GFT Forex - Please Help

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by Golflyer, Dec 30, 2005.

  1. Golflyer

    Golflyer

    Hello group. I am a newbie to FOREX and am thrilled to have found this site (Elitetrader). I have looked for weeks for places to discuss FOREX related matters and gain information.

    I just opened an account with GFT after researching what I thought was the majority of large players in retail FOREX.

    I have two questions:
    1. Does anyone have a GFT account and how have you found their service & trading platform (software?

    2. In reading some of the posts on the site, it appears some traders have expressed concern over the dealer trading against them. How is this possible and how can this be avoided in the event the dealer does in fact trade against the client? As an aside, any idea if GFT participates in this activity?

    Thanks for considering my thread and responding.

    Golflyer
     
  2. FredBloggs

    FredBloggs Guest

    yes gft does this - they all do.

    my advise is to close that account and dont make a trade until you know the rules of the business you are transacting in.

    would you play a game not knowing the rules? it appears so!

    if you want to trade fx, do it with futures.
     
  3. Interactive Brokers does not trade FX against its customers.

    It is extremely important to avoid any FX broker who trades against you.

    IB also has other advantages, for example, SIPC and Lloyd's deposit insurance, in case IB goes out of business - and you can't get that protection at any other FX broker. Look at what happened to RefcoFX customers last October!

    You aren't ready to trade because you don't understand enough about how brokers and markets work. Close the account and do some homework to get prepared. Don't be like a compulsive gambler who just can't stop himself from stuffing his money into the slot machine. Strive to be a trader, not a gambler.
     
  4. Golflyer

    Golflyer

    I sincerely appreciate the honest and direct feedback. Of course, gaining a better understanding about the markets is an ongoing search. In fact, I hope I will never stop learning.

    My guess is that every trader has things he/she would like to better understand. No one knows everything.

    Having said that, what is the best source for better understanding HOW a dealer trades against its customers, how the customer loses and how to avoid this issue?

    Second, while I know there are a number of opinions about trading, the question I have is how does ANYONE make any money in FX if the dealers are hammering all of their clients for their own benefit? It would seem no one could make any money and I know this can't be the case.

    In a large company's attempt to trigger "my" stop on a lot or two it would appear others would be making money during the process. Conversely, if the dealer is attemping to trigger a stop of someone else, it would appear I would be able to make money. Is this not the case?

    Why trade at all if the dealers are working against us all?

    Is IB the ONLY company that does not trade against it clients? Why is this company different? How have FXCM and others become so large if they are engaging in practices that are not in the best interest of their clients? It would appear they should ALL be out of business...or heading there, and the IBs of the world should rule.

    Thanks for your input. If you have a minute, I would greatly appreciate feebback on this recent post of mine....particulary, where I can find more info on better understanding HOW the dealers trade agains us. It would be great to see examples, etc.

    Thanks again for your honesty.

    Golflyer
     
  5. amberfm

    amberfm

    :( Hi all,,

    yes its very hot topic , i am alsow asking the same question about how Brokers Trade against clients as i am a new account holder with GFT ,,,
    Thanks
     
  6. gkishot

    gkishot

    The idea that the brokers trade against investors is a total crap.
    It's very simple to refute it. Just check the quotes of your broker with the quotes at one of the independent sources like dailyfx.com or forextv.com.

    You will see that they are almost the same except of the spread differences and that they are changing in sync.
     
  7. Golflyer,

    You are asking good questions. As it happens, each of them has been discussed at length many, many times in the Forex Brokers and Forex Trading forums. Set aside a day or a weekend and read away. Then feel free to come back and ask more, hopefully different questions. Good luck.
     
  8. jimrockford,

    Your posts are usually sensible and worth paying attention to. Including right here, the last paragraph of your post above. However, by continuing to automatically recommend Interactive Brokers to everyone who asks, as the one and only broker choice for spot forex trading, you are doing a major disservice to the thread starter and countless others reading this.

    Since you don't trade forex yourself, let me summarize. Just because IB's forex dealing platform (IDEAL Pro) is conflict-free -- the way forex should be -- does not make it a default choice for a newcomer like the OP. IB is a top-notch firm, in many ways, for experienced traders who know what they're doing. It's a terrible choice, virtually guaranteeing early failure, for any forex newbie, for many well-known reasons. Their own ET reps (def, Steve_IB and others) will readily confirm this.

    Please stop giving out well-intentioned but misleading advice.
     
  9. Hold on a minute there, late apex. I think your statements are incorrect and unfair.

    I have said over and over again that nobody should entrust their funds to any dishonest or uninsured broker. I don't claim that IB is the one and only honest and insured FX broker, and I am open to the possibility that some worthy FX competitor exists, but so far, none brought to my attention have persuaded me.

    I have also stated, though much less frequently, that a forex newbie, who is not ready to trade at IB, should not be trading forex AT ALL. This was, essentially, the advice I intended to give to the starter of this thread. My ET postings, when they reached the issue, have advised that newbie traders should start by swing-trading odd-lots of stock, NOT DAYTRADING, NOT FX, AND NOT FUTURES OR OPTIONS. I have also advised that newbies need to learn the fundamentals of how competitive auction markets operate, before they start trading. I have advised that newbies first learn to distinguish between the educational process of learning about trading, and the self-destructive process of indulging a gambling fever.

    You seem to advise that newbie traders should consider trading FX, even if they are not sophisticated enough to trade via IB. I think that such advice is not only incorrect, but that it is misleading and harmful, and that it promotes both gambling fever and fraud. If a customer is not ready for IB, then he is not ready for the unregulated environment of FX trading anywhere. The fine print of FX broker customer agreements generally warns that FX trading is suitable only for financially sophisticated individuals, though their promotional materials contradict and undermine these boilerplate warnings.

    I agree with you that IB is not oriented toward newbie traders. I think that in many ways, a trader needs greater sophistication to deal with IB than with other more friendly and more supportive brokers. IB compensates for these weaknesses by focusing on execution, costs, speed, product variety, API, account safety, integrity, and other issues of greater importance to the more experienced customer. I think that a newbie trader should begin by trading odd-lots elsewhere, if he is not ready for IB, but that he should avoid FX altogether. I have also noticed that the trend, at IB, seems to be in the direction of appealing to somewhat newer traders than previously, and fostering their growth into more experienced traders - without defrauding them.

    I doubt your suggestion that IB reps would recommend that newbies, not ready for IB, should instead speculate in foreign currencies elsewhere. I doubt that you will be able to provide any evidence supporting your suggestion. I doubt that any IB rep will come forward to support your suggestion.
     
  10. amberfm

    amberfm

    Hi again ,,,

    Thank you gkishot , i am very new in trading , i opened an account with GFT a week ago and i am still dont knowing alot into this world.

    What do you think is the correct starting of a new trader.

    what i have did so far is reading alot on Money Mangemet and what i knew the smaller lot size is the better or in other word risking not more than 3% of the equity.

    Second thing, using the indicators which i feel still i need to pratice it alot. I have come to a point where i want to backtest my strategy. but GFT platform does not have this service.

    Where you think can i backtest my strategy tick by tick ?

    Thanks everybody
     
    #10     Jan 8, 2006