The difference between ECN and market maker execution
The majority of forex brokers fall into two broad camps: those that take the other side of your trade and those that pass it through. The difference is more than semantics. A dealing desk broker acts as the other side of your trade. A true ECN setup routes your order directly to liquidity providers — your orders match with real market depth.
In practice, the difference matters most in how your trades get filled: how tight and stable your spreads are, how fast your orders go through, and requotes. ECN brokers tends to give you tighter spreads but apply a commission per lot. Dealing desk brokers mark up the spread instead. There's no universally better option — it depends on how you trade.
If you scalp or trade high frequency, a proper ECN broker is typically the better fit. Tighter spreads makes up for the per-lot fee on most pairs.
Fast execution — separating broker hype from reality
You'll see brokers advertise fill times. Numbers like "lightning-fast execution" look good in marketing, but what does it actually mean when you're actually placing trades? Quite a lot, depending on your strategy.
For someone executing two or three swing trades a week, shaving off a few milliseconds won't move the needle. If you're scalping 1-2 pip moves targeting quick entries and exits, every millisecond of delay can equal money left on the table. If your broker fills at under 40ms with zero requotes offers measurably better fills versus slower execution environments.
A few brokers have invested proprietary execution technology specifically for speed. Titan FX, for example, built their Zero Point technology that routes orders directly to LPs without dealing desk intervention — they report averages of under 37 milliseconds. There's a thorough analysis in this Titan FX review.
Raw spread accounts vs standard: doing the maths
Here's the most common question when setting up an account type: should I choose a commission on raw spreads or zero commission but wider spreads? It varies based on how much you trade.
Take a typical example. The no-commission option might show EUR/USD at 1.1-1.3 pips. A commission-based account gives you 0.1-0.3 pips but adds a commission of about $7 per lot traded both ways. On the spread-only option, the cost is baked into every trade. Once you're trading 3-4+ lots per month, ECN pricing saves you money mathematically.
A lot of platforms offer both account types so you can compare directly. Make sure you work it out using your real monthly lot count rather than going off hypothetical comparisons — those often favour one account type over the other.
High leverage in 2026: what the debate gets wrong
Leverage polarises forex traders more than any other topic. Regulators have capped retail leverage at 30:1 in most jurisdictions. Platforms in places like Vanuatu or the Bahamas still provide 500:1 or higher.
The usual case against 500:1 is simple: it blows accounts. This is legitimate — statistically, the majority of retail accounts do lose. The counterpoint is nuance: experienced traders rarely trade at full leverage. They use the option of high leverage to lower the money sitting as margin in open trades — leaving more capital for other opportunities.
Yes, 500:1 can blow an account. Nobody disputes that. But that's a risk management problem, not a leverage problem. If your strategy needs less capital per position, having 500:1 available frees up margin for other positions — which is the another article whole point for anyone who knows what they're doing.
Choosing a broker outside FCA and ASIC jurisdiction
The regulatory landscape in forex exists on a spectrum. The strictest tier is FCA, ASIC, CySEC. They cap leverage at 30:1, enforce client fund segregation, and generally restrict the trading conditions available to retail accounts. Tier-3 you've got the VFSC in Vanuatu and Mauritius (FSA). Fewer requirements, but which translates to better trading conditions for the trader.
What you're exchanging straightforward: tier-3 regulation gives you 500:1 leverage, lower account restrictions, and often more competitive pricing. But, you get less safety net if there's a dispute. No compensation scheme like the FCA's FSCS.
For traders who understand this trade-off and pick performance over protection, regulated offshore brokers are a valid choice. The important thing is checking the broker's track record rather than simply checking if they're regulated somewhere. A broker with 10+ years of clean operation under VFSC oversight is often a safer bet in practice than a newly licensed FCA-regulated startup.
What scalpers should look for in a broker
For scalping strategies is one area where broker choice has the biggest impact. You're working 1-5 pip moves and keeping positions for seconds to minutes. In that environment, tiny variations in spread become profit or loss.
The checklist isn't long: 0.0 pip raw pricing with no markup, order execution consistently below 50ms, guaranteed no requotes, and the broker allowing scalping strategies. Some brokers technically allow scalping but add latency to orders when they detect scalping patterns. Read the terms before funding your account.
ECN brokers that chase this type of trader tend to say so loudly. You'll see execution speed data somewhere prominent, and usually include virtual private servers for running bots 24/5. If a broker is vague about execution specifications anywhere on their site, that tells you something.
Social trading in forex: practical expectations
Social trading took off over the past decade. The appeal is simple: find someone with a good track record, replicate their positions without doing your own analysis, and profit alongside them. In practice is less straightforward than the advertisements imply.
What most people miss is time lag. When the lead trader opens a position, your mirrored order goes through milliseconds to seconds later — during volatile conditions, those extra milliseconds can turn a good fill into a losing one. The tighter the profit margins, the worse the lag hurts.
That said, a few copy trading setups are worth exploring for traders who don't have time to trade actively. What works is transparency around real trading results over at least 12 months, rather than backtested curves. Looking at drawdown and consistency tell you more than raw return figures.
Some brokers have built in-house social platforms within their regular trading platform. This tends to reduce the delay problem compared to standalone signal platforms that connect to the trading platform. Research how the copy system integrates before expecting historical returns will carry over to your account.