Webinar programs can be a great solution to learn about trading in a more interactive way. Which Australian broker has the best program?
Forex trading is a complicated process so traders need adequate knowledge in order to survive. This can be challenging for new traders with limited awareness of the markets. The logical solution for this problem is to gain more insight into trading from various resources. Through learning, traders can grasp the basic knowledge to help them navigate. There are numerous methods to learn about trading free of charge. Utilizing brokers' educational features is one of them.
Why Brokers' Webinars?
Before the coronavirus pandemic, there are a lot of brokers conducting seminars about trading for beginners. Nowadays, many switch to online seminars that are also known as webinars. Although most webinars are similar to video tutorials, they also hold live discussions with experts who present the materials. To conclude, it's a better method for traders who want to learn as well as interact with the trainer.
There is a huge number of brokers offering webinars nowadays, but not all of them have good quality. Some dubious brokers might use this program to heavily promote their products without actually educating their traders on the forex market. So, choosing a broker with good regulations is always a safe bet. For Australian traders, it is better to choose a broker that has been regulated by ASIC. Here are some of the best Australian brokers providing webinars.
1. IC Markets
When it comes to webinar programs, IC Markets take this matter seriously. The ASIC-regulated broker's webinars are taught by experts only. Not to mention, these trading sessions are available in different kinds of languages including English, Portuguese, Spanish, and many more. IC Markets also divide their webinar sessions according to traders' level, ranging from beginner to expert. Traders can check the webinar's schedule on IC Market's official website and choose which schedule is the best for them. Through this program, traders can learn new skills from live analysis free of charge for all classes.
Aside from webinars, this raw spread broker also provides other types of learning methods. For example, a web TV that consists of trade ideas and market commentaries is available. Another one is video tutorials with a number of educational videos to help traders use the MetaTrader 4 platform. All of these can be accessed directly from IC Market's official website.
IC Markets is an online forex broker operating under the company of International Capital Markets Pty Ltd. Traders under the Australian jurisdiction are provided with the trading service of IC Markets AU that is headquartered in Australia and licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
On the other hand, non-Australian traders who open an account in this broker are registered under IC Markets SEY that is based in Seychelles, and regulated under the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (SFSA). The dual operation is a result of the relatively new rules from ASIC that prohibit their regulated broker to offer trading services outside Australia.
Classified as an ECN broker, IC Markets provide clients with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader as platform trading options. This broker also follows market trends to include Cryptocurrencies as one of its products, enriching its already wide selection of trading assets that include Currencies, Indices, Metals, Energies, Softs, Stocks, as well as Bonds.
The minimum deposit in IC Markets is in the middle range compared to other ASIC-regulated brokers, as it reaches $200 for every client. Market analysis materials are also prepared regularly for trading insights on IC Markets's official website, proving their competence to serve their traders with important contents created by market experts that work specifically for them.
For payment methods, IC Markets allows funding and withdrawal via wire transfer, credit card, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay, UnionPay, as well as Bitcoin via BitPay. The more interesting aspect from this broker is its multi-base currencies that include USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, and CAD.
As the trading technology in IC Markets is highly equipped with co-located servers and extremely low latency (especially on cTrader), the broker is widely known for its capability in hosting traders with the special needs for high-frequency trading as well as scalping.
To sum up, IC Markets is a fitting destination for active traders looking for a well-regulated broker. IC Markets is also flexible in terms of base currency and payment methods, signaling their commitment to welcome traders beyond their home country. As of late 2019, IC Markets provided their website in 18 international languages including English, Korean, Indonesian, French, Spanish, Italian, Malay, German, and Chinese.
2. CMC Markets
CMC Markets provide great webinar programs that traders can access from their official website. Their online webinars and regional seminars are designed to suit a range of individual trading needs. It's carefully tailored to help traders learn from the basics to more advanced strategies. The topics covered are weekly charting webinars, analysis of the key US non-farm payrolls announcement, trading platform workshops, and many more. Aside from this, CMC Markets also arranges a comprehensive library of market analysis videos and an extensive range of analyst articles to further enhance traders' skills.
3. eToro
Another Australian-regulated broker with great webinar programs is eToro. This broker provides online financial webinars covering all the latest news and analysis of the financial markets, presented by experts. There are all kinds of topics to choose from, such as copy trading, crypto, in-depth analysis, and many more. All the courses are divided into different levels ranging from advanced to beginner. A trader who missed the class can rewatch the webinars in video forms, available on eToro's website.
eToro established in early 2007, with a mission to make trading accessible to anyone, anywhere, and reduce dependency on traditional financial institutions. The company has head offices in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, USA, and Australia.
eToro (Europe) Ltd operates as a Financial Services Company authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license no. #109/10. Meanwhile, eToro (UK) Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the license FRN 583263.
