Which is the best Forex broker for the individual retail investor, and why should it be considered the best?
815105
There is no such thing.   Each has bad points and some are really bad. Look at the ratings on www.ForexBastards.com for some help.\n\nI'm with FXCM.  They're considered really bad (by some). I'm using them because they are a great place to start learning.
307916
Oh No! Not another one. Please don't say you are looking for an easy way to make money and depending upon HOT TIPS or black box systems.\n\nThere are profits to be made in forex, but in the long term, it is better to learn how to do it properly.\n\nForex: Beware of Frauds\nhttp://www.forextradinghq.com/forex-information/forex-resources/forex-trading-information-beware-of-frauds.html
914956
As opposed to a previous answer, I for one think that trading or investing (big difference here!) can be rather profitable. Trading is a business like any other and one has to do their due diligence before starting. There will always be losses, that is inevitable part of trading. It all depends on what you trade and how you trade, and both these aspects are equally important.\n\nAs far as technical and fundamental analysis goes, you already know the best trainer for you--its you. You can watch people trade, read books and listen to 1000 lectures, but nothing compares to the experience you receive when trading yourself, even on a game account.\n\nI have been dealing with stock and FOREX analysis for few years now, so feel free to contact me through yahoo. I will give you some good starting points that will definately help you.\n\nThanks
42802
THe previously mentiond TradeStation (trad) comes from the discount brokers group, and is working right now. Also, look @ oxps  amtd  et. You need to read William Oneils books though. Until you have read and learn more about the markets, I suggest etfs. EWJ is Ishares Japan. I highly recomend Japan right now.
79399
I would suggest Ameritrade.  I have an account with them and they are very helpful and have many tools to help the novice or beginner research and make good choices and minimize risk.\n\nMore importantly, they have just about the lowest fees for transactions out there.\n\nGood luck to you!
967793
What you have just asked is tantamount to asking :\n"Beef vs Fish & Pork, which would be better to eat?"\n\nThese are completely different financial instruments that serve very unique and different purposes and it largely depends on what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you want to invest or trade on your opinion that the US dollar will continue to weaken against the Euro, you would of course do FOREX, right? If you want to invest in a certain market or sector movement, you would of course not invest in forex but go for an ETF that represents what you want to speculate in, right?\n\nSo, the thing is, it all starts from you, yourself. You need to understand and choose what works for you. There are pros and cons in ALL kinds of financial instruments and people usually specialise deeply in the one that they understand and are able to attain consistent success in. \n\nI know a lot of very rich forex traders and I also know a lot of broke forex traders. I know a lot of very rich option traders and I also know a lot of broke option traders. What is the difference? The difference is knowledge. Those that has deep enough knowledge and experience in a chosen field usually becomes successfull and those lacking of knowledge will usually go broke. The markets is a merciless place where the more knowledge you have, the less risk you will run into. \n\nSo if you ask me, the starting point is not in deciding what instrument works for you and trying to gamble your $3000 away but instead continue to invest in more knowledge until you are certain of what you want to do.\n\nI have personally chosen to trade options and have made it my life long career. It has taken me from completely broke to stock market millionaire by the age of 28 and I list some of the books that took me down this path many years ago at http://www.bestoptiontradingbooks.com . \n\nHope these information helps.\n\n\n\nhttp://www.mastersoequity.com\n\n\n\n.
1013609
Uhhh- yes, you can.  I personally like and use Ameritrade, as it has a pretty good commission structure, and I have been happy with them thus far.
1039952
TD Ameritrade is the best. I have used for years. The interface are trader friendly and portfolio information are shown in details. I buy penny stocks so the $9.99 fixed commission for unlimited shares is good for me. No maintenance fees.\n\nIf you are going to buy penny stocks, you need to be careful about the commission. Search the fine prints.\n\nFor Scottrade, see fine prints: "For stocks priced under $1, add 1/2% of the principal value to the commissions shown. " You will end up to pay more than $7.\n\nEtrade recently reduced the commission with fixed commission for unlimted shares so it is good for penny stock traders too. But I don't like portfolio web page because it is very confusing and do not show all the information I want to see.
