I've been demo'ing Oanda for awhile and just recently opened an account with them... I really am impressed. When you compare them to many other brokers, you just can't beat 'em... Fast execution, no minimum deposit, 2.5 pips on the EUR/JPY, no commissions, second by second interest calculation, and granular position sizing using units not pesky "one size fits all" lots... Holla back y'all!
It's interesting to see how different people have different criterias in picking up a broker. To me for example Oanda is attractive not because of their 2.5 pips spreads on EUR/JPY which I could care less but because their perk like second by second interest calculation gives me the feeling that I can trust them my money. Or because the withdrawal form I can simply fill out online and not like many other brokers suggest to print it out off their website & fax it to them that I myself find kind of clunky. And again this straigtforward process makes me more comfortable to trust them my money.
To me it's a combination of factors. Pip spreads come to my mind because my other logical choice, since I use TS, is to go with Gain... but then we're talking about 4 pip spreads... Big difference there over the long term, ya know... IB probably offers the same 2 pip spread as Oanda, but with commissions...
This is the other thing I forgot to mention. I had my account opened online, I scanned my DL, faxed them a bill, and had my identity verified at 11-12AM at night. Literally, I had it faxed from my desk and they emailed me shortly after. The following morning, they confirmed my deposit. Unbelievably efficient!
How about 15 (G) in their customer agreement....You can never have a negative balance at Oanda...anybody offering leverage with this in their customer agreement when they do not need to, is marching to a different beat...
That's because they try to minimise their own risk. If a company allows for their customer to have a negative balance it simply does not know to manage it's own risk properly. I don't think it tells much of how Oanda treats its customers.
pays interest direct to the balance without an adjustment to price at rollover....this does not require the trader to liquidate to get the interest as with some dealer/marketmakers.
<quote><b>33 pair to choose from... </b></quote> This was good one. Add mupltiple subaccounts to explot different trading strategies.