Would there be any advantage to using an IB (introducing broker) for forex trading? It seems to me that a lot of the problems associated with these bigger firms would be alleviated by using an IB. Also, they seem like they offer a lot more extras. Any other thoughts on this?
What extras would that be? In my opinion, 99% of them are just out there to get a commission cut or another form of a kickback without providing any value whatsoever.
I agree with Pippi436, 99% of them give you nothing in return for your business, that leaves 1% who sometimes offer some good deals like volume rebates and better customer support, plus if you've got a problem an IB with a few hundred clients usually carries more weight than just a sole client. Depending on what kind of volumes you're trading every month it's worth negotiating a good deal for yourself, they need your business to survive.
I've heard about an outfit that is giving access to a forex analyst. The cynic in me says that there is a hidden agenda, but it also opens one up to a community of traders, and could be useful
I would be very careful; if this 'analyst' could actually make money by trading forex, he or she would be a trader instead of an analyst
It's an old sales trick, they'll offer all sorts of things to entice you like strategies, indicators, analysts, 'inside' info etc etc, 99.99999% of it is pure garbage! There was one on here recently selling some flashy looking charts and strategy, free to anyone who traded a minimum volume using him as an IB. As you probably know there are hundreds of sites with free market analysis and trading strategies, and loads of trading forums like this one for free help and discussion from the trading community. If you're going to use an IB make sure you get a rebate, dollars and cents are the only thing that matters, and carefully check out the company which the IB is introducing you to!
IB are just Independent sales agents. It like an insurance agent being Independent. They don't give you a worse deal by going through them usually then going straight to the brokerage firm. they just sell there products indepentantly and its a job. But going around them doesn't give you a better deal. They can help you out if you need something because they have more pull. And IBs are usually Compensated by the firm and not the client.