I am not a customer of theirs , but know they have a good rep. this is taken from their website .... -GAIN revolutionized the forex market by being the first online foreign exchange trading firm to allow clients to deal instantaneously from live, streaming quotes. This dealing practice ensures that all forex traders receive a firm, fair price on their FX transactions and eliminates slippage and re-quoting, both common complaints of forex traders. - they have a good rep. I presently use FX futures when I need or wish to speculate in FX
Yes, I trade currency futures . I pay $4.80 round turn on a approx.$125,000 dollar postion. If I use my forex broker (commerce bank http://www.cbfx.com/) for the same size postion I pay a spread of 3 pips which is $38 . I looked at hotspot and frankly as far as I can see you still go through them - It didn't seem to me that I was dealing direct with the spot market: Whereas with currency futures I go direct to the market, instantly. Certainly the liquidity is thin in futures - and so timing becomes more critical. I just wish all the forex boys would join future brokers and then the liquidity problems would decrease. Have you read this thread: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...=26444&perpage=6&highlight=forex&pagenumber=2
I trade with hotspot for one reason only..because you ARE dealing directly with the spot market. As far as I know they are the only broker who doesn't run a trading desk...
If that is true I will open an account. I tried their demo and it seemed there was a spread of 2 or 3 pips. Even in currency futures much of the time there is only a one tick spread - so how could a liquid market as spot forex have spreads. I must admit I only looked at it briefly so maybe I caught them at a low vol. time.On their website they have this: """"Introducing Brokers Hotspot FX provides comprehensive services to Introducing Brokers seeking to expand their foreign exchange trading business. Hotspot FX has developed unique compensation programs supported by our new spread-trading platform, This package enables IB's complete flexibility in structuring its compensation arrangements. Our IB's can receive compensation as part of a spread or as a part of a commission. This flexibility enables IB's to pursue a diverse range of clients and provides IBs with a direct volume-based return. """" How can they give part of the spread (i.e pips ) as a cut to another broker, if you are buying already direct off the market? I am not trying to be difficult, really I hope I am wrong.
I'm not sure what you expect from spot FX, but as a 16 year interbank trader I can safely say that there is always a spread. And that is for someone dealing in a minimum of 2mio units. I read posts on other boards of people complaining about 3 pips etc and looking for 1-2 pt spreads and these are guys who are trying to trade in 100K lots or even worse mini accounts! I am thankful that as a small (1mio-1.5mio) trader I don't have to pay away 5 pips or more knowing what I know of the interbank market. As a bank trader I would have shown you a 2 pip spread in 50 mio euros easy just to get your business. I would tell the sales desk to make you prices in 1 mio and less just to leave me alone and I guarantee you weren't getting better than 4 pips from them. And this is at a major US moneycenter bank! Sorry I'll get off my soapbox. It just drives me nuts to see people complain about relatively small amounts of money. I think 2-3 pips is about the best you are going to do in spot FX unless you are a big player and have the bucks to deal directly interbank, which nobody I know does. I like Hotspot because for me their look and functionality is just like EBS, which is what every interbank guy trades with, and I am happy to pay the minimal brokerage rather than the extra pip some other guys charge to transact the business (because its cheaper) Also they don't take the other side of my trade so I never have to complain about being stopped out of a position when the market didn't trade at that level, which has happened to me at other shops. I figure it doesn't cost me anything to open an account anywhere, so I tried a couple and am staying with this one, until someone invents the perfect mousetrap....or I hit the lottery tonight. good luck to you.
Taboni, Thanks for the reply. Have you ever traded currency futures? I would like to hear your comparison with spotFX.
Never traded futures for myself, but I used to trade on the IMM when I was working in the interbank market. We used to arb against the spot price because sometimes there were big price differentials especially after numbers. I am curious about it now but its going to take a little more investigation before I jump in that market for myself. I think I'm going to stick with the devil I know....