Before we begin to review Forex.com, every one of us must learn a quick overview about Forex Trading. If you are interested or are planning to venture into forex trading, this article will guide you through everything you need to know about one of the most popular forex trading sites globally, Forex.com. Let’s go!
What is Forex Trading?
Forex is a global marketplace where foreign currency and exchange is involved. Forex markets are considered to be the largest and most liquid asset markets around the globe. One significant aspect of forex trading is its system, where you can trade electronically over-the-counter. The transactions would happen via computer networks between traders from all over the world, without the hassle of going to a bank or a centralized location to exchange your money.
Forex market is comprised of a network of banks, brokers, institutions, and individual traders. When you are trading in the forex market, you can buy or sell currency of a specific country, relative to another currency. So, if you buy a currency, you are selling your money on your country’s currency, and vice versa. In this world of the electronic market, traders anticipate having some upward movement in the currency that they are buying, or weakness on what they are selling, to make a profit.
What is Forex.com?
Found in 2001, Forex.com is a trading platform that provides you with everything you need for forex trading. They have low forex fees, several currency pairs, and many technical research tools. Forex.com Is the brand name of GAIN Capital, a US-based investment company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Forex.com allows clients to buy and sell for over 80 currencies, and it is considered as one of the most comprehensive currency trading providers across the world. This one-stop-shop provides a powerful trading platform without disregarding new traders and intuitive veteran traders with its information and education courses.
Account Opening
When it comes to opening an account, Forex.com is very seamless and digital, with a very low minimum deposit of $50.00. It is user friendly, and before you sign up, you are given three pricing models that would best suit your trading style.
- Standard Account – This Account is ideal or traders who want a traditional currency trading experience on Forex.com. You will have clear, transparent pricing methods and the opportunity to reduce costs by 15% cash rebates.
- Commission Account– this account is best for traders who are looking for the flexibility of trading significant reductions of spreads for as low as 0.2, with low commissions. If you are an active trader, you can also reduce the trading costs with this account for up to 15% cash rebates. You would also have the opportunity to have a one-on-one support from an experienced Market Strategist. With this account, you also get to earn a $5 commission per 100k traded currency.
- DMA Account– also called the Direct Market Access, this is perfect for serious traders who would like to venture in deep liquidity and getting the advantage of rapid price opportunities. When you open this account, you have the advantage of trading on prices sourced from global banks, with no mark upon the costs. Plus, you get multiple levels of real-time pricing on the order book.
All in all, opening an account with Forex.com is simple. After choosing what type of account you want to open, just enter all your personal information and identity verification. If Forex.com was able to verify your identity, usually after a few hours, you can now link your banking details or debit card to start trading.
Trading Platforms
Forex.com promises to give you your own trading experience. They offer three different platforms that you can choose from, whichever you are comfortable with. They have the Advanced Trading Platform, Web Trading, and Mobile Trading. Let us talk about it one by one.
Figure 1. Advanced Trading Platform
The Advanced Trading Platform allows you to trade in the markets like a professional. This platform is a downloadable desktop platform that incorporates the trading features for active currency traders. You can make use of analytic tools, integrated trading strategies, and advanced charting features. It has a total of 139 technical indicators and drawing tools. The technical analysis tool has an automated technical analysis from Autochartist that scans the market for emerging patterns and trade ideas. This trading platform is perfect got advanced traders.
Figure 2. Web Trading Platform
Next, the Web Trading. Web Trading is best for casual traders, and Forex.com made it look easier because of its user-friendly website where you can personalize your platform. The web trading feature can be accessed on all browsers and operating systems. One great feature of this trading platform is the Smart Trade Ticket. Smart Trade ticket can manage the risks effectively by setting orders based on P&L, price, or pips. You can also create new orders directly from the charts, just click and drag to easily edit any of your existing orders.
Figure 3. Mobile Trading Platform
Lastly, Mobile Trading. The Mobile Trading is very functional and accessible where all traders can access all their account information. Aside from this, traders can also add or withdraw funds, view trade history, create watchlists, access news, and view charts from their smartphones. It is effortless to navigate since it is a mobile application designed for ease of use.
