You are rising my blood pressure and other's. It's time for everyone to ask Baron to bring your enemy#1 Coinz back to ET.
Well... I see this as a marketing scheme to lure traders who are new to forex and get them to trade often. The number of times that you will get stopped out trading on their platform would probably cost more than the charting package.
I am certainly not defending Global and his company as I have reservations about how they operate. The main one being that they rely on FXCM who without doubt are the worst firm that myself, and many others I know, have come across. However I think a few things in this thread paint an inaccurate picture. There is nothing wrong with trading with a firm who in effect you are trading against. In the interbank market all banks quote each other and are competing with each other. You just need to choose a firm you trust and who will work your orders and only fill you on a stop if the EBS has traded that price. Although I get 2 pips on the Euro I still think a 3 pip price is fair for the euro dollar. If someone is trading tiny size then that is fair - the interbank is 1-2 pip so can someone trading tiny size really object to 3. 5 pips on euro £ is a rip off though. People keep going on about how much better futures are. There are problems with them though. Banks rarely, if ever, trade in the fx futures market therefore liquidty is suspect. I see that for eur/£ the volume is usually 50 contracts a day - enough said. Also trading fx is not like trading interest rates or the equity indices. In these two markets the days range is tiny in comparison to fx and the market can trade around the same price for hours - so I can see the need to be able to put bids and offers in. In fx, the way I trade, I want to be able to hit a price and be guaranteed to get out. I would not have time or the inclination to leave a bid or offer in the market - apart from during figures when in futures slippage can be huge as the market gaps. I know with my retail brokers that due to a good relationship when the market gaps I do have slippage but for examplewhen the non farm payrolsl came out in August the market gapped 130 pips and my slippage was 20 pips.
Investment Banks manipulate the equity markets (upgrade-downgrade) Exchange members, (floor traders) manipulate the futures markets, have you ever seen the spread in cotton? even the big liquid equity futures are manipulated with spikes taking out stops happens all the time during lunch. FX is manipulated by the market makers. Some equity brokers are better than others. Some futures brokers are better than others. Some spot currency brokers are better than others. You are just kidding yourself if you think the SEC or the CFTC is out their to help the retail traders and investors, WERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS????????????????????
Partially agreed! The euro dollar is obviously stuck in a 4 big figure range that is frustrating but does mean when it is broken then we should get a nice big 4-5 big figure trending move. However intra day we are still getting plenty of days when the range is 100 -200 pips - that is plenty. Compare it with say short term interest rate futures where a days range is say 4 ticks and equity markets where it is 30/40. Futures is also a different market - from what I see people put bids in of 2000 contracts when in reality they only need say 1000 lots but know their bid will be reduced. hence the problem the 'flipper' has caused this year. In fx if a price trades you can get your size done within reason.
FXCM has to be the greatest irony on ET given all the bitching and whining about "evildoer market makers" over the years.