Haven't seen much if any discussion about this in here. I feel a little stupid after writing a gloating review and then the Oanda concept going through somewhat significant changes in the form of sky high spreads at volatile times. I understand the problem, yet feel somewhat betrayed because the spreads keep high far longer than would be necessary judging from the actual live market. Doesn't Oanda have enough liquidity providers? Also the standard spreads in some pairs have been creeping up a little recently, just tenths of a pip but anyway. What are your feelings about this? Do you still see a healthy future for Oanda? Is this going to be permanent or even a rising trend, or just a phase? Is the introduction of FxMarketSpace going to have any effect on the little retail trader, for example improving liquidity at broker/market maker level? And most important of all, if not Oanda, who do you feel is the best broker for the little guy today? Should come as close to Oanda in other areas as possible, ie pay interest on capital and swaps, small sized trades ($10-25k ok) and otherwise reliable and quick execution at all times.
There is no free lunch. So, it is better to pay commission and get better spreads. Anyway, it makes really no sense to use a "commission free" fx broker, because even if the spread is just one pip more you have to pay much more than eg. with IB (supposed you handle at least 50 k$ units).
Hotspot is nice, but i wouldnt use their order-system(SL, limit). One gets weird executions with them accompanied with weird explanations by their customer-support. If you dont use orders, its quite good IMHO.