Not a problem. I've always believed that this is what progress forums are supposed to be about - the sharing of useful information that can be shared. I hope you find a viable solution and I'm sure that other, experienced traders here on ET, can help further.
Veyron 16.4's greatest hits compilation: Good DBFX is not FXCM http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2549542&highlight=old+slip#post2549542 Upon reflection... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2709574&highlight=dbfx#post2709574 Better Euro-style options must be held to expiration: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...52&perpage=10&highlight=options&pagenumber=17 Best "No risk" ... "wrapping multiple positions around a single pair" loses $41k (82%) in monkey-dollars: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...173880&perpage=10&highlight=demo&pagenumber=2
Most Retail FX Trader positions never see the light of day in the real Interbank system. Yet, Retail FX Traders are out there each day, clicking Long and Short positions into the market. The question is, which market? Essentially, there are two: 1) Interbank 2) Retail FX That $4 Trillion in liquidity that FCMs and Brokers like to advertise to new customers, is nowhere near the level of liquidity that the Retail FX guy gets access to. That's why when you look at all these so-called platforms that are allegedly showing you the "DOM," your eyes pop-out at the lack of tick-by-tick real liquidity, even on the larger pairs. The Notional Value being quoted across most Retail platforms, is not the same as what you will find on true Institutional Platforms. The Retail Trader is destine to trading on proprietary platforms with proprietary liquidity pools. When you read most Retail FX Client Agreements (which I encourage all new traders to do), they make it pretty clear that they "reserve the right to act as counter to any, or all..." trades executed by the "Client" on the "XYZ Trading Platform." Heck, even the largest FX liquidity provider in the world, Deutsche Bank, had that very statement (or, words to the same affect) printed on their New Client Agreement. In fact, Deutsche Bank, took it a step further by outright telling you in bold print, that they might on occasion have the need to act as the Counter-Party to the Client's trade, in order to secure their obligation to their "premium customers," that might also be disadvantageous the Clients position in the market. LOL! So, dbFX, used to come right out and let you know up front, that they were definitely going to be trading against you. But, outside of Retail intermediaries such as dbFX (now gone) and CitiFX, most of the others almost have to act as the Counter-Party to your trade, even when they lie and tell you that they don't. There are less than a small handful that offer true STP in the Retail FX space - maybe even less than two (2). All the others, for the most part, are claiming STP/ECN, but in reality are engaging in Concurrent Off-Setting. This brings up the differential between Counter-Party and Off-Setting. Most people here already know the difference, so I won't labor on that point, except to say that Retail FX Brokers and FCMs, etc., love to lie about this point, or they love to hide the truth about how it works from their customers. Suffice it to say that just because they Off-Set you quickly, does not mean that they are not at the same time, acting as the Counter-Party to your trade. And, that is because they have TWO (2) contracts: a) One with you their customer, where they agree to execute your trades and carry you to market. b) One with their proprietary liquidity pool, where they agree to roll-up notional value to a specific level, before Off-Setting the position to the pool. We can write for days on end about this subject. Bottom line: a) FCMs/Brokers in Retail FX, do take positions against you. It is part of their business model to do so! b) If you can, you have to find an FX Intermediary who will engage the Retail Markets, offering true STP through something like a Currenex Hub, and where they ONLY charge a commission (round trip) for their services to the Trader. This is the closest that any Retail FX Trader can get to the "real" Interbank Market. Any Retail FX Intermediary who gets paid on the spread, and then turns right back around and out right promises you "guaranteed low spreads and no commissions," is by logical definition, a Retail Bucket Shop and they most definitely will be trading against you on their books. Commission only Retail FX, is definitely not the norm out here. But, it is what the trader needs to get as close to Interbank as possible. Just don't expect to walk in there with a $500 paypal account, expecting to trade with them. Now, are there ways to deal with Bucket Shops and trade profitably at the same time? Absolutely, yes. Retail FX dealing rates are not an exact mirror of what you will find on most Institutional platforms. However, since many of the entities making up the Retail pools, come from Interbank, you will find relative consistency between Retail rates and Interbank rates, with most of the divergence coming on the side of the Spreads. So, there are two (2) truths here: I) Retail Bucket Intermediaries do take the other side of your trade. II) It won't matter if you learn how to trade correctly and improve your ability to predict the direction of the market prior to executing your position, and if you use proper Money Management Modeling, along with a good Money Management Strategy - and there is a difference between a Model and a Strategy. Do that, and you can successfully get out of Retail Hell. It might take a while, but you can get out of jail and on to a real institutional platform.
