ECN execution explained without the marketing spin
The majority of forex brokers fall into two execution models: dealing desk or ECN. This isn't just terminology. A dealing desk broker acts as your counterparty. ECN execution routes your order through to the interbank market — your orders match with genuine liquidity.
Day to day, the difference becomes clear in how your trades get filled: whether spreads blow out at the wrong moment, fill speed, and requotes. A proper ECN broker will typically deliver tighter pricing but add a commission per lot. DD brokers pad the spread instead. Both models work — it hinges on what you need.
If your strategy depends on tight entries and fast fills, ECN execution is generally worth the commission. The raw pricing more than offsets paying commission on high-volume currency pairs.
Execution speed: what 37 milliseconds actually means for your trades
Every broker's website mentions how fast they execute orders. Numbers like "lightning-fast execution" look good in marketing, but does it make a measurable difference when you're actually placing trades? Quite a lot, depending on your strategy.
A trader who executing two or three swing trades a week, a 20-millisecond difference won't move the needle. But for scalpers targeting quick entries and exits, execution lag can equal worse fill prices. If your broker fills at in the 30-40ms range with a no-requote policy provides noticeably better entries compared to platforms with 150-200ms fills.
Some brokers have invested proprietary execution technology to address this. One example is Titan FX's proprietary system called Zero Point designed to route orders straight to LPs without dealing desk intervention — their published average is under 37 milliseconds. For a full look at how this works in practice, see this review of Titan FX.
Raw spread accounts vs standard: doing the maths
Here's something nearly every trader asks when choosing a broker account: is it better to have a commission on raw spreads or markup spreads with no fee per lot? The answer comes down to volume.
Take a typical example. A standard account might offer EUR/USD at around 1.2 pips. A commission-based account gives you true market pricing but charges around $3.50-4.00 per lot traded both ways. For the standard account, you're paying through every trade. Once you're trading more than a few lots a week, ECN pricing works out cheaper.
Many ECN brokers offer both side by side so you can compare directly. The key is to calculate based on your actual trading volume rather than relying on hypothetical comparisons — broker examples often be designed to sell the higher-margin product.
500:1 leverage: the argument traders keep having
Leverage polarises the trading community more than most other subjects. The major regulatory bodies have capped leverage to 30:1 or 50:1 depending on the asset class. Platforms in places like Vanuatu or the Bahamas still provide up to 500:1.
The standard argument against is that it blows accounts. Fair enough — the data shows, most retail traders end up negative. But the argument misses nuance: experienced traders rarely trade at full leverage. What they do is use the option of high leverage to lower the margin tied up in open trades — leaving more capital to deploy elsewhere.
Obviously it carries risk. Nobody disputes that. The leverage itself isn't the issue — how you size your positions is. When a strategy needs lower margin requirements, the option of higher leverage means less money locked up as margin — and that's how most experienced traders actually use it.
Offshore regulation: what traders actually need to understand
Regulation in forex falls into different levels. At the top is FCA, ASIC, CySEC. You get 30:1 leverage limits, enforce client fund segregation, and generally restrict what brokers can offer retail clients. Tier-3 you've got places like Vanuatu (VFSC) and similar offshore regulators. Lighter rules, but which translates to better trading conditions for the trader.
The trade-off is not subtle: offshore brokers offers more aggressive trading conditions, lower account restrictions, and typically more competitive pricing. The flip side is, you get less investor protection if there's a dispute. You don't get a compensation scheme paying out up to GBP85k.
Traders who accept this consciously and choose execution quality and flexibility, offshore brokers work well. The webpage key is doing your due diligence rather than only reading the licence number. A broker with a long track record and no withdrawal issues under tier-3 regulation is often more reliable in practice than a freshly regulated FCA-regulated startup.
Scalping execution: separating good brokers from usable ones
Scalping is one area where broker choice makes or breaks your results. Targeting small ranges and keeping for less than a few minutes at a time. With those margins, even small gaps in execution speed become profit or loss.
Non-negotiables for scalpers comes down to a few things: raw spreads from 0.0 pips, execution in the sub-50ms range, a no-requote policy, and no restrictions on scalping and high-frequency trading. A few brokers say they support scalping but slow down execution if you trade too frequently. Check the fine print before committing capital.
Platforms built for scalping tend to put their execution specs front and centre. Look for average fill times on the website, and they'll typically include virtual private servers for running bots 24/5. If a broker avoids discussing execution specifications anywhere on the website, take it as a signal.
Copy trading and social platforms: what works and what doesn't
Copy trading has become popular over the past few years. The appeal is obvious: pick traders who are making money, mirror their activity in your own account, and profit alongside them. In reality is more complicated than the platform promos imply.
The biggest issue is time lag. When the lead trader enters a trade, your copy goes through milliseconds to seconds later — and in fast markets, those extra milliseconds might change a good fill into a worse entry. The tighter the profit margins, the worse the impact of delay.
That said, some social trading platforms work well enough for people who don't want to develop their own strategies. Look for platforms that show verified performance history over at least several months of live trading, rather than simulated results. Metrics like Sharpe ratio and maximum drawdown matter more than the total return number.
Certain brokers build in-house social platforms integrated with their main offering. Integration helps lower the delay problem compared to third-party copy services that connect to the broker's platform. Look at the technical setup before assuming the results will translate in your experience.