FXCM Review

Review

FXCM (Forex Capital Markets) was founded in 1999 in the U.S.A. and was an early pioneer of internet-based trading. The FXCM Group has headquarters in London, with offices around the globe in places such as France, Italy, and Australia. It is regulated and licensed in each of them.

FXCM was in the news a great deal during the years of 2015 and 2016 following an extremely sharp movement in the value of the Swiss Franc, primarily against the Euro. The consequence of that crisis was a sudden loss of $225 million suffered by FXCM, requiring a major restructuring of the firm’s capital, and this was primarily met by the drawing of a loan of $300 million from Leucadia National Corporation. The firm also sold off many of its less core business activities, notably including a major news website. There was eventually a major change made to the firm’s senior management, with an employee of Leucadia being appointed as chairman of the FXCM board. Leucadia continues to hold a major chunk of FXCM’s equity.

 

FXCM provides account types designed for experienced traders as well as for those who are new to the FOREX market. The standard account opening requires a minimum deposit of $300 and offers a maximum leverage of 1:30 for all FXCM LTD retail clients. Traders who are not under LTD can opt for leverage up to 1:400 and a minimum deposit of $50    Traders can also open an Active Trader account with $25,000 to receive elite services. 

Forex Capital Markets Limited ("FXCM LTD") is an operating subsidiary within the FXCM group of companies.

FXCM also offers a demo account with $5,000 virtual money.

Account Information

As per 2018 ESMA regulations, FXCM LTD clients are eligible for limited services. Below is a breakdown of how FXCM's services work as of September 2018:

Minimum Deposit (FXCM LTD clients): $300

Minimum Deposit (Non- FXCM LTD clients): $50

Maximum Leverage (FXCM LTD retail clients):

·         30:1 leverage restriction for major currency pairs

·         20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold and major indices

·         10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices

·         5:1 for individual equities and other reference values

Maximum Leverage (Non-FXCM LTD clients):

• 400:1 leverage for Forex trading
• 200:1 leverage for CFD trading

 

Trading Platforms and Features

In addition to its proprietary platform, Trading Station, FXCM uses the popular MT4 trading platform. The environment is user friendly and intuitive to use, and can be customized according to the users preferences. The products offered are day trading, stop loss & take profit, as well as trailing stop / limit orders and entry orders. Other platforms available with FXCM are NinjaTrader and Zulu Trade.

FXCM now provides the FXCM App Store which is a professional and developed trading app for the MT4 platform. Some of the apps included are -  24 Hour Trend Locator and Automatic Trendlines Indicator. These apps will make your life easier and more fun when you're on the go. There are also regularly free apps provided in their FXCM App Store such as Forex news, different utilities for your trading, indicators, and more.

Algorithmic and high-frequency traders also have access to FXCM’s API technology solutions suite – FIX, Java, ForexConnect and REST – to connect their trading software directly to FXCM’s price and order servers.

Charting tools and analysis data are available either from a website, external to the trading platform, or can be added on to the platform by plug-ins, which need to be downloaded as well.

The brokerage also offers free mobile Forex trading via apps for most smartphones and its new iPad and Android tablet application.

FXCM provides 24/7, five days a week customer support. A Multi-lingual staff speaking over 20 languages is available at all times, via International toll frees calls, chat and e-mail. There are a few tools available to you if you are just getting to know the market and FX Trading station. Manuals for using FX Trading Station are available in several formats, as well as walk through videos that provide an overview of the platform’s main features. A support representative will introduce you to the system either via chat or over the phone. To get to know the FOREX market, FXCM offers educational courses and premium resources to help traders familiarize themselves with the markets.

FXCM is a large and strong company, with a large world-wide user base, high liquidity and large financial assets. This enables them to offer attractive rates, innovative tools and features, and high standards of customer support. We believe that these all make FXCM an excellent choice for Forex traders at all levels, no matter where they reside.

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Features

FXCM Group maintains its headquarters in London, with offices in, Paris, and Australia. Forex Capital Markets Limited (FXCM LTD) is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. 

