trader’s ID apart from offering proof of residency.
The information that is shared by customers is completely safe and is encrypted end to end. The whole process of account opening is quite efficient and fast and if the documents are in order, the account opening should be completed in 24 hours.
Deposits and Withdrawals
FXCM has an impressive array of deposit and withdrawal options. These include debit and credit cards, bank wire transfers, Neteller, Skrill, Rapid Transfer, and Klarna. The name of the payment processor should match the account name and this is in line with the requirements laid down under the AML rules and regulations. The entire process of deposits and withdrawals happens within one day. Third-party fees are applicable when making deposits and withdrawals and traders should be aware of the same.
Customer Support
You can expect customer support 24/5 and not 24/7. The help center that is available in the trading platform is a good resource for contacting other support avenues. This is because it covers almost all the common topics on which a trader might require help. The service provider also has toll-free numbers and contact can also be established through SMS. They also have a robust email support system that is much better when compared to most other competitors.
Pros & Cons
Based on the above information and also after taking into account the various FXCM broker review blogs and inputs, it would be interesting to have a look at the pros and cons of FXCM:
Pros
- Reputed, well-known, and has stood the test of time.
- A wide range of products which is sufficient for different types of traders.
- The best of security features and safety attributes.
- Fully compliant with the various rules and regulations as far as KYC, AML, trader safety, a safety net for the funds of the traders and other such things are concerned.
- Excellent customer service.
- A good number of deposit and withdrawal options.
- Advanced trading platform with demo amount and a host of other tools.
Cons
- A forgettable past in 2014 where it had to pay a hefty fine.
- Traders believe that the number of products could have been more.
- Commission structure and withdrawal fee are negatives.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a result-oriented, customer-focused, and reliable online broker, then choosing FXCM broker will not be a bad idea. Though they did have a forgettable past in 2014, they have been able to overcome this and have been able to win the trust and confidence of thousands of traders across the world.
