HY Markets Review

I opened an account with HY Markets just over a month ago and have had a really good run trading with them. I would like to warn anyone who thinks of day-trading with these guys though - don't! Besides the no scalping policy, HY Markets has unusually high spreads, particularly for smaller accounts, so if you are in and out of trades often, your costs will add up very quickly. They offer 3 types of accounts:

• Mini - $50 min. deposit, 2,000 unit min. trade size, 7 pip variable spread on EUR/USD;
• Standard - $750 min. deposit, 10,000 unit min. trade size, 5 pip variable spread on EUR/USD;
• Premium - $2,500 min. deposit, 100,000 unit min. trade size, 3 pip variable spread on EUR/USD;

I had a Standard account, and was really feeling it every time I opened a trade. I had a strong run of trades which made it seem insignificant, but I know that if I had had a string of losses, those costs would have been unbearable. The Premium account, while offering slightly better spreads (although still higher than most brokers), has the disadvantage of standard lot deal sizes. There is no way someone with a $2,500 account could handle standard lots, so I find the combination to be somewhat predatory in nature - they push traders to upgrade their accounts by providing better spreads, but then screw them by making them over-leverage due to huge minimum deal sizes.

Still though, a trader has only himself to blame if he is taken in by such practices. An experienced trader would never allow himself to be taken advantage of like that. The fault ultimately lies with you if you agree to such trading conditions.

On the positive side, for those who are well capitalized and/or don't mind the high spreads (read, longer-term traders), HY Markets offers investors a solid package, mostly because of the vast array of tradeable instruments on tap. You can trade anything from silver to cocoa to IBM to EUR/USD on the HY Markets MT4 platform. The best thing about it is that because of the way HY Markets structures their CFDs, all the instruments can be traded long or short at any time.

HY Markets also provides the safety offered by an FSA (UK) regulated broker and the financial stability of a well capitalized business that has been in the finance world since 1977.

These facts alone can easily overcome the negatives, particularly for those who are not necessarily just looking to trade forex, but other instruments.

PROS:
Safety of FSA regulation (FSA #186171);
Long-term business commitment;
Well capitalized;
Client funds are segregated from company operating capital;
Staggering array of tradable instruments;
Ability to long and short any of the instruments available;
Stop losses guaranteed against slippage;
Swap-free accounts available to Islamic traders;
Deposits and withdrawals available by Visa and MasterCard;

CONS:
Ridiculously high forex spreads for Mini and Standard accounts;
Mediocre swap rates;
Inflexible deal sizing for Premium accounts;
No demo accounts available;

Quick Facts:
Henyep Investment (UK) Ltd. in business since 1977;
Offices in London, Dubai and Hong Kong;
Downloadable (MT4), Browser, and Mobile (Pocket PC) trading platforms available;
Deposits and withdrawals by Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Wire Transfer;
Maximum Leverage 200:1 on all account types;

If you would like to open an account, please visit HY Markets. Thanks for stopping by!

Marketiva Review

When I first opened an account at Marketiva, I was fully aware of the risk I was taking. A forex broker registered in the British Virgin Islands doesn't exactly inspire confidence in a trader. They have been in business for some time however (since 2003) and have a fairly good reputation among traders. Moreover, I really wanted to short the carry trade for the long-term, and Marketiva is a swap-free broker, meaning I would save a lot of money by not having to pay negative swap on my long-term short positions in the high-yielding currencies. Marketiva also allows a maximum of 300,000 units to be traded at any one time, so I couldn't go all in anyway. As it turns out, shorting the carry trade was one of the best decisions of my trading career, and having a broker account in the Caribbean didn't hurt my cause - I was able to close my positions and withdraw my profits without any complaints from Marketiva.

It seems that, as far as market makers go, Marketiva offers a fairly decent and honest product. It is certainly not intended for highly-capitalized professionals, but more for the smaller novice retail trader. Marketiva allows trades as small as 1 unit, and offers vibrant chat community within the trading platform itself. I never found much use for it, but it can be helpful (or distracting, depending on how you look at it). In any case, I can recommend Marketiva to my readers with a clear conscience, as long as you are not looking to trade millions, and can live with the poor charting and basic functionality of the trading platform.

Quick Facts:
Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands;
FSC member (646819);
In business since 2003;
Does not accept clients from the USA;
Deposits by e-Dinar, Liberty Reserve, WebMoney, Wire Transfer;
Target spread on EUR/USD: 0.0002 (2 pips) variable;
Accounts can be held in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, CHF, AUD, JPY

More details about Marketiva here.
Visit Marketiva