The first step in choosing a broker is finding out what your choices are. You don’t just walk into a restaurant, knowing what to order right away, do you? Not unless you’re a frequent customer there, of course. More often than not, you check out their menu first to see what they have to offer.
There are two main types of brokers: Dealing Desks (DD) and No Dealing Desks (NDD). Dealing Desk brokers are also called Market Makers, while No Dealing Desks can be further subdivided into Straight Through Processing (STP) and Electronic Communication Network + Straight Through Processing (ECN+STP).
What is a Dealing Desk Forex Broker?
Forex brokers that operate through Dealing Desk (DD) brokers make money through spreads and providing liquidity to their clients. Also called “market makers,” Dealing Desk brokers literally create a market for their clients, meaning they often take the other side of a clients trade. While you may think that there is a conflict of interest, there really isn’t. Market makers provide both a sell and buy quote, which means that they are filling both buy and sell orders of their clients; they are indifferent to the decisions of an individual trader.
Since market makers control the prices at which orders are filled, it also follows that there is very little risk for them to set FIXED spreads (you will understand why this is so much better later). Also, clients of dealing desk brokers do not see the real interbank market rates. Don’t be scared though, the competition among brokers is so stiff that the rates offered by Dealing Desks brokers are close, if not the same, to the interbank rates.
Trading using a Dealing Desk broker basically works this way:
Let’s say you place a buy order for EUR/USD for 100,000 units with your Dealing Desk broker. To fill you, your broker will first try to find a matching sell order from its other clients or pass your trades on to its liquidity provider, i.e. a sizable entity that readily buys or sells a financial asset.
By doing this, they minimize risk, as they earn from the spread without taking the opposite side of your trade. However, in the event that there are no matching orders, they will have to take the opposite side of your trade. Take note that different brokers have different risk management policies, so check with your broker regarding this.
What is a No Dealing Desk Broker?
As the name suggests, No Dealing Desk (NDD) brokers do NOT pass their clients’ orders through a Dealing Desk. This means that they do not take the other side of their clients’ trade as they simply link two parties together.
NDDs are like bridge builders: they build a structure over an otherwise impassable or hard-to-pass terrain to connect two areas. NDDs can either charge a very small commission for trading or just put a markup by increasing the spread slightly.
No Dealing Desk brokers can either be STP or STP+ECN.
What is an STP broker?
Some brokers claim that they are true ECN brokers, but in reality, they merely have a Straight Through Processing system.
Forex brokers that have an STP system route the orders of their clients directly to their liquidity providers who have access to the interbank market. NDD STP brokers usually have many liquidity providers, with each provider quoting its own bid and ask price.
Let’s say your NDD STP broker has three different liquidity providers. In their system, they will see three different pairs of bid and ask quotes.
| Bid | Ask | |
|---|---|---|
| Liquidity Provider A | 1.2998 | 1.3001 |
| Liquidity Provider B | 1.2999 | 1.3001 |
| Liquidity Provider C | 1.3000 | 1.3002 |
Their system then sorts these bid and ask quotes from best to worst. In this case, the best price in the bid side is 1.3000 (you want to sell high) and the best price on the ask side is 1.3001 (you want to buy low). The bid/ask is now 1.3000/1.3001.
Will this be the quote that you will see on your platform?
Of course not!
Your broker isn’t running a charity! Your broker didn’t go through all that trouble of sorting through those quotes for free!
To compensate them for their trouble, your broker adds a small, usually fixed, markup. If their policy is to add a 1-pip mark-up, the quote you will see on your platform would be 1.2999/1.3002. You will see a 3-pip spread. The 1-pip spread turns into a 3-pip spread for you.
So when you decide to buy 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002, your order is sent through your broker and then routed to either Liquidity Provider A or B.
If your order is acknowledged, Liquidity Provider A or B will have a short position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD 1.3001, and you will have a long position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002. Your broker will earn 1 pip in revenue.
This changing bid/ask quote is also the reason why most STP type brokers have variable spreads. If the spreads of their liquidity providers widen, they have no choice but to widen their spreads too. While some STP brokers do offer fixed spreads, most have VARIABLE spreads.
What is an ECN Broker?
True ECN brokers, on the other hand, allow the orders of their clients to interact with the orders of other participants in the ECN.
Participants could be banks, retail traders, hedge funds, and even other brokers. In essence, participants trade against each other by offering their best bid and ask prices.
