Brokerages:

/R/FOREX IS NOT RECOMMENDING ANY BROKERS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DUE DILIGENCE. FOREX CARRIES SUBSTANTIAL RISK INCLUDING TOTAL LOSS OF FUNDS, WEALTH, SELF RESPECT, AND POTENTIALLY LIFE AFTER BECOMING SUICIDAL. REVIEWS ARE SOLELY FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE; DO YOUR HOMEWORK, TRADER..

There are many factors to consider when choosing a brokerage. Regulations typically force US traders to only trade at US brokerages, while non-US based traders have more choice. After considering location you need to consider how much capital you will start trading with as many have minimum deposit levels. Once you’ve narrowed that down you can compared spreads and execution. ECN brokers execute your orders straight through to their liquidity providers, while market maker brokers may pair up your trades with other clients. Market maker brokers typically will partially hedge your positions on the interbank market. Many consider this to be a conflict of interest and prefer to trade at an ECN broker who would have an active motive to see you succeed. Lastly, brokers run inherently risky business models so it is important to consider the risk of bankruptcy.

www.myfxbook.com/forex-broker-spreads - Live comparison of executable spreads
http://tradingt.com/forex-broker-types-ecn-vs-dma-vs-stp-vs-market-maker/ - A good description of the different types of exchanges
UNITED STATES BASED TRADERS-

And then, there were six.....

Brokerages for US traders are tough to find. Heavy regulation by the governing bodies of the CFTC and the NFA mean that US traders are limited to 50:1 leverage on the majors, 20:1 on exotics, as well as certain capital and margin requirements. The most odious part of this regulation is that which we, the retail trader, do not see: paperwork for the broker. In order to not face the wrath of the the US government, any broker, worldwide, that wants US clients, must comply. Inherently, there are few brokers available for US traders. Be cautious as you can find foreign corporations (usually based in Cyprus or the Caribbean but not limited to those areas) who will take your money. Remember that if you sign up with one of these groups, your money is not protected by the US Government.

All of the US CFTC/NFA compliant brokers are top notch, are very close to each other when it comes to bid/ask spreads, and are not out "to get your money". Proceed with confidence.

All US compliant brokers are available to foreign investors; you do not need to be a US citizen/US based to enroll.
ECN/STP

Given the loss of Interactive Brokers (IB) to US traders, there is unfortunately no "True" ECN anymore for US based traders: Those that are listed under ECN/STP are considered to be using a two tiered system of STP for their winners and MM for their losers. This is called "A" book and "B" book playing by some.

-FXCM Inc https://www.fxcm.com/
* English with multilingual support
* STP/MM two tiered system
* Largest retail Forex brokerage in the US
* Tight spreads, some of the best in the game. Floating, like most, but not known for getting too crazy during news
* Minimum deposit $2000
* Not well diversified - They do Forex and some indices and that is all.
* CAUTION: FXCM nearly went bankrupt in Jan-2015 due to a lack of diversification and low capitalization. As a result FXCM LLC was bailed out with a large loan which may prove difficult to pay back. Be warned that their business may not be sustainable in the long term.
* FXCM has a long and checkered history with multiple claims of moving/missing stops or TP lines. It is difficult to verify this as many of these claims are made by amateur traders. Proceed with caution.

-Gain Capital Gain offers three products for traders (two for US):
* Forex.com which is Spot Forex for the entry level trader; also city index which is UK
* GTX Direct which is an ECN trading account for well capitalized and high volume traders.

First:
-Forex(dot)com www.Forex.com Access for FXspot is through subsidiaries Forex.com and Cityindex.co.uk. /r/Forex is still researching city index
* Multilingual interface
* Spreads fair, no commissions
* STP/MM
* Minimum deposit is $250, but recommended at $2,500
* 50 Currency pairs
* Proprietary platform "FOREXTrader Pro", seen as a friendly GUI for users. Also allows for MT4 and MT5 interface.
* Minimum trade size is 1 microlot (1K units)

Then:
-GTX Direct www.forex.com/en-us/services/trading-platforms/fx-ecn-trading
* Multilingual
* Spread plus commissions
* True ECN system
* Minimum deposit is $100,000, also requires average daily trading volume of 5,000,000 (Five Million/5M) units per day.
* Geared towards professionals

-Interactive Brokers
* Used most by professional traders in the US. Difficult platform for beginners
* Tight spreads
* Minimum deposit $10000 ($3000 if under 25)
* Well diversified

As of 01 September 2016, Interactive Brokers no longer accepts US clients for Forex in any capacity unless they have access to USD$10,000,000 (ten Million) in capital. This is due to new regulations from the NFA/CFTC. IB represented approximately 7% (USD$32MM) of US retail Forex accounts.