As for eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd, the legal standing is acknowledged by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to provide financial services under Australian Financial Services License 491139.
A broker that belongs to the 4-digit type, eToro offers both short-term options for day traders and long-term options for investors, such as their innovative Smart Portfolios, a fully managed thematic portfolio.
Since 2007, eToro has been at the forefront of the Fintech revolution. The most recent was launched in 2017, which is Smart Portfolios powered by Machine learning Al. Beyond developing Smart Portfolios, the company integrated Microsoft's machine learning technology into Momentum DD.
The new Smart Portfolios investment strategy uses artificial intelligence to find the steadiest traders who are most likely to generate a double-digit return and bundle traders into one fully-managed portfolio. eToro has hundreds of financial assets for trading across several categories including stocks, commodities, crypto assets, currencies, indices, and ETFs. Each asset class has characteristics and can be traded using a variety of investment strategies.
Some positions on eToro involve ownership of underlying assets, such as non-leveraged positions on stocks and cryptos. Employing CFDs will enable a variety of options, such as leveraged trades, short (sell) positions, fractional ownership, and more. For example, traders can invest as little as USD100 in gold, even if a single unit of gold cost USD1,000. Some of eToro's most popular CFD commodities include gold, oil, natural gas, silver, and platinum.
Currencies are traded on eToro only as CFDs. Also, CFDs enable Sell (short) positions and leveraged trade, even for assets that don't offer the option in traditional trading. Some of the popular currencies include EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, and USD/CAD.
Furthermore, An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a financial instrument comprising several assets grouped to serve as one tradable fund. After opening an account in eToro, traders can invest as little as USD250 in an ETF that costs USD500. Some of the popular ETFs on eToro include SPY, VXXB, TLT, and HMMJ.
However, eToro also offers additional functions using CFD trading. All leveraged ETF positions in the UK are under FCA regulations. Meanwhile, all CFD positions executed by eToro Australia are under ASIC regulations.
The company has other advantages. In all financial assets that can be traded, eToro does not charge any deposit or trading frees other than spreads.
eToro charges a USD25 fee for withdrawals and the minimum withdrawal amount is USD50. Long (Buy), non-leveraged crypto, stock, and ETF positions are not executed as CFDs and do not incur any fees. eToro does charge overnight or weekend fees for CFDs positions, such as leveraged positions and short (sell) orders.
Fee updates always apply to open positions. Fees are subject to change at any given time and could change daily, without prior notice, depending on market conditions.
As a beginner, trader can use CopyTrading eToro. Different from the features of other brokers, traders can copy the strategies of professional traders without fee or profit-sharing. Therefore, 100% profit is fully owned by traders. For example, while trader A who is copied by trader B, produces a profit of 10% this month, then trader B also gets a profit of 10%.
The company is the world's leading social trading network. Since eToro operates in complete transparency, each trader has valuable information on their eToro profiles, so other traders that are interested to copy their trades can have assistance in creating their best portfolios.
Another feature that is unique to eToro is the personalized, social News Feed. Just like on any social media, traders can post their updates on feed, comment on other's posts, and gradually create a feed that is tailor-fitted to trader's trading and investing interests. On eToro social trading platform, traders will also get notifications when a trader writes a new post and many other important updates.
4. Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is committed to delivering the best free webinars programs for their traders. These programs are brought by leading financial services companies and research providers across the globe. The main idea is to let traders learn by watching, listening, and asking questions directly to experts. There are different topics covered in webinars, including trading, world finance, and current trends in the stock market. The webinars will be recorded and uploaded as learning videos available on the official website. This way, traders can revisit them anytime they want.
www.interactivebrokers.com
1:100
$10000
1977
Interactive Brokers is a direct market access broker that provides execution, clearance, settlement, and prime brokerage for customers. Since it was found 41 years ago by Thomas Peterffy, the company has grown internally to become one of the premier securities firms with over $7 billion in equity capital.
First acknowledged as a popular broker for advanced traders, Interactive Brokers launched a second tier of service called IBKR Lite for more casual investors in 2019.
The IBKR Lite provides services on over 125 market destinations worldwide and gives direct access (online) trade execution and clearing services, both to institutional and professional traders for a wide variety of traded products including stocks, options, futures, forex, fixed income, and funds worldwide. Interactive Brokers Group and its affiliates execute over 859,000 trades per day.
