Alpari Review

I would like to note first that the Alpari I'm talking about here is a separate company from Alpari UK and Alpari US, although the strings are pulled by the same Russian puppet masters. Alpari is run by Russians as a Seychelles company until recently (now a New Zealand company). I somehow seem to always find myself faced with a possibly dodgy situation to trade in. Maybe it's just that trading itself has lost its excitement, so I am looking for another thrill... But to be quite honest, I have had a much better experience trading with Alpari than with brokers found in much more "reputable" places. I will talk more about that in my next post, as there is a broker I have gotten myself into quite a dispute with. I have to give them a chance to unbreak my account before spewing vitriol about them, but stay tuned, it's coming.

Anyway, this post is about Alpari, and Alpari is well known among the hardcore retail forex traders as being very fair when dealing with trading disputes or ambiguities. Alpari is also well known among the same group of traders as having the best quality free historical charts data available. As a result, most people doing backtests on their MT4 Expert Advisors use Alpari data, unless they can bankroll some paid data, which is rare in the case of retail traders.

I have had personal experience with Alpari now, and can confirm that most of this reputation comes for a reason. There have been no disputes yet, so I can't report on that right now, but I have had all my orders respected to the pip so far. Combined with low spreads and a wide range of instruments to trade, Alpari is as competitive as any other MT4 broker out there. If you like MT4, then there is no reason not to give Alpari a try. Good reputation, low spreads, tons of instruments to trade, and a well-known, reliable trading platform are what you can expect from this broker.

PROS:
Stellar reputation for resolving disputes in a fair and logical manner;
MT4 platform ease of use and reliability, as well as automated trading heaven;
Lots of tradable instruments (see Quick Facts below);
Low spreads (from 1.8 pips on EUR/USD);
Been around since 1998;

CONS:
Unregulated, capitalization unknown;
MT4 platform lack of features;
Dodgy legal setup;

Quick Facts;
Tradable instruments: 51 spot currency pairs, CFDs on various US stocks, CFDs on index shares, CFDs on futures on stock indexes, CFDs on commodities and precious metals, etc.;
Headquarters in New Zealand and Moscow, Russia;
Target spread on EUR/USD is 1.8 pips (0.00018);
Established 1998;
Metatrader 4 (MT4) platform;

If you would like to open an account at Alpari, please visit their website.

New Reviews Coming Soon

I've been away for a little while, but have been actively trading and testing out a few new brokers. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm in the process of reviewing several different brokers, including ForexGen, Alpari, and a few others. My live accounts are in place, but it takes a little while to get a good sense for each broker, particularly when it comes to processing withdrawals. I also like to test each broker over a number of different trades and in different market conditions, which also makes my reviews a lot more accurate for my readers.



Please check back in a few days or better yet, subscribe to my Atom feed.

FXCM Review

FXCM was one of the first brokers I ever opened an account with. At the time I didn't have much to compare it to, but it seemed like a decent package. Everything worked, and it was easy to learn the ropes and it was easy on the eyes. It was not until much later that I learned just how powerful FXCM's Trading Station really is, at least in comparison to a lot of the other platforms out there. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everything about FXCM is peachy - it isn't - but the platform itself really is one of the best out there. It has everything a professional trader would desire, such as great charting, one-click trading, many different order types and execution preferences. It has all the flexibility a trader could desire, and not much in the way of complexity. It is very easy to use, and has a distinctively short learning curve.

When it comes to actual trading conditions and customer support, FXCM does fairly well, too. I understand that when I am doing business with a big company such as this, I have to expect a certain amount "canned response" type stuff from their front line support guys. That is always the disadvantage of dealing with a big company - they simply don't care about you - there are a million other clients to think about, each being equally unimportant. FXCM was not much different, but they do get things done when you press them.

I had an experience, early on in my forex trading career, before I knew much about trading. It went something like this:

I had opened a trade on USD/CAD and was looking for a short score of like 20 pips. I didn't know how far I would let the trade go against me before deciding to turn tail and taking the loss, I hadn't thought it through that far. I figured I would know when to get out, and anyway, the trade was definitely going my way. As it turned out, the trade didn't go my way. In fact, nothing went my way. Soon after a strong burst against my position, my internet connection passed out. I almost did too... What was I supposed to do? I couldn't even see my baby!

So I called up FXCM phone dealing and they closed out my trade very quickly and efficiently. There was no long procedure or waiting on hold, or anything of the sort. I was connected right away and they understood exactly what I wanted to do and did it without any problems. I was quite impressed. Although I was a novice trader (to put it mildly) I knew a quality product when I saw one. To this day I still use my FXCM account for certain types of trades.

PROS:
Excellent trading platform functionality, ease of use, and reliability;
Good execution;
Good customer support and phone dealing;
Regulated and well-capitalized broker;

CONS:
No guaranteed order fills - you get what the market gives you;
Lack of tradeable currencies - no exotics, oil or gold;
Large, faceless company that doesn't care about you;

Quick Facts:
Offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo;
Accepts deposits by ACH (US), Visa, MasterCard, Wire Transfer, Check;
Maximum Leverage of 200:1 on all retail accounts;
Server-side trailing stops, OCO and if/then orders available;
Scalping OK;
Account can be held in any of the following currencies AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, USD;

If you would like to know more, please check out this FXCM Review as well.