FXCM Review

This Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) review gives a comprehensive but succinct overview of the FXCM forex, spread betting and CFD trading platform. Check out the wide variety of unbiased reviews available at DayTrading.com to discover more about some of the other popular brokers.

Trading Platform

The FXCM platform is easy to navigate around and new customers will find it is a simple matter to answer most common questions via the FAQs section of the site. A comprehensive knowledge base and education centre also offers a lot of information about trading strategies for beginners or experts.

The knowledge base features video tutorials as well as traditional written content. Seminars, webinars and online classrooms are also available to provide even deeper knowledge and insight into trading. New traders may benefit from opening a Demo account to learn more about forex trading without risking their own cash.

Opening An Account

It’s relatively easy to open an account with FXCM straight away and the trading platform is available for desktops, laptops, Macs and mobile devices.

Traders can open an account with a minimum of £300 deposit. Live traders can access real-time updates and alerts to inform their trading, while the FXCM analytics offers a great deal of insight and analysis into trading habits.

The Active Trader account at FXCM is available to traders depositing a minimum of 25,000 in their chosen currency and offers clients lower commissions on trades along with access to a knowledge base geared towards trading at more professional levels.

MetaTrader 4

There are two main trading platforms on the site, these are the FXCM Trading Station and their MT4 offering.

The FXCM Pro account is available to small hedge funds, retail brokers, and new market banks to access wholesale executions. While FXCM Prime accounts are also available for high- or mid-frequency funds.

 

Assets/Markets

Available trading markets on FXCM include:

– Forex pairs
– CFDs, including Australian shares
– Cryptocurrencies
– Commodities, like oil and gold
– Global stock indices

Algorithm trading is available for customers who prefer to automate their strategies.

Spreads and Commission

Some of the popular currency pairs traded on FXCM are EUR/USD, where you can get low spreads* of just 1.3 pips and GBP/USD with available low spreads of 1.6 pips. You can find out more about pips and forex trading in our in depth forex guide.

FXCM does not charge for any type of fund deposits and standard traders are not charged commissions on trades. Their charge is levied across the spread cost which is calculated automatically when trades are executed. An overnight cost is also applied for any positions which are held at 5pm Eastern US time (which is around 10pm UK time).

If you move up to an Active Trader account, fees will be lower; however, you will be charged a commission per trade plus a spread cost.

You will probably need to pay commissions based on the base currency used in your trading account, and this varies between different trader accounts. You may also be charged a commission for currency exchange by your debit or credit card provider and can find out more from your bank or card provider.

The broker aims to offer some of the cheapest spreads on the market and cuts its prices for active traders or institutional investors.

Leverage

FXCM operate standard European Securities and Markets Authority leverage for retail clients set at:

– 30:1 for forex trades in major currency pairs
– 20:1 for trades in minor currency pairs, major indices and gold
– 10:1 for the non-major indices and all other commodities
– 2:1 for cryptocurrencies

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 

You can find out more about leverage and using margin in our trading strategies guide.

Company Details

FXCM was founded in 1999 and offers global traders opportunities to access the most liquid markets in the world. The business was taken over by Leucadia Investments in 2015.

Leucadia Investments is a part of the Jefferies Financial Group merchant banking organisation.  In the UK is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, while their subsidiary companies in Australia and South Africa are regulated by authorities in their own countries.

It also have offices in a variety of global locations, including Berlin and Sydney.

While FXCM operate more than 130,000 global customer accounts and have received a variety of prestigious industry awards. The online platform is used by private traders alongside institutional investors, and the broker also has a number of global affiliates in order to meet customer needs.

Mobile Apps

The FXCM Trading Station platform is available for desktops, in web format for Macs, and for mobile devices. It is a powerful platform and mobile users benefit from quick and easy access to global forex markets from any WiFi enabled location. You can download the Trading Station app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

The mobile trading platform does a good job of offering most features of Trading Station and MetaTrader 4 (MT4). Of course, the smaller screens of mobile devices mean it’s essential to keep scrolling between screens and using the tabs located at the bottom of the screen.

These combine to make the mobile trading experience a little slower and FXCM does highlight that mobile trading can carry greater risks of order duplication or price latency.

This means it’s important for traders to be familiar with all features of the mobile trading platform prior to using mobile devices regularly on their site.

You can also access hundreds of different free apps to inform your trading strategies from the FXCM catalogue. This is available from the traders area within the trading platform.

Payment Methods

FXCM accounts can be funded in a variety of ways, including:

– Bank or credit card payments which are normally processed into accounts within the same day
– Bank wire funding, which can take one to two days to process for clients based locally or three to five days for international clients. Wired funds via CHAPS, SWIFT, BACS or SEPA are accepted
– Skrill and Union Pay payments are also accepted and take between one and two days to hit your account

You can also use any of the above methods for withdrawals and simply need to click on Withdraw Funds in the MYFXCM dashboard. Withdrawals take about the same amount of time to process as funding deposits.

