Hope it helped a bit, when i say trade size-i actually mean small size, its not worth their hassle. Your not REALLY trading a norweigan krone/cad mini contract to some kanuck tourist at a money exchange in oslo, you know? Theres middlemen, then there's more middlemen-these companies, (forex brokers) are giving you the opportunity to play with something many big stock guys would blanch at, in the real underlying, full bank biz situation. Dangerous with leverage? Hell yes, but everything in life assumes you know what your doing. Many will say look at currency futures, and thats a great idea to, a very good idea, because they are the effective, liquid underlying contract, short of the unregulated fx market. As for the OP, well thats some work to do-usually takes me a week solid to figure out how to even use a given platform, let alone if its any good, so best of luck with a dozen at a time
Interbank FX is not too bad for forex but they don't seem to have any commodities.. I just tried Insignia. Althought hey have commodities the layout if very bland and lacking detail so I'm still searching for another futures broker that has good charting and layout for order entry. I don't like the idea of charting from one program and having to switch to another which disrupts realtime trades. I have a few more demos coming though my spam blocked email and will sign up for yet a few more. Any advice is still appriciated. There seems to be so many of them actually that I'm kind of afraid I'll put my money into some fly-by-night company and get ripped off somehow. I don't imagine that happens too much?
Ok someone help me out here. Mind is spinning 100 miles per hour but I need answers. I might have even missed something in my own thread is what I'm saying. I need to get up and running soon... Few questions I need answered: 1) Is it true that most people in the forex business that you can trade through are considered bucket shops? 2) You get better fills though the real brokers that don't charge you any slippage pips but they don't have good platforms to trade from? 3)Are there any other direct brokers besides IB for comparison? 4) If I use IB will it be hard to place an order? If someone could please explain how I would buy let's say a pound/yen on IB vs using the bucket shops that charge pips... Is it similar to placing futures trades where you have to know the expiration date? Also how much would I be saving per trade.. I'm imagining that it must be about $50 usd a trade for this cross (pound/yen). I notice on the various free demos I've tried whenever I place a trade I'm automatically in the hole almost everytime by 50 dollars or more even on successful trades.
1) Yes. 2) You can use a variety of 3rd party platforms for several ECNs, usually there's an API solution. 3) Only other retail ECNs are MBT/EFX and Hotspot FXr. Then there are the quasi-retail/lower minimum institutional platforms - Dukascopy ($50k min), ATC Brokers ($35k min), several other Currenex white labels, etc. 4) No. No expiration date, try IB's demo for simulated order entry. One lot of GBP/JPY should be ~$40 in commissions with the current GBP/USD rate of 1.98xx.
Hi, Just a quick question, are ECN's relatively new? Is that why there aren't that many ECN brokers around?
Thanks for your reply.. API solution? Does that mean software that might be compatible with an ecn that doesn't have a user friendly interface? No expiration date? I'm trying IB's demo and I'm having trouble placing a demo order on forex. I noticed that there were currencies that were listed as dec. contracts. I'm assuming perhaps they roll over. I could of course ask IB. Thanks for your help!
http://www.interbankfx.com/Company/AboutUs.aspx Can someone with experience (like TraderKGB) tell me what they think about this broker? At this point I like their platform and ease of use in the demo but wouldn't use if they are not trustworthy.
Yes and no. They began on the institutional side many years ago, and as such, there are more institutional ECNs (with exponentially greater liquidity) than there are retail ECNs. On the bright side, the retail ECN environment is growing steadily, the barriers to entry of certain institutional ECNs are lowering, and the average spreads are roughly comparable amongst both marketplaces. The reason retail brokers haven't been quick to switch models is because the dealing desk model is far more profitable in an unregulated environment. They have the ability to manipulate the spread as they see fit at any time, an incredibly profitable and manipulative advantage.