without taking sides, lets just look at the facts in the nfa website, compare the main brokers and decide for yourself, everybody is free to choose what they want. Whether the broker is good or not, it is very hard to tell, coz profitable traders are hard to come by, let alone coming to online forums to "showoff". maybe cabletrader should start posting some cmc blotters as well.
I don't usually scalp trade intraday with CMC, I use them more for longer term positional trades as their price feed is more 'smoothed' and their spreads tend to be wider. I posted this reply to someone else in another thread, it kinda addresses the 'showoff' comment... I'm not claiming to have 'superior trading knowledge' that's the whole point, in fact quite the opposite, I'm nothing special and I don't have anything that other people don't have or couldn't develop (probably less if truth be known, lol). The point being is if I'm able to produce positive results from trading retail forex with a bucketshop like Oanda then anyone can. Admittadly it's a bit of a dick swing but the original motive for posting blotters was to prove the naysayers wrong as well as perhaps be an inspiration to those who are finding trading difficult and starting to question whether there actually is any money to be made in this game. My blotters go some way to dispel some of the myths propagated by a few of the 95% club that a) retail forex can't be profitable, b) that the market is unpredictable and just noise on lower time frames, c) that no-one can make money trading with a bucketshop, and d) scalping isn't profitable. I think they do a reasonable job of achieving that goal.
hi cabletrader, i am not implying that you are showing off or anything. In fact you have been reasonable in your arguement and you prove it with real trades. apologies if you feel offended. I do appreciate you efforts in dispelling those myths. What I am trying to say is that, most people who complain here are either demo players or micro account players who are mostly lousy losers, it really doesnt help a lot for those researching for a good broker. Researching about a broker online is usually a dead end as there is too many grey areas. (okay i know i just asked abt fxcm here). but cabletrader pointed out a very viable selection criteria via the nfa website. since using oanda for some time, those online postings made me paranoid at first, now i just move on. regards
No no I wasn't offended, in fact being honest there is an element of showing off, that and a definite feeling of smug satisfaction in proving the naysayers wrong! I love it when one of these clowns pops up and says never scalp, never trade with a bucketshop, never trade news, only trade futures, forex is a fools game etc etc etc....then you post a few blotters from scalping spot across news with a bucketshop, lol Picking a broker is a nightmare, as you know yourself what suits one person's trading style might not suit another's. Broker reviews are unreliable as well, you never know who's written them and it's hard to read between the lines sometimes.....all stuff you already know I'm sure. It's a long process but sometimes the only way to make the decision is to shortlist a few and then try them out with a live account.
In my opinion each type of broker has its use. I use the dealer model because of the relatively consistent and reliable spread and I don't have to pay a commission. My trades are longer term 1-5 days and 80+ pips so the advantage of using an ECN is not large enough for me to move my accounts and start paying commissions. Another words, with my strategy it is cheaper for me to pay the slightly higher spread then it is to pay a commission. If I was a scalper I would probably look into the ECN model. I do scalp the mini-Dow so I do understand the value of an ECN with that type of a strategy. Also as a side note, I have traded on IB's FX ECN platform and it was disgustingly difficult to figure total margin and pip cost for the crosses. Due to my strategy and the responsibility I have to my investors it is vital that I have exact, easy to obtain, numbers. I was talking to IB people all over the world, literally, and not one person could explain to me how to accurately and consistently calculate total margin required and the real cost per tick or pip for each cross. I've never traded MBT so maybe it is much simpler there. I like and feel comfortable with FXCM for the reasons I stated in my earlier post. I can't argue with four years of great service (I have only had one hanging order in four years there and customer service quickly credited my account the difference and apologized). With that said, I am not recommending FXCM to anyone, please do your own research, this is just my experience. I'm sure Oanda, GFT, etc. are pretty similar and so each trader should figure which type of broker fits them and their specific strategy best and go from there.
yes cabletrader, i understand your point. eric, I am glad you are a happy customer with fxcm. Actually I just wanted to find out how fxcm is now, compared to 5 years ago. I am really curious as they use to receive a lot of negative feedbacks. I do not feel a need to change brokers now, just felt like broker shopping and see if there are any pleasant surprises. My analysis is that since fxcm has gone ndd, probably mean less requotes or those mysterious system freeze. Cost wise, they are just average at best compared to competitions. regards