One important factor to note is that when you request debit/credit card withdrawals you are only allowed to withdraw the total amount originally deposited. Larger sums need to be withdrawn via an alternative means, such as bank transfer.

Demo Account

As already noted, you can try out trading with FXCM using their Demo account service, and this is particularly recommended if you’re new to the world of finance and don’t know a lot about trading forex or CFDs.

Their live Demo account offers £50,000 of dummy capital for trading (also available in euros or US dollars, if preferred), so you can experience all the fun of 24-hour trading, five days of the week. You can choose which platform you want to use for Demo trading, and all the education and tools available to regular traders can also be utilised.

Deals and Promotions

FXCM don’t really offer promotional deals on their site; however, the vast range of free apps is a useful incentive for traders. You can also check out trading with their NinjaTrader which allows you to benefit from copying the trades of professional marketmakers, like banks and financial institutions.

A Demo NinjaTrader account is also available for practising with £50,000 of dummy funding. The ZuluTrade peer to peer (P2P) auto trading platform is also offered on site, allowing you to autotrade based on signals issued by your selected traders.

Regulation and Licensing

FXCM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK under registration number 217689. They are also authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and use this license to offer trading within the European Union.

FXCM discontinued its US offerings but is ASIC authorised in Australia as well as in South Africa.

Traders of all kinds place a good deal of trust in this brand; however, it’s important to note that all trading is at your own risk, so leverage used should be planned carefully.

FXCM holds all retail client funds in segregated global bank accounts which cannot be accessed by creditors if the business were to go bust. Clients could also be eligible for compensation up to £50,000 in certain circumstances.

Additional Features

One major benefit of trading with FXCM is its wide range of educational features. Most of these are discussed above, but the site also offers a live classroom environment and a video tutorial library. So anybody looking to develop in-depth learning will have their needs met on this site.

Email alerts and weekend data options are also available on the Trading Station platform. While the automated MT4 platform has the advantage of Expert Advisers to inform all trades. Charting tools offer experienced traders all the technical abilities required for analysis and are also available on mobile devices.

Although the site does not provide a daily news blog, lots of financial news is packed into the educational resources on site.

Clients can also engage in social and copy trading through the popular ZuluTrade platform. Users can automatically mirror the positions and strategies of other traders in their own accounts. FXCM lists signal providers based on performance, risk appetite and trading strategy. This is a great feature, especially for beginners.

Account Types

FXCM offers the following trading accounts:

• Standard account for retail customers
• Active Trader accounts for higher volume traders looking for reduced commissions
• Professional trading accounts for clients that can evidence substantial trading expertise.

Benefits

Some of the advantages of opting to trade with FXCM include:

• High levels of education and resources for clients
• Reliable service for desktops and mobile devices
• Social and copy trading via ZuluTrade
• Access to Demo trading accounts
• Lots of algorithmic tools
• Access to vast number of apps
• Australian stock CFDs
• Award-winning provider
• Access to six different asset classes
• Low fees for standard retail accounts
• Competitive pricing structure, particularly for Active Trader accounts
• Fully regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority with investor protections under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Drawbacks

Some of the disadvantages of using FXCM include:

• Low leverage levels for regulated by ESMA for retail clients
• Does not offer managed accounts

Trading Hours

The brand’s trading hours do vary between products. Forex trading opens on Sundays at around 5:00pm ET and closes around and 4:55pm ET on Fridays.

CFD trading closes as near to market times as possible and can be found on the FXCM website.

Contact Details/Customer Support

FXCM support is available as follows:

By phone: +44 (0)207398 4050 or one freephone: 0808 234 8789

Email: info@fxcm.co.uk

Postal address: 20 Gresham Street, 4th Floor, London, EC2V 7JE, UK

Support can also be accessed via Live Chat on the website or by email contact form

Safety and Security

FXCM clients need to set up secure access to the platform when they register an account. Clients trading a minimum of £500,000 monthly can also enhance security further by registering for a virtual private server.

Overall Verdict

Overall, we’re quite impressed by the service offered by FXCM. We’re particularly fond of the high levels of education available to clients and the useful Demo Account feature. Consumers looking to trade forex and CFDs across a variety of asset sectors could be well advised to register with FXCM.

*Average Spreads: Time-weighted average spreads are derived from tradable prices at FXCM from October 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Spreads are variable and are subject to delay. The spread figures are for informational purposes only. FXCM is not liable for errors, omissions or delays or for actions relying on this information.

 

Accepted Countries

FXCM accepts traders from Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Kuwait, Luxembourg and most other countries.

Traders can not use FXCM from Argentina, Bahrain, Saint Barthelemy, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Trinidad And Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United States, Iceland, Ukraine.