So how are futures cheaper then? $5/RT for the 6E is the same as $20 per halfturn per million - which is exactly the same what you pay for spot at IB. Since the bid/ask-spread on the future is minimum 1 tick/pip and on spot its usually below 1 tick/pip, clearly spot is cheaper. At least with IB.
besides,i think you don`t have problems with liquidity on spot,during asian session for e.g. Pippi,can you always get below 1tick spread with IB?If not,is it negotiable?Can i ask IB for the fixed spread?
Tick on EUR.USD usually is .5-1 pip spread, showing 5MM -10MM price liquidity easily on the depth charts. Spreads are not negotiable and they are never fixed.
IB does not or will not negotiate prices or commissions for retail customers. Those are set in stone. Maybe they would negotiate commissions if you were a big enough institutional account, but not on quoted prices. Open a chat window and try it. BTW, fixed spreads are not the model of an ECN pricing system, which is what IB offers their clients for fx spot trading.
I`ll try it later.Certainly not via chat window I`ll write to Thomas Peterffy directly and say that i`m very good and honest person so he won`t resist. Ok then, can i get fixed spread from the platform itself,i don`t mean limit orders?
last time i checked (about 4months ago) even with the forex brokers offering the tightest spreads, spreads are horrible compared to futures. Do your own homework; but i am not revisiting that for the next couple of years. Sticking with futures for now.. heck i am infact expanding into stock; just the reverse; mostly due to liquidity and spreads now that commisions are becoming more efficient. edit: i found the thread from back when i was looking into this issue http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3159426#post3159426 -gariki