Review of CitiFX

Online Forex Broker Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Learning more about CitiFX investments

If you are interested in the Forex Exchange program, and you are planning to become part of their system, it is very important for you to have all the information about the best brokers available that will be able to give you the best results for the investments that you are planning in achieving. CitiFX is a private investment company that has been able to create a very good reputation as an international broker. They have been working with Forex and other investment companies for many decades now and they can prove that they know what they are doing when it comes to investments of any kind.

CitiFX is working in making sure that all your investment needs are being taken care of and this includes the usage of different systems for your individual needs and for those of a business or institution. The tools that this company uses include the market leading research and commentary on the present conditions of the market and the ways how you can handle the present situation to the avail the best benefits.

It is also important to notice that they are into making sure that your business, whether small or large is having a good flexible pricing model which will help you in the long run. CitiFX will keep you informed of all the tricks of the trade as and when they thing it is necessary for you and they have a
very good customer service center that is ready for all your questions at all times.

Another very important factor that you may consider is that CitiFX is being very neutral when it comes to pricing. This means that you are not given prices that are made up and they are equal for all their clients. Of course, the amount that you want to invest with a company will put you in good books with them; however, this does not mean that you will be given special pricing for that amount.

The same thing applies to order handling. The company is reputed for being able to handle all of its customers in the same manner and this is something that can be very important, because whether you are an individual or a company and whether your investment is small or large, it still matters to you and you expect the best customer support that you can get from your broker at all times.

Of course, risks are very important part of the whole issue of investing, and therefore it is very important to understand the different aspects of risk taking. The CitiFX not only is able to give you all the information required when it comes to your low risk and high risks, it is also able to guide you into the procedures that need to be handled in order for you to be covered by their insured programs as well.
Some of the basic tools that CitiFX offers are the ability to pair more than 130 currencies at the same time. Also, there is a full range of stop order functions that the company offers. You also have one click execution and advanced charting systems that allow you to see and study your investments in a very systematic manner. Not to mention the round the clock customer support being handled by very good professionals that know what they are talking about and that are capable of giving you the confidence to invest your money with them.

You can also get free news from the business world from them at any time. This is a very important factor when it comes to investing and when it comes to the Forex market place. Also, all the USD accounts are insured.

If you are a small investor or a person that is thinking of investing in the international market for the first time, then it is very important for you to have the proper guidance that some of these companies can give you in the long run. CitiFX can give you are flexible pricing model which will allow you to use a fixed investment module or a variable investment module. They will also be able to guide you on what are the differences in between these two terms and what do they actually mean to you and your investments.

There are other factors that you may also like to study and they will include the meaning of API solutions and how to benefit from Fix API packages, and they also deal with issues like the Meta Trader which is a combination the liquidity and pricing when it comes to the security issues that are involved when you are dealing with international banking systems.

Besides this, there are many demonstrations that you can access online to make sure that you understand how this company functions and how it is important for you to understand all about the ways your funds are invested and what you need to expect out of them when it comes to interests and risk factors.

It is therefore very important to make sure you are keeping yourself updated with the latest news and research that these companies are offering on regular basis. It is also important to find out the best solutions and the market trends and to understand the ways how the changes in the Forex are going to affect your investments immediately and in the long run.

The CitiFX allows trade via desktop, internet and mobile. It has 2-4 pips spread to major currencies and offers up to fifty times leverage. However, as trading in foreign exchange involves a high degree of risk the leverage created by trading can work for you and against you are well. And you can even experience total loss of your investments. Therefore, it is very important to understand the regulations of these kinds of companies and study in dept their way of functioning before investing with any of them whether you are an individual or an institution looking for ways of increasing the value of your money through investments.

Review of Zecco as a Forex Broker

Online Forex Broker Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

About Zecco

Zecco is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area in Burlingame, California. The company opened in October of 2006 and is currently serving 100,000 investors. According to Investor’s Business Daily, Zecco is known for its leadership in the Web 2.0 technology community. Zecco is also a member of Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and protects its investor’s accounts up to $500,000. For accounts in excess of this amount, additional insurance is acquired for protection.

Foreign Exchange (Forex)

Forex is an acronym for the Foreign Exchange Market. Typically, a foreign exchange is described as a transaction that involves investors purchasing and selling a currency simultaneously. The end result is an exchange of currency.

Foreign exchange holds one of the highest trading volumes of any security. Daily the volume reaches over $3 trillion. Zecco assist customers in with Forex transactions, as well as, stocks and options. Trading on the foreign exchange involves a significant amount of risk; however, the returns or leverage also increase with risk.

Foreign trade accounts for about 5% of foreign currency activity. The remaining percentage results from profit speculaton. The most popular or most liquid currencies include the Japanese Yen, US Dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, and the Australian Dollar. These currencies account for nearly 90 percent of Forex transactions each day.

