Customer Service

Just like selecting a trading platform that you can work with, you need to select a firm that you can work with. First of all, and in most cases this is available, you need to make sure that the firm has 24 hour dealing support. You need to make sure that there is a customer support staff to assist you with withdrawals and deposits and questions or issues.

Once again the bigger is better theme makes sense. If you are using a big firm, in most cases the customer support procedures have been though out and developed properly so that you should be taken care of most times.

I am aware of some small firms however that purely differentiate themselves on customer service. There you are more than just a number. They have boutique settings where your rep knows you by name and takes care of all your needs. Those types of firms are very rare. I only know of one or two and in many cases the smaller firms have little or no customer service. There is nothing more frustrating than calling in and getting a voice when you have an issue that has to do with your trading.

One way to alleviate the customer service issue is work with a large IB. To an IB customers are everything since they do not need to worry about the dealing end of the market. A large IB usually can take care of the problem for you or direct you to someone in the dealing firm that can. Also because a large introducing broker (IB) brings in large aggregate volume the dealing firm (FCM) will go out of their way for the clients of the IB because if the clients are treated poorly the IB will pick up all clients and leave.

So using an IB is definitely a huge plus when it comes to customer service. It never costs you extra and you get added value that you would not get by going to the FCM directly. Next >