Classify Forex Broker

There are two types of Forex broker in the market. Understanding the operation, advantages as well as disadvantages of each type will help your have a right selection.

Dealing Desk (DD) brokers

Forex brokers that operate (route orders) through the Dealing Desk and quote fixed spreads. A dealing desk broker makes money via spreads and by trading against its clients. A Dealing Desk Forex broker is called a Market Maker - they literally "make the market" for traders: when traders want to sell, they buy from them, when traders want to buy, they sell to them, e.g. they will always take the opposite side of the trade and in this way "create the market". A trader doesn't see the real market quotes, which allows Dealing Desk brokers (Market Makers) manipulate with their quotes where they need to in order to fill the client.

No Dealing Desk (NDD) brokers

Forex brokers provide access to the interbank market without passing orders trough the dealing desk. With true No Dealing Desk brokers there are no re-quotes on orders and no additional pausing during order confirmation. This, in particular, allows trading during news times with no restrictions on trading.An NDD broker can either charge commission for trading or choose to increase the spread and make Forex trading commission free.No Dealing Desk brokers are either STP or ECN+STP.

Straight Through Processing (STP) brokers

Forex brokers send orders directly from clients to the liquidity providers - bankswhich trade on the Intebank. Sometimes STP brokers have just one liquidity provider, other times several. The more there are banks and liquidity in the system, the better the fills for the clients.The fact that traders have access to the true market and can execute trades immediately without dealer intervention is what makes the platform STP.

STP brokers make money on spreads, thus even though they do not have a physical dealing desk to monitor and counter-trade client orders, they are still able to set their own price - the spread markup - for routing trading orders to liquidity providers and providing their clients with advanced trading services, lower account deposits, faster execution and anonymous trading environment with no dealing desk. STP brokers are also interested to see their clients trading profitable, so that a broker can continue earning on spreads.

Electronic Communications Network (ECN) brokers

Forex brokers additionally allow clients' orders to interact with other clients' orders. ECN Forex broker provides a marketplace where all its participants (banks, market makers and individual traders) trade against each other by sending competing bids and offers into the system. Participants interact inside the system and get the best offers for their trades available at that time. All trading orders are matched between counter parties in real time. A small trading fee - commission - is always applied. Sometimes STP brokers are discussed as if they were ECN brokers. To be a true ECN, a broker must display the Depth of the Market (DOM) in a data window, let clients show their own order size in the system and allow other clients to hit those orders. With ECN broker traders can see where the liquidity is and execute trades. ECN brokers are the purest breed among all Forex dealers. They don't profit on spread difference. Their only profit comes from commission. ECN brokers are interested in their clients to be winning, otherwise there will be no commission to earn.

Disclaimer

Foreign Exchange trading carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to trade any Forex Exchange financial instruments you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and affordable risk. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with the Foreign Exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.