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Compare Forex Brokers Alpari And UFX Bank
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Subjective Ratings
Compare Category |
Alpari |
UFX Bank |
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| Charting: |  |
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 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: | |
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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): | |
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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: | |
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How user-friendly is the trading platform? For brokers offering multiple trading platforms, we rate best one. |
| Platform Functionality: | |
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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: | |
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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: | |
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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: | |
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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: | |
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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: | |
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The arithmetic mean of all the above ratings, rounded to the nearest half-star. |
Business Details
Trading Details
Compare Category |
Alpari |
UFX Bank |
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| Browser platform: | Currenex ECN (for pro.direct accounts) | UFX Bank by paragonEX Trading Solutions | Does the broker offer a trading platform that can run in web browsers? If so, which one? Some brokers license their platforms from third-party providers, while some develop their own proprietary systems. |
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| Downloadable platform: | Alpari MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | None | Does the broker offer a downloadable application for its platform? If so, which one? Some brokers license their platforms from third-party providers, while some develop their own proprietary systems. |
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| Mobile platform: | Alpari MetaTrader Mobile for Pocket PC and Smartphones | None | Some brokers offer a simplified version of their trading platform that can run on mobile devices. Some of these brokers license their mobile platforms from third-party providers, while others develop their own proprietary mobile trading systems. |
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| Phone dealing: | Yes | Yes | Does the broker offer clients a way to contact their dealing desk via telephone? This can be very helpful to traders who want to manage their positions when there is no internet connection available. |
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| Order processing: | ECN on pro.direct accounts | Market Maker | Does the broker pass your orders directly to a higher tier, or do they trade against you as a market maker? |
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| Account Types |
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Most forex brokers offer different account types to clients, normally depending on the size of the account. Different trading conditions apply to each account type, with smaller accounts usually being allowed smaller deal sizes, and larger accounts being given lower transaction costs, service, or promotions. |
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| Swap-free accounts | Islamic - $10 per standard lot (100,000) round turn trade. Trade can be held for unlimited time period. | Yes - swap-free accounts are charged slightly higher spreads | Does the broker offer accounts that do not carry any interest on positions held over night? This is of particular interest to Islamic traders who are prohibited from collecting/paying interest due to religious reasons. Some brokers levy additional charges for such accounts, because they are susceptible to abuse. |
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| Tradeable Instruments: | 53 | 40 | The number of instruments that this broker has available to trade. If you click on the "Show Details" link, you will see the full list. |
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| No Dealing Desk Execution: | Yes | Not available | Some brokers offer 'no dealing desk' execution, which means client orders are automatically routed. Please note that some brokers use automated dealing desks. For this purpose we only consider only manual execution as having a "dealing desk". |
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| Typical spread on EUR/USD: | 0.5 pips (0.00005) - widens overnight Moscow time | 2 pips (0.0002) for Platinum Accounts, 3 pips (0.0003) for Gold Accounts, 4 pips (0.0004) for Standard Accounts, 5 pips (0.0005) for Mini Accounts | EUR/USD spread during normal market conditions. Please note that the actual spread may be wider in illiquid market conditions. |
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| Fixed spreads: | No | No | Some market makers decide to offer their clients fixed spreads, meaning that the spreads do NOT widen at any time, even during highly illiquid periods such as important economic releases. Please note however, that in most such cases, orders will be slipped or not executed, and that these fixed spreads are generally higher than variable spreads, and are not representative of the true market. |
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| Guaranteed stop losses? | No | Yes, all stop-loss and take-profit orders are guaranteed by UFX Bank against slippage. | Some market makers offer a "no slippage" guarantee on some client orders. This is fairly common for stop-loss orders, but may also be expanded to include all standing orders. |
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| Trailing Stops: | Server-side | None | Many brokers offer traders the ability to set trailing stop-loss orders. These orders can be client-side or server-side. Since trailing stops are not real orders in the market, the trading platform has to take care of them. Client-side trailing stops run your computer and are only valid when your trading platform is open and online. Server-side trailing stops run on the broker servers, so they do not depend on you having the platform open. |
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| OCO orders available: | Yes | No | Does the platform offer "One cancels other" order types? |
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| If/then orders available: | Yes | No | Does the platform offer conditional order types? |
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| Hedging capability: | Yes | Yes | Does the broker allow traders to hold both long and short positions in the same currency at the same time? |
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| Automated Trading: | Yes, on MT4 | No | Does the platform offer traders the ability to program and deploy automated trading systems? |
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| Trading Hours: | Sunday 9 pm GMT until Friday 9 pm GMT | The forex is a 24/5 market but different brokers can choose different times at which they begin and their dealing each week. Some brokers offer "after hours" dealing. This normally incurs higher spread costs due to the thin liquidity though. |
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| Timezone | GMT | GMT | This is the timezone of the broker's chart data feed. It can be important in some cases, particularly when it comes to "Sunday bars" on the charts, which are usually not full day bars, and as a result can throw off some mechanical trading systems. |
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| Scalping allowed: | Yes - Currenex ECN places no restrictions on trading style. | Minimum time to close a deal after opening it is 1 minute. | The general rule is that market makers do not like scalping, while ECN/STP type brokers don't mind it. Some brokers choose not to follow that rule though. The exact definition of what scalping is can vary from broker to broker also. |
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| Account currencies available: | EUR, USD | USD | Which currencies can your margin account be denominated in? Most brokers offer USD accounts, but an increasing number are starting to let clients have their accounts in EUR, JPY, GBP, and other currencies. |
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| Platform languages: | Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish | Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish | Which languages is the broker's trading platform available in? |
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| Support languages: | Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish | English | Which languages is the broker's customer support available in? |
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| Demo account: | 30 days | Yes | Does the broker offer free demo accounts, and if so, for how long? |
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| Live chat support: | Yes - a little slow but top quality | Yes, during UFX Bank trading hours | Does this broker have live chat support, and when is it available? |
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| Interest on Margin: | Yes | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotions & tournaments: | 20% first deposit bonus. Interest paid on unused margin at 2% annual rate (alpari.premier accounts only). Free courses and educational materials. | 25% up to $5,000 free on new client deposits. Bonus must be traded 15,000 times in volume before withdrawals can be made. | Does the broker offer any additional incentives to traders, such as bonuses on their deposits, or trading tournaments with real prizes? |