FXCM Review: Is This The Most Suitable Broker For You In 2023?

With forex trading becoming more popular than ever, the demand for a reliable forex broker has skyrocketed.

And to help you find the best trading platform there are a lot of brokers that are looking to take their place in the forex market.

And to help you choose the best one there are a lot of different factors you need to take into consideration.

But today in this FXCM review, we are going to focus on two main ones:

Does the broker offer trading platforms you’re interested in?

Is the broker reputable?

So let’s start off.

FXCM Review: How Secure Are They?

FXCM is the world’s largest independent online forex broker with over 800,000 clients globally.

They are considered a tier 1 brokerage because of their industry leadership.

Their client base continues to grow and the company’s reputation is one of the strongest in the industry.

Is FXCM Regulated?

Absolutely. If the broker is unregulated, they cannot operate in major countries like the UK.

FXCM is a well-known forex broker operating since 1999.

These regulators include:

• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC),
• Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa (FSCA),
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Is FXCM Safe?

FXCM is a trusted and safe platform for traders looking to trade on Forex.

Firstly, they are regulated in every country they provide their services within, which means they must adhere to the strictest standards in terms of offering the most secure platforms and services and ensure the highest level of protection is in place to safeguard all traders.

Secondly, FXCM is owned by Jefferies Financial Group which is listed on the NYSE which increases accountability and transparency to their shareholders, and thus the customers.

Finally, FXCM is set up to operate through different financial judiciaries which means that wherever you are in the world, you will be opening an account within an appropriate jurisdiction that will provide you with financial protection in case something drastic happens.

This is far better than opening an account that the broker operates outside of your jurisdiction and regulator, which would render your legal protections useless.

FXCM Awards From The Industry

Over the course of providing retail traders access to the markets, FXCM has received numerous awards to highlight its services.

These awards include:

• Best Zero Commission Broker 2022
• Best Forex Trading Platform 2021
• Best Forex Broker 2021
• Best Customer Service 2021

(Source: https://www.fxcm.com/uk/about-fxcm/our-awards/)

FXCM Fees – How Much Does it Cost to Trade? 

FXCM provides trading platforms for forex, options, futures, indices, and CFDs.

If you choose to trade forex through their platform, you will incur fees and commissions.

The charges associated with trading can vary depending on the type of product you trade, and whether or not you use leverage.

To help you decide whether you want to trade forex through FXCM, we have detailed information on the company’s fees.

FXCM Spreads

According to FXCM’s slippage report, traders received better spreads or zero slippage 85% of the time.

However, one thing I didn’t like is the fact I had to delve deep into finding out the true spreads of FXCM. 

Most brokers display their spreads in a simple format, whereas going through FXCMs website – they do state the impact of effective spreads but don’t display an average “expected” spread of any of the assets.

By using the effective spread chart provided, you can see they quote a 1 pip spread on average for EUR/USD, however, the effective spread over this time has been 0.4 pips.

Although, this is data from 2021 and they do not show anything more current. Again, this isn’t great for transparency.

Live chat wasn’t remotely helpful about this at all.

You can go to each individual asset, and see the live spread, which is just an awful process to assess whether you want to trade with them.

They don’t break it down to what account type you have either, so you don’t know if the spreads being shown are from an Active Trader account (lowest spreads offered) or from a Standard account.

The bottom line for me, and I always say this – spreads don’t matter too much.

There is no point fixating on the spreads; if you are interested in FXCM, you can review their forex pairs here and click on each asset to see the current, real-time spread.

At the time of writing the review, here are the majors:

*Trading Time: 09:30 GMT. These spreads do not indicate if they are Standard Account or Active Trader Account spreads, which for transparency reasons – they should. I do however suspect that these are the spreads found on an Active Trader account.

FXCM Assets Offered

FXCM is a multi-asset broker, this means they offer different assets that are allowed to be traded under one account.

This is a great option for those who wish to trade forex and stocks or bonds.

