How To Spot And Stay Away From Fake Online Forex Broker

With the development of online trading, anyone who knowledgeable about internet knows that there is better alternative than investing their money on a local forex broker with ridiculously high spread; the alternative is using an online forex trading broker. They employ much lower spread, no commissions, and allow various types of automatic trading systems.

Of course, selecting an online forex trading broker is not as easy as comparing their benefits. Many of them are just dishonest brokerage whose only goal is drain your fund as quickly as possible and their common strategy is attract potential clients with sugary promises and benefits. In order to survive long enough in forex trading, watch for these in your online forex trading broker before making decision:

1. Registered in an Official Financial Authority

This is the simplest way to check them out. Ask their live support where they are registered; is it in the FSA? Is it in NFA? Is it some other financial authority? Enter their live chat/mail support and ask for the link to their official registration page; if they won’t give you that, it is very likely that they’re not registered anywhere and it is a sign for you to leave the site right away.

If you’ve got the link, read throughout the page; this is important because there is possibility that they’re not registered as an active member. For example: at the time I wrote this article, FXCBS is registered with the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, but they’re listed as an inactive member there.

Additionally, you should check whether they blacklisted by any particular financial authority or not. For instance: both CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) and UK FSA (Financial Services Authority) have issued warning against Forexyard.

Confirming their registration is an important step, but even with that you still can’t be 100% sure that they’re honest forex broker.

2. Unsolicited Offers

Be careful if you know the forex broker via unsolicited fax or email, especially if they are:

- Appear too good to be true.

- Guaranteed returns; high returns represent high risks, so watch out for any promise that offer you high returns while keeping your money safe.

- Attempting to have you send your money RIGHT NOW with one-time-offer or some other means, but this is simply a trick so you do not have the time to investigate their company.

Once you pick your online forex trading broker, don’t let your guard down yet; watch for these factors:

1. Withdrawal Process

Deposit your fund always a smooth process, but you may not have the same leisure in withdrawal case. If your broker makes the process more complicated that it has to be, prolonging the withdrawal, or even ignoring you, then you’re in the hand of a scam forex broker.

2. How they Handle Problems

Support always available and very cooperative when you’ve just started being a client, but when a problem arise, you’ll discover their true nature. If they keep giving you empty promise, keeping your money, or even completely ignore you, then they’re scam forex broker.

You may wonder why I don’t suggest checking forums for thoughts regarding the broker, but I have good reasons not to do so. Forums are place where everybody can post their opinions, so it is very unlikely to find 100% unbiased argument there as a fake forex broker can pay someone to post fake positive reviews; on the other hand, their rivals can also post negative reviews to damage the broker’s reputation.

The second reason is there are a lot of incompetent novices out there who will always make excuses for their losses and blaming their broker is the first thing they will do; you’ll find many complaints from these novices in various forex forums and these complaints can be very misleading since usually the other traders who satisfy with the broker services won’t even bother to post positive review in forums. This is may not solely their fault; maybe it is connection issues at a bad time, but nevertheless you’ll read posts about “my broker cut the connection and my profit” and “my platform freeze at an important time” throughout any forex forums.

Please note that I’m not against using forums for information source. I’m simply pointing that there are too many inaccurate information regarding forex broker in the forums, but if you are seeking other info such as trading strategies or discussing experiences, forums are a good place.

Choosing an online forex trading broker is a bit tricky and you may have to do some research, but the effort will be paid in the long run. Later when you’ve found one that can meet your expectation, all that you need is a dependable trading system and you’ll have your earnings from the foreign exchange market in no time.

Learn further about Matthew’s best recommended online broker at AvaFX – the review. Learn how to identify and evaluate a few essential aspects before you open an account on checking your trading account.

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