Beginner on Forex

[Reggy]

hi! Ive decided to have a look at Forex but am somewhat confused about some parts.
Well, IB is my broker and ive typed in EUR and clicked on Cash.

1. The exchange is called "ideal pro" is this correct or should i be trading a futures contract on Globex?

2. How much would i need to input to make/loose, ha! say £5 or 5 euros a pip? A default amount o
of 25000 comes up!?

3. How much commision am i charged by IB? and does this vary according to size of the trade?


Sorry for the silly questions...ive done a little digging around first but never found any quick answers to these.

Many thanks

Reg

 

[donaldduke]

No if you want to trade globex you need to select futures instead of cash from the pop up
menu (has your account been enabled for Futures trading?) the current front month is december.

The big Globex EUR contract trades at 12.5 dollars per point or pip, which is about 7 pounds a
pip at todays exchange rate.

The mini (E7 i think the ticker is) has a wider spread but trades at £3.50 a pip, if your stops are wide you probably want the mini contract, if your stops are tight you can use the bigger contract.

If you trade out of hours (after 9pm), the mini is not suitable and you should stick to the main
EUR.

The commision is $3 per contract per side (ie $6 per round trip) for trading currencies on Globex via IB.

 

[Reggy]

hi ! and thanks for that information. is there also a commision when trading on "ideal pro" or is the commision in the spread? Also, is FXCM like a spread betting company or is it the "real deal"?

Cheers

Reg

 

[donaldduke]

Reggy,

I havent traded "ideal pro", the spread is wider than globex EUR and the minimum commisson
acording to the IB site is $5 dollars.

You maybe able to trade smaller size with Ideal pro, and if this is useful to you then you might want to look
into it further. Otherwise stick to Globex.

I have no experience of FXCM, alot of traders here use them because they used to garantee stops being
filled without slippage (altough recently they have said they wont do this in extreme circumtances ), this
can be usefull for trading around news events. Im sure experienced FXCM users can explain things in
more detail to you.