3^rd Level FOREX LTD

Do you know another NDD/STP/ECN Forex broker? Please suggest by adding a comment below.

Forex brokers: ECN vs STP vs NDD vs DD

DD — Dealing Desk — Forex brokers that operate (route orders) through the Dealing Desk and quote fixed spreads. A dealing desk broker makes money via spreads and by trading against its clients. A Dealing Desk Forex broker is called a Market Maker - they literally "make the market" for traders: when traders want to sell, they buy from them, when traders want to buy, they sell to them, e.g. they will always take the opposite side of the trade and in this way "create the market". A trader doesn't see the real market quotes, which allows Dealing Desk brokers (Market Makers) manipulate with their quotes where they need to in order to fill the client.

NDD — No Dealing Desk — NDD Forex brokers provide access to the interbank market without passing orders trough the dealing desk. With true No Dealing Desk brokers there are no re-quotes on orders and no additional pausing during order confirmation. This, in particular, allows trading during news times with no restrictions on trading.
An NDD broker can either charge commission for trading or choose to increase the spread and make Forex trading commission free.
No Dealing Desk brokers are either STP or ECN+STP.

STP — Straight Through Processing — STP Forex brokers send orders directly from clients to the liquidity providers - banks, which trade on the Intebank. Sometimes STP brokers have just one liquidity provider, other times several. The more there are banks and liquidity in the system, the better the fills for the clients.
The fact that traders have access to the true market and can execute trades immediately without dealer intervention is what makes the platform STP.

ECN — Electronic Communications Network — ECN Forex brokers additionally allow clients' orders to interact with other clients' orders. ECN Forex broker provides a marketplace where all its participants (banks, market makers and individual traders) trade against each other by sending competing bids and offers into the system. Participants interact inside the system and get the best offers for their trades available at that time. All trading orders are matched between counter parties in real time. A small trading fee - commission - is always applied.
Sometimes STP brokers are discussed as if they were ECN brokers. To be a true ECN, a broker must display the Depth of the Market (DOM) in a data window, let clients show their own order size in the system and allow other clients to hit those orders. With ECN broker traders can see where the liquidity is and execute trades.

Broker types and revenues: fixed vs variable spreads vs commission

ECN Forex brokers always have variable spreads. Only ECN brokers charge commission for trading Forex. Commission is the only revenue/profit an ECN broker receives. ECN brokers are not making money on bid/ask (spread) difference.

An STP Forex broker is compensated through the spread (spread markups - to be explained in details below).

STP brokers have a choice of offering variable or fixed spreads. STP brokers route all trading orders to the liquidity providers - banks. These brokers, as intermediaries between their clients and banks, receive prices (spreads) posted by the banks on the Interbank market. Most banks, in fact, offer fixed spreads.
An STP broker therefore has 2 options:
1. Let spreads be fixed.
2. Leave the spread at 0 and let the system take the best bid and ask from the number of banks (the more the better) and in this way provide variable spreads.
How an STP broker earns its money? Since STP brokers (as well as ECN) don't trade against their clients, they add own small markups to the spread quote. This is done by adding a pip (or half a pip, or any other amount) to the best bid and subtracting a pip at the best ask of its liquidity provider. All client orders are directly routed to the liquidity providers at original spread quoted by those providers while an STP broker earns its money from own markups.

Forex market maker - a broker with a dealing desk earns money on bid/ask difference as well as when a client loses a trade, since market makers are trading against their clients by hedging - entering in an opposite trade.

Conclusion:

ECN brokers are the purest breed among all Forex dealers. They don't profit on spread difference. Their only profit comes from commission. ECN brokers are interested in their clients to be winning, otherwise there will be no commission to earn.

STP brokers make money on spreads, thus even though they do not have a physical dealing desk to monitor and counter-trade client orders, they are still able to set their own price - the spread markup - for routing trading orders to liquidity providers and providing their clients with advanced trading services, lower account deposits, faster execution and anonymous trading environment with no dealing desk. STP brokers are also interested to see their clients trading profitable, so that a broker can continue earning on spreads.

Market makers make money on spreads and by hedging against their clients. However, if a client becomes "too" profitable, it can directly "upset" the broker. While this may be tolerated and professionally managed by a larger reputable market maker, with a smaller dealer such client will be soon asked to leave.

Benefits of trading with No Dealing Desk brokers

Among the main reason why traders look for NDD brokers is transparency, better and faster fills and anonymity.

Transparency means that a trader enters a true market instead of the market being artificially created for him.
Better fills are a result of the direct and competitive market bids and offers.

Anonymity means that there is no Dealing Desk watching who has come to the market and is asking for an order to be filled, instead client orders are executed automatically, immediately through the market network and totally anonymously.

On the opposite side is a Dealing Desk broker, who is able to profile their clients. In the worst case scenario, such broker can split clients into groups and put less successful ones on auto-execution and trade against them because on average they will lose, while clients that show signs of successful trading will be put on "slow-down" mode and can be provided with frequent re-quotes, slippage and/or slower execution especially during fast moving markets while a broker tries to offset own risks. The transparency of a Dealing Desk broker depends on the rules inside the company.

