One of my preferred pastimes is forex trading, it is for this reason I decided to write a review concerning my broker IC Markets. As IC Markets is the largest forex broker in Australia it is not difficult to find a lot of reviews on the net about this broker, however rather than believing what's written in internet forums on the internet I decided to conduct my own review of this broker.
I should point out that I've had accounts with pretty much all the forex brokers in Australia over the past six years or so I've witnessed all of the tricks in the book that brokers employ so as to make a buck or two out of their customers. Luckily, as I've encountered the very best and worst of all of the fx brokers in Australia I would like to think that I am in a reasonably good position to assess IC Markets also.
Before I start this evaluation I must mention that IC Markets was founded in 2007 by the brains that were responsible for bringing margin foreign exchange into Australia back in 2003. Their head office is in the Sydney CBD absorbing two floors of quite a prestigious office address. Forex is just one of many financial products that they provide they even have internet share trading and Contracts for Difference.
As I have had a trading account with IC Markets for nearly 2 years now trading virtually day-after-day, writing an evaluation was extremely simple. My evaluation was determined by a variety criteria which you'll find talked about allot in the forums, these criteria are spreads, slippage and deal latency. It only makes sense to focus my review on the major currency pairs as IC Markets has over 50 currency pairs on their Metatrader 4 fx trading platform.
Virtually all fx traders including myself asses forex brokers primarily by looking at the prices they quote. Prices are of course substantially more important if you are scalping and day trading, however for all those traders who hold open long positions, spreads aren't something that you should be concerned about. Never the less IC Markets does in fact have the lowest spreads out of all of the fx brokers in Australia, their EUR/USD spreads average 0.1 pips which from what I've observed is also the best spread in the world for this pair.
Slippage is also an important aspect to consider if you intend on scalping the market or utilizing high frequency EAs. Unfortunately slippage appears to be more prevalent with ECN forex brokers, however often this is countered by positive slippage. Slippage at IC Markets does exist though it is negligible and to their credit they also pass on positive slippage in their customers favour. If you're trading with a True ECN broker you might want to consider this however do not be disheartened as it works both ways, this is especially true when trading with with IC Markets.
The most important aspect to consider is order speed, having trades reach the market quickly and receiving order confirmations rapidly is critical, it is because of this I only deal with forex brokers who have their trade servers in the NY4 data facility in New York. I keep an eye on the deal speeds at IC Markets on a daily basis and the typical execution time is 130 milli seconds, the fastest speed that I've noticed is 40 milli seconds.
I should point out that I've had accounts with pretty much all the forex brokers in Australia over the past six years or so I've witnessed all of the tricks in the book that brokers employ so as to make a buck or two out of their customers. Luckily, as I've encountered the very best and worst of all of the fx brokers in Australia I would like to think that I am in a reasonably good position to assess IC Markets also.
Before I start this evaluation I must mention that IC Markets was founded in 2007 by the brains that were responsible for bringing margin foreign exchange into Australia back in 2003. Their head office is in the Sydney CBD absorbing two floors of quite a prestigious office address. Forex is just one of many financial products that they provide they even have internet share trading and Contracts for Difference.
As I have had a trading account with IC Markets for nearly 2 years now trading virtually day-after-day, writing an evaluation was extremely simple. My evaluation was determined by a variety criteria which you'll find talked about allot in the forums, these criteria are spreads, slippage and deal latency. It only makes sense to focus my review on the major currency pairs as IC Markets has over 50 currency pairs on their Metatrader 4 fx trading platform.
Virtually all fx traders including myself asses forex brokers primarily by looking at the prices they quote. Prices are of course substantially more important if you are scalping and day trading, however for all those traders who hold open long positions, spreads aren't something that you should be concerned about. Never the less IC Markets does in fact have the lowest spreads out of all of the fx brokers in Australia, their EUR/USD spreads average 0.1 pips which from what I've observed is also the best spread in the world for this pair.
Slippage is also an important aspect to consider if you intend on scalping the market or utilizing high frequency EAs. Unfortunately slippage appears to be more prevalent with ECN forex brokers, however often this is countered by positive slippage. Slippage at IC Markets does exist though it is negligible and to their credit they also pass on positive slippage in their customers favour. If you're trading with a True ECN broker you might want to consider this however do not be disheartened as it works both ways, this is especially true when trading with with IC Markets.
The most important aspect to consider is order speed, having trades reach the market quickly and receiving order confirmations rapidly is critical, it is because of this I only deal with forex brokers who have their trade servers in the NY4 data facility in New York. I keep an eye on the deal speeds at IC Markets on a daily basis and the typical execution time is 130 milli seconds, the fastest speed that I've noticed is 40 milli seconds.
About the Author:
In summary I am very happy trading with IC Markets, they are also the biggest forex broker in Australia. It goes without saying you ought to do your own research and read an IC Markets review or open an account for yourself and carry out your own testing.
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