I personally only used a hand full of brokers in my trading career. However, based on my personal experience, I’d highly recommend the following brokers:

Think Forex (Recommended to Non-UK Residence)

Pro:
  • Very Competitive Spread E.g. the spread on EURUSD is less than 2 (Basic Account) or less than 1 (Pro Account).
  • Good customer’s service (even though they are in Australia)
  • ECN or Direct to market (No dealing desk)
  • MT4 is popular and used by many brokers
Con:
  • Less currency pairs/products to trade
  • Bank accounts and customer service are based in Australia
Setup Guide: Work in Progress – See Guide
Broker website:  http://www.thinkforex.com/
(Go to link, Select “Open Account”, further instructions are on the site).

 

FXCM (Recommended to UK Residence)

Pro:

  • Simple, Easy and Friendly Platform – it helps avoid simple errors
  • Very resourceful – E.g. Daily FX is part of the FXCM group. Hence, there’s easy access to their training courses
  • Good customer’s service
  • Both Deal or Non desk are available
Con:
  • Spread (cost) is slightly higher than AxiTrader
Broker website:  UK – http://www.fxcm.co.uk/
                                   Asia – http://www.fxcmasia.com/en/index.html