FXCM offers the following assets on their platforms:

• Forex
• Stocks
• Bonds
• Commodities
• Indices

How to Open an FXCM Account

It’s a straightforward process when it comes to opening an FXCM account.

Because of regulations, opening a trading account with FXCM is standardised where they collect personal details about you to provide both suitability and feasibility tests, whether an account is suitable and appropriate for you.

This is due to the nature of the risk that comes with trading CFDs and forex.

The details they collect are also used to fulfil their obligations as a financial institution to confirm the account holder’s identity and ensure no form of fraud or money laundering could be committed. 

To open an account with FXCM, you simply go to their website and click on the button “Open Account”.

Then you fill out your details as requested.

After completion and approval, you will have a brand new account with FXCM.

Who Can Open An Account with FXCM?

FXCM have a huge global presence and is regulated by most institutions, which grants them a larger geographic to accept clients from all over the world.

The easiest way to find your eligibility for trading with FXCM in your country is simply to go to this page, click “Open Account” and find your country:

66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

To be eligible for an account, you must also complete the Know Your Client process, which is an industry-standard practice.

All of this is taken care of during the account set-up processes.

FXCM Account Types

There are several accounts you can open with FXCM.

Standard CFD Trading Account

The CFD account allows traders to gain access to the markets through the derivative CFDs.

This is their standard trading account that most traders will qualify for.

Spread Betting Account (UK Only)

The spread betting account is for residents of the UK only and is similar to the CFDs account. 

Spread betting provides tax-free profits and allows bettors to profit from rising or falling markets―without owning any of the underlying assets.

That means they are not subject to the same commissions and fees that regular trading accounts are subject to.

Additionally, spreads are traded commission-free and with leverage.

Active Trader Account

This account is for traders that take their profession seriously. You can gain access to this account if you have a high trader volume.

With this comes greater benefits through trading fees, spreads, and institutional derived trade ideas through their premium eFXplus research site.

FXCM Demo Account

Opening an FXCM demo account allows you to test out FXCM’s service without risking or depositing any of your money.

They provide you with “fake” virtual money so you can test their platforms, perform real-time trades, and test out their services.

Naturally, you cannot withdraw the profits from this account as it is fake.

(Yes, we’ve seen people complain that they couldn’t withdraw the fake money…)

Anyway, a demo account is a great way of getting a feel for a broker before making the financial commitment. 

You can give them a try and open a demo account below.

66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

FXCM Deposit and Withdrawal

FXCM Minimum Deposit

The FXCM minimum deposit is £50 (or $50, 50 euros) and can be done with a debit card or bank transfer for both account types.

However, for you to be eligible for the Active Trader accounts, you are required to have a £25,000 minimum account equity.

FXCM Funding An Account

To fund an account with FXCM you can do so in several ways. However the main ways you would fund your account will be:

• Bank Transfer
• Debit Card

FXCM Withdrawal Fees

FXCM charges no withdrawal fees for debit cards, but it does charge if you withdraw via a wire transfer.

Depending on where you are based, the fees can be up to $40.

However, if you are UK or EU based with a BACS or SEPA bank account, there are no fees to withdraw your funds.

FXCM Withdrawal Time

Withdrawal time is moderate and in line with most bank transactions timeframes, so allow 3-5 working days for the withdrawal to complete.

FXCM Trading Platforms

Web Trading Platform with FXCM

Trading Station is FXCM’s proprietary trading platform with a bunch of features and indicators included.

Trading Station is one of a few that allows you to customise its layouts and features.

The main features include:

•  FXCM’s News and Economic Calendar
• Storing your settings in the cloud
• Access to FXCM’s analysis
• Useful trading analysis of your account
• Multiple trading monitor support

Additionally, you can use the MT4 Web Access and the TradingView web access platforms. So if you prefer trading through your browser, then you have an abundance of options available.

