Zecco Forex Trading Review 2012 - Ratings, Likes, Dislikes, Comparison, Demo, Open Account
Find latest review of Zecco Forex broker - IB of Gain Capital. Read their advantages/ disadvantages, compare it with others or share your experience.
Retail Clients: | |
Active Private Traders: | |
Institutional Clients: |
Recommendation is based purely on our own opinion, but we try to be objective as possible!
Commission Type: | Spread |
Forex Trades Fee: | 17.60 USD |
Displayed 'Forex Trade Fee' is spread based. Commission for Forex trades is an estimation of fees charged per round turn of $100,000 major pair units. The cost of no-commission brokers is calculated as average spread markup on majors. |
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Execution Type: |
DD
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DD - Dealing Desk, STP(MM) - Straight Through Processing/Instant Execution, STP(DMA) - Straight Through Processing/Direct Market Access, ECN - Electronic Clearing Network |
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Minimum Deposit: | 500 USD |
Minimal Contract Size: | 10,000 |
Maximal Leverage: | 1:50 |
Account Base Currencies: | USD |
Min. deposit for standard account is $2,500.
Spread Type: |
Variable
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EUR/USD: | 2.2 |
GBP/USD: | 3.3 |
USD/JPY: | 2.2 |
USD/CHF: | 3.1 |
AUD/USD: | 3.0 |
USD/CAD: | 3.1 |
Islamic (Swap-Free) Acc.: | |
Managed Accounts: | |
Segragated Accounts: | |
Virtual Trading: | |
Demo Account Duration: | Unlimited |
Account Opening: | |
U.S. Citizens Allowed: | |
Account Opening Type: | Online |
Time To Open Account: | 10 minutes |
Paper-Work Required: | |
Notarization Required: | |
Documents Delivery: |
Non U.S. Residents must submit two forms of identification and one (1) proof of address. Non US Residents must also complete a W-8BEN Certificate.
Deposit Currencies: | USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, CHF, AUD, GBP |
Withdrawal Fee: | 25.00 USD |
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: | |
Wire Transfer: | |
Credit/Debit Cards: | |
PayPal: | |
Moneybookers: | |
Neteller: | |
Check: | |
ACH: |
International withdrawal fee is $40.
Prize Contest: | |
1st Deposit Bonus: | |
Refer a Friend Bonus: | |
Invite your Friends for an Amazing $100 + $100 Bonus! |
WEB App: | |
Desktop App: | |
Mobile App: | |
Automated Trading App: | |
API Programming: | |
Software/Platforms: | |
MetaTrader4 (MT4): | |
VikingTrader (Currenex): | |
PowerTrader (Currenex): | |
MirrorTrader (Tradency): | |
ZuluTrader: |
Forex: | |
Stocks: | |
Options: | |
Futures: | |
CFDs: | |
Spread Betting: | |
Underlyings: | |
Currencies: | |
Oil & Gas: | |
Precious Metals: | |
Commodities: | |
Indices: | |
Stocks: | |
Bonds: | |
No. of Currency Pairs: | 48 |
Additional tradable instruments: XAU/USD, XAG/USD. Gold and silver trading is un-leveraged as per CFTC regulations.
Market: | |
Limit: | |
Stop: | |
Market If Touched (MIT): | |
Trailing (Server Side): | |
Trailing (Client Side): | |
One-Cancels-Other (OCO): | |
If-Then (Conditional): | |
Bid/Offer (Inside Spread): |
MT4 is client based application in respect to trailing orders.
Hedging Capability: | |
Scalping Allowed: | |
One-Click Orders: | |
Chart Trading: | |
Guaranteed Stop-Losses: | |
Fractional Pips: |
Trading features are related to platform selection.
