It can be very difficult to choose a good broker, as there are many factors that must be taken into account. And many factors that are not visible.
One of the important factors is the broker's ability/willingness to allow you to buy/sell at the price you ask. For example, if you press the "buy button" in the German DAX index at rate 15180, you will have your purchase completed at one broker at rate 15180.5, while another broker will give you rate 15187.8.
There can be a very big difference, especially when there is high volume in the market. This factor is called slippage, and it can only be "measured", or experienced, by trying some trades with the broker and comparing with other brokers. It can be an expensive and time-consuming process. That is why I have described some of my own experiences about brokers here.
My reviews are 100% my personal opinion and experience. I do not receive any form of payment, discount or similar financial benefits from recommending some brokers.
Review, TD365
TD365 is a good broker because slippage and spreads are in order. TD365's MT4 server is also called TradeNation. Spreads in MT4 are dynamic, but I have never experienced significant fluctuations, they are actually quite fixed even though TradeNation describes them as being dynamic.
TD365 is also Tom Hougaards preferred broker for manual trading, due to the low fixed spreads (not dynamic spreads). No commision!
What makes me wonder is that TD365's rates for manual and automatic trading are not synchronous? But that is a subject I will return to in a future article.
Review, Vantagemarkets
Vantage Markets was an excellent broker that I used in the past. But suddenly they logged me out of their server without notifying me. Since I don't monitor my robots 24/7, it took a few days before I noticed. In the meantime, I had lost on open trades that were not completed correctly due to the broker's logout. Additional time was spent contacting the broker and finding out that the reason my trades were not completed was due to the broker's actions. I never received an apology, and they made sure that it did not appear on the written response that it was they themselves who had made a mistake. I don't think that is particularly responsible towards the customers.
Well, either way, I can't use an unstable broker. I need to have confidence that my robots are running without having to be constantly monitored.
Review, VTMarkets
VTMarkets is a broker that I have been happy to use. I would be tempted to call it at least as good as TD365 in terms of automated trading.
I experience very stable servers, a fair spread and slippage. They offer additional credit, about 20% for each amount deposited into the account, and I'm not really into that kind of marketing, but I have to admit that a little additional "free" credit in the beginning is actually an advantage.
What I dont like is the 1 money-unit commision for each trade. I trade in $ and have to pay 1 dollar for 1 trade with 1 dollar. Sometimes I am stopped out for zero, but still have to pay 1 dollar in commision. When you scale up, like you are betting 10 dollars pr. trade, then a commision on 10 dollars for each trade really sums up in a lot of money.
On monday 04.09.2023 VT Markets decided to change name of some of their european indicies, like DAX40 became GER40. They just didnt inform the customers about it. So monday morning my algos stopped running. I contacted them, and they know about the change, and they know the didnt inform anyone, they just dont want to admit it. I hate that with brokers. Admit when you make a mistake, be honest and give that customer service.
Review, Roboforex
I use Roboforex but I'm not very happy with Roboforex as they have a really bad slippage. Furthermore, they do not offer a "night market", meaning that, for example, the German DAX can only be traded during the official opening hours from 09:00 to 18:00.
The only reason I use Roboforex is that they have a copytrader function which is easy to use. I use it to share my strategy. The dilemma is that as I write this my strategy is making a loss on Roboforex while it is making a profit on TD365 and VTMarkets. So what is the point of offering copytrading on an account with a loss (due to slippage)?
On July 13, 2023, DAX makes a break through price 16130.5 and that is the price at which my robot is trying to buy. Roboforex gives me the purchase at a rate of 16139.2
This means that I already have a minus of 9 points at the time of purchase. It is impossible to make a profitable strategy with such high slippage. For comparison, my robot buys on TradeNation at 16131.5 and the actual price is 16136.8, i.e. approximately 5 points in slippage.
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