I dont post in on this part of the forum very much, but some of you may know me already and my thread "Is it because I dont care" http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=73677 . I've been trading stocks for 7 months now and its still my passion, however I've read the advantages of FX over stocks and it makes me wonder. As a beginning trader, should I switch? no MM's no commissions open 24/7 easier to trade (currency pairs) not thousands of different stocks. etc etc.. I was thinking about opening an account with Oanda. I got 5k plus to work with.
I opened a forex account with Oanda long before I had an IB account, and I maintain an account at both places. Yet I prefer to trade forex with IB because of tighter spreads, better security of funds, and I trust their quotes better. I could be wrong, but I feel that I get more slippage at Oanda. Nonetheless, Oanda is good, and Oanda would be my 2nd choice for trading forex. I like Oanda's simple platform. IB could take some ideas from their platform. Oanda's platform and connection is also a little more reliable and much user-friendlier than IB's.
I dont mean for this to be a personal question, but after you become consistently profitable, but still new to FX, what would be a reasonable weekly income compared to what traders make in stocks?.
I highly recommend not resorting to trading currencies just because of the smaller lot size -- especially at a retail fx shop. FX retail has basically become the graveyard of daytraders thanks to pdt for this reason. If you can't make money in stocks, you will have twice as hard a time in fx, trust me. And don't take this the wrong way, but you are just asking the wrong questions. New to fx and consistently profitable? No such thing. No one does this for a few hundred a week and leaves it at that, if that's what you're asking. If there's one market where there is enough liquidity to scale up (and I'm not talking about fx bucket shops), its forex. Do it if you think you can turn a few K into 1MM+, otherwise . . .
Oh and I forgot: "No MM's" -- nope, what you get is far worse. "No commissions" -- wrong, you pay alot more in the built-in pip spread. "easier to trade" -- absolutely and utterly false. etc etc etc
The Nasdaq and to a relatively lesser degree the NYSE are not what they are supposed to be. It is not supply and demand in its purest form. To put it crudely they are controlled by MMs, hedgies and institutions who all share the same bed . I don't know anything about FX but I know that the odds are heavily loaded against the retail trader as far as stocks go. These blood suckers ccan identiy a retail order and run the stock against you until they have you shaken out of your position. How many times have you seen a stock act differently during after hours trading in the evening after earnings are announced continue the same trend in pre-market trading and then completely reverse course during regular hours. After hours trading after earnings are announced represent supply and demand in a much more pristine form untainted by the nefarious activities of MMs and the rrest of the clan. Trading during regular hours especially in the Nasdaq is a no-win situation for the retail trader. If anything the SEC needs to scrutinise the actions of this group because they work in unison against the retail trader. If anybody has been watching the level II screens at a micro level they would have noticed several layers of bids and offers just disappear from the screen in a flash all at the same time. So what you have here is a bunch of bids and offers from our above mentioned thieves all working together. I could go into more detail about a lot of other things but I won't since I would think the more discerning traders out there will know what I'm talking about.
what are the advantages? And what's you plan for trading currencies? stocks? if you think you can scalp or day trade either you're kidding yourself.