Mobile Trading Platform with FXCM

If you prefer to trade on your mobile device, or whilst you are on the go, then you have the following options:

Trading Station mobile app

This is a simplified version of the Trading Station you would get from the desktop or web application.

Thanks to cloud storage, you will keep all of your analysis and price alerts.

TradingView mobile app

Everything you see on TradingView is available on your mobile device, which is what makes it a very appealing trading tool.

You can place your trades and receive alerts through this app too, all syncing up with your FXCM account.

MT4 mobile app

Unlike the previous apps, you do not have access to all of the data/price alerts/indicators you would have saved on your desktop platform.

The MT4 mobile app is good for quickly checking prices on the go, but with the lack of cloud storage and data syncing, it won’t serve well as a tool looking for trading opportunities on the move.

Desktop Trading Platform with FXCM

If you prefer to trade through a designated trading application on your desktop instead of the internet browser, then FXCM offer’s a range of desktop trading platforms for its clients.

Trading Station

You can download FXCM’s proprietary trading platform to your desktop, however, it is not available for Apple Mac desktops. 

It contains the same features you come to expect from the Trading Station platform, which also includes backtesting strategies and automated trading strategies.

TradingView

If you are a Mac user, then you can look at using TradingView’s desktop app. It offers everything from TradingView on your native desktop.

MT4

Again, if you are an Apple Mac user then FXCM does not provide a solution via the MT4 platform. This is due to MT4 being a Windows-only platform. However, some brokers have used virtual machines to emulate MT4 on an Apple Mac.

The MT4 platform is one of the most popular trading platforms for retail traders due to it being highly customisable and able to use Expert Advisors.

This is certainly the case with FXCM.

FXCM TradingView Platform

FXCM is one of 12 brokers that have currently integrated with the TradingView charting platform.

(Read the TradingView Review here)

This is a great step in opening up a brokerage to 3rd party tools to trade directly from.

This means you can do your complete analysis using the popular TradingView platform AND trade directly through the TradingView platform.

Capitalise AI

Now here is an interesting and unique feature from FXCM.

FXCM’s Capitalise AI is designed to help non-programmers to develop their own rule-based algorithms.

This is a really cool feature if you have honed in a strategy and can automate it.

Plus it’s free for FXCM users.

FXCM Customer Service

Overall their customer service is very good. You can see all of the reviews on TrustPilot that back this up too.

This is a good sign if customers are willing to take time out of their day to write feedback about a company.

The most important service offered by brokers is the ability to accurately and quickly resolve trading issues.

Now I can’t speak for every experience, but FXCM certainly has the capacity to fulfil a service if you ever find yourself in a problem.

Customer service representatives are very helpful and respond quickly.

You can contact customer service by phone, email, or through a live chat.

FXCM Education Offered

The education provided by FXCM is a great overview of how to trade the markets.

But that’s it.

An overview.

They don’t teach you a strategy or some of the fundamentals in trading, and there is a reason for this.

They are brokers, not traders. They provide a platform and a service for you to trade.

Learn to trade the markets from those who actually do it.

Plus, don’t join a broker just for their education series – seriously.

FXCM Pros and Cons

FXCM Review 2023 – Best Forex Broker for Traders?

To sum up this FXCM review:

FXCM is an incredibly well-run forex brokerage company.

They have a plethora of resources to help their clients succeed in the forex market, and offer their clients a large number of different trading tools.

The best broker for forex traders is one that has the right tools and resources available for all your forex needs.

The forex trading tools and resources available on FXCM include an advanced trading platform, a free demo account, an extensive forex news source, educational materials, a real-time forex charting calendar and more.

You can check out their services in more detail or open an account with them below:

66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

Compensation Disclaimer: Alphaex Capital Limited may receive compensation should you choose to sign up with this forex broker. This does not come at a cost to you nor will it impact your service. Although we may get compensated, Alphaex Capital will provide factual and non-biased reviews. The forex broker cannot and will not pay for a review or alter them.