HERE IS A LIST OF FOREX BROKERS THAT OFFER A-BOOK EXECUTION
Best A Book Forex Brokers
In the world of forex trading, there are different types of forex brokers that fit the needs of different kinds of traders. A-Book brokers are the kind of brokers that pass the orders of investors straight to liquidity providers. These brokers provide the link between traders and liquidity providers. To elaborate, there are different types of A-Book brokers in the market depending on the execution models they use. These include STP, ECN, and DMA brokers.
In this Best A Book Forex Brokers review, we want to see the best forex brokers offering this service to South African and international traders. Before we delve further, let’s first cover some crucial things.
The Difference Between A-Book Brokers and B-Book Brokers
It is important to grasp the concept of A-book brokers and what sets them apart. As we mentioned, A-book brokers are those that pass investor orders straight through to liquidity providers. Such brokers make their money through a markup on spreads or commissions. In contrast, B-Book brokers take the opposite side of an investor’s trade. They act as the liquidity provider during the transaction. Such brokers usually make money when a trader loses a trade as they take the opposite side. However, this model creates a conflict of interest. In contrast, the main advantage of A-Book brokers is that they do have a conflict of interest when serving their traders. Let’s look at some more advantages of A-Book brokers.
Advantages of A-Book Brokers
- The A-book model eliminates conflict of interest as the broker does not receive compensation when the trader loses a trade.
- The spreads on A-book brokers can be fairly low, especially for brokers who charge fixed commissions with no markups on spreads.
- A-book brokers usually use liquidity providers that are reliable with deep liquidity. As such, A-book brokers usually have deeper liquidity.
- A-book brokers offer more transparency in the market.
Disadvantages of A-Book Brokers
- Some broker sites charge high commissions, which can increase trading fees.
- A-Book brokers avoid risk in the market as they only act as middlemen.
Now with those parts covered, we believe you have a little more understanding of what A-Book brokers are. Let’s now shift our focus to some of the best A-book forex brokers.
Best A Book Forex Brokers
Pepperstone
Pepperstone is an ECN broker that does not run a dealing desk. This broker sources pricing from external liquidity providers via an electronic communication network, which classifies the company as an A-Book Broker. The pricing is passed straight to clients without a dealing desk intervening. Through this setup, there are no hidden markups, no requotes, no dealing desk, and traders experience little to no latency.
Pepperstone offers traders access to more than 1,200 different CFDs to invest in. Specifically, clients have access to CFDs on forex, shares, indices, currency indices, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and commodities.
Pepperstone spreads are competitively low. For instance, Pepperstone’s standard account features spreads from as low as 1.0 pips for major currency pairs with no commission. On the other hand, the raw account allows clients to trade with even lower spreads starting from 0.0 pips with a commission of *$3.5 per side per lot paid when using the MetaTrader and TradingView platforms. When using cTrader, the commission sits at *$3 per side per lot.
Another noteworthy feature of Pepperstone is the trading platforms it avails to clients. These include four world-renowned trading platforms, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and TradingView. By executing most orders in under 60 milliseconds, Pepperstone ranks among the fastest execution brokers in the market.
Regarding regulations, this broker is subject to supervision and overwatch by the CMA in Kenya, the FCA in the UK, the CySEC in Cyprus, and the ASIC in Australia. Given these regulatory oversight measures, we can say that Pepperstone has a very strong regulatory framework.
FBS
FBS is regulated by the FSCA in South Africa, making it a popular choice for traders in this country. It also has regulatory licenses from other recognized regulators including the CySEC in Cyprus and the ASIC in Australia.
This broker utilizes an STP processing model for its standard account, allowing client orders to be passed directly to the underlying market without the need for a dealing desk. This positions FBS as an A-Book broker, committed to delivering some of the fastest order execution times, with 95% of orders executed within 0.4 seconds.
Further, there are three main trading platforms for traders to use. These include MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and FBS Trader. Using these platforms, traders can invest in a variety of global markets. These include forex, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. This ability to diversify one’s portfolio on one broker site is a sort-out feature.
As for the spreads that traders enjoy on this broker site, they start from as low as 0.7 pips for major currency pairs with no commission required.
FP Markets
FP Markets is another ECN broker that operates in South Africa. This broker is under the regulation of the FSCA in South Africa, the CySEC in Cyprus, and the ASIC in Australia. These stringent regulations are enough to attract some traders to a broker site.