The big institutional pro trades with FXCM in retail hell: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2549498&highlight=dbfx#post2549498
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/io2NF3d4w9E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Embedded pics of: 1) JPY Index FXCM Instrument Selection Window 2) JPY Index Order Entry Ticket Note: JPY Index FXCM composite chart in background (chart on top) of JPY Index Order Entry pic. The singular chart at the top, is the JPY Index FXCM composite of all the smaller charts you see below. This is being tested against an FXCM demo account, but I do have connections enabled to four (4) additional Retail FX Brokers. I'm not a "user" of ProTrader, but I do like many of its features - despite the BUGS. In fact, I found and reported two (2) more bugs to their developers today. They promised to have them fixed by week's end. One of those bugs was in the Arbitrager, which is what I really wanted to test out this week. So, I'll have to wait on that until the bug fix comes in. ProTrader, is .Net implementation, which I think was a serious error on their part, but they swear by it. When the platform runs smoothly, it "runs smoothly." However, when it chokes on keeping up with remote data servers from "third-parties," that's when it can cough-up blood and hand. For that reason alone, I would not use it live, but if they can get the bugs fixed AND if they can implement a Connection for Barclays BARX FX, I will be most certainly be one of the very first BARX test drivers. For now, it is a nice toy to watch. Good eye candy and a good example of what should be offered more widely in Retail FX. If it were not for the bugs and the sluggishness, this trading platform would blow the doors off of anything in the Retail FX space right now, including some of the Currenex implementations that I've seen and used. Pics: JPY Index FXCM Instrument Selection Window JPY Index Order Entry Ticket (index composite chart in background)
Your problem is that you are the biggest 'twister' of facts on ET. And, for that, you win the Tornado Award for 2011. You'll take any broad fact and make it what you want it to be, regardless of the fact that anyone with half a brain can read the record for themselves. You must be really bored, or a really lousy trader - cause you have way too much time on your hands. Have you ever looked at your posts on ET in the mirror? They all lack one thing: Substance and Relevance. Continue. The more you type, cut and paste, the more of a pure genius you make yourself out to be - in your mind, LOL! How clueless can you be.
You were adamant DBFX and FXCM were distinct. "DBFX is NOT using FXCM's servers" (your words): http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2549542&highlight=old+slip#post2549542 OOPS: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2709574&highlight=dbfx#post2709574 You profess to be a former option pro, yet you somehow hold the belief that a Euro-style option cannot be closed prior to expiration. How is it possible that you're this clueless? http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...52&perpage=10&highlight=options&pagenumber=17 Do you even know what you are talking about? Why not just admit that you were wrong and get it over with, clown. How the heck can the options that I posted here be ESO's - huh! Can you explain how to "trade" and ESO before the EXP? Some you "elite" traders are beyond belief. I spent 4 days searching for OTC options? What!?! I spent 4 seconds posting the link because I knew where they were.
Leave up to Atticus, to Tornado a thread to death. Readers, who pay attention to what they are reading, also have brains enough to see that one post was made in 2009 and the other post was made in 2010. One was made before I ran network tests and one was made after I ran network tests and after I was warned by a friend to do so. So, typically, useless, bloated and twisted assertions are pretty much just that, useless, bloated and twisted. But, that's just par for the course for you. Keep typing! Where do you see a statement about being a Professional Trader of Options in the thread you just twisted into this current thread? The answer is that you don't. The statement came from your keyboard - you have just declared me an Options Pro. Thanks, but I'm not looking for any endorsements. By logical extension, if someone merely tells you that they've changed a flat tire, you will twist them into being Mr. Goodyear, himself. Of course, this is the kind of perversion that small twisted minds come up with, so I'm not surprise that such irrational reasoning has come from you on ET. If you actually had something worthwhile to post, you would have done it by now. But, from the looks of your body of work on this forum, you don't do anything around here but screw-up threads with delusional feigning grandeur that you are actually accomplishing something with tornadic foolishness that paints you deep inside a pathetic little box, where little men with small minds, love to hang out. Keep typing - you're already the forum Jester put on permanent ignore by many. It is no skin off my nose, if you want to make yourself look more worthless than you apparently are already. You've already lied about some Peregrine account, that turned out to be a screen shot of the PFGBest Demo Options Demo Platform, yet you flew past that lie as if you never told it. Even when anyone having two eyeballs, can read that you have not produced a single link showing a live Peregrine trading account owned by anyone on this forum, you ignore that fact and continue to make a fool of yourself. So, the fact that you have mastered the art of spinning lies, and the massive number of posts on this board where you have done precisely the same thing with others, tells me that I am in very good standing on ET, because I don't stand with you - as you are typically found standing alone, holding your idiot strap above your head. Now, go run along and find a little blue fuzzy toy to play with, to keep yourself busy. You are like a small child with an inferiority complex a mile wide, 1,000 parsecs deep and unfortunately, no parents around to warn you about the dangers of developing antisocial behaviors in society. I sure do hope the FBI never has to profile you. You've definitely got one of those "Happy Meal" complexes, just waiting to explode on society. Wake yourself up. Only you can do that.
Network tests?! You're joking? Your (sic) CV in options: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2549362&highlight=greeks#post2549362 Quote by Veyron 16.4 For that matter, what's a Reduced Call/Put Ratio Back Spread Option, or how about some of my engineered derivative favorites such as the Reversible Iron Butterfly Option, or the Encapsulated Double Apex Option, or the Encapsulated Double Apex with Bleed Extensions Option. Or, while we are naming names, how do you unwind a Throughput Ratio Apex Option? Before you start preaching Option Greeks to me, realize that I almost wrote the book on them and have engineered some of the most timeless equity stock option derivative structures that you will ever see - or more to the point, that you will never see, LOL. Too funny, kid. You have no idea, do you. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2549362&highlight=greeks#post2549362 Quote by Veyron 16.4 Stop pretending to know what you are talking about and answer the question, clown. How do you open and close a European Currency Option Contract BEFORE EXP? Do you even know what makes European different from American style options? You wrote this stuff, not me - LOL! Clown.
Back to the topic. Veyron can help you lock up the implementation of your methodology... it will take a year or two, but he will ping the dealer's servers as he did with dbfx and fxcm. These sophisticated network tests are all you need.