Completely agreed, I'd much rather position or spread trade off of a free, delayed 60min chart (say from futuresource.com) than to try to scalp for 5 ticks using a 1min real-time chart.
Section 4(a) under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 prohibits FOREX firms from operating "matching systems" or when customers trade with other customers (like a ECN). Read page 5 "Trading Platforms". http://www.cftc.gov/files/opa/opaforexupdateadvisory3-19-021.pdf I don't know about foreign firms with US citizens.
you can also get price improvement with limit orders on oanda.com so its not all one way traffic. i had this a few times when i was playing around with their fxgame system.
When I got married for the first time, I married a Jewish Princess. Being a waspy goy, I agreed to convert to Judiasm. Man, all I can say is that when they removed my forex during that adult bris ceremony, it hurt like hell for a month.
OK, I often ask you to apply your graphic talents to illustrate your points. Here I will foresk...uh forego the request. BTW....didn't know there was really such a thing as an adult bris. Hurts thinking about it. They say if doesn't hurt newborns. I have heard the screams. You mentioned it was your "first time". Does that mean it didn't take? Did you get "short-changed" I see you didn't learn to spell "Judaism" Peace, and Happy Holidays, rs7
What honeymoon? She was a Jewish Princess. When she had an orgasm, which was always self induced electronically, she would yell "Judi, Judi, Judi" (her name was Judi) so I called her self pleasuring process "Judiasm." The pain of circumcision was mild compared to marriage. Daily castration attempts for 7 years....now that really sucks.
Hate to spoil a good dialogue, but about this FX market... I think smaller traders should trade the futures. Big hitters can deal directly with a bank. Globex trades all night, if you are inclined to stay up and watch it. You have the security of the exchange clearinghouse. Who knows what is going on with these offshore FX sites? What happens if they go belly up or default or you have a gripe on a trade? The currency market is probably the most intellectually interesting market around. There is a lot of good commentary available. One of the best is Currency Bulletin, published out of Monaco I believe by an Englishman who runs a currency fund and used to write for the FT. He has a website but I don't have the url. The best indication of volume is the OI for the futures. A lot of the interbank volume is tied up in hedging or commercial flows, so the futures activity is viewed as the speculative or marginal volume. Much money has been made using systematic trend following approaches, but of course these tend to have big drawdowns and low win/loss percentages. Definitely not for everyone. I have found in the past that simple channel break or Donchian systems are profitable. The real key to making money in these markets is waiting until the fundamentals line up. There are periods when the odds are definitely in your favor if you understand the underlying fundamentals. Then you put on your trade and hang on to it. If you want to daytrade, I would say there are other markets that are better, at least right now.