The mobile application can be downloaded into iOS and Android phones. Once installed, you can set up alerts, access the economic calendar, and utilize integrated Reuters news. iPhone and iPad users have reported that the application is very sleek, and the interface is great.
However, one drawback of the mobile application is the number of common indicators available such as drawing functions, which are only 13 and missing more advanced technical tools.
Trading Markets
According to their website, Forex.com can offer its clients access to 4,500+ trading products with competitive pricing. Aside from forex trading, you can also access Indices, Shares, Commodities, and popular Cryptocurrencies.
Deposit and Withdrawal
With Forex.com, you can have multiple options for deposit and withdrawal, all without any charges. On the other hand, some credit cards are not available for withdrawal. In addition to that, there are also no deposit fees, so you do not have to worry about fees that can lessen your finances in every transaction. The methods of deposits are:
- Bank Transfer
- Credit/Debit Card
- Electronic Wallets
And, the methods of withdrawals are:
- Bank Transfer
- Credit/Debit Card
- Electronic wallets
On this method of withdrawal above, Forex.com is an advantage of other forex trading companies like Oanda. Oanda does not offer any other withdrawal method aside from Bank Transfer. This same scenario goes with other interactive brokers.
The withdrawal can take 2 to 3 business days to be completed for Bank Transfers. Debit and credit cards can take longer, usually five business days or even weeks.
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Fees
Since we have talked about the free deposit and withdrawal fees of Forex.com, let’s dig deeper into trading fees or brokerage fees. Forex.com offers lower trading fees than other companies. However, in case you have not done any activity within 12 months, your account can incur an inactivity fee of $15.00.No worries, you can prevent this from happening! Simply call the customer service hotline of Forex.com to have your account temporarily disabled.
Education: Trading Courses
Forex trading may be intimidating and quite hard to comprehend, especially for beginners. If you are a beginner who is looking forward to venturing into this field, Forex.com provides plenty of educational tools and research at every expertise level.
Beginner lessons start with an introduction of basic forex concepts to guide the clients through the vital processes and important information that they need to learn before starting to buy and sell. Intermediate and advanced lessons are revolving around trading strategies and risk management to help clients to venture into forex trading with more confidence.
They also provide webinars for an in-depth learning experience. There is also market research to get clients updated about the latest researches in the market. Every trader can learn anytime and anywhere when they create an account.
All in all, these courses are all free. There is no login needed to begin your learning experience with forex trading.
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Security
People who are just beginning to try their skills on forex trading might think of it as suspicious. They might also think about the security of their finances and account information, especially because it is all controlled online.
The good thing about Forex.com is its strict compliance with laws and regulations. Many financial authorities regulate Forex.com, and the majority of them belong to a top-tier financial authority. All clients are assured of Forex.com’s high level of investor protection, and GAIN Capital, its parent company, is listed on the New York Time Exchange as listed above.
To give you more peace of mind, Forex.com segregates its funds from the clients’ funds, so you are protected if ever there are financial mishaps with Forex.com. However, there is no additional insurance provided by the company regarding the safeguarding of funds except for Canada, where the Canadian Investor Protection Fund protects Canadian customers funds.
Customer Service
One important aspect of a company’s operation is its customer service. The ability to attend to the client’s needs in the fastest and reliable way possible is vital. Forex.com allows its clients to reach them in three ways: online chat, email support, and live phone support.
Online chat and live phone support are available from 10 a.m. ET Sunday to 5 p.m. ET Friday. Social media support is not yet available, but Forex allows its clients to be updated on post-market analysis and company information.
The fastest way to reach the support is via live phone calls,s where clients can talk to a live person to address their concerns immediately. However, wait times are long based on the volume of calls that the company receives. Expect several minutes before getting connected to a customer service representative.
In case you have forgotten some questions during your call, you can also reach Forex.com through an email. This message function is located at the bottom of their support page, where you can leave your message with your contact details.
The online chat is answered by a robot where certain questions are narrowed down and eliminated to find the answer that the customer is looking for. This is great for simple questions that do not require any analysis from a live representative.
