What's you ideal Broker.

[pipchaser]

Hello all

If you where granted a wish to design your own Forex-Broker what would you pick as a Broker from heaven and not the ones from hell around at the moment.

My wish.

1) MT4 platform.
2) Good members support forum linked to a password that only real/live members can accest.
3) Easy deposit/withdrawal methods, no internet processors.
4) Small minimum deposit.
5) Fully regulated, and open to the general public.
6) Every kind of accounts and leverage.
7) Low spreads.
8) Smaller swaps. (None if possible)
9) Treat members as part of family/friends, sharing in any success.
10) Allow grown ups from all over the world to decide what they want to do with their own money, if they choose to join.
11) Explain/outline in greater detail everything possible members need to know about Forex.
12) Have an open house for members and guests to view. (House = records)
13) Some form of backup piggy bank to help traders in their hour of need. (eg; quick access to loan of funds to keep account/s live.)
14) 5 pip minimum trailing/stoploss trigger.
15) New order function set at minimum lot size and not 1.00. (personal reasons for one live account wipeout.)
16) Platform to start on computer startup.

[capsmart]

Number 16 is the only one I can tell you how to do it for the rest is just wishful thinking (to have them all at once).
Also for number 14 there is a way if you use a trade manager. It could close the trade at any moment (if there is no requotes, slippage etc etc).
For the rest if you trade on longer time frames it should not be a big problem with the "established" brokers but there are ways to protect yourself. So again to avoid stop hunting a trade manager on a vps is going to help. That way the broker will only see a very distant catastrophic stop loss and an exaggerated take profit.
Of course if you want to scalp the market and make 3-5 pips profit this is another story. I personally do not believe in this kind of trading so even if I have 5 live accounts I cannot tell that one is better than the other one, apart of course for the spread. Some offer very low spreads, some offer fixed spreads and I have a broker that is adding an extra pip because of a service he is offering (I do not trade too much with this one).
So I do not think there is a perfect broker, but knowing the rules of the game I adapt my trading.

[pipchaser]

Hello capsmart

14) I've never tried scalping myself, but if I was the broker I would allow the members/traders this choice. I try to minimum my profit taking to 10 pips. (I've made over 1,000 trades this way over the year on real accounts but burned out because of bad management on my part).

16) Would be a great help, as my computer has a great hobbit of turning itself off and then on again, while or shortly after the grandchildern have been using it.

[capsmart]

Cool. Maybe you need a disk format to bring things back in order. When the computer restarts this is not a good sign. Could be a virus or a hardware malfunction. If your grandchildren are old enough and try hardware settings or modifications restarts can occur. It could also be an overheating problem, or a power supply problem. So better have a specialist have a look. After all this is our job. Imagine being a soldier with a gun that sometimes does not fire. Missing a nice trade could cost you a brand new laptop.

For the autostart I used youtube and searched "add a startup program". This is the first link that explains how to do it.
Add a startup Program - YouTube
There are more if you want to see different ways or if you are not running windows 7. Let me know if you had success and if not I can give you more instructions.

[pipchaser]

Hello raa

As a newbie forgive me for not understanding "fixed spreads" unless it simply means a broker that don't widen the spread during volatile periods, as for "fills for stop orders" I need to learn up on.

Hello capsmart

Your advice for getting my platform to start on computer startup was a great success and following your video made it so simple.

I did plan to try out another great advice you posted about using a usb to store the platform on and use on another computer, as I travel a lot to my wife's relations in another part of Great Brition is could be quite handy, can't wait until tomorrow until one of the grandchilden returns my usb.

Do you think I should leave my feedback on the post I read about this or start a new thread in the feedback forum.

Just one other thing while youre both here, I was reading the "Forex Growth Bot" thread last night, I know it involves trading with real money and maybe its wrong of me to say this but I do think it should carry a health warning, not to have a mouth full of beer while reading, particularly when you reach this part in post #12

I must not be the sharpest knife in the drawer

again forgive me but that thread is a best seller.

Thanks in advance.

[capsmart]

Yes fixed spread is exactly this but... there is always a but. First you will usually have to pay a larger spread because of the "security" you receive and then you have to read the fine print. Slippage might increase in "abnormal market situations" (always defined by the broker).
Brokers are here to make money. Their profit "should" be the spread or the commission. Some of them want to make more. So instead of disseminating all trades to the market (and also pay a spread) they match the trades of the traders (taking the opposite position) and finally only disseminate the remaining balance to the market. So if I am long 10 lots on eur/usd and you are short 8 lots on eur/usd they only need to buy a short 2 lots eur/usd contract from the market to offset their risk (since they are taking the opposite positions from us). If seconds before the news I close my trade then they have a 10 eur/usd short exposure and they risk a lot.
But those are the rules of the game. You know them and you act accordingly.

[pipchaser]

Hello capsmart

I did read somewhere that brokers make from the spread, when I was burning out accounts, the only thing I was happy about was the fact my broker made on all my trades. As I thought the broker was my partner against the bank, broker & all their traders/win/loss combined to sucure the partnership - (good broker.)

So the latter part of your post must refer to the buckshop broker.

17) Bigger choice of prove documentation at sign up.

Reason: Just signed up with a broker and now need to wait on grandson with his mobile to complete it, broker must be run by the young ones, I've never used a mobile phone in 5 years, I thought your landline phone would be a better way of checking your ID.