The ”right“ broker for MetaTrader® and your trading system

A good broker can be essential for the success or failure of your trading!

One of the most frequently questions asked, is the one of the “best” or the “right” broker. It’s incredibly difficult, if not even impossible, to answer this question. At the end every trader has to find out for himself and his trading style which broker suits to him.

We have also tried many MetaTrader brokers over the past years; both for the manual trading and for the operation of fully automatic trading systems and the broker on which we entrust our money 24 hours a day. The results have always been surprising, both in the positive and in the negative meaning. Currently we trade our systems among others at Dukascopy, FxPro, Alpari, Nordmarkets and also at FXSalt..

To get an overview about a small assortment of MetaTrader4 brokers, you can check up earnforex.com or forexmetasoft.com for example. Both sites show an assortment of the latest MetaTrader brokers.

We have prepared a small collection of possible decision criteria to get a little bit closer to the question after the suitable MetaTrader broker.

• Which spread does the broker offer to the currency pair which really shall be traded??

• How does the spread look during the night? Numerous trading systems trade 24 hours a day, so the spread is also similarly important in the night.

• How does the volatility of the spread look? Is the spread fixed or does the broker vary the spread? How is the average spread?

• Are there any costs incurred for the trading? Commissions/swaps etc.

• Is there a transparent settlement?

• Where is the broker registered? And is there still the possibility of hedging?

• How fast does the broker execute your orders? Are there also being closed positions which are in the gain without conspicuous slippage and conspicuous time delay?

• Are partial sales possible? From time to time there are brokers who don’t allow partial sales!

• Is it allowed to route TP and SL at the opening price of the order? Here are also brokers who don’t allow this! If you have such a broker, this has to be carried out subsequently after the opening price!

• How stable is the reliability of MetaTrader? Does the platform continuously run stable and is being fed with data or are there any problems with the data supply from time to time?

• How high is the availability of the helpdesk and how fast are problems being resolved?

• Which language does the helpdesk speak? Nearly all brokers are outside of Germany.

• How high is the deposit insurance of the broker? How much of your money do you (possibly) get back in case of insolvency?

• How high are the transaction costs for money transfers? Depending on the region and type of transfer there will possibly come up additional costs to you.

• Which currency pairs are being offered for trading? Raw materials / Stock / indices?

• Which types of accounts are there? Micro account = Size of order from 0.01 / mini account = size of order from 0.1 / pro accounts or institutional accounts?

• Is there a minimum size of order which has to be carried out per trade (e.g. nordmarkets ECN / Alpari Pro)?

• Which assortment of leverage is there?

• How high are the requirements on the minimum deposit?

• Is there a bonus for an account opening?

• How is the trading being carried out? Is it an ECN-Broker or a conventional Dealing-Desk?

... and many more criteria.