Charting Package: | |
Free Data Feed: | |
News Feed: | |
Market Alerts: | |
Calendars: | |
Analysis: | |
Trading Strategies: | |
AutoChartist: | |
Online Community: | |
Investment Education: |
Phone Support: | |
Email Support: | |
Live Chat Support: | |
Skype Support: | |
Call-Back Support: | |
Phone Dealing: | |
24/7 Support: |
Zecco Forex Broker Review
Upon our opinion opening account with Zecco Forex makes sense only/especially if you are already a Zecco Trading client for investing in stocks, ETFs and related securities. Otherwise Zecco Forex is nothing else than an introducing broker for GAIN Capital (Forex.com).
Very Positive - Trading technology with desktop, web and mobile application offered will allow you to trade anytime, anywhere.
Could do Better - Integration of Forex trading into overall Zecco's investments offering and trading applications should be on a higher and more professional level.
Introduction
Zecco Forex, Inc. acts as an introducing broker to GAIN Capital Group, LLC, a registered Futures Commission Merchant and a member of the National Futures Association. Your Forex trading account is held with GAIN Capital, who also serves as counterparty and clearing agent for your trades.
Trading Forex with Zecco should start with free practice account, where you get $50,000 of virtual cash you can trade without any risk to lose your real money. You can trade 48 currency pairs in the practice account with up to 50:1 leverage. Demo platform offers you real-time quotes, powerful charting, 24-hour news headlines, FX research and 24/6 customer support by phone and live chat. Joint the most traded market on the globe with over $4 trillion of daily trading volume, the Forex market.
Learn Forex
Zecco, just like any other Forex broker, recommends strongly learning basics before you start trading real money. There are some basic terms you should get familiar with, like understanding currency pairs and Forex market, who are the biggest market players (5% companies, 95% speculation), which are the major currencies representing 85% of whole FX daily trading volume (USD, JPY, EUR, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD), where are the biggest trading centers (Tokyo, London, New York), which is the base currency and how to interpret its value (USD is always base currency, except in GBP, AUD, and EUR), what are cross currencies (don't involve USD), what do bid and ask quotes mean, what's a PIP (increment in currency price, 1/100 of 1% or 0.0001, only not valid for JPY where pip is 0.01), you must be familiar with leverage and margin, how to calculate profit/loss, and finally you should also learn at least some basics of technical and fundamental analysis. Zecco offers you some educational materials on their website free of charge; you don't even have to be their client to access it.
Commissions and Fees
You will pay no commissions when trading Forex via Zecco. The only cost you pay is the bid/ask spread, which is among most competitive in the business (between 1-2 pips, with fractional pips for more precise quoting). When the liquidity on the market is high, Zecco will pass it further to you in form of tighter spreads instead of fixed spreads (for example, typical spread on EUR/USD is 2.2 pips, but it can go as low as 1.5 pips in times of increased liquidity). What might attract you is that this benefit is something everyone can enjoy, regardless of trade size or activity.
You can join the Zecco Forex Pro active trader program to receive tightest spreads and additional services to benefit from.
Trade Applications
Zecco is offering you three types of trading apps to trade Forex: desktop, web and mobile version. You will probably trade most of the time from your home, so you should install a desktop application on your PC. This is a robust platform with bunch of professional and customizable features implemented. You can for example choose from multiple pre-defined layouts or create your own, advanced charting functionality with technical studies overlaid let you spot the trends as they happen and trade directly from the charts, you can set different types of orders (limit, stop, stop-loss) by rate, pips or dollar profit/loss, you can set audible alerts and confirmations, and more.
If you are not sitting behind your home computer, you will probably use the web trading app, which runs smoothly in many browsers. Zecco uses real-time push technology to provide you real-time quotes, charts, portfolio updates and information, news as it happens. There is variety of order types available in web trading application, including If/Then, If/Then OCO, Trailing Stops, and others. Web interface is available in several languages.
In case you are on the go, the mobile foreign exchange trading application is something you should install on your handy. This application is optimized for most Smartphone's, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Palm devices. With mobile app you can get information from the market anytime and anywhere and you can monitor your portfolio and trade easily if you have to. You can even get up to date research and commentary information, which is mobile-optimized for easy reading and navigation.