Market-makers "make" or set the prices on their systems based on what they think is best for themselves as the counter-party. This is because every time you sell, they must buy, and when you buy, they must sell to you. This is why they can give you a fixed spread since they are setting both the bid and the ask price. Many of them will then try to "hedge" or "cover" your order by passing it on to someone else; however, some may decide to hold your order, and thus trade against you. This can result in a conflict of interest between the retail trader (you) and the market-maker.

ECNs, on the other hand, pass on prices from several banks and market-makers, as well as from the other traders in the ECN, and display the best bid/ask prices based on these input. This is why sometimes you can get no spread on ECNs, especially in very liquid currency pairs. How do ECNs make money then? They do so by charging you a fixed commission for each transaction.

Here are some of the pros and cons of ECNs and market-makers:

Market-Makers

Pros:

• Usually give free charting software and news feed
• Prices can be "smoother" and less volatile than ECN prices (this can be a con if you are scalping or trading very short term)
• Often have a more user-friendly trading and analysis interface

Cons:

• They may trade against you. In that case, there will be a conflict of interest between you and them
• The price they offer you may be worse than what you could get on an ECN
• It is possible that they may trigger stops or not let your trade reach your profit target levels by manipulating prices
• During news, there will usually be a large amount of slippage; their systems may also lock up or not allow order placing during times of high volatility
• Many of them discourage scalping and put scalpers on "manual execution" which means their orders may not get filled at the price they want

Examples of some market-makers:

http://www.goforex.net/forex-broker-list.htm#MM

ECNs

Pros:

• You can usually get better bid/ask prices since they come from several sources
• Variable spreads between bid and ask may give no spread or tiny spreads at times
• If they are a true ECN, they will not be trading against you but will pass on your orders to a bank or another customer on the other end of the transaction.
• You will be able to offer a price between the bid and ask with a chance of it getting filled
• If they support Stop-Limit orders, you can prevent slippage during news by making sure that your order either gets filled at the price you want or not at all
• Prices may be more volatile which will be better for scalping

Cons:

• Many do not offer integrated charting
• Many do not offer integrated news
• Many of the trading platforms are less user-friendly
• Because of variable spreads (between bid and ask,) it may be more difficult to calculate stop loss and profit target in pips beforehand.

Examples of some ECNs:

http://www.goforex.net/forex-broker-list.htm#ECN

Below is the largest list of Forex brokers who offer mini and micro accounts under $1000 and mini lot size trading of 10 000 units or less.

Lot size reference:

1 lot = 100k = 100 000 units (standard lot)
0.1 lot = 10k = 10 000 units (mini lot)
0.01 lot = 1k = 1000 units (micro lot)

any amount = no limitation on position sizes

Benefits of trading mini accounts and mini lots in Forex

It is often very convenient for beginner traders to start off with mini Forex accounts. By investing little money and trading mini lot sizes Forex traders are able to put at test own knowledge and trading skills without undertaking serious financial risks.

Mini accounts are also a good way to test Forex broker as well: How good is the trading platform? Order execution and services overall? Only live trading can provide the answers.

By starting with mini lot sizes, traders learn to control risks and money flow more effectively and without unnecessary stress, which is always present when trading standard size lots. Coping with risks and emotions also need practice, mini and micro accounts and mini lots allow this practice to be effective.

Forex brokers who offer mini accounts, and, more importantly, mini lots provide more freedom and flexibility to their clients allowing them to have even more control over own investments and risks.
What is better than 0.1 lot, known as mini-lot? :) An even smaller lot! Some Forex brokers allow to trade with as little as 0.01 lot (micro lots), and some don't have any limitations for lot sizes at all!

Why some brokers are highlighted in green?

Forex brokers who offer a micro-lot trading option are highlighted in green. 1 micro lot = 0.01 lot = 1000 units.
For traders who look to open an account under $1000 dollars, it is highly recommended to start trading with micro lots (0.01 lot) or less.

Next figures should explain the math behind risks when trading with different lot sizes on mini accounts:
1st Account balance $250, min lot size 0.1 lot (each pip costs on average $1).
2nd Account balance $250, min lot size 0.01 lot (each pip costs on average $0.10).

Typical trading situation: 2 consecutive losses of just 10 pips each + 4 pips spread (2 pips for each trade) = 24 pips loss.

1st account, where the cost of each pip was $1 would lose $24, which is 1/10 of the account being lost in no time and with just 10 pips move against a trader!
(10 pips in Forex is nothing! With intra-day trading strategies Forex traders lose on average from 15 to 25 pips per move!)

2nd account, where the cost of each pip was $0.1 has lost just $2.4, which is not going to affect the balance much.

Remember about the risks, chose a broker not just by a suitable minimum account size, but also by a lot size, depending on how much you're going to invest.

New! Now you can trade even on US Cents accounts!

Micro-cents trading is offered by:

Alma Forex
Forex4you
FX|Clearing
EFX - England Foreign exchange
E-Global Trade & Finance Group

On such micro accounts all calculations and trading is done in US Cents.