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I doubt you were with a Tier 1 bank. Most Tier 1s are in cut-throat competition with EACH OTHER. For large, legit customers Tier 1s will do practically anything so that the client is happy. Most money is made going with the client, or on forward rolls. A sure way to lose your job at a Tier 1...

Funny, I worked in Asia as well and saw similar things as well. IMHO, I find it a bit disconcerting that so much leverage is offered to those who have trouble with it. Kinda like credit card companies that let college kids run up big bills, then spend their summers working to pay off their...

Steve- What has been IB's experience with folks trading at these type of leverage numbers? Are they NET winners/losers/break-even?

From what I've read, it seems only small a/cs trade there. IMHO, the unknown size of their credit risk, their unquantifiable market exposure and unknown balance sheet, make them un-touchable for me. But, I was raised in a Tier 1 environment, so, my judgements are skewed that way. If folks...

Well, kind of my point - if they're shooting a gazillion bucks of trades with 100s of customers, you'd think they have adequate capital. In the past, bucket shops operated on a shoestring, so pushing them into a liquidity trap wasnt a big deal. In todays hyper-regulatory environment, I'm...

In the heydays of bucket shops, 1920s, larger traders would push these shops to take on positions greater than the bucket shop could handle. Once that happens, the shop has to run for cover, quite often ending up bankrupt. It was a way to get at their capital. The bucket shops were routinely...

This is something out of the 1920s!!! If they dont hedge, why not simply open an account with 'em, for say, $500,000, buy euros up to the limt, then demand delivery? Do they deliver if you demand delivery for settlement? If they have any capital, IMHO, I'm surprised someone hasnt taken a...

So, how much do you make a week doing this?

So, what is their net position in any one currency at a given time? Or is their argument that all their biz negates risk by being synthetically flat due to offsetting customer deals? IMHO, as the market moves, their mkt exposure can be significant

I understand the leverage argument - y'all are braver than I am! It'd be intellectualy interesting to me to see hwo they operate if a customer opned an a/c with say, US$250,000 and swung a 10-20 million position constantly. Great concept though. Probably not for me.

Ummm, I dont use IB, but any employees fiduciary responsibility is to their employer, not a customer. So, if you're expecting qoutes and milk and cookies, probably wont happen. From all these posts I get the sense that y'all want to be told its OK to trade FX. FX is dominated by huge...

Geo-politics plays a big role in creating risk premiums, eg, higher prices. Don't overlook Iran saying they'd consider using oil as a weapon and withholding supply. And anyways, crude isnt the issue - product is. Many guys just trade crude as its more familiar than gas or heating oil

I'll never understand why anyone trades at these incredible leverage factors and complains when they get wiped out. IMHO, its simply suicide.

Lets put it this way. If you dont care about your counter-parties legal terms for trading, never check their credit or their balance sheet, are OK with any trading practices they employ and dont know what your recourse is if they blow up, why dont you send ME your money and trade with me...

IMHO, the brokers appraoch FX from a broker perspective. They take orders and get paid for execution. Dealers put capital at risk to get customers orders done. Why aren't y'all dealing with banks and investment bansk?

Actually, you miss the point. As quaint as NO is and the bars etc are fun, NO serves a very strategic purpose. Its where most low value to weight goods move via water. Without NO port working, the midwest has no raw materials to import or grains to export. Thats the value of NO. When real...

Good. Now maybe people will focus on natural gas and we can start rockin'

Y'all really need to read their terms & conditions. I cant stress that enough. They reserve a lot of rights, that I've never heard of banks or futures markets claiming to have. Even though their terms probably wouldnt stand up in court as usual and customary market practices, your loss has...

Why only ask for $10Gs, might as well ask for some real cash.

Thats kind of my point. If you only trade with one house and THEIR qoutes, you're stuck with their fills.