What to look for in an ECN broker right now

The difference between ECN and market maker execution

A lot of the brokers you'll come across fall into two execution models: those that take the other side of your trade and those that pass it through. The distinction matters. A dealing desk broker becomes your counterparty. An ECN broker routes your order straight to the interbank market — you get fills from genuine liquidity.

In practice, the difference becomes clear in how your trades get filled: whether spreads blow out at the wrong moment, fill speed, and requotes. ECN brokers generally offer raw spreads from 0.0 pips but add a commission per lot. DD brokers widen the spread instead. Both models work — it comes down to how you trade.

If your strategy depends on tight entries and fast fills, ECN execution is generally the right choice. Tighter spreads makes up for the per-lot fee on the major pairs.

Execution speed: what 37 milliseconds actually means for your trades

You'll see brokers advertise execution speed. Figures like sub-50 milliseconds make for nice headlines, but does it make a measurable difference in practice? More than you'd think.

For someone executing two or three swing trades a week, a 20-millisecond difference won't move the needle. If you're scalping 1-2 pip moves targeting quick entries and exits, slow fills means slippage. A broker averaging in the 30-40ms range with zero requotes offers noticeably better entries over one that averages 200ms.

Some brokers have invested proprietary execution technology to address this. One example is Titan FX's proprietary system called Zero Point that routes orders straight to LPs without dealing desk intervention — their published average is under 37 milliseconds. For a full look at how this works in practice, see this review of Titan FX.

Raw spread accounts vs standard: doing the maths

Here's the most common question when picking their trading account: do I pay a commission on raw spreads or zero commission but wider spreads? The maths depends on your monthly lot count.

Let's run the numbers. A spread-only account might have EUR/USD at 1.0-1.5 pips. A raw spread account offers 0.1-0.3 pips but applies a commission of about $7 per lot round-turn. For the standard additional resources account, the cost is baked into the spread on each position. At more than a few lots a week, ECN pricing saves you money mathematically.

Many ECN brokers offer both account types so you can see the difference for yourself. Make sure you work it out using your real monthly lot count rather than going off hypothetical comparisons — broker examples usually be designed to sell whichever account the broker wants to push.

Understanding 500:1 leverage without the moralising

The leverage conversation divides the trading community more than almost anything else. Regulators have capped retail leverage at 30:1 in most jurisdictions. Offshore brokers can still offer 500:1 or higher.

The standard argument against is simple: it blows accounts. That's true — the data shows, the majority of retail accounts end up negative. But the argument misses a key point: traders who know what they're doing don't use the maximum ratio. What they do is use having access to more leverage to minimise the money sitting as margin in any single trade — which frees margin for other opportunities.

Obviously it carries risk. No argument there. The leverage itself isn't the issue — how you size your positions is. If what you trade requires lower margin requirements, having 500:1 available lets you deploy capital more efficiently — and that's how most experienced traders actually use it.

Choosing a broker outside FCA and ASIC jurisdiction

The regulatory landscape in forex falls into different levels. The strictest tier is regulators like the FCA and ASIC. They cap leverage at 30:1, mandate investor compensation schemes, and limit what brokers can offer retail clients. Further down you've got places like Vanuatu (VFSC) and Mauritius FSA. Less oversight, but that also means higher leverage and fewer restrictions.

The trade-off is straightforward: offshore brokers gives you 500:1 leverage, lower trading limitations, and often lower fees. But, you get less safety net if there's a dispute. There's no investor guarantee fund paying out up to GBP85k.

If you're comfortable with the risk and prefer performance over protection, offshore brokers can make sense. What matters is checking the broker's track record rather than simply checking if they're regulated somewhere. A platform with 10+ years of clean operation under VFSC oversight may be a safer bet in practice than a brand-new FCA-regulated startup.

What scalpers should look for in a broker

If you scalp is where broker choice matters most. You're working tiny price movements and holding trades open for very short periods. With those margins, tiny variations in execution speed become the difference between a winning and losing month.

Non-negotiables for scalpers is short: raw spreads with no markup, order execution in the sub-50ms range, a no-requote policy, and no restrictions on holding times under one minute. A few brokers say they support scalping but add latency to execution for high-frequency traders. Read the terms before depositing.

ECN brokers that chase this type of trader will make it obvious. Look for average fill times on the website, and usually throw in VPS access for automated strategies. If the broker you're looking at is vague about their execution speed anywhere on the website, that's probably not a good sign for scalpers.

Social trading in forex: practical expectations

Social trading has become popular over the past decade. The appeal is straightforward: find traders who are making money, copy their trades in your own account, and profit alongside them. How it actually works is messier than the advertisements imply.

The main problem is execution delay. When a signal provider enters a trade, your copy executes milliseconds to seconds later — when prices are moving quickly, the delay transforms a good fill into a bad one. The more narrow the average trade size in pips, the bigger this problem becomes.

That said, certain social trading platforms deliver value for those who don't want to develop their own strategies. Look for access to real trading results over at least a year, instead of simulated results. Looking at drawdown and consistency matter more than headline profit percentages.

Some brokers have built in-house social platforms within their standard execution. This can minimise the delay problem compared to third-party copy services that sit on top of the broker's platform. Research the technical setup before trusting that the results can be replicated with the same precision.