Is that Robin Hood? Can you be specific about the broker? That way there's no confusion in the answer. As long as they're performing bid / ask arbitrage (and fully disclosing), they're not actually taking up the other side. Just picking it up at market on the exchanges and passing it on to you for a little bit more. They don't have an interest in the outcome here.
im talking about forex.com. it says in the disclosure when you sign up (and also at oanda) that if they elect to not cover their position they can make money if mkt goes against me you're right about the exchanges thing, I don't what I was thinking there with the bid ask spread but I still believe they act as bucketshops for those losing traders.
Oh, not a broker. Counter party as @Xela says. I'll bow out here and let the master answer your questions.
hey brother, I'm just providing facts to OP's curiousity. he asks a very valid question that shows awareness something does not feel quite right. OP's thread title states forex trading, meaning forex brokers. my stocks broker also floods me with news to churn comm. if they r well regulated, they do not take positions against clients. my futures broker does not news drug me. their best interest is for me to survive long term to turn my comm. blow out can be very fast in futures for the uninitiated lol I was not remotely mentioning my trading prowess/ d!ck size. what does it matter to one, if others are profitable or not. trading is a personal journey to each of us. if someone seemingly knowledgeable shares info, read it & decide for oneself if it makes sense. if yes, use it. if no, junk it. time comparing size is better off used acquiring/sharing knowledge. this is what forums are good for pple are so angry with life that one can turn simple discussions into personal attacks. this is not recommended. it WILL chase away some who genuinely have info to share. is not that what life is about. sharing & inspiring others this is just how it (news flooding) is done in bucket shops & also the online gambling industry. the tags I mention are how houses track their customers. I would run a bucketshop the same way
Brokers encourage people to trade more. They want to make money off of your trading. Brokers would pass put magic 8 balls and tarot cards if they thought they would make big money doing this. "Selfintrest"
Please excuse the argumentative tone (if it comes across that way) but this part of your post really isn't quite accurate: even the best-regulated spot forex "brokers" can - and often do - hold the other sides of their customers' positions. Whether in practice they choose (a) to distinguish between "A-book" and "B-book" clients, (b) to trade against all of them, or (c) automatically to offset their own net liabilities in the underlying market (thereby putting themselves in a position where it makes no financial difference to them which individual customers win or lose) is their business, and even the best-regulated ones in the world are allowed to do any/all of those things.
As long as the price quotes and execution are spot on correct, it is of no importance to you whether they internalize the orders or offset your trades via interbank market. As far as the trading ideas, the side role of the broker is to provide traders with trade ideas and recommendations but ultimately it's the trader's decision to place the trade, either meeting or contradicting these ideas. You are free to skip those materials and look only at the sources of your choosing.
It’s an ordinary broker that indeed brings all orders to market. It’s not interested in your loss or profit. It just gets its rate of interest. So it looks like that it’s not that bad after all. Maybe the broker indeed is trying to help you)