Comparing Forex Platforms, Part 2 - Global Forex Trading & DealBook FX

Continuing our survey of forex brokers and trading platforms I've worked with, I'll review the pros and cons of the first broker I opened an account with, Global Forex Trading (GFT for short), and their trading system, DealBook FX (now in version 2, though I used v. 1).

I started my forex adventure with GFT because I'd read about them in a book, Forex Revolution, that I'd purchased as an introduction and orientation to the ins and outs of the currency markets. (An excellent read, which I'll discuss further in a future post.) The author, Peter Rosenstreich, had included an informative interview with Gary Tilkin of GFT discussing the DealBook system. And so when I went to set up my first trading account (just a demo at first) I went to GFT.

The first thing I discovered when I was getting set up was that I wasn't equipped for the latest version of their trading software, DealBook FX 2, which requires at least a Windows 2000 system. This was largely a problem of my own making, since I've been working with an archaic Windows 98 machine for far too long and haven't gotten around to replacing it. However, it was also disappointing to discover I couldn't install DealBook 2 on my other machine, a Mac G5, which would have plenty of power for this type of program. In the end, I just ended up installing DealBook FX 1, which ran fine on my machine until GFT pulled the plug on that version as of January 1, 2006. As a result, I'm now using a completely different broker and trading platform.

But not to dwell on the past, since there's a lot to like about DealBook. One of its best features is a large selection of chart signals and indicators. Two of my favorites are Parabolic SAR and Stark Bands. Stark Bands are not available on all trading platforms, and so it was great to find them on DealBook, especially since they play a key role in the Trend Follower trading system. (In fact, I believe the inventor of that system created it in DealBook.) I also like the way DealBook displays Parabolic SAR. Unlike Oanda, which uses a series of dots to indicate this signal, DealBook displays a single continuous line. This makes it easy to spot when the Parabolic SAR crosses other indicators, such as Moving Averages, thereby providing a very precise trade signal.

Apparently DealBook 2 also lets you trade directly off of the charts just by pointing and clicking, and enables you to set automatic trailing stops that will shift upwards or downwards for you. You can also edit any order simply by dragging and dropping its trigger price up or down on the chart.

When I first signed up for my GFT account, I received an excellent level of support and advice from their staff. In fact, they sent me free of charge Martin Pring's excellent book Introduction to Technical Analysis, as well as a couple of helpful trading tutorials explaining Fibonacci analysis and Woodie's CCI System.

I started off trading the DealBook demo using play money, and then moved on to real trades with a funded account. GFT offers a generous 100:1 leverage, and allows you to trade mini-lots of 10,000 units -- though this is still much larger than the minimum amounts permitted by Oanda. With GFT you'll pay a 3 pip spread on the EUR/USD pair, 4 pips on GBP/USD, 3 pips on USD/JPY, and unsurprisingly, much larger spreads on the more exotic pairs. Overall GFT's spreads are pretty standard for the industry, though still larger than Oanda's, and they offer a very large selection of currencies to trade. However, they require a minimum $2500 deposit to open an account, which is substantially higher than other brokers I've checked out.

On the whole my experience with GFT and DealBook was a positive one, and I learned a tremendous amount from working with their software, charts, and indicators. My major quibbles are that I couldn't use the latest version of DealBook either on my PC or Mac, the high minimum deposit, and the fact that they just discontinued the only version of DealBook I can use. Sure, that's partly my fault for not upgrading my PC, but it's also their loss since I'm switching to another broker with more flexible software. If I were you, I'd try out the demo version of DealBook FX 2 (if it works with your computer) and see how you like it -- but I'd definitely do a very thorough comparison with other brokers like Oanda before putting any real money on the line.