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Interactive Brokers has over 1,400 employees in the USA, Switzerland, Canada, Hong Kong, UK, Australia, Hungary, Russia, Japan, India, China, and Estonia companies. IBKR is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and is registered in the New York Stoch Exchange (NYSE).
Interactive Brokers offers a wide range of product-centered tools like the OptionTrader and Probability Lab for simplified single and complex multi-leg option trading; FXTrader for forex trading, Mutual Fund/ETF Replicator for helping traders find a lower cost on ETF alternatives, also fixed-income screeners for corporate and agency bonds. Overall, trading with Interactive Brokers would be provided with the most useful and updated tools to maximize trading and investing goals.
As a popular and regulated broker in the US, Interactive Brokers has won some awards. Recently, they were awarded by the Barrons as the 2019 Best Online Broker, which is categorized as the best broker for mobile, international, and frequent traders. Besides, they also won an award as Top Performing Broker by the Preqin Service Providers, and Best Overall Broker by Investopedia (Best for Low Costs, Best for International Trading, Best for Options Trading, Best for Day Trading, and Best for Penny Stocks). The awards are not only achieved during 2019. Since 2005, Interactive Brokers has won lots of awards regarding its best services for clients.
To optimize clients' trading speed and efficiency, Interactive Brokers provides some powerful suites of trading platforms. Below is the list:
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Client Portal
A one-stop destination to check quotes and place trades, see account balances, Profit and Loss, as well as key performance metrics, funding, and reporting. -
Desktop TWS
A flagship platform designed for active traders and investors who trade multiple products and require power and flexibility. Opening an account in Interactive Brokers and using this platform allows traders to utilize the most advanced algorithms and trading tools, as well as a library of tools and asset-based trading layouts for optimum customization. -
IBKR TWS for Mobile
The IBKR TWS for Mobile is made for traders who want to easily trade and monitor their IBKR account on-the-go from either iOS or Android device (tablet or smartphone). -
IBoT
IBoT is a robot for finding information and placing orders using clients' own words. IBot is available on TWS for Desktop, IBKR Mobile, and Client Portal. -
IBKR WebTrader
IBKR WebTrader is made for traders and investors who prefer a simplified interface. -
IBKR APIs or IBKR Pro
This trading platform is provided especially for traders and investors who want to write their trading software or automated trading programs; third-party software users.
Overall, Interactive Brokers has always been a great choice for those who want to find out a credible and regulated broker for trading. Offering lots of trading platforms, Interactive Brokers has committed to provide their best services for both novices and professionals, since it is suited to every clients' needs.
5. IG Markets
In order to prepare their traders to face the reality of trading, IG Markets plan one of the best webinar programs out there. Here, traders can learn all the basics of trading and the financial markets. They can also explore IG's exclusive platform with training sessions and walk-throughs. This program also allows traders to discover more about technical analysis and trading insights. To gain access, traders must create an IG account. It's a free process that takes fewer than five minutes, and there's no obligation to fund or trade. Aside from webinars, IG Markets also equipped their service with news, trading ideas, strategy, and planning. All of them are free of charge.
IG Markets is an online trading provider with decades of experience in the financial market. Founded in 1974, the world-leading company has gathered more than 178,000 clients worldwide with over 16,000 markets reached as of 2019. IG Markets is authorized and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). It is also important to note that being established in 1974 makes IG Markets one of the forefront online CFD brokers. Their service has expanded to 15 countries across five continents.
Aside from famous for its reliable experience, IG Markets is also known for its truly broad range of trading instruments. In fact, the broker has long been regarded as one of the most accomplished companies in offering the most trading assets to clients. The wide choice of instruments includes forex pairs, 26 indices, over 12,000 shares, hard and soft commodities, cryptocurrencies, as well as other markets such as bonds, rates, and options.
Forex trading in IG Markets is provided in two ways: CFD and DMA (Direct). Here are the conditions for each type of trading:
Forex CFD
- Minimum spread: 0.6 pips
- Commission: None
- Platforms: Web, mobile apps, MT4, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer, terminals and APIs
- Trading size: Contracts
- Demo account: Yes
Forex DMA
- Minimum spread: No details
- Commission: from $10 per $1 million traded
- Platforms: Web, mobiles apps, L2 Dealer, terminals, and APIs
- Trading size: Lots
- Demo account: No
Both ways of trading are available for all clients. However, DMA does not enable trading in MetaTrader 4. Clients are also not allowed to trade in a demo account for virtual trading. It is essentially a type of trading reserved for experienced traders with high necessity for the best pricing in the market, as DMA offers market depth from a range of exchanges (including full market depth from the LSE).
