ODL Markets

Company overview

ODL stands for Options Direct Limited, and ODL Markets, also called ODL Securities, has been in business since 1994. It is headquartered in London on the banks of the Thames, and rediscovered itself in 2004 with new capital and new management. Serving clients in over one hundred countries, ODL has recently agreed to combine with Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), which brings the number of accounts to more than 200,000 with huge capitalization.

The company is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the USA, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia, and is a member of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), among other affiliations.

Available Platforms

ODL has a range of trading platforms on offer, and includes both dealing desk and no dealing desk models. For Forex, you can use the Trading Station II platform, or the ubiquitous MetaTrader 4. The MT4 platform, which comes from the FXCM connection, features no dealing desk execution, which means that the trades are placed competitively with one of many banks. During busy trading times, this gives very tight spreads.

ODL is one of the official beta testers for MetaTrader 5, and they offer this for public trader testing.

ODL also features trading in CFDs, Spread Betting, Futures, Options and Equities.

Account Types

Both platforms require a minimum $2000 deposit, and give a leverage rate of up to 200 to 1. The no dealing desk trading available with MT4 will give you variable spreads, so expect the spreads to be larger if you are trading during unusual hours with light volume. The spreads will be competitive at the heavier volume times.

Sometimes brokers are suspected of manipulating prices on their dealing desks, and the direct price interface which ODL offers takes away any suspicion of this by reflecting the open market prices, which means it is preferred by some traders.

ODL is not offering any signing bonuses or incentives at the moment.

Support

ODL gives customer service by live chat, fax, telephone, and e-mail. It offers a daily newsletter, free seminars from time to time, and weekly video outlooks.

Summary

• √ No commissions.
• √ With the latest acquisition, very large stable company.
• √ Choice of platforms.
• √ No dealing desk offered.
• √ Regulated in many jurisdictions.