May 13, 2009. 

Forex Datasource, a market research firm and information portal serving the retail foreign exchange industry, has released the results of a year-long study of broker preferences through its 1st FOREXDS Trader’s Choice Awards. The vast scope of real FX traders sampled over a longer-than-average period makes this award arguably the most authoritative and coveted one in the vibrant retail foreign exchange (Forex) industry.

After more than 1000 evaluations from traders in more than 80 countries over a 12 month period, twelve FX broker firms emerge as leaders in the fast growing retail Forex market

Traders were asked to rank a broker using a numeric scale and to answer how likely they were to refer the broker to others from 1 to 10 (1 being low, 10 being high) in various categories, such as “overall”, “platform”, and “services.”

One of the key findings revealed in the studies leading up to the awards was that there are obvious regional differences in the way traders rate brokers. For example, the percentage of traders with a very favorable opinion of their brokers was 40% in the Americas, 30% in Europe, and only 20% in Asia.

Another key finding was that only 7 brokers achieved a Top 6 status in more than one continent, in terms of market share. This group of Global Brokers demonstrated a unique ability attracting and retaining clients worldwide.
As a result of these two findings, Forex Datasource realized that ranking all brokers globally would not yield a true picture of trader sentiment. For example, brokers that were only found in the United States would rank naturally higher than brokers with a strong presence in Asia and Europe. Thus, the FOREXDS Trader’s Choice Awards recognize achievement by comparing global brokers only with global brokers, and by measuring broker performance by continent.  

The seven firms with “FX Global Broker” status for 2009 are: Alpari UK, FXCM, FXDD, FXPRO.COM, IBFX.COM, Oanda, and Saxo Bank.

This year’s strongest achiever in the FX Global Broker category was IBFX.COM (Interbank FX), capturing the top spot in all categories within this group of seven: Best Overall, Best Platform, Best Customer Service, Best Accounts Department and Best Funding Department.

In the Regional Broker Category, brokers from a pool of 50 firms were compared on the basis of the highest broker satisfaction and highest trading platform satisfaction. Twelve brokers were recognized as “Continental Leaders”, for having achieved a top three ranking in at least one continent: Alpari UK, CMS Forex, FXCM, FXDD, FXPRO.COM, FX Solutions, GFT, IBFX.COM, Interactive Brokers, Oanda, ODL Markets, and Saxo Bank.

In the Regional Broker category, the Highest Broker Satisfaction winners for 2009 are: ODL Markets (Asia, Europe), Interactive Broker (Americas), Alpari UK (Africa), and Oanda (Oceania). The Highest Platform Satisfaction winners for 2009 are: IBFX.COM (Asia, Europe, Americas), FXPRO.COM (Africa), and Oanda (Oceania). 

More information about the awards can be found here: http://www.forexdatasource.com/Dealers/Dealer.aspx
A full in-depth review of all the awards will also be published in the July 2009 edition of e-Forex magazine.

About Forex Datasource

Forex Datasource (ForexDatasource.com) is a boutique market research firm and independent information portal. The site caters to FX traders, offering vast amounts of information to evaluate FX brokers, a robust stream of FX news, and technology to keep up with the FX market. Forex Datasource also provides market research services to brokers and other institutional firms.