Looks like OANDA launched some new pairs on their FXGame platform, they say they'll go live to FXTrade sometime soon: EUR/TRY (Euro/Turkish Lira) USD/TRY (US Dollar/Turkish Lira) USD/INR (US Dollar/Indian Rupee) USD/TWD (US Dollar/New Taiwan Dollar) USD/CNY (US Dollar/Chinese Yuan)
when are they going to offer the iraqi dinar? id imagine that price pair would have a lot of volatility.
Although on paper the mighty IQD has appreciated against the underdog USD by over 12% (unleveraged) over the last 3 months, from 1,450 to 1,285, its daily liquidity -- not to mention basic accessibility -- well, falls just a tad short. I wouldn't expect Oanda to ever offer any currency pair which they can't instantly hedge. (Note: eBay generally doesn't count as a valid hedge mechanism... bummer.) USD/IQD or any ---/IQD is out of the question, until, oh, peace breaks out all over the Middle East. Here's a succinct summary for your reading (if not trading) pleasure: "The IQD is not freely traded, and is not being used in any significant international transactions. We are unaware of any official bank or foreign exchange office outside of the middle east that will exchange the IQD. The IQD trades on a very small, tightly controlled exchange. The total volume of IQD traded by the Central Bank of Iraq is in the thousands of dollars, compared to the $1,900 billion dollars traded on the Foreign exchange market every day. This small number of trades makes the IQD's value effectively immaterial. The Central Bank of Iraq's stated objective is not to promote the free trade of IQD, as is the case in a true free market economy, but rather to keep the value of the IQD stable. The only way the Bank can ensure the semblance of stability is by tightly controlling the exchange of IQD on the market, and by ensuring that the currency cannot freely trade on the open market. They evidently fear that open trading of the IQD would lead to a rout in which the value of the IQD would sink to practically nothing. Consider the situation. Why tightly control the trading of the IQD if it is likely to appreciate in value? If the value of the IQD were to surge, this could be held out as evidence of a surge of confidence in Iraq's economy. So why not open the IQD to free trading? Why would this be done unless the Iraqi Central Bank itself feels that the IQD would decline in value in a free market?"
oanda has to hedge your position? if other clients and the banks arnt taking the otherside, the trade shouldn't be going through. whats oanda doing?