When you decide to trade in forex, you have to choose among the many brokers available on the market. Just do a quick Google search, and you will find several brokers competing with each other for the privilege to handle your money.
One such broker is FXCM. They are an established multi-national broker that has a long history of helping traders grow their money. Before you decide if trading with an FXCM broker is best for you and your money, you should first check out a little about the company.
FXCM Broker Background
FXCM is short for Forex Capital Markets. It was founded in 1999. It is a publicly traded company in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the name FXCM. Its initial public offering was back in 2010, and its current CEO is Drew Niv.
FXCM regulated by the NFA in the United States, the FCA in the UK, the ACP in France, and the ASIC in Australia, meaning that it holds offices in four different continents.
The FXCM broker operates on a few different platforms on your PC, including MetaTrader 4, Mirror Trader, and Trading Station. You can also use their website, as well as their own mobile app.
Trading with FXCM
There are both pros and cons choosing the FXCM broker.
One of the major advantages is that it caters to US clients, so if you are from the United States, this is one of your few choices, as the strict regulations in your country prevent several other major forex brokers from entering the market.
There is also the fact that its wide range of platforms allows you to choose your trading experience.
It also comes with a demo account that allows you to trade risk-free while you get used the process and interface. This is especially useful for novice traders who want to try FXCM broker services.
However, there are quite a few issues that come with trading with FXCM.
For one, the customer service is problematic. To their credit, the offer support via multiple channels, namely email, phone, fax, and live chat. However, actual users have complained that it is difficult to actually get in touch with their customer service representatives.
There is also their minimum deposit, which stands at $2,000. While the demo account does give you enough learning experience in order to learn their platforms and services, having a high minimum deposit makes it costly to start investing with them. Since you cannot really know how it is to trade with a broker until you actually start trading with them, it might discourage some.
However, by far the biggest hindrance to keep people from deciding on the FXCM broker is its unstable standing as a business. Back in 2014, this would not be an issue. But since the beginning of 2015, the company’s stock crashed to about 10% of what it once was. Since then, traders have expressed experiencing difficulty when it comes to getting their money from FXCM. It has been having problems bouncing back, making it make much more sense to choose a broker that has a more stable company, like iForex, XTrade, and Plus500.