Scalping Forex Brokers

Scalping is among the highly favoured forex trading strategy out there. However, most brokers do not support it in their trading platforms. This article presents the world of forex market scalping by outlining some of the best scalping forex brokers. In addition, the article will also outline some of the tips to consider when choosing your ideal scalping broker, but first, let us look at what scalping means.

What is scalping in forex trading?

Scalping refers to a forex trading strategy whereby a trader opens and closes positions within a short period to make small profits. These earnings accumulate over time to be more significant earnings. Opening and liquidating positions in fewer than five minutes help the traders to make small profits without exposing their accounts to market risks.

Thus, scalpers prefer the available small profits instead of leaving their open trades for long periods to expose them to some risks. However, as a trader, you should understand that not all brokers allow for scalping. Some of the best forex brokers for scalping are discussed below.

Best scalping forex-brokers

Below are some of the most popular forex brokers who allow for scalping. They include:

• CMC Markets
• FXCM
• Swissquote Bank Ltd.
• FP Markets
• FXTM
• AvaTrade

Much information regarding these forex scalping brokers is explained below.

CMC Markets

This London Stock Exchange publicly traded company is a CFD broker, and multi-asset class spread betting with an experience of at least thirty years. The broker is regulated by United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, FCA. For this reason, it offers segregated funds plus security and safety at a high level.

CMC Markets allow three trading accounts, namely Corporate accounts, spread betting, and CFD. Each account allows the trader to trade on over nine thousand trading instruments covering commodities, forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, treasuries, and shares. Spread betting offers a commission-free CFD and trading, while corporate accounts and CFD offer commission-based trading on the shares.

You can trade on Meta Trader 4 and Next Generation. Next Generation is a broker’s proprietary web and mobile trading platform with over a hundred drawing tools and technical indicators, 10+ chat types, and a pattern recognition tool. CMC Markets give analysis and news generated from their market analysts, seminars, and webinars.

Pros

• Almost ten thousand trading instruments that cover various asset classes
• Analysis and news by in-house market analysts
• UK FCA regulated
• London Stock Exchange publicly-traded company
• Next Generation proprietary

Cons

• Steep learning curve for beginners

FXCM

The broker was established in 1999 to become a CFD and international online forex brokerage band. FXCM Ltd manages the FXCM brand at Gresham Street, London EC2V 7JE, UK.

The broker also has other offices in various jurisdictions like South Africa and Australia. FXCM gained popularity in 2015 after suffering a considerable loss when the Swiss franc exempted itself from the US Dollar. After recovering, the broker today focuses on catering for all-level traders trading needs.

Pros

• Several trading platforms choices
• Multiple trading tools available for free
• Regulated broker
• In-depth educational section
• Low minimum deposit

Cons

• Does not accept clients from the US
• Limited product portfolio

Swissquote Bank Ltd.

This CFD, online forex, and derivatives trading broker offers a total trading package that exceeds CFDs or forex. Swissquote Bank is a branch of the Swissquote Group Holdings Ltd where it represents the company’s Swiss-based trading division. The broker’s head office has been situated at Gland, Switzerland, since 1996.

The Swissqoute website operates as a multi-lingual portal, offering ten languages. This wide linguistic spread attracts and accommodates different traders from various countries. The broker has even gone an extra step to become a Manchester United Football Club sponsoring partner.

Pros

• Regulated broker
• Comprehensive and timely customer support
• Strong investor protection
• Comprehensive trader education section
• Asset base of great diversity

Cons

• High minimum deposits
• Does not accept clients from various countries

FP Markets

This Australian brokerage was launched in 2005. Its head office is located in Sydney, Australia. FP Markets is the best CFD and Forex broker that is enjoying an ASIC regulation. Unlike the UK, US, and EU regulators, the Australian regulators are much leverage relaxed as FP Markets offers maximum leverage of 500 to 1.

The unique selling point for FP Markets lies in the vast tradable assets that it offers, as this provides opportunities for trading many individual shares and stocks. These assets go beyond the average UK and US companies to include various publicly traded shares on the Sydney and Hong Kong exchanges. In addition, at least sixty Forex pairs and crosses, five cryptocurrencies, and ten equity indices are included in the broker’s menu.