Notably, this broker offers traders both ECN and DMA execution when trading. With ECN execution, the broker streams price feeds directly from its liquidity providers. The DMA execution model is only available on the Iress platform giving traders price feeds from the underlying market with no markups. In both these execution models, traders experience deep liquidity, the highest levels of price transparency, tight spreads, and ultra-fast execution to ensure minimal slippage. Moreover, there are various global markets available for traders to invest in. In total, traders have access to over 10,000 different CFDs on forex, shares, metals, commodities, cryptocurrencies, indices, ETFs, and bonds.
When it comes to spreads on the FP Markets broker site, they depend on the account a trader is using. The standard account features spreads as low as 1.0 pips for major currency pairs with no commissions required. In comparison, the raw account features spreads from as low as 0.0 pips with a small commission of *$3 per side per lot. The trading platforms available to use include MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Iress, and cTrader.
Forex.com
Forex.com is an international broker that offers A-book services on its DMA account. Typically, this account is only available to institutional traders. It gives clients access to multiple levels of liquidity displayed in real-time. As a result, traders have access to prices as they are on the underlying market. There is no additional markup on this account. In fact, the account does not feature any spreads, just a standard commission that depends on the trading volume of a trader. For example, traders with a trading volume between $0M and $100M face a commission of *$60 per 1 million traded. Traders with a higher volume get a percentage reduction on the standard commission depending on the trading volume.
On this broker site, traders have access to over 5,500 different trading instruments from various global markets. These include CFDs on forex, stocks, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and precious metals. The trading platforms available to use include MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView, and Forex.com Trader.
Unfortunately, this broker is not regulated in South Africa. However, it holds regulatory licenses from a variety of world-renowned organisations including the CySEC in Cyprus, the FCA in the UK, the ASIC in Australia, and the NFA in the USA, among others.
Admiral Markets
Trading Forex and CFDs entail risk.
Your capital is at risk.
Admiral Markets is another reputable forex broker that operates the A-book model in South Africa. This broker has regulations from two recognized African regulators. These include the FSCA in South Africa and the CMA in Kenya. Furthermore, it also has regulations by the FCA and the CySEC, two of the most respected regulators in the market.
Admiral Markets is an A-book broker because it uses the Straight Through Processing model. This means that all orders are routed to the broker’s liquidity providers and the prices are as provided by the liquidity providers. Liquidity providers in this case include hedge funds, big banks, and investors who take the opposite side of a trade.
Notably, the spreads on this broker site are reasonable and most brokers will afford them. The spreads depend on the account a trader uses. There are five main trading accounts that include the Trade.MT5, Invest.MT5, Zero.MT5, Trade.MT4, and Zero.MT4. The Trade.MT4 and the Trade.MT5 accounts both feature spreads as low as 0.5 pips for major currency pairs. Conversely, the other three accounts have spreads from 0.0 pips and commissions of between *$1.8 to $3 per lot depending on the account. Further, there are various markets available to invest in including forex, stocks, commodities, ETFs, indices, and bonds.
Vantage Markets
Trading Forex and CFDs entail risk.
Your capital is at risk.
We will close out our list with Vantage Markets which uses both ECN and STP. On this broker site, there are four different accounts that offer these processing models to clients. The Pro ECN and the Raw ECN accounts only offer ECN processing. In contrast, the Cent account offers both ECN and STP processing. Finally, the STP account only offers STP processing.
Switching our focus to the spreads offered by the broker, they depend on the account a trader is on. Specifically, the Standard STP account has spreads as low as 1.0 pips for major currency pairs with no commissions. In contrast, the Raw ECN account has spreads as low as 0.0 pips with a commission of $3 per side per lot. Further, the Cent account has zero spreads with a commission between $0 to $3 per side per lot. Finally, the Pro ECN account has commissions from $1.5 per side per lot with zero spreads.
Further, traders can greatly diversify their portfolios on this broker site. This is because the broker gives traders access to CFDs on forex, commodities, indices, precious metals, energies, ETFs, bonds, and shares. Additionally, traders can choose between various trading platforms. These include the MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, WebTYrader, and ProTrader.
Finally, the regulatory status of Vantage Markets. This company operates under the supervision and regulation of the FSCA, the CySEC, the ASIC, and the CIMA.
In conclusion, A-Book forex brokers have gained popularity among South African traders due to their commitment to transparency, ethical trading practices, and market neutrality. However, choosing the right A-book broker can significantly impact a trader’s trading experience.
Traders should prioritize A-book brokers that have competitive spreads, deep liquidity, and a secure trading environment. As always, conduct thorough research and consider your specific trading needs before selecting a forex broker for your investment journey. On top of everything, make sure the broker you choose has regulations from reputable organizations.