almost a live trader (not so fast)

[norandomtrades]

Hi everyone this is a first post for me here on this site.
Have traded forex on some demo accounts . Would like to trade live and for real with a micro or mini account at first. Can you recommend a good broker for me.?? One that isnt the deal desk type / one that isnt known as the market maker type.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also im in the USA and have heard that traders in many other countries have more of an advantage with Forex than a trader based in the US. Am I correct in this opinion.?? Would love to hear feedback .
Thanks for your time.
Norandomtrades

 

[Liquid validity]

Hi everyone this is a first post for me here on this site.
Have traded forex on some demo accounts . Would like to trade live and for real with a micro or mini account at first. Can you recommend a good broker for me.?? One that isnt the deal desk type / one that isnt known as the market maker type.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also im in the USA and have heard that traders in many other countries have more of an advantage with Forex than a trader based in the US. Am I correct in this opinion.?? Would love to hear feedback .
Thanks for your time.
Norandomtrades

MB Trading - Forex General F A Q
Based in USA, not market maker, microlot size, low account minimum.
Yes the U.S does have more restrictive legislation for retail traders.
I've used MBT for 2 years with no major complaints.

 

[yellowfloyd]

Hi everyone this is a first post for me here on this site.
Have traded forex on some demo accounts . Would like to trade live and for real with a micro or mini account at first. Can you recommend a good broker for me.?? One that isnt the deal desk type / one that isnt known as the market maker type.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also im in the USA and have heard that traders in many other countries have more of an advantage with Forex than a trader based in the US. Am I correct in this opinion.?? Would love to hear feedback .
Thanks for your time.
Norandomtrades

Hi Norandomtrades,

One thing you have to bear in mind with FX trading is that most providers will give you OTC access (over the counter or market maker). With FX, if you wish to trade DMA you will have to use Currenex which is not easily accessible for small account (mini/macro). If you are trading with small amounts, most big FX brokers will be able to provide you with good liquidity/pricing and you should not experience requites or ‘bad fills’ which you may do with very large positions.

I’m not sure why you heard traders in other countries have a bigger advantage, I don’t think this is true!

Hope this helps

 

[Liquid validity]

Hi Norandomtrades,

One thing you have to bear in mind with FX trading is that most providers will give you OTC access (over the counter or market maker). With FX, if you wish to trade DMA you will have to use Currenex which is not easily accessible for small account (mini/macro). If you are trading with small amounts, most big FX brokers will be able to provide you with good liquidity/pricing and you should not experience requites or ‘bad fills’ which you may do with very large positions.

I’m not sure why you heard traders in other countries have a bigger advantage, I don’t think this is true!

Hope this helps

True - thats why MB and IB had to describe their network as ECN like,
as its not a true ECN but client to client matching with net aggregate
going to interbank.

LMAX is broadly similar except they do have interbank participants.
No use as I don't think they accept U.S. clients (worth checking though).
True exchange traded FX means futures, due to 6E being $12.50 per tick minimum
contract size, not a good starting point due to minimum size and position sizing
constraints.

U.S. retail traders are limited by legislation more than others,
$25K PDT stocks rule and maximum 50:1 FX leverage for example (no bad thing really).
http://www.sec.gov/answers/patterndaytrader.htm
http://www.futuresmag.com/2010/08/31/cftc-settles-on-501-leverage-for-retail-fx

 

[random12345]

Hi Norandomtrades,

One thing you have to bear in mind with FX trading is that most providers will give you OTC access (over the counter or market maker). With FX, if you wish to trade DMA you will have to use Currenex which is not easily accessible for small account (mini/macro). If you are trading with small amounts, most big FX brokers will be able to provide you with good liquidity/pricing and you should not experience requites or ‘bad fills’ which you may do with very large positions.

I’m not sure why you heard traders in other countries have a bigger advantage, I don’t think this is true!

Hope this helps

Remember that Currenex is just a platform for interbank exchange, it is not a broker. To trade using an interbank solution you need to go via a prime broker (normally a bank) who feed their prices via Currenex or another similar solution. You can get different prices with different brokers using Currenex just as you would with different retail brokers, they are not necessarily the tightest spreads.

Also if you mean DMA to mean that your cts or lots can be matched on the interbank market then you can get such a service from IB and LMAX as mentioned, even if they don't always provide a true ECN as some people whinge on about. No doubt these people have access to Cray Supercomputers and dedicated lines and are making millions out of HFTs...

Having said all that, if you call a prime broker you might be surprised that they can accommodate you. We already have a thread about CapMar and also of great interest to me is the fact that the average HotSpot (similar to Currenex though more involved in LPs) trade is 700k USD notional! (This is not much) When you leverage yourself up, it doesn't take much capital to trade size that broker's notice.

 

[Liquid validity]

BTW, to the OP, if you go with IB or MB, don't let their hideous
trade platforms put you off.
They know 3rd party software companies do it better, so they don't bother and it shows...

Three good, low cost 3rd party software charting and execution platforms are:

Ninja Trader, free for charting, need live license for execution.
Don't let the live license put you off, you can still
trade internal simulator for free, or just use for charting, and
execute trades with broker platform buy and sell buttons.
NinjaTrader stock, futures and forex charting software and online trading platform. Use NinjaTrader Free.

Low pricing, very stable and intuitive.
Pricing - Sierra Chart

Multi charts - completely free for live execution for up
to 2 instruments (EURUSD and USDJPY for example).
MultiCharts .NET Starter Edition