IB for Forex ?

Hi,
looking to venture into the world of Forex.
I already have an IB account, so trading through them would be an easy set up.

I see they charge an extra small fee compare to Oandm, is it worth it ?
I know , or believe IB is a secure company and also like the fact I can still trade futures.

Not looking to scalp, more of a longer inter-day time frame.
Any info' would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Andy

 

make a search on this site, you will find plenty of discussions. Not to repeat every month the same things....

 

I been trading Forex with IB for a couple of years now. They are rock solid!

 

Especially if you're swinging, I would use IB.

 

IB kind of sucks for FX, because of TWS which is developed by incompetent people with an agenda that doesn't serve the customer but the firm . I was wondering if market orders were safe during normal times. In other words do they have an obligation to make a tight market, or can they widen spreads for no reason by 20 pips or more ?

 

If you are used to Oanda, it will take some time to get comfortable with using IB for spot forex. For me, the settlement and interest process may be more "open" than Oanda or other bucket shops, but it is not nearly as straight forward. It is not as simple as open/close a position in IB - settlement can take a couple days, then you will need to convert back to your base currency (if you don't want to keep a balance in different currencies). Also there will often be small residual balances which need to be adjusted.

 

IB is an ECN, so no market making like Oanda. But ECN means also, when there is no bid or offer, the spread widens, right?

All what i found out is that IB is just good for Forex

 

Thank you all for the information so far.

I had tried to trade Forex through IB a year or so again -just checking an idea out. BUT I got so confused, even when I closed the position it still was there and then a small amount kept showing on my account it seemed for ever. Sounds like that still is the case ?
Does Oandm do the same ?
whats th best way to avoid IB doing that or is it not a big deal if your trading often different pairs ? As long as I buy and sell one lot will it work it's way out ?

thanks again,
Andy

 

well that's just how IB works, it doesn't convert your gains or losses in the base currency, you have to do it yourself and pay extra commish , otherwise you have all those FX lines in your portfolio and everything gets very confusing, that's just how messed up TWS is.

 

I can't comment on TWS for forex versus other platforms since I've only used IB. But two comments:

1) IB doesn't make a market. But they generally have lots of liquidity providers. So before being concerned about their commission charge (0.2 pips with $2.50 minimum), compare their spreads to other brokers. During heavy trading the USD/JPY, for example, typically trades at half a pip. If another broker is at 1 pip, you're better off paying IB's commission.

2) You can get price improvement with IB. For example, if you have a limit order to sell the Euro at 1.2500, you might get 1.2500, 1.25001, 1.25002 or more. In fast moving markets, or with some "jumpy" currency pairs like AUD/NZD, I have had limit orders executed more than 5+ pips better than my limit order. That won't happen if your broker is taking the other side of the trade.