Gentlemen Executive of hotspotfx.com stated - ...company is pure agent ,not market maker . oanda.com,interbankfx.com broker offer 1.2-1.5 pip for eur/usd or 2 pips for eur/usd usd/jpy eur/jpy . hotspotfx depend from time 1-2 pip for eur/usd + 3 $ comission fees(per side ? per roundturn ?/ Depth of the market book with time sales/volume offered from hotspotfx.com .That give possibility to use tape reading . Who is experienced enough compare all mentioned brokers ? Author would very pleased for answer.
I'd not say I'm experienced since I've only demotraded forex, but since the questions are quite simple I'll answer anyway. HotSpotFx operates an ECN of forex-orders. When orders cross in their ECN-book a transaction takes place. Yes, this gives you an order book to look at, with orders from customers as well as market makers (in forex they're referred to as liquidity providers). However, they don't report transactions on a ticker tape - so tape-reading isn't really possible. You can sort of figure out what transactions has been made from watching the depth in the order-book. It's been a few months since I trialed HotSpotFX, so maybe they're printing transactions now. Oanda is a market-maker, which quotes a large amount of currency pairs. When you send them a buy-order they "fill" your order, but in reality they take the other side of the trade. I guess they lay off some risk in the interbank market if the trades are large enough. Then, after you have opened a position, you sit and wait and hope that they move the quotes in your favour. Their quotes are somewhat equal to the interbank market, but they decide their own quotes and you basicly have no rights. Oanda is probably one of the better forex bucketshops around, they have a nice platform and are very flexible when it comes to trade size. But generally, you should stay away from these kinds of operations (unless your trading account is rather limited). Instead you should check out the forex dealing with Interactive Brokers, which function just like HotSpotFX but has lower commissions.
Gentlemen Author is very pleased for your answer. Author point of view ,that operator in forex industries dissadvantaged against operator in futures and stock's , 1. Some of tactical skill's not possible to use in forex /tape reading as example/ 2. Not possible for individual to monitor market 24 hours , institutional can monitor 24 hours . In NYSE/NASDAQ individual operator wit hextended hours need 10-11 hours of monitoring .That is heavy ,but possible.
Gentlemen Author tested demo ,which was offered from site for institutional client's .Also in this case individual operator in forex would dissadvantaged ,if compare with individual operator in stock .... Or ? Author would very pleased for answer.