That is a very high rate. Shop around, you should get something much closer to “broker’s call” money rate, 25 basis points BELOW prime, compounded monthly. Any margin debt you owe will be erased dollar-for-dollar on settlement any sales within your account.

EX: your stocks = 200,000. You owe 7,500 margin debt. You sell 20,000 in stock. Your account would be 180,000 stock, 12,500 cash, 0 debt. Net 192,500 equity.

I would recommend to take a look at Forex-metal broker at forex-metal.com
They meet your requirements.

margin is an incredibly unsuitable tool for the novice investor.

stay away from it at all costs, until you better educate yourself. and even then, it’s not a terribly great idea (though it would allow you to do some more interesting things, like selling short, and using options more freely).

The RIGHT Forex broker for you depends on a couple of factors. It seems a lot of new Forex traders end up with Gain Capital(forex dot com), FXCM, or GFT. HOWEVER, the reason is is that these companies spend a ton of money advertising. Don’t get fooled by the advertising. Now, I’m not saying that one of those may not be right for you… but spend some time researching the different types of Forex brokers and the advantages of each. Read through a couple Forex Broker review sites, taking everything you read with a grain of salt because they all have a horse in the race (ie bias). Then consider the following:

1) Choose a broker that has a combination of strong liquidity sources and financial stability.

2) Understanding your trading strategy and how the different Brokers will affect it’s performance.

3) 3) What currency pair(s) do you expect to trade? Depending on a Broker’s liquidity source(s) the broker may have better or worse spreads on different pairs.

4) ECN, STP, or Market Maker? Is the broker trading against you or simply passing your orders onto the real market? Research the types of brokers and choose the one that fits your trading style best.

5) Fixed spread or Variable spread? This choice can be extremely important depending on the strategy you trade and the position sizes you take. If you mainly stick to high-volume market times for your trading than you will probably want a variable spread which often translates into lower overall spread costs. If you get signals around the clock, many times during off peak hours a fixed spread Broker may be better because fixed spreads tend to be cheaper than variable spreads during off market times.

6) What trading platform do you want to use? This is EXTREMELY important. Open demo accounts at a variety of brokers and find a platform you are comfortable trading.

7) Do you want to trade with an on-shore or off-shore Broker? The location of your Broker may have important tax and legal consequences.

Don’t get caught up in the hype of Forex broker advertising. Do your research. The Broker you choose becomes your partner in the Forex market. This partnership is crucial. The Broker will always benefit from this relationship. Whether or not you benefit depends on Broker you choose.

You will only dip into margin when your purchases exceed your cash balance. In a margin account, as long as the money is “there” (but not settled) you can use it again right away. Its not really a loan, since the next purchase also will not settle for three days. By the time the broker needs to lay out the money, it will be there.

you can check your options at the site below. it will lead you to one of the leaders in forex trading and as such you can be assured of dealing with a very legitimate, reliable and trusted forex trading site. they offer four accounts, mini($100), gold($500), platinum($5K) and vip($10K). one of their best feature is personal service. whether you are a beginner or an experienced forex trader, by opening any of the accounts mentioned, you will be provided a personal Account Service Manager (ASM) as your mentor, consultant and even as trading partner. your ASM is an expert forex trader himself. he will walk you through the basics, guide you on the use of various technical and fundamental analyses and will trade with you to ensure you get familiar with their web based trading system. and they have the capability to set your stop loss and take profit rates to make sure you you can gain unlimited profits but lose only no more than your pre-defined rates just in case. btw, opening higher level of accounts would entitle you to better trading features and privileges. all the best.

I’ve heard many good things about Easy-Forex, why don’t you try them out? There’s a full review of it here:

If you are looking to get a trading system, then this site has a free book which shows you how to avoid scams that litter the marketplace: – just click on to that site and the book is right there to download for free.

Hope this helps?

check out forex.com

Spread betting is best, it is tax free and the spreads are virtually the same as the spot market nowdays.

I typically use FXCM. They have great spreads and margin accounts. You can also open a practice account to test their platform.