Well you are giving me food for thought here. I like TS charting and I can easily overlay the OANDA trade entry box on the screen or since I will have 4 or 5 monitors for futures, I can have them on separate screens. I am leaning to TS for that reasons but OANDA seems a 1 to 1.5 pips cheaper. Thanks fo the input, gonna have to do more comparisons..
I have noticed this with delayed diffrences in price is it legal trading on split second moves like that ?
My understanding from what I've read on the Oanda forums (no-one seems to have given a full and proper explanation to date) is that if you are arbing Oanda they will give you a warning to change your trading tactics. Lets say a trader had access to the top data providers (or other platforms to compare prices) and using that info to get into a trade just before Oandas servers and algorithms can process that price change, and then as soon as price moves, you get out for a few pip profits, this they don't like, as you are taking advantage of a system inneficiency and they end up losing money on the transaction. They hedge nearly all transactions, but if you are getting in and out before they can properly hedge, than they are effectively not making the spread. Apparently they have programs that can monitor this sort of (in their words) "naughty trading". Now if you are getting in early and holding for a "significant" time period (lets say more than 5 minutes or going for at least 5 - 10 pips, different story, you are taking on market risk and you primary profits are coming from taking that risk (as oppossed to your primary profits coming from a broker inefficiency). What difference does it make if it takes 5 minutes or 5 seconds to hit target? I have not heard of a proper explanation to that question, suffice to say, that they will find out what your intentions are and give a warning to change your trading tactics. At the end of the day it's their platform and they can choose to whom and how they will offer that service. It very rarely happens that someone is kicked off as if they were to do so that person could be a public relations nightmare for Oanda, and to be successful in arbing them is easier said than done. Better to do it the old fashion way if you ask me.
If you are looking for a market maker and you are also looking for lowest spreads, then the answer can be only Oanda. It has variable position size, fractional pips, continuous interest payment, fast execution, reasonable slippage. Perhaps most imporant, it is probable the largest non-bank forex broker on market (from what I know it is larger than FXCM). It is probable that many don't know that because they don't have a strategy of aggresive marketing by using promotion and introducing brokers. Rather, they chose to build their reputation by providing excellent services to existing customers. And unlike many other brokers, they have a reputation of being fair. Oanda enables almost all trading styles - from carry trading, positional, swing, day trading, intraday trading, very short term trading and even scalping. It is perfectly ok to stay 5 seconds in a trade. The only style of trading that they cannot provide support for is sniping (arbitraging based on platform delays).
After reading most of the replies there are a couple things to remember: 1. TradeStation does not do their own dealing. Last time I checked, TS forex was being filled by Gain (forex.com) 2. ESignal forex data contains data from dozens of providers giving you higher highs and lower lows than any individual dealer.
It takes a few months to get used to some of the quirks (like the one you mention) and as a result price action alone does not always show the true story.The key in my opinion is to break down the data into second charts (something that Esig forex charts are very good at doing), so as to zoom into a reversal situation that may be forming on the minute/hourly charts, and look for price action/momentum patterns that confirm the bigger picture. Similarly some currencies are "cleaner" than others.
If I am not mistaken, TS trades thru Gain/Forex.com (says so in the fine print on the bottom of the page), so look to that broker to get an idea of the spreads you will get trading on tradestation.
what surprise me it TS @ gain capital http://www.gaincapital.com/gainpro-forex-trading.html you dont have to pay any commission to enjoy the tight spread wherelse TS charges $5 R/T wonder if their spread sucks companre to MBT and IB