Most Popular Features

Zecco is a popular trading platform for two reasons: online social networking or investment community and low cost trade prices.

Social Networking Community

Zecco community members are provided with the latest stock tips and information from other community members. The information is available upon login. Through the online community ZeccoShare, investors can begin their own investment groups, participate in online forums, and find the latest stock predictions. Currently, Zecco is one of four that possess this type of online investment community.

Low Trading Prices

Zecco offers some of the lowest trade execution fees in the industry. Zecco Forex offers their customers commission free trades. The cost of the transaction is simply the difference between the bid and the ask price.

Investors who desire other types of transactions must maintain $25,000 in an account or execute 25 trades each month to receive 10 free trades. If investors do not meet those requirements, the fee is only $4.50 per trade. Many companies charge up to $10 or more per trade. Zecco eliminated high transaction costs to encourage active trading.

Other important features include:

$50,000 Virtual Practice Account
Real-Time Quotes in over 35 Currency Pairs
Customizable Charts
Up to 100:1 Leverage
Streaming 24 hour News Reports
Easily Accessible Customer Support
Forex Research
Real Time Price Quotes in 0.1 Increments
Low Trade Spreads: 1 to 2 pips
Fractional Pips for Real Time Quoting
Gold and Silver Spots

Trading Tools

Zecco’s stock analysis software or trading tools are available to investors free when an account is opened. The platform is web based. Therefore, investors must have Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 6 or higher.

The trading tools offer several features to accommodate investors. Investors remark on the intuitive and easily navigable user interface. Investors can customize the interface, charts and multiple order types. Common order types include conditional orders, stop orders, and others. Investors may also create multiple Watch Lists and view Streaming Quotes and News.

Other technical analysis tools allow investors to test previous market trends to determine future behavior. Fundamental analysis tools evaluate the social climate of the particular currency, including economic indicators, government policy and other societal factors.

Education

Zecco provides beginning and seasoned investors with educational advice on trading strategies, trading options, trading stocks and online trading tools. The fundamentals of trading stocks and options are reviewed, as well as, research strategies and investment tips.

Zecco Forex educational tools also teach investors how to evaluate currencies and their behavior over time. By evaluating past behavior, investors can make an educated prediction of how the currency will behave in the future. Both technical and fundamental analysis tools are explored for this purpose.

Regulation

Zecco currently possesses a membership with the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). SIPC protects investor’s accounts up to $500,000. Additional insurance is required for protection of amounts in excess of this amount. This supplemental insurance is provided by Lloyd’s of London. FINRA is currently the largest independent regulator in the nation. Nearly 5000 brokerage firms are regulated by FINRA.

Other Pertinent Details of Zecco’s Forex Accounts

Average spreads:
1 to 2 Pips

Trading Desk:
Forex Trading Desk is open to investors 24 hours daily Sunday –Friday. The desk is also open on most holidays.

Maximum leverage:
100:1

Minimum account size:
Minimal margin requirements are $2,500. One hundred thousand dollars is my minimum trade size. Forex also offers mini accounts for investors. The minimal margin requirements for this account are $250. The minimum trade size is $10,000. Investors must have sufficient funds in each account to execute a trade.

Listed below are examples of the spreads provided for Zecco Forex investors. The smaller the spread, the more money the investor will save per transaction.

PAIR Min. Spread
EUR/USD 1.6
USD/JPY 1.6
USD/CHF 1.8
EUR/GBP 0.7
EUR/JPY 1.8
EUR/CHF 1
GBP/USD 1.8
USD/CAD 1.8
AUD/USD 1.8
AUD/NZD 4.5
GBP/CAD 3.5
EUR/NZD 7.5
AUD/CHF 5.5
NZD/CAD 7.5
USD/HKD 3.3
SGD/JPY 4.5
USD/SEK 21
EUR/NOK 21.5
EUR/DKK 4
NZD/USD 1.3
CHF/JPY 2.5
CAD/JPY 3.5
AUD/JPY 4
NZD/JPY 4
GBP/JPY 3.3
GBP/CHF 4
EUR/AUD 4
EUR/CAD 3.5
AUD/CAD 2
GBP/AUD 4.5
GBP/NZD 1.7
NZD/CHF 6
CAD/CHF 6
USD/SGD 5
USD/NOK 21.5
USD/DKK 7.5
EUR/SEK 21.5

Zecco Forex Broker Review

Online Forex Broker Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Zecco Forex, Inc. (“Zecco Forex”) acts as partner brokering your account with GAIN Capital Group, LLC (“GAIN Capital”). Therefore, GAIN Capital actually holds and maintains your account serving the partnership as the counterparty and the clearing agent for your Zecco Forex trades as well as serving as custodian of your margin holdings.