-ATC Brokers
* "Tight spreads"
* STP/NDD (No Dealing Desk)
* USD $5,000 minimum deposit

ATC is in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection as of March 2016
Market Makers

-Oanda www.oanda.com
* Considered by /r/Forex to be one of the best FX dealers out there for US based traders
* English with multi-Language support
* Market Maker (MM)/Dealing Desk. Definitely takes the opposite of your trade..
* Fair spreads
* Customer Service is top notch! Rapid response to queries. Allows debit card transactions.
* Based in Canada with multiple US offices. Regulated by both US and Canuck authorities.
* Second largest retail FX brokerage for the US.
* No minimum deposit (that's right, you can trade any size lot you want! All the way from full sized [100K] through mini[10k], micro[1k], nano[100], pico[10], and femto[1 unit!!] lots
* Not well diversified, but well capitalized; weathered the CHF meltdown with no problems.
* Proprietary platform (fxTrade) which is considered a cinch for beginners; may be too basic once the training wheels are off ...But! It links easily with MT4
* Has Android and iPhone app that are relatively stable and good for order entry

-ThinkOrSwim https://www.thinkorswim.com
* English with multilingual support
* Market Maker/Dealing Desk. Definitely takes the opposite of your trade..
* Fair spreads
* Phenomenally capitalized (subsidiary of TDAmeritrade)
* Amazingly diversified - offers access to most retail instruments fluidly. Offers FX, Futures, Options (their bread and butter), stocks, Pennies, commodities, all on margin.
* USD $2,000 Minimum deposit for margin
* Over 100 Currency Pairs
* Company was originally built for options traders
* Their proprietary platform, called "ThinkOrSwim Trading Platform" (free with funded account) is considered one of the best charting software platforms in the game

-TradeKing Forex https://www.tradeking.com
* Is an introducing broker to Forex.com (Gain Capital.) All trading conditions are the same as Forex.com
INTERNATIONAL BASED TRADERS-

-Pepperstone https://pepperstone.com/en/
* Primarily English but has multi-language
* Has both ECN (Their "Razor" account) and STP ("Standard" account)
* Spreads considered reasonable
* Customer service- /r/Forex review: "Good customer service so far. Gave me a personal phone call when I signed up for a demo and another after creating a live account. Also you have to take a multi-choice test before they will allow you to create a live account (only if you admit to being a new trader)."
* Sends weekly emails with breakdowns and forecasts + news events.
* $200 minimum deposit, min $100 afterwards.
* Based in Australia.
* 500:1 (it was dialed back during brexxit but was put back up soon afterwards)
* Has android + iphone app. Not the most stable platform during large news events but its being actively improved.
* Uses their own variant of cTrader and MT4 platforms.
* Recently started adding hard and soft commodities to their symbols. Apparently added more crosses and exotics too.
* Has Islamic accounts (swap free)
* can trade microlots (1,000 units)
* has access to cAlgo, which is a c# based platform for algorithmic trading, backtesting. Quite a learning curve but quite advanced.

-Dukascopy https://www.dukascopy.com/
* English but has multi language interface
* True ECN
* Spreads considered "good" by the community
* Based in Switzerland
* Minimum USD$5,000 with Dukascopy Bank SA (but apparantly minimum $100 with Dukascopy Europe... more to come)
* Allows down to Microlots (1K units)
* 200:1 max (300:1 max for Dukascopy Europe)

-Interactive Brokers https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=759
* English with multilingual support
* "ECN like structure" which likely means dual ECN/MM playbooking
* Spreads considered fair but has commisions/pro traders love this company
* US based, but due to new CFTC/NFA regulations, US traders are not welcome anymore...
* Minimum deposit for margin is $10,000
* Max Leverage appears to be 50:1, talk to the desk
* Charting program has been viewed as "clunky"