In terms of features, the stand-out strengths of this broker’s offerings are:

• A choice of the most popular trading platforms in the industry: including Metatrader 4, Trading Station, NinjaTrader and ZuluTrade.
• A very wide range of instruments available for trading: all the major and minor Forex currency pairs; also, a wide range of commodities and global equity indices wrapped as CFDs. The range of commodities is not very large but includes the most popular items.
• Regulated by a major industry center (FCA).
• The market-maker type account can be opened as a spread betting account, which can be completely tax-free in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
• FXCM will program your algo strategies into an expert advisor, allowing you to automate your trading if you wish.
• A very impressive range of trading analytics services, restricted to FXM real-money clients.

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FXCM US Review

As of 2017, FXCM has ceased to operate in the United States, and has changed its name in that domain to Global Brokerage Inc. effective as of January 27^th. The firm’s approximately 60,000 existing clients have been migrated to the broker Gain Capital. It has been confirmed that Gain Capital paid $375 per account. On 6^th February of that year, FXCM committed to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that it would not seek re-registration in the U.S.A. at any future time. Significant changes to the firm’s top management were also made around the same time, with the CEO departing and being replaced by an employee of the Leucadia National Corporation. Leucadia continues to hold a major equity interest in FXCM, having been the provider of a $300 million loan to FXCM following the sharp appreciation of the Swiss Franc early in 2015, an event which caused FXCM an immediate loss of $225 million.

FXCM Group, based in New York, is a leading worldwide online provider of foreign exchange trading and related services. Not many brokers are licensed to trade Forex in the US and FXCM is certainly one of the most experienced ones.

With Standard Accounts, raw spreads are displayed on FXCM US platforms and any mark-ups that had previously been included in the spread are presented separately as a transparent commission. 

FXCM US took over the retail accounts from Alpari U.S. LLC in September 2013 and it is a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA).

Pricing Model

FXCM's pricing model allows traders to easily scalp the market, while providing increased execution benefits to stop and limit orders. In addition, FXCM clients benefit from no re-quotes, fast, efficient and transparent execution, with no restrictions.

FXCM Group offers several account types: Mini, Standard and Active Traders with 50:1 leverage on Forex. The Mini account lets traders enter the market with as little as $50, and includes innovative tools to help you develop good trading habits, right from the start.

The Standard account offers an exceptional trading experience, designed for serious traders who want FXCM’s full catalog of products and anonymous order execution with no trading restrictions – minimum of $5,000.

High volume investors can benefit from Active Trader that includes dedicated support, premium services and custom solutions. High-volume traders are eligible for greatly discounted pricing – minimum of $25,000.

 

Platforms

In addition to Trading Station, its proprietary platform, FXCM Group uses the popular MT4 and Ninja Trader platforms.

The products offered are day trading, stop loss and take profit, as well as trailing stop / limit orders and entry orders..

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Mirror Trader

Mirror Trader is a trading platform which allows traders to follow the strategies and signals of other traders. It's an ideal solution for those who follow the FX markets, but who don't always have the time to determine what and when to trade.

Mirror trading at FXCM highlights which currency pairs are performing best in the current market conditions and sends signals when to enter and exit a trade. It allows traders to take advantage of market movements even when they are at work or asleep.

With Mirror Trader traders can evaluate and build a portfolio of back-tested strategies, or can follow individual signals that support your own trading analysis.

FXCM recommends a balance for a Mirror Trader account of US$10,000 because a higher starting balance provides more flexibility in trading. Because Mirror Trader systems are auto-traded, multiple positions could be opened at any one time. Additionally, each system requires a certain level of capital in order to operate effectively.

The Mirror trading platform at FXCM can be used in a demo account with $50,000 in virtual funds so beginner traders can review the trading strategies and see how automated trading works.

FXCM Mirror Trader has not been available in Japan since 2015 when FXCM announced that it would no longer be supporting Tradency’s Mirror Trader. Mirror Trader is generally considered to be FXCM’s primary copy and social trading platform add-on, but other similar alternatives have become available such as ZuluTrade. 

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User Reviews

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