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Unfortunately, although there are many Forex trading scams online, there are also online Forex broker scams. There are of course many brokers that provide good and honest services, however there are many that don't.

Although it is rare, even highly reputable, credible and legitimate brokers cheat their customers sometimes, so it is advised that you know how to find out if your Forex broker is trading against you - especially if you are experiencing many losses.

The main way in which a Forex broker can cheat you, involves fake price feeds. Brokers have a technological advantage over you, since they can show whatever prices they like. All brokers will have different spreads on different currency pairs and these will always differ from the true quotes provided by the actual interbank market. This gives brokers the chance to change their prices whenever they like and legally too, since this sort of behavior tends to be covered in a broker's terms and conditions.

Generally, good Forex brokers will not change their price feeds fraudulently and especially if they promote fixed spreads. However, some can and will, in order to make more money out of you by running your stops, for example. These kinds of cheating schemes can be easily programmed into the trading platforms of brokers and they can cause your trading strategies to fail every time.

You need to be aware of the price feeds that your Forex broker is providing you with. It is advised that you look at multiple price feeds, in order to compare your broker's prices with the prices provided by other competing brokers, as well as with the actual interbank market's prices, ideally.

If you ever notice that your stop-loss and take-profit orders are failing, your Forex broker might be cheating you. Find out, by looking at different price feeds as mentioned and if your broker does turn out to be a cheat, get in touch with the regulatory authorities associated with your broker. Remember, never go to a broker that is not regulated. In the US, the two regulatory authorities for Forex trading are the NFA (National Futures Association) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

Before contacting regulatory authorities, you may want to try requesting tick-by-tick history from your Forex broker, which is basically real price information that your broker cannot amend. If your broker fails to provide you with this information, or does provide it and the information proves that your broker is cheating you: first try to get in touch with your broker again and try to resolve the problem yourself, however if this fails, contact the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Remember, even the top Forex brokers can cheat their clients - it's still possible, no matter how much reputation a broker has. So you should always be aware of the price feeds your broker is providing you with.

In conclusion, the main way in which a Forex broker can trade against you, is through changing the price feeds that they supply you with. In order to avoid being cheated, keep up-to-date with the true prices of the Forex market and look at multiple price feeds. If you do run into some trouble, first contact your broker. However, if you cannot resolve your problem even after threatening your broker with legal action, consider approaching suitable regulatory authorities.

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By Matthew Vint