FXCM Forex Capital Markets review

*Commission is calculated per standard lot of 100 000 base units (per side).

FXCM offers three account types: Mini, Standard, and Active Trader. The Mini account is the only account that provides Dealing Desk execution and which involves no commission fee. In addition, API connections are not available on Mini accounts.

As regards the broker’s renowned No Dealing Desk execution offered on Standard and AciveTrader, FXCM spreads are pretty tight due to healthy competition of liquidity providers, including global banks, financial institutions and other market makers that make up. furthermore, Price improvement (e.g. positive slippage) is available.

For those unwilling to expose themselves to the greater risk related to trading in large volumes, micro lots are available on all account types.

Trading Conditions

Minimum initial deposit

In order to open an account with FXCM, one has to invest just $50, which is a low minimum initial deposit. In comparison, the minimum initial deposit required by FXCM’s main peer, FOREX.COM, is also $50.

Spreads & Commission

FXCM offers variable spreads, averaged 1.5 pips on commission-free accounts, which is on the upper end of average. NDD accounts, on the other hand, provide significantly tighter spreads, averaged 0.5 pips for the EUR/USD pair, and involve a commission of $8, so basically trading costs amount to around 1.3 pips per standard lot for this pair, which is a competitive pricing.

In addition, Active Trader account holders may benefit from commission discounts, provided that they satisfy certain trading volume requirements. In comparison, FOREX.COM offers commission-free trading and average spreads of 1.4 pips on EUR/USD.  For further information, you may check out and compare real-time spreads of 15 leading brokers here.

Maximum leverage

The maximum leverage level offered by FXCM is up to 1:400, which is considered a high ratio. Nonetheless, many FX brokers provide similar leverage levels – check out a list of brokerages offering leverage up to 1:500 or higher here.

The Company. Security of funds

Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) Is a global forex brokerage that was the undisputed leader on the US forex market (in terms of both retail trading volume & client deposits) until recently. In February 2017 Forex Capital Markets LLC, the broker’s US arm (which got renamed to Global Brokerage) has been banned by the US National Futures Association (NFA) and has agreed to withdraw from registration with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

This broker takes regulation, financial transparency and investor protection very seriously. In order to maintain transparency of operations, the company has introduced FXCM Financials – a site where anyone can see the broker’s balance sheets, income statements, EBITDA details, customer equity, etc. Besides, the companies within the FXCM group are regulated by some of the most respected regulatory bodies in the world: FCA in UK and ASIC in Australia.

Both FCA and ASIC regulated brokers are under strict supervision and are very well controlled. To acquire a license from the UK financial watchdog, financial services providers need to maintain net tangible assests amounting to at least EUR 730 000. Australian brokers, on the other hand, must hold at  least AUD 1 000 000 to prove  their financial stability.

Besides, under the UK regulations, investors’ funds are kept in segregated bank accounts separated from the company’s operating funds and, in case of default, sums of up to GBP 50,000 are protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

In 2016, FXCM expanded in Israel and South Africa and Israel via Introducing brokers, who acquired licenses from Financial Services Board (FSB) and the Israel Securities Authority (ISA), respectively.

Also, since September 2016 FXCM shares are trading on NASDAQ, having moved from NYSE. So, traders who choose to invest in this global publicly traded company, regulated in several jurisdictions, need not worry about the security of their funds.

Trading platforms

This broker offers a selection of robust trading platforms to its clients, including the most popular MetaTrader 4, its award-winning Trading Station, and NinjaTrader. In addition, Copy trading is available through the advanced platforms ZuluTrade and Mirror Trader.

FXCM’s In-house award-winning platform Trading Station is available as desktop, web, and mobile versions.  Apart from its sleek design and intuitive interface, Trading Station comes equipped with Marketscope – a powerful charting package. Here are some of its key features:

–         –  Place and manage trades from the charts;

–          – Pre-loaded Indicators: over 30 popular indicators like MA, MACD, Bollinger Bands and RSI;

–          – Custom Indicators: over 600 custom indicators available;

–          – Big-data technical analysis indicator Grid Sight Index.

FXCM’s Trading Station. Click to enlarge.

As trading robots are extremely popular among forex investors, Trading Station offers automated strategies that take the human element out of trading and what is more, you don’t need to stare at the PC screen all the time. You may easily determine key areas where your trading strategies can be improved, and gain confidence in your robots prior to applying them by using the platform’s strategy optimizer conducts excessive backtesting.

There are also some exclusive tools with Trading Station, like the unique order type, Good Till Date, which lets you execute at specific times; and the broker’s exclusive Real Volume indicators, which opens FXCM’s trading book of 200,000 traders around the world.

NinjaTrader is another platform supported by FXCM. It has simplified interface and offers all of the functionalities that you can make use of if you trade on Metatrader 4 or the desktop version of Trading Station, and even more. You can also benefit from pure NDD execution, trading from charts, creating your own trading, superior back-testing options, custom indicators and alerts.

Those traders who stick to the good old MetaTrader 4 (MT4) will not be disappointed with FXCM, as the broker fully supports this powerful multiasset software. The platform comes equipped with an outstanding charting package, numerous built-in technical indicators, Fibonacci retracements, trend lines, support and resistance levels, and so on – pretty much everything a trader needs. Those who are handy with code may create their own automated strategies (EAs) and custom indicators in the MQL programming language.

Payment methods

Clients of FXCM may make deposits and withdrawals from and to their accounts via debit/credit card, bank wire transfer, check, and ACH (Automated Clearing House).

Conclusion

One of the biggest FX brokerages worldwide, FXCM is an excellent choice: a reliable and well-regulated broker, offering excellent trading conditions on a wide range of trading platforms.