Trading platforms in IG Markets are accessible via web, mobile app, and desktop. They are offered with 2 main varieties: Core Platforms and Specialist Platforms. The core platform is meant for all types of trading with the add-ons of DMA, ProRealTime access, and Forex Direct. Meanwhile, Specialist Platforms consist of L2 Dealer, ProRealTime, and MetaTrader 4.
The first two platforms charge fees that include minimum $2000 balance and monthly fees for shares data and level 2 prices (for L2 Dealer), as well as platform fees amounting to $40 per month and monthly fee for shares data (for ProRealTime).
IG Markets does not require a minimum balance to open an account. It also provides a swap-free account that frees clients for any interest, rollover, or swap charges on overnight positions. Yet, All costs and charges are built into the spread. This account suits well with long-term traders who need to keep their positions open for days or even weeks.
For beginners, IG Markets builds an IG Academy that gives interactive education and online trading courses. This way, clients can get a grip on the financial markets with the essentials of trading provided in infographics, video explainers, and end-of-course quizzes. Even better, the IG Academy is already integrated into its mobile app so clients can always learn about financial markets in much more efficient ways.
In conclusion, IG Markets is a client-friendly broker with more than 40 years of experience to back up its credibility. Their efforts and commitments to provide the best varieties of trading platforms are proven in the unique Core and Specialist Platforms.
Traders with little experience can apply to Forex CFD account in either Core Platforms or MetaTrader 4, while professionals can achieve the best experience in the financial market with IG Market's DMA trading and L2 Dealer or ProRealTime platforms.
6. City Index
City Index has market outlook webinars that teach traders how to use different trading strategies to improve their trading skills. Hence, they can learn how to analyze markets and identify upcoming trading opportunities. The webinar courses cover all kinds of markets ranging from oils, precious metals, forex, and many more. The classes are recorded and will be uploaded as learning materials. All are available on City Index's official website. In addition, this broker provides different kinds of articles covering important topics like trading strategies.
Alternative Methods to Learn
Webinars have fixed schedules that will be shared ahead of time, so traders can decide which class they can come to. Ironically, the schedule could be a problem if it doesn't match the trader's daily activity. Some brokers might record the class and then upload it afterward, but there is no way to interact with the tutors if they just watch the recorded version.
Another problem with webinars is that before participating, traders are required to make sure that all the necessary tools and devices are available. Unlike offline seminars, webinars need a good internet connection and other supporting technical specs to make the learning process run smoothly.
If you can't be bothered with such difficulties, there are several other ways to get a free trading education. These methods might work for traders who don't like interactive classes. It's also worked for those with very tight schedules.
1. Read Educational Articles
Most brokers provide written content in the form of articles on their official websites. This type of learning contains all the useful information related to the forex market and every important thing that comes with it. A lot of brokers will provide some articles related to forex introductions for the newbies. Oftentimes, this information is arranged to be presented for all skill levels, so traders can learn materials in accordance with their level. This method is considered passive learning and might not be suitable for those who need more interactions.
2. Video Tutorials
Video tutorials can be a great substitute for a trader who wants detailed guidance on how to do certain steps in trading. One example is video tutorials for basics steps like how to use MetaTrader or apply technical indicators. This method can give them a descriptive approach to visualize the materials easier. But the catch is that most brokers are only able to give free video content at the introduction level. The rest of the videos (with more advanced content) can be accessed after traders fund their accounts or provide a certain payment required by the brokers.
3. Create Demo Accounts
Demo Account is another way to get free training from brokers. This special feature can help traders practice trading in the real market with virtual money. It's a great way to implement what has been taught in online classes. Traders can utilize a demo account to learn how to navigate the trading platform. They can learn how to apply technical tools and indicators on the charts. However, some professionals might argue that a demo account doesn't depict the actual condition of the markets. Therefore, new traders won't be able to learn how to manage their emotions and trading psychology which caused them to fail when entering the real market.
After Thoughts
There are various methods to learn about trading such as video tutorials, articles, webinars, and demo accounts. Among all of those choices, webinar programs offer more interactive options. It is basically an online seminar where traders can ask questions and discuss trading topics with experts. There are plenty of Australian brokers offering good webinars programs, and most of them are free or charged.
Aside from the brokers listed above, there are many other brokerages offering free webinar programs with great materials. Find out more about them in Free Forex Webinars by Forex Brokers Revealed.