- Greater liquidty - Greater margin - 24 hour trading - no commission - can start with smaller account (on oanda anyway)
How was the volume at different times? Is the middle of the night dead, or are people really trading around the clock? I have always been curious about that. It's advertised as a 24 hour market, but mini futures are "advertised" in a similar way, though the liquidity is just not there during the "off peak" hours with the minis. Banker
The volume dies after about 3pm EST then picks up again, especially in the JPY, when Tokyo opens about 6pm EST. It then gets very active when the European markets open. Now that it is somewhat regulated it is much better....in the old days of the "bucket shops" the dealer could quote you almost any price he wanted and would often move 10 pips away from the market just to take out your stop! I moved from trading the floor traded Swissie and in those days the Dmark because it was nearly impossible to day trade against the floor traders and make any money unless you are position trading with wide stops. I have never traded the emini currencies so I don't know about them. You have to trade the currencies differently. Scalping doesn't work for a retail trader....it is definitely a trend following game. Breakouts from consolidations work well. Then trail with a wide stop and you could be amazed how long a move can last ..days..weeks...even months. You have to keep the big picture in mind when trading currencies. Mike
Yeah, how do you see Volume - and - is there some type of "OPEN INTEREST" equivalent ??? Something like you find on the CFTC "COMMITMENTS OF TRADERS REPORT ? Thx !
I don't think you can because there is no central exchange. But you can tell when the volume drops off because spreads widen.
i don't beleive you can get volume from what i've been reading. no one really knows the transactions that are going on at these banks. ok, i've been fiddling around with Oanda today, real money in the acct but not much. Short term trading is impossible with Oanda because they don't fill you at the market. They have their own market independent of forex, which they trade against you. Here is an example. I want to buy USD/JPY. The chart is at is at 120.35, but a limit order to buy at 120.35 gets me nothing. I don't get filled until Oanda's market makers drop their ask to 120.35 At this point the chart is reading 120.31 That means Oanda makes 4 pips on my entering and exiting the position. It means the chart must move 8 pips before I make a cent. It's pretty bogus, I'm going to look into something that works more like an ecn, where market participants can cut the bid or ask in half, and trade with eachother. Anybody have a list of such brokers or can recommend a good one?