Since Zecco Trading Inc. launching in 2006, more than 160K customers have traded online with Zecco Holdings. Zecco Forex is a fully owned subsidiary of Zecco Holdings and is a separate from but affiliated with Zecco Trading. Zecco Trading is a registered broker-dealer, member FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) the primary regulatory body of the securities industry while Zecco Forex is subject to regulation by National Futures Association (NFA).

Zecco Forex, Inc. collaboration with GAIN Capital brings together Zecco’s strong presence in the online brokerage world and GAIN Capital’s Forex trading experience and proven trading technology. Customers and trading partners such as Zecco Forex Inc., utilizing GAIN Capital’s award-winning trading platform, have executed transactions totaling nearly $200 billion per month.

Zecco Forex Trading Policy
Zecco is not an ECN (Electronic Communications Network) Broker and offers the Zecco ForexTrader Desktop, a stand-alone installable Windows-based application operating as a dealing desk to trade foreign currency. Zecco also offer Zecco’s ForexTrader Web program that performs admirably and can certainly work as a teaching tool or for account trading/viewing when the Zecco ForexTrader Desktop is not available.
Zecco ForexTrader Desktop is provides real time information and tools to maximize your trading flexibility. It is a feature rich platform meant for serious traders and offers an intuitive interface, with a full suite of professional trading tools and customization features.

The trading software determines margin requirements and if funds are available in your account before entering a new position. If you have adequate funds, the new position is entered and the transacted is confirmed on screen and a report including date, time, rate, size transacted, USD value, and your reference number can be downloaded and printed.

Spreads, Leverage, and Currency Pairs

With spreads as low as 1-2 pips, Zecco Forex can offer, for the major currency pairs, some of the most competitive pricing available. These major currencies include the British pound, the Euro, and the Japanese yen (GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/USD, EUR/JPY, and USD/JPY), the Swiss franc (USD/CHF, EUR/CHF), the New Zealand dollar (NZD/USD, GBP/NZD), the Canadian dollar (USD/CAD), and the Australian dollar (AUD/USD, AUD/CAD), etc. All major trading pairs qualify for the 1% (up to 100:1 leverage) security deposit. The remaining non-major (exotic) currencies require a minimum margin deposit of 4% (up to 25:1 leverage).Through GAIN Capital, 37 currency pairs are available.

Account Types

For those clients who feel comfortable forex trading and are experienced trading online, Zecco Forex offers a standard account and 1% (100:1) maximum leverage. A mini account, best for beginners, offers smaller contract sizes of 10,000 but a 1% (100:1) leverage requiring only a $250 deposit.

Zecco Forex Pro ($10,000 or more) is provided for the active trader. Forex Pro clients benefit from “preferred” service allowing trades on Zecco’s tightest available spread, as low as 1 pip, and leverage up to 200:1 is some cases with just $500 necessary for a $100,000 contract.

Education

Zecco Forex provides no nonsense tutorials on their web site that teaches, step by step, execution of forex trades and explains the intricacies of trading. The tutorials discuss the types of trades that can be profitable. With titles like Forex Basics, Technical Analysis (design a chart to see if you are looking at a fair price, looking at a cyclical top, or an unstable market), and Fundamental Analysis (the underlying core elements of a particular currency’s economy) tutorials attempt to teach the importance of market trends.
These tutorials, while detailed and informative, should be supplemented by registering for Zecco Forex’s free demo trading account that allows you to test your new found knowledge by “paper” trading with a $50,000 account.

If you are then ready to take on the forex market, you should consider Zecco Forex’s Premium Forex Education that provides study at your own pace with online classes. Eventually, with the combination of tutorials, online classes, and the learning the intricacies of real life trading you will develop the instincts of a seasoned forex trader.

Although probably more accurately an “educational” and not a “customer service” directly, Zecco trading maintains a community site “ZeccoShare.” This community includes very knowledgeable traders and trading groups who share strategies and their optimization. ZeccoShare also has a good deal of forums with a thriving community. Although, forex trading is a newer addition it is beginning to gain grown among the securities traders.

Safety

The risks associated with an on-line trading system include (in legalese, but not limited to) the failure of software, hardware, and loss of am Internet connection. Although, GAIN Capital minimizes the possibility of system failure with back up systems trading via telephone is always available.

Phone Trading is provided 24 hours a day, stating Sunday at 5:00pm (ET) and closing on Friday at 5:00pm (ET). All phone trades are subject to a margin availability check as provided in the Zecco software and are manually entered into the customer’s account. For the safety of both parties, a recording of all telephone calls is saved for the record with the transaction number.

Zecco Forex is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). This self-regulatory organization of the U.S. futures industry functions to maintain market integrity, protect consumers, and help members fulfill their regulatory obligations. In addition, the NFA serve as an arbitrator between members and clients. GAIN Capital is also a member of the NFA and a registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). GAIN Capital accounts are FDIC and Fidelity Bond insured. Individual trades are not insured but the unused cash balance in your account is covered. Finally, GAIN Capital has $2 Billion in available liquidity.