No, I didn't read that thread. But something tells me you should have called it, "trading spot forex is for dumb people". LOL. Btw, are you in South Africa?
you are right, it certainly drew a lot of flack from the et community. No I am in Namibia, just north of South Africa.
4. horrible borrowing/lending rates Please correct me if I'm wrong- currently using IB and looking for a forex dealer w/ more competitive currency rates.
Another vote for illiquid's version of logic. Hedging in this way is the biggest lie perpetuated by wannabe traders! Using a decent platform which reports your position properly, you'll see you are flat. Using a half decent broker, such as IB or Oanda, you'll see they don't offer such a hedge option. You can of course open another account with Oanda to get through this, but quite why you would is beyond me.
I think the main reason for this "hedging" hype is that those traders imagine themselves that they are not taking a loss but instead are temporary "hedging" their position.
BTW I use IB and much as I generally like them I've had some scary experiences. Like it taking 6 minutes before an order is acknowleged - by then of course the price is gone. Like stops getting ignored, and I don't mean in fast markets. Tonight I put in a limit sell order for USDCAD at 1.1118 and it was 2 minutes before it was acknowledged, and by then it had hit my stop at 1.1105, so I lost $455 at $35 a pip. They're looking into it and we'll see what they come up with, but I doubt theyre going to pay me $455.
...or limit orders partially filled - ignored - as the bid order rises past limit selling prices... but my experiences, while dubious at times, is generally satisfactory.
Guys I've had the same kind of problems at IB. I hate to say it but I think retail forex traders have very low expectations because of what else is lurking out in the deep waters. But really, we ought to raise the bar on our expectations. These kind of technical snafus shouldn't be thought of as satisfactory, and neither should the way that IB handles disputes. Really, they need to fix their problems before I will think of them as a viable forex option. Not filling orders when price trades through that level simply isn't acceptable.
stop orders are always filled when the price is hit on ib. If you're using limit orders and they don't get filled becuase the price gaps over it ... well, thats' how limit orders work