Additional Features
Among all the reviewed features of Forex.com, some additional enticing features can be of interest to prospective clients such as:
- ‘Foundations of Forex Trading’ webinar series
- Printable workbooks and quizzes
- Quarterly outlooks
- Live daily market updates
- Comprehensive technical reports
- Weekly insights on major financial events
- Introducing Brokers referral scheme, where if you invite more customers, you can choose from generous compensation models.
10 Things to know when comes to Forex Trading
Forex Trading started way back in the ancient times when people exchanged currencies with an added fee. There were money exchangers who used to trade money for a living. This practice carried on all the way to the Medieval times and the early modern period.
Forex trading has always been lucrative because of the arbitrage opportunities. Arbitrage means the opportunities for buying and selling because of price difference in the same asset. In this case it is currency. That is the opportunity. But Forex trading isn’t as simple as just buying and selling. It is a very risky. So what are the ten things about the forex trading?
- Foreign Exchange is the largest and most liquid market in the world.
The Forex market is the largest in the world because of its necessity. When you travel to a country which has one type of currency, the only way to buy anything from there is to exchange currencies. This is an everyday transaction, which is a basic requirement. It’s also extremely liquid, because you have literally spendable money at any point of time. It doesn’t require any sale of another asset to get your cash in hand, like the stock market.
- The Forex Market is not centralized.
The Forex market is one of those rare markets in the world that isn’t run from a centralized exchange. It is run Over the Counter with traders from all over the world trading and in turn affecting the prices of the market. It is also a 24 hour market with trading happening continuously for 5 days a week.
- Forex is risky. Don’t trade with what you cannot lose
When people see opportunities for making a lot of money, they do not hesitate in taking out all their savings and trading with it. This is the biggest mistake somebody can make. The Forex market is extremely risky and the money you put in there to trade, you shouldn’t expect it back or it shouldn’t be money that you cannot do without.
- Forex is a trend game.
Forex trading has a lot to do with the markets and trends in the world. The way currencies behave because of political or economic situations have to be duly noted. The impact of oil in a currency is also huge. The best way to get better at forex is to understand the different trends and the bigger picture of all the components that are involved in pushing a currency up or down. Make sure you do your homework and know when exactly you have to get in and when you have to get out. With stocks you can figure out that the price you are entering is a bit expensive or cheap, similar to that you have to find your entry and exit point for forex trading.
- Adapt and change your Strategies
The Forex market is an extremely dynamic market and you cannot have a single strategy that will always work. You have to adopt your strategy based on the market and the trades that you have got right or wrong.
- Don’t complicate your trading
Using trading strategies you will not understand will just confuse you. Simplicity sometimes is the best option while trading. Many traders and websites would suggest complicated trading strategies that involve a lot of mathematics and calculations involved. If you are not sure of understanding the whole strategy, then the better option would be is to keep your trading strategies straightforward.
- Use Charts and Tools
Information and tools are the back bone of a forex trader. A forex trader needs as much as information as possible to take the right decision. Charts help in providing valuable information that can be used to carry out future trades. Tools help in crunching the numbers and help in making fast trades.
Just like any kind of trading, the emotion should be taken out of the trades. A clear mind is what is required to succeed in trading and it’s even more required for Forex trading. Awareness of the market, trends and the world is important to get good at Forex trading. And I can say as a fair bit of warning, it’s not for everybody.
Overall Review: Is it Worth Investing in Forex.com?
With its competitive pricing and a powerful platform in tradable currencies, it is no question that Forex.com is indeed a site to explore and consider. Beginners would not have any problems in learning about Forex trading because of this websites’ interactive and comprehensive educational materials.
However, there are a few drawbacks to this site. Forex.com only offers two accounts, which can be very limiting, especially to active traders. Some reports also stated that there are some technical indicators on the mobile application’s charting mode that are difficult to access. Forex.com also limits itself from giving out different promotions and bonuses for its clients, compared to other trading companies.
All in all, Forex.com ensures a satisfying trading experience. You can have a vast range of assets, access to automated trading tools and ideas, a free demo account in case you are just starting to explore, choices of platforms, and highly regulated and licensed financial institutions. If you are a newbie who would like to venture into forex trading, Forex.com is one of the trusted websites that offer this kind of finance building. Forex.com is also one of the largest online retail forex brokers, and it has never left the top spots in the most trusted companies globally so it is sure worth the try!
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