-Darwinex https://www.darwinex.com/
* English, Español, Français, 中文
* DMA model. LMAX Exchange.
* Allows for MT4 interface
* Spreads /r/Forex review: "Fair spreads (averaging between 0.3 and 3.0) and very minimal slippage! I only personally experienced it during news which is normal."
* OUTSTANDING customer service!
* Minimum deposit and account balance of 500 USD/EUR/GBP
* Located in the UK (and rebranded to Darwinex in 2014) and FCA regulated (previously in Spain under Tradeslide Trading Tech Limited)
* Max 1:200 leverage
* r/Forex review: "I'm honestly not aware of any restrictions. Your strategy can be manual, EA, whatever you want. But please ask them and they will promptly answer any questions you may have! ZERO conflict of interest! Also, if you are a successful trader and you land in the top 40 you will not just get funded by investors (potentially) but Darwinex themselves will give you cash to trade and you keep 20% of profits every quarter."

-IC Markets http://icmarkets.com/
* Multi-language interface
* Spreads considered "Tight" /r/Forex review: "(I've seen them go negative)."
* This is primarily an ECN broker, although they do offer minimum spread accounts too. With commissions included the ECN accounts are usually around the top of the Myfxbook broker spreads chart. With a rebate IB and/or cTrader rather than MT4, you can get costs down a little further still.
* /r/Forex customer service review: "Opening and verifying your account can take a couple of days but other than that they've been great. Live chat has been friendly and helpful."
* Minimum Deposit required $200 USD
* Based in Australia.
* Max leverage 1:500
* If you care about latency, their MT4 servers are in Equinix NY while their cTrader servers are in London.

-Saxobank http://www.saxobank.com/
* Multilingual
* One of the oldest ECNs in existance
* Huge, well capitalized
* Spreads rated as good
* UK Based

-EXNESS https://www.exness.com/
* English/Multi-Language interface
* True ECN on their "mini-ECN" account.
* Spreads are tight unless it is a major news release. Then they can be quite wide. Commission size is moderate.
* Customer Service /r/forex review: "Good. But I did not use it more than 2 times for 5 years that I traded with EXNESS."
* Minimum deposit: $1.
* Based in Cyprus.
* Max Leverage appears to be 1:400
* No restrictions from the trader's point of view.

-RoboForex http://www.roboforex.com/
* English, multi-language interface
* Spreads review: "I use their zero-spread accounts. Spreads are really zero, but commission is quite high especially for something like NZD/USD. Great for news trading."
* Customer service /r/Forex review: "Good. Same as with EXNESS, had limited interaction with them for a long period."
* Minimum deposit $1.
* Based in Cyprus.
* Max leverage 1:500.
Software / Apps:

Desktop/mobile
* Apps are typically broker dependent. Some brokers have their own proprietary software, while others lease common software like Metatrader or NinjaTrader. Some software has a large development community for indicators and EAs.
* /r/Forex recommends: https://www.tradingview.com/ - Great for HTML5 browser based charting and alerts
Books:

*Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques - Steve Nison (Price action, charting)
*Trading for a Living - Alexander Elder (Psychology)
*Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom - Van Tharp (Developing your own system)
*Trading and Exchanges - Larry Harris (Comprehensive book on trading and market microstructure)
*Trading Price Action Reversals - Al Brooks (Price action, charting)
*Trade What You See - Larry Pesavento (Pattern trading, charting)
*Growing The Money Tree - John Svazic (New to Forex/investing, technical indicators and algorithmic trading)
* Inside the House of Money - Steven Drobny
* Market Wizards - Jack Schwager
* Michael Lewis Books (The Big Short, Flash Boys, Boomerang, Liars Poker)
* Trading in the Zone - Mark Douglas
* Reminiscences - Jesse Livermore
* Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Taleb
* The Speculative Strategist - Will Slayter
* Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Jon Markman
* Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets
* Forex Made Simple: A step by step day trading strategy for making $100 to $200 per Day
* 50 Pips A Day Forex Strategy
* Forex For Beginners
* Currency trading for dummies by Brian Dolan

The books listed are in no particular order, this should not be seen as a comprehensive list but one that we (the mods) found most helpful.