The broker offers an unusual hybrid ECN/STP execution model so that the clients can choose between straight-through processing and ECN execution. The former allows more natural spreads while the latter gives a very high-speed level. This fast speed of ECN execution makes FP Markets a perfect platform for scalpers, and they are allowed to scalp and hedge.

The clients are allowed to choose between Meta Trader 4 and Meta Trader 5 platforms. Shares are traded through the IRESS trading platform.

Pros

• Low minimum deposit and leverage
• Regulated and trusted broker
• Offers a variety of trading platforms
• Competitive cost structure and perfect asset selection

Cons

• IRESS availability is geographically restricted
• Sometimes charge additional fees

FXTM

Also known as ForexTime, FXTM was launched in 2011, and it has steadily expanded over the recent years. The broker is owned and regulated by private companies in Cyprus, South Africa, the UK, and Mauritius. FXTM traders can access over fifty Forex pairs and crosses, major energies, significant cryptocurrencies, precious metals, and some individual American stocks.

FXTM has a unique way of trading stocks that enables direct trading using absolute legal ownership, which is not wrapped as CFDs as in most brokers. The broker presents the traders with a choice of either of the two popular execution models; opening an ECN-type account or trading using a straight-through process. In addition, the particular traders have a straight choice of trading with either of the two trading platforms.

The broker offers a 1000 to 1 leverage through the Mauritius regulator and a 30 to 1 leverage through the UK and Cyprus regulator. FXTM also offers a copy trading program known as the FXTM Invest.

Pros

• Client deposit protection
• Low minimum deposit
• Productive educational tools
• Free VPN hosting and MT4 add-ons

Cons

• Charges extra fees for inactivity and internal withdraws
• Does not allow cryptocurrencies
• Low leverage for retailers

AvaTrade

The broker was launched in 2006 in Dublin, Ireland. It is among the most prominent and popular Forex and CFD brokers globally, whereby it became famous for offering a choice of fixed or floating trading models to spread the cost to its clients. Besides, it provides a high and robust regulation level, thus standing out as traders’ favorite, especially those who fear their deposits’ security.

AvaTrade is regulated in Japan, Ireland, Australia, the British Virgin Islands, and South Africa. It offers maximum leverage of 400 to 1 for clients outside the European Union. In addition, AvaTrade allows the clients to access various asset classes to enhance diversification.

This scalping broker offers trading in at least fifty forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, individual stocks and shares, commodities, ETFs, and bonds. AvaTrade provides you with negative balance protection from any location. This way, you will never be liable for any amount that exceeds your deposit.

Pros

• In-depth educational tools
• Low minimum deposit
• Well regulated by the Bank of Ireland
• Wide range of asset choice
• Strong mobile trading platform

Cons

• Unacceptable AvaProtect cost
• Low leverage for retailers
• High inactivity fee

Tips to Consider when Choosing a Forex Scalping Broker

Generally, only the ECN-operated accounts allow for scalping. The following are the essential tips to consider before choosing your ideal forex scalping broker.

• Scalping policy; brokers will generally indicate whether their platforms allow for scalping or not in their terms & conditions. So, be on the lookout.
• Broker’s location; the forex industry regulators prohibit scalping in some jurisdictions. Thus, you must understand whether your desired forex broker is located within any of these banned jurisdictions.
• ECN Broker; as mentioned before, scalping is only allowed on ECN accounts as they charge commissions for trade entries, exits, and spreads. Moreover, the fact that ECN brokers are not counterparties puts them in a non-losing position even when the traders make small random profits and losses from scalping. On the other hand, market makers act as trade counterparties; thus, they may lose when the traders make consistent forex scalping profits. Therefore, you ought to consider whether your desired broker is an ECN broker or a market maker, as market makers do not offer scalping.
• Fast price feeds; the entry and exit speed is the most crucial component in a scalping trade. Your ideal broker should offer fast price feeds to be guaranteed getting updated prices.

Conclusion

The article will wrap up will requesting you to consider the recommended forex scalping brokers as they are the most popular. The tips provided will assist you in narrowing it down to the best broker who will suit your preferences. Consider checking out the particular brokers’ terms & conditions before opting to trade with them.