10 Best Nasdaq 100 Forex Brokers in Nigeria

How To Choose a Stock Broker in Nigeria

👉 When Nigerian traders start investing, they will need to work through a stockbroker. This is a crucial step in any beginner investor’s journey, and it can make a very large difference when investors choose the right broker.

Evaluate the broker’s background, reputation, and regulation

👉 Traders can do this by carrying out a Google search on the broker, viewing online broker reviews, customer reviews, and all other unbiased information on the broker. Nigerians must also evaluate what the reputation of the broker is and check that the broker is well-regulated to offer services in Nigeria.

👉 While there are no restrictions on brokers that can offer trading services and solutions in Nigeria, client fund security and investor protection are two critical components that regulated brokers are legally required to safeguard.

👉 Regulations that can be trusted include:

➡️ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom

➡️ The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia

➡️ The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Cyprus

➡️ The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa, and several others.

👉 When Nigerians see that the broker claims that it has the necessary regulations, the next step is to verify that the licenses and regulations are valid. Nigerians can go to the official website of the regulator and either consult a comprehensive list of providers covered or search the license number provided.

Evaluate Trading and Non-Trading Fees

👉 Typical trading costs that Nigerians can expect include:

➡️ Spreads – Variable and/or fixed

➡️ Commissions – Flat rate or tiered per instrument or trading volume

➡️ Overnight fees, Rollover fees, or Swaps

➡️ Currency Conversion Fees

➡️ Inactivity Fees

➡️ Account Management Fees

➡️ Contract Fees

➡️ Administration Fees

➡️ Minimum Deposit Requirements

➡️ Deposit Fee

➡️ Withdrawal Fee

👉 These fees are not all charged by foreign exchange brokers, but most are included in the broker’s offer and Nigerians must verify the type of fees and how much is charged. This will help them determine whether the broker’s offer is according to their trading plan and any financial situation they may have.

Evaluate and Test the Trading Platform

👉 Every broker will offer trading software of some kind and while many have proprietary trading platforms, most will offer MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, or even all three in addition to others.

👉 The trading platform is important because it connects traders to their brokers and the financial markets. Nigerians must ensure that they choose a trading platform that caters to their trading needs and objectives.

Range of Markets

👉 The range of financial markets involves checking how many tradable financial instruments the broker offers. Investors and traders are taught to ensure that their investment portfolio and trading is diversified to avoid significant loss of capital. The broker must have a decent selection of markets, albeit forex major currency pairs, minor pairs, exotics, different indices, shares, and so on.

Deposits and Withdrawals

👉 Every regulated and reputable broker will have certain deposit and withdrawal policies. Some brokers will offer a wide range of deposit methods and withdrawal options while others will only have a few.

👉 Nigerians must evaluate whether the broker offers a convenient and easy deposit/withdrawal method, considering the cost of using such methods and the processing times on deposits and withdrawal requests.

View the Account Types

👉 The retail investor account functions as a conventional bank account where traders can fund their account, use it towards trading activities, and withdraw funds at any given time. Different account types will have certain perks that are offered by forex brokers. The features that are offered on trading accounts will differ between brokers, which is why traders must thoroughly evaluate the broker’s overall offering. 

👉 Typical Account types that traders can expect include:

➡️ Nano Accounts – These accounts offer the smallest position sizes possible of 100 base currency units.

➡️ Micro Accounts are known for offering micro-lots of 1,000 base currency units.

➡️ Mini Accounts offer position sizes of 10,000 units of the base currency.

➡️ Standard Accounts are the most common account type where traders must trade 1 standard lot which consists of 100,000 units of the base currency.

👉 In addition, forex brokers give account types of different names as per their discretion. In addition, multi-asset brokers can offer certain designated accounts such as Stock Trading Accounts, Crypto Trading Accounts, Copy Trading Accounts, and so on. Once Nigerians start exploring different brokers, they will find a plethora of possibilities at their fingertips.

Test Customer Support

👉 Customer Support is another critical component, especially when Nigerians run into difficulties either with their account, trading, or deposit and withdrawal, to only name a few. The promptness and the level of feedback that customer support provides on a matter must be evaluated.

👉 Nigerians should consider the customer support hours as some brokers work 24/7 while others only operate during market hours, which are 24 hours a day, 5 days a week from Monday to Friday.

View the Educational Material and Research Tools

👉 Regardless of trading experience, Nigerians need trading tools, educational resources, and other research tools and materials. These will depend on the level of experience of the trader, their trading style, and their trading objectives as every level will require different tools and materials.

👉 Beginners must consider a broker that has a wide range of helpful training tools and materials, while advanced and professional traders can consider advanced trading tools, additional features, discounts, and so on.

👉 Brokers often provide certain guides, risk warnings, and several other strategies and tools that can help retail traders navigate complex instruments and leveraged trading, make improved trading decisions, and mitigate their overall risk of loss.