Broker to Trading

The brokers in the table offer Forex trading and allow the trader to deposit to their account in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin (and other Cryptos). The online trading platforms offered by the broker to trade Forex are included in the table, as this is the way that the trader will trade the Forex market through the broker. Bitcoin deposits may not be available in some regions. .

Bitcoin is a network which enables peer to peer payments in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. This happens through a series of processes which send a payment from wallet to wallet. The core technology used is called the blockchain, which is an electronic distributed ledger recording all transactions in Bitcoin. To process transactions, Bitcoin uses miners, who compete to add a new block of processed data to the blockchain, and are rewarded by Bitcoin and transaction fees.

The brokers in the table above let the trader send Bitcoin payments to their account, using this technology. It should be noted that Bitcoin payments vary in terms of the time taken for completion. This is because the network can be subject to congestion, as it processes many payments. Time to completion can be from around 30 minutes to a matter of hours. This is not as fast as a Credit Card, which settles essentially instantly, as it does not depend on distributed payment technology and can process payments very efficiently, however it can still be relatively fast for a payment method, depending on congestion.

Although Bitcoin does not utilise centralised processing, the Bitcoin network is still involved in validating and storing data. Bitcoin like other cryptocurrencies utilises cryptographic techniques to secure the ledger (i.e. the blocks of data of securely chained together with cryptography, hence the prefix 'crypto').

A feature of Bitcoin payments is confirmation. When a payment is received it typically needs to be confirmed. This is also an automated process, as confirmation happens when succeeding blocks are added to the newly formed block containing the transaction data for a given payment. Cryptography comes into play here, as it reduces the possibility of the given block being altered with each succeeding block added. Thus after a certain number of additional blocks being added, the block in question becomes to all intents and purposes immutable, thereby preventing double spend of the amount recorded in the ledger (and reversal of the payment) and is therefore 'confirmed'. Hence the blockchain securely keeps track of the movement of Bitcoin from wallet to wallet.

When the payment is in the trader's account, it may be in a Bitcoin denominated account, if offered by the broker, or it may be converted to a fiat currency, for a fiat currency account. The trader can trade Forex from their account using these funds on the online trading platform offered by the broker to trade Forex Pairs. Forex Pairs are the markets by which the trader trades Forex.

All these brokers offer platforms which support the wide range of styles utilised by Forex trader to tackle this complex market. These including using technical and fundamental analysis to try and gauge market direction or using or building an automated trading strategy to trade on the trader's behalf. Forex trading time frames can be very short (for example in scalping or typical news trading) or considerably longer. In essence, Bitcoin deposits allow the trader to use the blockchain (a separate payment system from that used for fiat currencies) to send funds to their account and then to trade Forex currency pairs and the other markets offered by the broker.