Try trading some of the cross rates via futures at 2AM EST and let me know how it goes. Really you have to pay 2 spreads . Everyone else just pays 1.
IB is good, but not for minilots - due to the $2 minimum commission per ticket (you do the math when those kick in). In my opinion ECNs are only worth it, if you pay =< $20/mm - and there is none that does that for such negligible amounts. In one way or another, small traders will always pay more than volume traders, its the same in F/X, futures or equities, and it does make sense too. You can't expect to have it all when you generate only a few Dollars of revenue per month for your broker. They ain't no charity organization after all.
oh really? never had a problem with oanda? Only running the simulator/demo platform on a daily basis should make you aware that it crashes at least 2-3 times per day ;-) By the way, I trade with IB for over 10 years, of which I trade fx there for over 3 years. The platform as of late has been increadibly stable and trading fx on an ECN has always been superior to trading with ANY non-ECN broker.
sure fair enough point in regards to those who will get a rush on having made 10 dollars, but again you dont seem to grasp that this is still a losing proposition. Spreads on micro set ups are way too wide, sometimes twice as wide or more. Such spreads should over time tilt the odds hugely in favor to the house, similar to roulette. Enough said...
I did not contrast those if you read my post carefully. I said one should start paper trading no matter what. But when ready you should take positions that actually mean something to you. A 1000 dollar position does not mean taking risk to 99% people who frequent ET.
Of course the odds are in favor of the house, an alleged 90% of retail traders haven't got a clue what they're doing or why they're doing it! Every bucketshop on the planet knows that the vast majority of their underfunded overleveraged clients will lose money in the long term without any help from them. I have also traded on IB's FX Trader back in May '07, it was about the most unreliable, user-unfriendly platform I think I've ever had the misfortune to trade on, plus spreads and quotes during 'normal' market conditions were comparable to Oanda's and CMC's, in fact when you take IB's commission into account Oanda were actually cheaper on Eur/Usd! Here's an exercise for you if you're really interested in the truth, run Oanda's FXTrade alongside a Reuters 3000 Xtra feed during normal market conditions, you'll be surprised at just how close they are. Bottom line is you've got to trade where you're comfortable and with a firm who offers the best deal for your trading style. Oanda suit me just fine......for now.
Try... http://www.atcbrokers.com/index_forexpro.htm ....mabye they'll work for you ..maybe they won't. Good Luck.