Trick or Treat... Forex Brokers To Avoid

A common question I get is what Forex Broker to try.  The more important question is...

What Forex Brokers should you avoid?

It's like Halloween.... trick or treat.  You don't know what you've got waiting for you on the other side of the door you're knocking on.  You might see other kids with big bags walking away from the home, but did they fill their bags at this home?  And is it filled with treats or junk?   Are the kids misleading you into thinking some homes are better than others?

Forex Brokers are hit and miss.  There are many Forex Scams.  Lets face it, anytime you hear something that's too good to be true.... it is.   You know what I'm talking about, those Forex robots, systems, and strategies that will make you rich.   Some brokers have money at you. Sign up bonuses...   Amazing track records... contests for shiny cars...

Another red flag in my books is any broker that's in Cyprus.   Well maybe it's the two brokers that come to mind that have been absolutely horrible with many Forex Reviews calling them scams.

EToro is one such broker.  An online casino like feel, hefty sign up bonuses, empty promises, and quite frankly in the top 5 of worst interfaces and bad customer service.   Nowadays they try to rebrand themselves as a social trading platform and get you hooked with their copy trader features and alerts.   Once you start trading with significant lot sizes and attempt to trade for a living you'll soon have losses due to "technical glitches" and copy trader issues.  Take Profits and Stop Losses not firing and charts not aligning with what other brokers are showing.

Forexyard is another broker to be avoided, they use the ActFX platform which I actually like as it is user friendly, unfortunately it is resource intensive and lets face it, useless when you have a shady broker, which btw has a Cyprus Securities Commission warning issued.   Similar to EToro's bad customer service and frequent stop loss and take profit misses, these guys do stop loss hunts.  

Those have been my experiences, and I'm not alone.  Just google Forex Reviews and you'll find lots of horror stories with these two brokers.

Reacquaint yourself with the obvious choice

So here I am on my 2013 Europa Tour, having just visited Moscow and Prague, I'm on my way to Milan Italy.  The last time I was in Italy, in Venice to be exact was when I was 18 years young, with my father.  Now that I think about it, it was one of the best  trips.  Great weather, warm friendly people, great food, and beautiful Italian girls with smiles a young man would dream about at night.  Here I am many years later and I suddenly realize that Italy is one of those places I should have and must visit more.

 

 

      

 

The language sounds like music, and people speak with pleasant emotions.   And I dont remember an Italian ever getting mad, upset,  or being rude or disrespectful.  I'm sure those Italians exist but overall I can only recall pleasant memories of Italy.   Milan was a nice re-introduction to Italy and after a quick day of sight seeing I was off to Rome.   Great history and culture. Reminds me of my hometown, a former Roman town (Vindebona) now called Vienna.  It was sold to the Habsburgs hundreds of years ago and while uniquely Viennese and Austrian, Roman influences and history prevails in Vienna also.

But Italy... I could live here.     Warm weather, great food, friendly people.   A language that I will have to learn, perhaps next year I will stay here for a couple months in summer.

When it comes to currency trading the Forex Market you can also find yourself rediscovering a strategy or system that worked gangbusters.   Then you wonder, why didn't I do this sooner...    Lesson learnt is that sometimes you have to do a review of your tradidng progress and revisit what has an has not worked.   The best approach to more profitable trades is often to revisit ones past and learn from your mistakes and successes.  In other words, don't get stuck.  Get out there, start exploring.

Prague is beautiful they said

Funny how many people talk about Prague, some of them have been there, and they are in love with Prague and think it is the most beautiful and romantic place in Europe, perhaps the world.   Don't get me wrong, it is a nice city but in my books it's an average European city. 

 

Nicer than Paris I would say but then again I am not a big fan of Paris either.   Call me biased but I believe Vienna is far more beautiful, romantic, and has more history.  Then again I was born and raised there and know all the places to see.   There are lots of them, it will take you a week just to see a glimpse of a third of them.   Prague is nice but after a couple days you will run out of interesting historical and breathtaking things to see.  Better beer than Vienna I admit, but then again Vienna has better food, albeit with a bohemian influence.

 A few snapshots of Vienna...

 

 

Vienna, Austria

The hidden jewel of Europe

When it comes to trading currencies you will also encounter the die hards with oppinions of what currency pairs are the best to trade.  You know, the Kiwi Traders or die hard Cable traders.  You know while some traders swear they do well with those pairs, I have absolutely no interest in currencies like the Kiwi, Suisse, Aussie, or Cable.  Also don't care much about Silver or Gold but will trade Oil on occasion.  

So who is right?   YOU!   Profitable currency pairs are in the eye of the beholder.   Only you can determine what currency pairs are your favorites, and your most profitable.  Forget what everyone else says, just review your trading history, and follow your gut. Or get an independent unbiased expert to coach you along the way.

Russia Privjet

Some days it's great  be trading the Forex market.  Actually make that most days.  Lets face it, if you are consistently making profits and can trade for a living then you have one of those jobs that you enjoy waking up to.  Except it's not a job.  It's freedom.  Freedom to travel anywhere, do anything.

I was going to travel to Europe this year and go back to my roots to Vienna Austria where I was born and raised but then I ended up moving to Thailand and thought I'd delay.  Well what can I say, I just couldn't wait and why not do both?    So after a few successful trades I had made my "vacation" money to go to Europe and I started shopping for a flight.   Turns out Aeroflot had the best deals and since I was connecting in Moscow anywayI decided to stay there for 3 days to check it out.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Moscow.  It was European (moreso than "Russian") and embedded a powerful image of Russia into my memories.   A great city, lots of great sites, and more importantly I now have an insight into Russia.  It's true what they say...

The only thing you buy that makes you richer, is travel!

You can read and hear all about a place, a nation, people, but there is no substitute to travel and experiencing another culture for yourself.

 

All pictures taken by me :)

The same goes for the Forex Market.  You can read all you want.  Study all you want.  Hear all you want from other traders.  Make or break that demo account all you want.   But nothing prepares you for the real world until you are using real money.

80% of traders break their real account in the first month,

The other 20% do okay and very few of those do great.

Can you guess which traders do the best?

The ones that take on  a coach to show them the ropes and give them real feedback.  Unbiased feedback.

When you want to explore another country you go there, you get yourself a tourguide, a local that knows the lay of the land and can give you a unique insight and perspective in just a few hours.  Try it on your own and you'll end up spending days missing out on the real world.

Do yourself a favor, get yourself a Forex Coach and start trading the markets feeling comfortable you have the support and guidance you need to survive the Forex Market.