ECNs also allow their clients to see the “Depth of Market.” Depth of Market displays where the buy and sell orders of other market participants are. Because of the nature ECN, it is very difficult to slap on a fixed mark-up so ECN brokers usually get compensated through a small COMMISSION.
Dealing Desk vs. No Dealing Desk Forex Brokers
Which type of broker should I choose? A dealing desk broker? Or a no dealing desk broker?
That’s completely up to you! One type of broker isn’t better than the other because it will all depend on the type of trader you are. It’s up to you to decide whether you’d rather have tighter spreads but pay a commission per trade, versus wider spreads and no commissions.
Usually, day traders and scalpers prefer the tighter spreads because it is easier to take small profits as the market needs less ground to cover to get over transaction costs.
Meanwhile, wider spreads tend to be insignificant to longer term swing or position traders.
To make your decision-making easier, here’s a summary of the major differences between Market Makers, STP brokers, and STP+ECN brokers:
| Dealing Desk (Market Maker) | No Dealing Desk (STP) | No Dealing Desk (STP+ECN) |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Spreads | Most have variable spreads | Variable spreads or commission fees |
| Take the opposite side of your trade | Simply a bridge between client and liquidity provider | A bridge between client and liquidity provider and other participants |
| Artificial quotes | Prices come from liquidity providers | Prices come from liquidity providers and other ECN particpants |
| Orders are filled by broker on a discretionary basis | Automatic execution, no re-quotes | Automatic, no re-quotes |
| Displays the Depth of Market (DOM) or liquidity information |
Brokers are not evil… Well most of them aren’t!
Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, forex brokers really aren’t out to get you. They want to do business with you, and not run you out of business! Think about it, if you lose all your money in trading, they too will lose customers.
The ideal client of dealing desk brokers is the one who more or less breaks even. In other words, a client who neither wins nor losses at the end.
