Alex Borzak
Forex is one of the world’s major markets. The competitiveness between FX brokers is rather high, which contributes to the improvement of their services. Today the focus is on the ECN.
What is the difference between ECN-brokers and ordinary dealing centers?
A conventional dealing center is a kind of a market maker for its clients. More often than not, the client’s orders are not sent to the interbank market.
Alternatively, the Electronic Communication Network (ECN) implies the genuine interbank liquidity, with every single order being sent to the interbank market.
According to Denis Peganov, a representative of FxOpen (the leader of ‘s “Best ECN Broker 2012” rating), when trading through the ECN, the real Forex market behaves differently. An ECN broker provides access to the interbank liquidity (international financial institutions, major banks, brokers, market makers and hedge funds) through the ECN.
ECN brokers: weak and strong sides
However, it is not that perfect. Denis Peganov told Market Leader about the pitfalls of ECN trading:
Spreads. Usually, ECN brokers offer tighter spreads than ordinary brokers as the latter feed off spreads. At the same time, when choosing a trusted ECN broker, traders are charged with tight spreads 99.9% of the time. However, the spreads may widen by as much as 10 pips on major news releases. You can use multiple independent sources to compare the spreads. Be sure to pay you attention to the average weekly or monthly readings rather than the current spread.
No re-quotes. However, your order may stay unexecuted if the price changes rapidly. Moreover, right before major news when a big move is anticipated, big-scale traders can enter the market, thus creating the possibility of your orders being executed at a worse price. The real market cannot guarantee the execution of orders at a certain predetermined price. Therefore, there are no guaranteed stop-loss or take-profit levels. On the other hand, as a successful news trader, you get a good chance to win big while ordinary brokers and dealing centers just won’t let you open a trade or close it on major news.
Inconvenient software. A typical ECN trading platform doesn’t provide as much analytic tools as MetaTrader 4 or 5. The software is designed mainly to place orders. However, with FXOpen’s IB-brokerage, traders can do ECN trading through the modified MetaTrader platform called “ECN MT4”. The trading platform is subject to continuous improvement.
Therefore, the major competitive edge of an ECN broker is transparency and honesty. When trading with an ECN broker you can be sure to get your order placed in the interbank market as there is no conflict of interests between the broker and the client. Moreover, the so-called “slippage” may turn against you or FOR you while a conventional online dealing center won’t ever put the slippage in your favor. Ultimately, when we consider the ECN, this is not slippage, these are genuine market conditions. The ECN cannot provide non-market quotes as it represents the genuine interbank liquidity. The truth is that ECN trading is not suitable for all types of traders. It can scare away beginners.
A trading contest by FxOpen… or why are ECN-brokers looking for successful traders?
Is there any way for a successful novice trader to start real-money trading without risking a penny? Yes, there is! FxOpen (a representative of the Ultimate League of ’s rating of recommended Forex brokers) is looking for successful traders for managing $1000 PAMM accounts through the ECN.
The exclusive offer: Any successful trader can register with FxOpen and apply for the offer that implies managing a $1000 PAMM account. Traders are free to choose any trading system they like. As soon as the trading capital is doubled up to $2000, the broker (FxOpen) expropriates the initial capital, thus leaving the trader with $1000. The trader is free to withdraw the funds or to continue trading. When the capital reaches $5000, the trader gets the right to attract investors in order to boost the trading capital.
For more details on the PAMM offer, please, visit FxOpen’s website!
As you can see, you can become a PAMM manager without risking a penny. Sound great! You don’t need to go through the complicated process of creating a PAMM account as FxOpen will do it for you. You don’t need to spend you own money as FxOpen will deposit $1000 for you. All you need is to be a successful trader!
The following offer will present considerable interest to PAMM investors to be. With this offer, they don’t have to bet on a dark horse or to buy a cat in the sack. They get an opportunity to choose from a variety of successful PAMM investors who have managed to make substantial profits by increasing the trading capital by as much as 500% or more! These guys seem to be worthy of trust. Moreover, FxOpen is ready to provide extra guarantees to secure investors from heavy losses. In particular, if the company’s experts recognize the trading system in question as “excessively risky” in terms of money management, the agreement will be canceled. Once again, for more details on the PAMM offer, please, visit the Read More page.
The bottom line: Whether you are trader or investor, FxOpen ’s offer looks promising. No more amateurs in Forex trading! Welcome to professional ECN trading!
Market Leader and would appreciate if you could participate in a survey. Please, visit the Academy’s forum for traders and investors and answer the following question:
How do you like FxOpen’s offer?
Alex Borzak
