Table of Contents
Background
FXOpen is an experienced player in the FX, CFDs and cryptocurrencies market. Along with this primary offering, the MetaTrader broker offers a variety of social copy-trading signals and PAMM accounts for the institutional traders. The broker falls short in its research and trading tools offerings but makes up for it by offering competitive ECN account and economical minimum deposit across its all 3 global brands.
Pros
- Offers low spreads on the ECN account
- Regulated in the two jurisdictions – UK and Australia
- Offers13 pairs of cryptos for CFD trading
- Low minimum deposit
Cons
- The micro account offers lower forex pairs than other account types
- No of flagship trading platform
- Poor customer support
It was founded as technical analysis educational center in 2003, and in the year 2005 entered the financial market as an online broker. FXOpen was one of the early adopters when it comes to micro contracts and establishing Islamic accounts before developing its own ECN bridge technology on the industry’s favorite MetaTrader platform.
After establishing an STP account service in 2013, FXOpen touched 100 billion dollars in monthly trading volume, and till date continues to primarily operate as a MetaTrader broker. The broker is regulated by FCA in the UK. In Australia, it operates via an unregulated entity based in Nevis that is a member of an External Dispute Resolution (EDR) entity.
FXOpen offers PAMM accounts for institutional investors, along with its STP, ECN, Micro and Crypto trading accounts which gives its clients access to over 50 forex pairs and more than 24 CDFs as well as popular crypto pars in its MT4 and MT5 platforms.
FX Open Commissions & Fees
The spreads charged at FXOpen is based on the type of trading account one holds. Aligned with the ECN, STP and Micro accounts, the pricing options are derived for its commission and spreads. That being said, average fees published by the broker were not available in order to make a fair comparison with the other brokers.
As an overview, FXOpen offers low spreads on its ECN account across its 3 brands, based on where one chooses to open a trading account. It’s ideal for novice and experienced traders compared to some the MetaTrader offerings provided by other FX brokers. Below is the spread comparison table showing example of how spreads vary across various brands in the industry. FXOpen definitely strives to gain sharp competitive edge when it comes to providing its customers with minimum trading costs.
| Company | EUR/USD | GBP/USD | GBP/JPY | USD/CAD | EUR/AUD | EUR/CAD | EUR/GBP | GBP/CAD | NZD/USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FxOpen ECN | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| Admiral Markets | 1.1 | 1.8 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 5.7 | 1.3 |
| FxOpen STP | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 2.3 |
| Oanda | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 1.4 |
Platforms & Tools
As the broker is primarily a MetaTrader only broker, it only deals in platforms developed under the MetaTrader umbrella by MetaQuotes Software Corporation such as MT4 and MT5. It is available as a desktop, web and mobile version.
While most default functions will be similar in the MetaQuotes’ platforms, it is interesting to see how each broker has its own setup that makes the difference. It can be hard to notice the difference between dealing desk and true ECN/STP execution, but FXOpen effectively provides both alternatives.
The chartings at MT4 and MT5 come equipped with several technical indicators as a default setting for the charting module, which continues to be the case at FXOpen as well. This enables the traders to backtest their auto-trading strategies, which is something the MetaQuotes platforms are known for. The historic data might vary from broker to broker which is no surprise due to the nature of spot foreign exchange markets.
Prior to leaving the MetaTrader4 platform, the broker allows several copy-trading platforms such as ZuluTrade. Moreover, the broker makes mandatory for the trader to have an MT4 account in order to sync account data with other third party applications.
The MT4 platforms also have its own signal markets which can be accessed from within the platform and similar to ZuluTrade uses strict criteria to vet signal providers that use active accounts compared to Myfxbook.
In terms of managed account offerings, investors at FXOpen have the option of choosing from a range of money managers that are ranked as per performance and other areas with the dealer’s PAMM platform, which is more like a managed account structure rather than a copy-trading platform.
Similar to any service that offers a wide range of underlying investment tools/vehicles to select from, the quality of each will be the focal point, including its historical performance, pricing, strategies and other numbers and qualitative data. The addition of cryptocurrencies to its PAMM platforms in 2017 coupled with its current range of tools and services to the PAMM managers has given the broker a diverse portfolio for social trading.
Please note, the UK branch of FXOpen does not offer PAMM platforms and apart from the social trading platform, the broker is primarily a MetaTrader broker.
Mobile Trading
The mobile app version of the MT4 and MT5 platform are available on Andriod and IOS devices and can be downloaded via Google Play
FXOpen also provides Tick Trader in a mobile version for Andriod devices. The app has seen a major upgrade since our 2017 review, in addition to being function it now boasts numerous features. For instance, new security policies do not allow taking screenshots, which is becoming the norm for apps that support crypto-trade.
The app overall is good to use only fault worth mentioning is, when the indicators are added to the charts they are not updated when the timeframe is changed. For instance, adding indicators to an hourly chart works fine, but when changed to a daily module, the transition caused the indicators to not set properly, and hence needs to be added again.
Apart from this single bug, the app has come a long way since our last year’s review when it wasn’t even functional. That being said, there is scope for improvement when it comes to the mobile trading experience at FXOpen. It ranked in the bottom half of our review for 2018.
Other Notes
For the clients who want to speculate on the rates of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the crypto-account is not available at its Australia center. It is available only from its unregulated subsidiary in Nevis, who is a member of the EDR corporation based in Hong Kong. This service is also recently available at its UK center which is regulated by FCA. The EDR can come in handy for the dealer’s clients when it comes to dispute in trades. However, the clients looking for more regulatory security can opt for the UK or the Australia centers.
FXOpen UK does not offer a micro account, this service can access through its Australian and Nevis based entity for 100 Australian Dollars.
The broker expanded its cryptocurrencies offerings to a total of 28 crypto-to-fiat-pairs, which are sourced from 7 underlying cryptocurrencies in 2017. Although as of January, only 13 pairs are currently available. Even so, this is still a larger crypto offering when compared to other brokers; which has proved that FXOpen has gained an edge due to its early adoption of digital currencies.
The Bottom Line
What helps FXOpen gain an edge over its other competitors is its crypto offerings, PAMM platforms and copy trading platforms on offer, even though some of these offerings can only be availed through its Nevis branch.
Furthermore, the broker offers a wide range of account types, small minimum deposits and a quality range of FX pairs and CFDs. FXOpen can be deal for brokers that need a higher minimum of their account types, including large volume traders who need huge deposits to qualify for the access to the active trading accounts.
Keeping the Pros asides, the traders should remember FXOpen lacks research offerings and offers an overall trading experience that finished in the bottom half in comparison to the other brokers in the industry.