That way, the broker earns money on the client’s transactions, but at the same time, the client stays in the game by not blowing out his account. In essence, brokers want their clients to keep coming back for more (trading)!
外汇交易平台类型:ECN、STP、NDD、DD/MM(做市商)详解
在线外汇交易平台分主要分为两种: 有处理平台模式,(Dealing Desk,简称DD)和 无处理平台模式,(No Dealing Desk,简称NDD)。
有处理平台模式(DD)的外汇交易平台又叫做市商(Market Maker, 简称MM)。
无处理平台模式(NDD)的外汇交易平台可细分为STP、DMA/STP和ECN+STP。
DD-Dealing Desk/MM-Market Maker
（有处理平台的外汇交易平台)
DD类的外汇交易平台，又称MM, 即做市商，通常有一个有交易员平台或处理平台(Dealing Desk)用来处理订单，并把点差类型设为固定。
DD或做市商通过点差来盈利，并在需要的时候与客户持相反的方向交易。做市商，顾名思义，就是为客户“做市”，“制造市场”，在一定条件下，交易者想买进的时候，做市商卖出给该交易者，当交易者想卖出的时候，做市商将其买入，也就是说，在需要的时候，做市商会始终处在交易者反方的位置，与交易者的头寸相反，通过这种方式来“做市”。交易者看到买入卖出价与银行同业交易市场实际价格是不一样的，为了完成交易者的订单，做市商在需要的时候有机会反向交易以控制价格。因为做市商可以控制价格，所以如果做市商把点差设成固定的，风险是很小的。
当然做为交易者也不用因为做市商可以控制这些而感到惊慌，因为外汇经纪商之间的竞争是非常激烈的，所以做市商提供的价格，是非常接近银行同业市场(Interbank Market)的价格的，如果不能做到一模一样的话。另外做市商的存在才让广大中小规模的投资者也能参与到外汇交易市场中，其普遍性的存在是历史的必然，也正是做市商推进了外汇零售交易市场的迅速发展。对于新手，和小资金的投资者，选择一个做市商炒汇是比较合适的。
下面举例解释一下上面所讲的，假设你想从DD类的外汇经纪商那买进一定数量的EUR/USD，为了完成订单，经纪商首先会从其客户的订单中寻找相同的数量卖出EUR/USD的订单, 或将你的订单直接交给流通量提供者(或称流动性提供商, 即一个愿意买进或卖出一定量资产的实体）
这样做经纪商就降低了风险，因为他们不用采取与你相反的方向交易，就可以通过点差赚取利润。不过， 如果没有可以与你的订单匹配的相反方向的订单，他们就要以相反方向与你进行交易了。不同的经纪商是有不同的风险管理政策的，这些需要向你目前的经纪商咨询。
NDD-No Dealing Desk
(无处理平台模式的外汇交易平台)
NDD类的外汇交易平台，顾名思义，没有Dealing Desk, 即没有处理平台，经纪商不会做交易者的对家进行交易，只是将交易者和银行同业市场这双方联接起来，所以交易者可以直接在银行同业市场的层次进行交易。个人交易者的交易规模太小，是无法参考银行同业市场的外汇交易的，NDD的外汇交易平台起的就是桥梁的作用，将二者直接联接起来，让个人交易者有机会交易。真正的NDD外汇交易平台，不会要求重新报价，订单确认时也不会有多余的暂停,这样根据新闻交易的时候就没有任何限制了。
NDD类的外汇经纪商，可以通过收取佣金或者让佣金免费但进一步提高点差来保持盈利。
NDD类的外汇交易平台分为两类， 一类是STP和DMA/STP,另一类是ECN+STP
STP外汇交易平台
即Straight Through Processing，直通式处理。STP类的外汇交易平台，客户的订单被直接发送至其流通量提供者（银行或其他经纪商），这些流通量提供者，能够在直接在银行同业市场中进行交易。有的STP类的经纪商只有一个流通量提供者，有的则有数个。每个流通量提供者报出的买入/卖出价是不同的。交易商会从中选择出最佳价格。流通量提供者数量越多，那么流通性就越好，那么订单的完成就越顺利。STP平台的交易者，可以看到实时的市场价格，并立即将订单执行，没有处理平台(dealing desk)在其中干预，这就是直通式处理(Straight Through Processing)的意思。
有的经纪商称自已的交易平台是真正的ECN平台，但实际上他们的系统只是STP,也就是直通式处理系统。
相关文章： 1 STP外汇交易平台详解 2 DMA外汇平台详解以及DMA与STP、ECN平台的区别
ECN外汇交易平台
即Electronic Communications Network，电子通讯网络， ECN外汇交易平台允许客户与其他客户交互交易，换句话说，客户的订单是可以与市场上其他参与者的订单交互的。ECN外汇交易平台为各参与者提供一个市场，在这市场里，各参与者（银行、零售外汇交易者、对冲基金、经纪商等）通过把各自已具有竞争性买进或卖出的报价发送到ECN系统中，相互之间成为对家做交易。所有交易的订单实时的会有相反操作方向的一方与之匹配。