648319
Not very much info to go on here; you're making us guess, which isn't very nice, because we'll have to broaden to several subjects.\n\nDo you mean for Technical Analysis? Charting, trends, RSI, stochastics, CCI, moving averages, etc.\n\nOr do you mean for Fundamental Analysis? P/E ratios, cash flows, balance sheets, stock recommendations, etc.\n\nWhen you say "best" do you mean most advanced, fastest, most indicators, most widely used, most expensive, best for advanced users or best for beginners? \n\nYou have to tell us where you are coming from and what you are trying to do before we can be specific.\n\nThe Cadilac of Technical Analysis software is called TradeStation, but it is very expensive with loads of features and I believe it even has a back-testing system for writing your own program indicators. You would not buy this system for an occasional trade, but would be a full-time trader or fund manager to warrent this system. Otherwise, it is overkill.\n\nThe most technologically advanced Technical Analysis software is RealTick, at TerraNovaOnline.com\n\nTerraNova is an online broker with low rates, owned by Townsend Electronics. Townsend is the company that recently digitized and electronified the NASDAQ. I believe they are in the process of doing the American Stock Exchange now. These people are "the" technology innovators.\n\nAlso with TerraNova, you can trade anything and everything, including stocks, futures, options, commodities, forex, all of it. I'm not aware of another broker whom can do this.\n\nTo trade everything, Realtick leases for $275/mo, but one segment is $175/mo. \n\nFor beginners, or occasional traders, they have the Investor platform, which is RealTick sized down to one screen. I believe this platform is free, or very little, so very well may be your "best" bet
321511
My impression is that there is no good software.  Most people who try to trade in Forex lose money.
1146995
I've used Scottrade and Ameitrade.  I prefer Scottrade since their commission is lower, $7 for both market and limit orders.  They have 2 offices in my city (in case I need to go there in person) and their scottrader is pretty darn good for streaming quotes and streaming Dow Jones News.  They also have a scottrader elite for accounts over $25K which offers advanced technical analysis and level 2 trading (an extra $10/month).  There is no inactive account fees and all you need is $500 to open an account.  They also offer quite a bit of other research such as free S&P reports on companies.  One final thing is that they offer access to options, bonds, and funds.  I took a look at cybertrader.com and it appears they are geared more towards active traders (at least 20 trades/month), which may not sound like a lot but in reality it is unless your an active trader.  They also offer services in the futures area, which I've never personally used but you may be interested in.  You probably need to decide what type of trading you want to do (active or occasional) and do you want access to futures, options, bonds, funds, etc. and go from there.
837511
Interesting question... but what's interesting is that institutional investors invest far more than that in a single company.  As for an individual willing to take on that risk, you see the answers written before mine.  I'll suggest something else: Shufflemaster (SHFL).
280379
Sharebuilder.com is the cheapest at $4.00 per transaction if you do automatic investing with them.  For pure trading, tradeking.com $ 4.95 is hard to beat.  For service and price Scottrade $ 7.00 is better.  For day trading and opportunity for IPO you may try ETrade.\nGood luck.
905489
i have worked with fibo about one years thats a good broker ,and i did not see any injustice from them but if you wanna work in forex market ,i sugest to you that get out of this market as soon as posible , because this market is very risky and you will loose all of  your money  soon ,  technical and fundamental analysis most of the time do not response in this market i sugest you to invest in cfd market , which is very lover risk market
31851
I use Scottrade and like it. I like the fact that I have both a local physical office and can do all of my business online. I also like the prices they charge and the online interface. Your types of investments may determine what online broker you prefer. I have another online broker for commodities and futures and another for my 401k. \n\nMotley Fool has an excellent comparison chart of online brokers. I would look there first before deciding. You might have to register at Motley Fool but it is free. You can also check Barron's once a year rating of online brokers. It is a subscription site, or you can buy it on the newstand. It should published right about now.
750918
I'm learning about the forex market as well.  A great site I found is http://www.babypips.com.  They do a great job of explaining the basics of trading currencies.\n\nDisclaimer: I am in no way affilated with this site and am not selling anything related to the fx market.
75527
There is no "best"company. Every company listed on the exchanges (NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq) carries some amount of risk. You should spend some time reading books on investing to learn how to invest. That education should include how to minimize risk and to maximize returns. What is "best" for you is not absolute, as it is probably not "best" for someone else. We each have different objectives and goals. That's what makes learning how to invest so exciting.