Anyone who is currently trading F/X know of the firm FXCM.com ??? Are they reasonable ?? Is it a decent way to trade F/X via the web ??? Disadvantages ?? Advantages ???? J-Law
is the one. I have just opened an account there. they seem to be the IB of the currency world. however word of warning they are not CTFC registered, although they are in the throws of getting accreditation. best to have a good read of their site forum, which is quite open. I researched fxcm, saxobank, dealstation and many others. nothing, unfortunately, touches oanda for the features they offer. the biggy for me was no set contract sizes. $1 - $10mil. Not in $100k portions like everyone else. fantastic for hedging currencies for us non-millionaires.
Advantages - although they don't offer a contract as small as $1 (the previous poster said that Oanda could), they offer a $10,000 contract - which is smaller than the usual 100,000. Also, they are CFTC registered.
I did trial fxcm but I found the following in the demo FWIW: 1. You could not enter an order for anything but a multiple of 100k They should put it in the demo if they offer it! 2. No charting 3. I really hated that submarine sound (but you can turn it off!) 4. average Spread = 5 pips for GBP/USD. Oanda is 4.
2. Charts at http://quote.fxtrek.com/misc/fxcm.asp 3. I don't have my sound on 1. 10K available if you open a real mini account.
Keep it coming. Thanx. Guys, appreciate all the feedback. Have a background in futures & options trading and currently trading NYSE listed equities. Looking for a change of venue. Would be nice. regards, J-Law
Coming from trading listed equities, I'm always able to see the size. How is one able to trade if you can't see large bids or offers ??? What I'm getting at is how do you trade without seeing size ???
If you are referring to FXCM, then FXCM are taking the other side of the trade. They will usually take a million without blinking. If you want to do larger size, then you might have to get a quote.
The problem with retail FX trading is that your broker trades against you. Its like the old bucket shops mentioned in "Reminiscence of a Stock Operator". They quote you a market based on what they see in the interbank market. I guess they are playing the percentages that over time most people will lose or churn along paying them the spread. Since they know your positions, in theory they could skew their quotes against you. As a client, you have to take it or leave it, there is no other execution route. As far as being able to read size, that style of trading won't work in FX because there is no central exchange or ECN that aggregates everyone's orders. There just seems to be something inherently wrong with having your broker on the other team. Whatever you do, be careful. Some of the ECN type firms like MatchbookFX (not even sure if they are still around) looked more promising, but I have not checked into it in awhile.
Thanks, mm2AU. maybe makes better sense to apply for a job with them instead. Who wants to trade in the position of the last/least to know ?? Especially, against someone who can see the (their's at least) orderflow.