有时STP外汇交易平台，会被说的和ECN平台似的。真正的ECN交易平台，经纪商必然会在一个数据窗口里展示市场深度DOM(Depth Of Market)，市场深度可以让客户看到哪里其他参与者的买进或卖出订单，换句话说， 在ECN外汇交易平台上，交易者是可以知道哪里有流动性，以执行订单。客户也可以在这个数据窗口里看到自已的订单大小，并允许其他客户点击这个订单。
ECN交易平台，总是会收少量的佣金的，因为 ECN的特点导致很难在点差上加价，所以只有用佣金做为补偿。
外汇交易平台的盈利模式：
(固定点差 ，浮动点差，佣金的对比)
ECN交易平台上的点差都是浮动的。几种经纪商中，只有ECN经纪商向交易者收佣金，这也是ECN经纪商唯一的盈利方式，ECN经纪商不通过点差盈利。
STP经纪商通过点差盈利（点差略微加点）
STP经纪商做为中间人将所有交易者的订单发送至流通量提供者（银行等），同时，银行同业市场上的银行将买卖价差(点差）等信息发送至STP经纪商，大部分银行是做市商，提供的点差是固定的。
STP经纪商收到点差信息后有两种选择，一是让点差固定，二是从数个银行（数量越多越好）中选择最好的买价和卖价，让点差浮动，
那么STP经纪商怎么盈利？ STP经纪商和ECN一样，是不与交易者对着交易的，他们通过从流通量提供者那获得的点差上略微加点。比如，在数个流通量提供者中提供的最低卖价上加上一点或半点（或其他值）的点差，在所提供的最高买价上减一点或半点。STP经纪商就是通过加点的这部分盈利，然后交易者的订单全部以实际价格发送至流通量提供者。
混合的STP模式:DD+NDD
很多 STP经纪商用的是混合的STP模式。STP经纪商都会与其流通量提供者（其主经纪商）签订商业合同，这个合同中规定了流通量提供者所能接受的最小交易规模。 一般来说，小交易额订单(通常是0.1手)是不被其流通量提供者接受的，所以不会被 交易平台直接发送至流量能提供者，那么STP经纪商怎么处理这种订单呢？ 他们这时就采取Dealing Desk处理平台的模式，成为交易者的反方(counter-party)，对于迷你帐户，这种混合型STP经纪商基本上都是交易者的反方。
对所以规模大一些的订单（通常，大于0.1手）， STP经纪商用其STP交易平台，将订单直接发送到流通量提供者。这种情况下，STP经纪商通过点差上加价的那一小部分盈利。
做市商
DD/MM类的经纪商既通过点差盈利，在交易者亏损的时候，也会盈利，因为做市商可以对冲，以相反的方向，与交易者对着交易。
总结
ECN是所有外汇交易平台中是最透明的，经纪商只通过佣金盈利，不通过点差。ECN经纪商希望交易者能盈利，这样自已才能赚到佣金。
STP经纪商通过点差盈利，尽管他们没有Dealing Desk,不与客户对着交易(混合模式的STP经纪商除外)，他们通过在流通量提供者提供的点差上略微加点来盈利，打个比喻，如果说这里的流通量提供者是批发商，那外汇经纪商就是零售商，如果只按批发商的原价格出售产品，那么零售商就可以破产了，所以这里的加点是可以理解的。要注意的是我们要找正规的经纪商，因为有的不正规的经纪商会过分加点，这就像现实生活中有一些零售商店卖假货一样。
STP经纪商是希望交易者能盈利的，这样他们才能继续通过点差保持长期稳定的盈利。
做市商在需要的时候与交易者对冲，通过点差盈利，在选择做市商的时候一定要注意选择正规，可信度的高的做市商。
不论是NDD(ECN，STP)类的交易平台，还是DD/MM类的交易平台，都一样是零售外汇交易市场组成部分，有了他们的存在，普通个人小规模的投资者才有机会参与到大银行，跨国企业，对冲基金等机构才能进行的外汇交易当中。不同交易规模的交易者适合不同类型的平台进行交易。 其中，ECN类的外汇交易平台更接近银行同业市场层次的交易，STP 其次，DD/MM排最后，当然这个排序并不是好坏的排序，不同类型的投资适合用不同类型的交易平台进行交易
NDD类外汇交易平台的好处
很多交易者更愿意选择没有处理平台(dealing desk)的外汇交易平台，因为NDD交易平台，更透明，订单执行更快，而且匿名。
匿名指没有处理平台(dealing desk)来观察和处理交易者的交易，相反所有订单立即被匿名执行。
与之相应的是有处理平台的做市商，这样的经纪商将客户分类处理, 亏损的客户一类，盈利的客户为一类，对于亏损的交易，与其对着交易，变成利润，对于盈利的交易发送至银行同业市场处理。做市商的透明度由公司内部 制定的规则决定。
总的来说，除了少数黑平台， 不论是有处理平台，还是无处理平台的经纪商，
都是希望客户能够真正赚到钱的，因为这些经纪商者希望自已的公司能够得到长期发展，而发展的前提就是客户能长期的盈利。
选择哪种外汇交易平台？
这由交易者的交易风格决定，一般来说，喜欢日间交易或剥头皮的短线交易者，应选点差小的，因为这样的交易者交易次数频繁。
对于中长线交易者，点差大小相比不像短线或超短线那样重要。
概括:
|
DD/MM交易平台 |
NDD( STP)交易平台 | NDD (STP+ECN)交易平台 |
| 固定点差 | 大部分为浮动点差 | 浮动点差或佣金 |
| 客户交易相反方向交易 | 仅是将交易者与流通量提供者联系在一起的纽带 | 将交易者与流通量提供者和其他参与者联系在一起的纽带 |
| 报价不实时 | 价格来自流通量提供者 | 价格来自流通量提供者和ECN参与者 |
| 订单执行时间由经纪商决定 | 订单自动执行, 不用重新报价 | 订单自动执行, 不用重新报价 |
| 展示市场深度DOM(Depth of Market)和流动性信息 |