If you will open a Forex trading account with Zecco, you will also have the chance to trade via third party recognized platform, MetaTrader 4, which offers you automate trading abilities, sophisticated order types and customizable charting.
Account Types
Once you have enough of practicing on the demo account, you can choose between two account types for trading real money: standard account and mini account.
Standard account is for those of you who have some experience and feel comfortable trading Forex. Contract size in 100,000 and maximum leverage is up to 50. You must deposit at least $2,500 to open this king of account.
Second option, mini account, is for those of you who are just starting to trade in live environment. While you can benefit out of the same maximum leverage, you can lower your risk by smaller contract sizes (10,000) and smaller minimum deposit (only $500).
All exotic currencies (non-majors) have a minimum margin requirement of 5% (leverage 20).
Account Opening and Funding
You can open account with Zecco online or by printing and sending necessary forms, which are also downloadable from their website. U.S. residents do not have to verify their personal information at this time, while international customers have to provide two forms of identifications, copy of ID or passport and proof of address (utility bill, bank statement), as well as fill out the W-8BEN certificate.
Once your account is opened, you will receive an email with username and instructions for accessing your account. You can fund the account via credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard), eCheck (ACH payment) - US bank account only, Wire Transfer or personal/business check. Currencies available for funding the account are: USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, CHF, AUD and GBP. The account base currency is always USD, so all deposits made in other currency are converted in USD at competitive rates.
If you decide to withdraw your money, your request will be processed within 2 business days. Withdrawal will be completed in the same currency as deposit was made. There are no costs for check withdrawals, while wire transfers cost $25 for U.S. and $40 for international wires.
Investments Offered
Zecco is offering trading with 48 currency pairs and 2 precious metals.
Trading Symbols: AUD/CAD, AUD/CHF, AUD/JPY, AUD/NZD, AUD/USD, CAD/CHF, CAD/JPY, CHF/JPY, EUR/AUD, EUR/CAD, EUR/CHF, EUR/CZK, EUR/DKK, EUR/GBP, EUR/HUF, EUR/JPY, EUR/NOK, EUR/NZD, EUR/PLN, EUR/SEK, EUR/TRY, EUR/USD, GBP/AUD, GBP/CAD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY, GBP/NZD, GBP/USD, NZD/CAD, NZD/CHF, NZD/JPY, NZD/USD, SGD/JPY, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, USD/CZK, USD/DKK, USD/HKD, USD/HUF, USD/JPY, USD/MXN, USD/NOK, USD/PLN, USD/SEK, USD/SGD, USD/TRY, USD/ZAR, ZAR/JPY, XAU/USD, XAG/USD.
Gold and silver trading is un-leveraged as per CFTC regulations.
Research & Analysis
Zecco provides real-time Forex news and research to its clients 24 hours a day, including live market commentary, so that you will always be up to date with information impacting currency movements. Zecco provides robust charting module, which is integrated in all of their trading platforms and makes it easily to spot buy and sell signals. You can plot multiple technical indicators on the charts, plot auto trend line and indicator continuation, and naturally customize the outlook, save, export and email them as well.
Research and commentaries are divided into intraday, daily and weekly timeframes, covering both fundamental and technical aspects, so you can focus on the one you feel most comfortable with. On a weekly basis you will get overview of the week ahead, the weekly strategy and economic calendar. On a daily basis you there is a technical analysis report available to you with key support/resistance levels, and pivot points report. Intraday research reveals which information is impacting the markets most. You will also get three daily market updates, once the trading session ends in the major markets: Tokyo, London and New York.
Customer Support
Support for Zecco Forex is provided by GAIN Capital Group, which is located in U.S. Their support is available 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, via free phone for U.S. citizens or via special international number. You can also send them an email with a question, but first you should check their online FAQ site and see, if your question is already answered.
Just to make it clear, you can place an order via the phone, but only if you do not have an internet connection available. Zecco does not accept orders via email!
The information and opinions in this review are for general information use only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any currency and/or opening of an account with Zecco Trading or Zecco Forex.
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Written by: Goran Dolenc
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