Oanda FXTrade Reviews

pros :
Instant execution , automated and very fast .
Low spreads on majors and crosses like GBP/AUD as well .
Oanda's Canada branch offers protection to your funds up to 1 Million $ .
API service available ( didnt try it ) .
Could trade currencies in units , ie : 1253622 EUR/USD .
Fast withdrawals .
High volume inside Oanda compared to other retail FX brokers which could balance their risk as a market maker , ie : around 400 k trades every day .
Could set a default trading size , SL distance and TP distance in advance .

Cons :
No news trading : wide spreads , disconnections .
No funds protection for Oanda's US division .
API fees a little bit expensive .
Execution could be sluggish when markets move fast .

Oanda are great for real low deposit trading for new traders. Don't demo as demo platforms let you win.

Thats when you have worked out how to get funds on which can be mission at first.

You start to profit MOVE broker ! Withdrawals £10+ charge

You need to use a broker with DMA (Direct Market Access) platform and not spread betting.

they dont accept credit cards

I Withdrew some money March 15, 2007 I still havent received my check, I talk to them they told me, that they had my check that it was returned to them, they told me to verify my address, that if my address was current, I told them it was, April 4 they told me that they sent my check, and it's April 15. They said that it would take 7 days for my check to get to my house, I just talked to them again, they told me to wait until tomorrow (monday). That's a long wait. Dont you think? one month! We will see if I get my check tomorrow if not I will let all of you know...

Haven't found a perfect SB / Broker. Things I like about Oanda 1) NO delay in price fills (fully automated, no herbert on the other end delaying your trade. 2) Reliable platform 3) Can set defaults on position size, stop, take profit. 4) Easiest I've come across to close orders, take part profit, reverse, move stop.Can do all of this from the chart. 5) NO minimum position size Thinngs I don't like 1) Spread stays wide Sunday open till around 8 AM Monday. 2) Only basic charttools (though enough for me and easy to use facilities

Only platform that works well on Linux OS for ForEx trading; It is browser based and server side...

I have worked for a number of traders so I get to hear what top trader clients really think about various brokers. This review is based on my personal experience and what they have told me.

Of all the single counter-party brokers they are pretty good. Tight spreads (except duing news), trade any size, automated price generation (see below however) etc. Their platform has been a little flakey of late but in general is ok if a little simple.

However, they are still a bucket shop. Since they are the counter-party to your trades they will take "evasive action" should you start making too much money from them. OandA can do this because of their unique "next available price" rule for their quotes, namely that when you enter a limit or stop order you actually get filled at the next price that their server generates once the level has been touched. Fair enough you say, but this gives them a license to fiddle the price against you if you start doing too well. On two seperate occasions now I have heard of people who were doing very well trading with OandA so that they were trading 1 million up with them. Suddenly they started getting poor slippage on their fills and found that the price on the market they were trading would get skewed against them by a pip or two. Basically this was enough to destroy the edge that they had and they had to move elsewhere. It seems that if you do well enough to get noticed then they put you on "special fills". When you think about it any single counter-party to your trading is going to do this: they know your position and what you make they lose since in practise they rarely actually bother to hedge against your trades - a genuine bucket shop in other words. If you are trading with a single counter-party then basically you are trading their own private market and they can do what they want with the price.

In conclusion OandA are one of the better bucket shops around but they are still a bucket shop - I personally would only trade on an ECN now to ensure that I am trading in a fair market.

Tight spreads (except during very fast markets), fantastic customer service.

I also have a managed account with Olsen Invest (which is currently loss making after 3 months but the system - based on his book - is sound) and their service and customer web interface is also very good.

Olsen Data sells high frequency FX data. I use them for quant research and have over 50 million ticks of their data in my database - the quality of that is first rate as well.

My only criticism is that their Box Options are pretty useless.

There is no one better for FX brokerage in my opinion.

Spreads increase briefly during news times but it's not a big deal, just the price you pay for trading in a volatile market.

It was once good for forex trading but now it's the worst bucket shop out there. They increase their spreads to up to 25 pips during even minor economic announcements and slip you and freeze their platform. Appalling.