There are some MM's with "mini-mini-lots" of 1,000 units, FX Solutions being one of the better known / progressive ones. I've no personal experience with FXSol, though. I think it'd be tough for a retail forex trader to find a dealer matching Oanda's tight spreads, other than (promising but not quite there yet) IDEAL Pro from Interactive Brokers. Most MM's depend on IB's (introducing brokers) to generate new business, and their business model reflects that fact by building in as much as 1-2 pips to kick back to the IB. Oanda doesn't use IB's and, in fact, hardly seems to do any advertising. Yes, I believe Oanda does filter out some of the price extremes, for better or worse. Also, don't forget Oanda's unlimited number of electronically-linked sub-accounts, allowing for things like hedging / simultaneous long and short positions per currency pair. Indispensable for trading more than one strategy or multiple time frames.
I agree with this and late apex says it best...(base 10 trading is being introduced as a response to Oanda) It just shows you how far ahead Oanda is from the competition... The variable spread and the "average price building" of the candlesticks acts as the filter for Oanda. (In beta, is the building and reporting of bid and ask) If your interested to compare Oanda to the 200 plus banks that E-Sig quotes...Then get the E-Sig trial and see for yourself. I have heard that Oanda and E-sig track nicely. Now, if we could just encourage Oanda to open up their API (currently you can get access to it for $600.00 mo. or free if you trade a lot) and allow freelance front end companies to market....like IB has....(Oanda is the Interactive Brokers of Retail Spot Forex) Michael B. P.S. Also wouldn't it be great if they became a sponser here and interacted with users here like some of the guys from IB do...(it will never happen, even if some of you bright younger fellows volunteered to do it officially for Oanda, don't ask me why, its just not their way or model)
admittedly oanda's little cheezy charts might leave some wanting but i dont use any indicators or studies so its ok with me, at least it produces a decent looking chart. i went to the fx sol site and started downloading their demo stuff but found i had already been there (you aint the only one electric ). they were the ones who were spiking well outside the oanda prices. ...and they just didnt have that friendly feel about them. maybe it was just me. my initial look at fx was with refco and esignal. (i use qcharts and they dont provide fx products yet. for months their story has been "soon") anyway, i am a pure price technician and the price esig was pitching was not where the refco market was! my esig price was hit but the refco platform price was not. i called the refco guy (they were pitching a free month with esig) and ask what was up. he gave me the "200 banks quote" thing blah blah, but he was lost when i ask how i could trade using esig and not know what the price was? i just put the whole thing away and went back to emini...until i saw oanda. although we havnt had alot of posts, and i would still like to get the 200/1 leverage or better but, i guess i will just stick with oanda for now, low leverage and all, until somebody out there can do it better. it is nice to hear that esig tracks well with oanda. others may find that useful. but if you dont need alot of fancy stuff, oandas are the best ive seen. and there is little confusion when you buy/sell oanda quotes on oanda site. thanks for the comments.
I've tried just about all the demos. I liked GFT Forex the most and did most my training on it. Then I tried OANDA and found their trading platform to be a simple lean, mean trading machine, designed to make money if you use it properly. Very little bells and whistles but set up with traders' profitablility in mind. It is actually more advanced than it may seem on the surface.
To me, even 1:20 leverage seems a bit speedy at times. Nevertheless, I'm able to get very good profits indeed. Well, i guess it's all depends on ones strategy. If you really need more leverage, you could try to get loan from third party, thus effectively increase your leverage to whatever you might wish. Oanda pays reasonable interest, so cost of loan should be quite low.
Electricsavant, You say " Oanda is the Interactive Bro- of retail forex spot" You should add my name since I was the first to say this..
oops ok and your correct about "The big O" (the big o, was my quote over at the "other" forum). May I quote you? Sometimes good quotes stick! and they come out of my "not so nimble" brain later... (when I was a kid, I can't repeat what "the big O" meant) Sorry again about the IB thingy.... Michael B.
No. If we're seriously managing an account of say $100k or $1mil then yes 50:1 is beyond enough. But for the vast majority who wants to punt (a.k.a. gamble) with a little pot, we need 400:1 damn it. XD I want to gamble!!!! Give me mucho leverage!!! Btw, I'm serious. Because gambling isn't legalised in my country, spot FX is where i go..the odds are abt the same anyway. ^_^
Oanda used to be good. But I stopped using them because for years they simply REFUSED to update their platform or service!! How many times over the past few years have we asked for a simple 10/15min charting? Until today Oanda simple REFUSED to give us 10/15min charts. And they still charge you US$30 and more when wiring money back to your bank account. Rating for newcomers to try out spot FX : 5 stars Rating for professionals to trade FX : 0 stars (go IB trade the futures or ideal pro) IB on the other hand...LISTENS and IMPROVE. We even managed to talk IB into lowering commissions across the board for Ideal Pro ($5 to $2.5). Now if only I can talk Steve into selling his dog....