Phil Mibbutz
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Any news on those charts?
hoping for charts early new year
A Dashing Blade
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TY for the bottles of wine guys! Much appreciated.
Can anyone confirm how acct funds are used regarding the need to trade in the underlying currency ?
Say...
1) I open an acct with 5K GBP
2) I open a 1 lot trade on CME 6B and $1000USD (required margin) of my GBP gets converted (at spot rate?)
Do I now have 2 (money) accs effectively ? 1 with 4.xK GBP and another with 1K USD?
3) I close my trade with profit of $500. Is my 1.5K USD immediately converted back to GBP?
or does the 1.5K USD remain USD ?
4) If 2 accts (GBP & USD) exist until I decide to convert all USD funds back to GBP do I get spot rate (no commision / no charge) when I request conversion?
5) Is the Zen-fire / mirus demo free ? if so how long is it available for?
6) Does anyone use metatrader with a futures broker eg Water House Capital for charting ? if so how do the data feeds compare ?
Say...
1) I open an acct with 5K GBP
2) I open a 1 lot trade on CME 6B and $1000USD (required margin) of my GBP gets converted (at spot rate?)
Do I now have 2 (money) accs effectively ? 1 with 4.xK GBP and another with 1K USD?
3) I close my trade with profit of $500. Is my 1.5K USD immediately converted back to GBP?
or does the 1.5K USD remain USD ?
4) If 2 accts (GBP & USD) exist until I decide to convert all USD funds back to GBP do I get spot rate (no commision / no charge) when I request conversion?
5) Is the Zen-fire / mirus demo free ? if so how long is it available for?
6) Does anyone use metatrader with a futures broker eg Water House Capital for charting ? if so how do the data feeds compare ?
I have an account with FB and you are betting in the underlying currency and they will convert into staerling upon request. The rates they give you depends on the amount being converted. They back off every Fx against Barclays who do not always give the best quotes. But I am told they are looking to get better rates else where.
I have looked at their site, they want 2 point spread for mini dow, now is this as their own example, 2x2x2= 6 point spread per trade in and out? If that's the case that's quite high as the mini dow is 1 point spread in the real futures market with some dealers, even GFT futures are $1.50 at the worse price. Maybe I read it wrong on their site, as surely it can't be a 6 point spread round trip?
A year ago I did a comparison between FB and IB (Interactive Brokers). And the different was quite staggering. This is what you pay to trade the DMA and still enjoy it being tax free. Although, I don't know if your calculation on the Dow is correct as I do not trade with them.
Thanks for reply. My question is this, if FB work out to be 30% more expensive than normal Futures brokers, what's the advantage in trading with them, why not just pay tax and enjoy purchasing tax deductable items that come off your tax bill, and carry over losses to the next year?
It is the tax free option that some traders find interesting. My guess is that it is less insight by the official authorities as well (not meaning that there are any illegal activities), that intrigue some people to go for a company like FB.
It really depends on your trading style and returns. I use them, and for me the advantage is the fast execution, transparency, lack of price manipulation and tax free. It works for me.
The example you quoted is correct (except 2+2+whatever the bid offer is), with the following comments - the charge comes down to 1 point each way after 200 lots per month, and if you're the sort of trader that trades inside the spread, or reverses the bid/offer, then you can end up paying the 4 points, or 2 after 200 per month.
As I say, it works fine for me, and the tax free more than makes up for the charges, but everyone is different.
cheers
Xeno
The example you quoted is correct (except 2+2+whatever the bid offer is), with the following comments - the charge comes down to 1 point each way after 200 lots per month, and if you're the sort of trader that trades inside the spread, or reverses the bid/offer, then you can end up paying the 4 points, or 2 after 200 per month.
As I say, it works fine for me, and the tax free more than makes up for the charges, but everyone is different.
cheers
Xeno
Sums up pretty good my thoughts on FB compared to a company like IB.
Phil Mibbutz
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If coms started at 2pt, or lowered the change from 4pt a bit, FB would attract far more punters, which you'd think might result in increased profits for them.
Hi
So are you saying for me to place a trade to open and close on the mini dow with FB it's 4 points round trip total cost and not 6?
If you use limit orders and get filled then yes, it's 4 points round trip (and 2 when you're over 200 lots/month)
I guess also that the mini dow is a slightly higher cost because one contract is 5 dollars per point - less than most other futures.
i think you are slightly out, i have checked with them and the spread you see is 1 point, but the actual spread is 5 points.
But they have 2 bands so you best to call them and ask.
I suppose strictly speaking you could argue you pay the spread on limit orders too. Depends how you look at it. Maybe a better way to sum it up is - you pay FB 4 points, and anything else you pay is whatever the bid/offer spread may be in the live market.
That's a hefty price to pay just to avoid tax imho. That's looking like a 6 point spread on a futures market, that's way above normal. I think I will stick to the larger companies and pay tax, it will work out cheaper, thanks for your input.
You're welcome.
Like I say though, it depends on your situation. I guess at the higher charge band it's around 15 dollars extra per contract per roundtrip. If you happen to do around 500 roundtrips per year, it's 750 dollars, which isn't much of a tax bill if you trade for a living.
Xeno
I can pay 3 pips roundtrip with the better brokers, with FB it's double, so unless I'm paying 50% tax (which of course it will be no where near) I will be ahead, plus I can use my losers to offset my tax bill for the following year, and will not be restricted to living in the UK (which is becoming the dumping ground for the worlds deadbeats).
