Alpari Review
Alpari NZ (not the same company as Alpari UK or US), enjoys one of the best reputations for honesty among all retail forex brokers. There are numerous reports on the internet about Alpari spontaneously returning customers' money on orders that didn't get filled properly as a result of some error on Alpari's part. This is almost unheard of in the retail forex world, as most traders have to fight tooth-and-nail with their brokers for every pip. If this is the sort of service you value, and you should, then look no further than Alpari.
Alpari NZ is regulated by the FRA (Financial Regulation Agency) in Russia, and has been in business since 1998. Since 2005, Alpari has won numerous national awards, including "Best Internet Broker" by the "Russian Financial Elite", and "The Best Russian Company – 2007 – The Best Business Reputation in the Financial Sphere" by "Financial Russia 2007".
Alpari NZ also offers new clients a 20% bonus on their first deposit - for example, if you deposit $10,000 you will get $12,000 in your trading account (certain conditions apply, in order to ensure that traders don't abuse the bonus). On top of that, they offer a wide range of tradeable instruments (please be aware that alpari.classic accounts have a wider choice than alpari.micro accounts), very competitive spreads, the Metatrader 4 (MT4) trading platform which is preferred by many retail traders, as well as forex education. Alpari is also known for having the best quality free historical chart data that can be used for back-testing systems. It should be noted that this data is available to the public and can be downloaded by anyone, not only Alpari account holders.
On the downside, Alpari customer support gets a slightly poorer rating simply because their live chat is sometimes unavailable or experiencing technical difficulties and they don't offer a toll-free telephone number, so if you don't want to have a large phone bill, you have to rely on email support, which has its inherent delays and is not very suitable to a fast moving environment such as the forex market. Once you do get through to the live chat support though, the quality of service is top-notch.
As of October 2009, Alpari customers have access to the Currenex ECN platform on its pro.directpro accounts (starting at $20,000), offering direct access to the largest pool of interbank liquidity available to retail traders (over 60 large banks and other institutions provide liquidity to the Currenex network). Market depth is also displayed in the Currenex platform, allowing traders to see all open interest the network. Currenex also allows traders to place many types of complex order types and offers traders many other professional-level tools that are not available on most retail platforms. Another type of Currenex account is expected to be available at Alpari in the coming months, featuring lower minimum deposits and lower minimum deal sizes.
Subjective Ratings
| Charting: |  |
 This is our subjective view on how good the package is in this broker platform. For brokers offering multiple trading platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Execution: | |
From our experience trading a real account, this is how we rate this broker's order execution. Brokers with guaranteed fills get a boost in rating. |
| Transaction costs (spreads): |  |
Since different brokers offer different currency pairs with different spreads, variable or fixed, commission or commission-free trading etc., the idea of judging transactions costs overall becomes somewhat subjective. This is where we try to capture the broker's overall willingness to keep your trading costs low. |
| User-friendliness: | |
How user-friendly is the trading platform? For brokers offering multiple trading platforms, we rate best one. |
| Platform Functionality: |  |
Different platforms have very different levels of complexity. In general, more complex trading platforms give the user more flexibility in their trading, but involve a longer learning curve for new users to get accustomed to their idiosyncrasies. This rating measures the ability of the trading platform to complete complex tasks, most importantly in order management and reporting. For brokers offering multiple platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Platform Reliability: | |
One of the most annoying (and costly) complaints traders have about their brokers is that the trading platform crashes at the most crucial times. This rating attempts to get a handle on how the trading platform performs in terms of stability and reliability. Is the platform always available? Does it crash or freeze? How often? For brokers offering multiple platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Customer support: | |
How good a company's client support manage questions and problems is a very important aspect of their overall performance as a business. For this rating we consider the hours of operation, the different modes of contact (such as call back service, live chat, toll-free numbers etc.) as well as the staff's patience, eagerness to help, and most importantly, knowledge. |
| Rollover interest rates: | |
Again, since each broker has their own way to calculate overnight interest rate, or swap for each currency, it is not feasible to have an objective, quantitative way to judge their swap rates. The issue is further complicated because some brokers decide to offer swap-free accounts, some with extra fees added, some not, some for Islamic traders only, and some for the general public. This rating attempts to roll all of that into one. |
| Withdrawal processing: | |
One of the often-overlooked aspects of a brokers business is how quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively they process your withdrawals. For this rating we take into account the time it took us to get our withdrawals processed, the fees that were charged for those withdrawals (if any), any problems we encountered during the process, as well as the number of withdrawal methods available (such as PayPal, Moneybookers, etc.) |
| Average rating: | |
The arithmetic mean of all the above ratings, rounded to the nearest half-star. |
Business Details
| Registered Business Name: | Alpari NZ Limited (New Zealand) | The name of the parent company of the broker, if any. |
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| Broker Headquarters: | New Zealand | The geographical location of the broker's headquarters. |
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| Also has offices in: | Many branches around Russia | A list of other places, besides the headquarters, where the broker has offices. |
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| Regulated By: | FRA (Russia) | Which regulating body, if any, is responsible for regulating this broker? |
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| In business since year: | 1998 | When was the business established? This is a measure of trustworthiness. If a business has been around for a long time, it is less likely to scam you or disappear overnight. |
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| Client Account Segregation: | ASB Bank New Zealand | Some brokers choose on their own and others are required by regulators to keep client funds separate from the company's operating capital. This gives clients an extra layer of security in case the broker becomes insolvent and needs to go into bankruptcy. It should be noted that segregation does NOT constitute absolute safety of client funds in case of bankruptcy, but is a significant step nonetheless. |
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| Collect Taxes on Earnings: | No | Does this broker report client earnings to any tax authorities? If so, which ones? |
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| Prohibit clients from: | USA, United Kingdom, New Zealand. US and UK clients can open accounts at Alpari UK and Alpari USA respectively. | Some brokers, either due to government regulation, or due to their own risk management policies, choose to prohibit clients from certain areas from opening accounts. |
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| Deposit/Withdrawal methods: | What methods are available to deposit and withdraw money to and from your trading account? |
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| Main liquidity providers: | Barclays Capital, UBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and many others | Most brokers are somewhat secretive about this aspect of their business, but those who aren't certainly provide their clients with a valuable piece of information. The more liquidity that is available, the better order execution clients can expect. Knowing the institutions which provide this liquidity can also offer a glimpse into which currency pairs have sufficiently deep liquidity for your needs. |
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Trading Details
* The high degree of leverage available in foreign exchange trading can work against you as well as for you. Investors should ensure they are fully aware of the benefits and risks before putting any money on the line.
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