Best non bucket shop broker.

To sum up the answers: MBT trading is the brkoer to go for?

I havn't researched this broker too much. All I know is that it is an ECN type of broker, minimum deposit 400 dollar, and that they have the highest transaction cost of all ECN brokers out there, but still relatively low, since the transaction cost on EUR/USD is approximately 1.9 pips. Another con with this broker seems to be that the platform is hampered by bugs and instability....

My speculation is that this broker might get too much acclaim,because of the low deposit. And same goes for IB, that gets more attention since they offer lots of other instruments.

Another conclusion seems to be that all brokers act as a counterparty whether bucket shop or not. Well, if that is the case, which is the most reliable ECN broker?

Hotspot Fx also looks really great. Anyone who have any experience with them, or know the transaction cost for EUR/USD with them(information about on the net is really scarce)?

Cabletrader: well maybe semi scalping since i've been adopting a TP of 10 pips lately. It would be during ranging markets or at quiet times. Thus, widening spreads during news announcements, isn't a big concern.
 
Quote from drasfs:



Cabletrader: well maybe semi scalping since i've been adopting a TP of 10 pips lately. It would be during ranging markets or at quiet times. Thus, widening spreads during news announcements, isn't a big concern.
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Then you're not scalping and more or less any reputable mainstream broker with a reasonable and reliable platform will do, it's swings and roundabouts, either pay in the wider fixed spreads without additonal commission or pay in tighter variable spreads plus commission. It depends on what time of day you trade as well, ECN's in the Asian session are going to work out more expensive.

None of it is ideal or transparent but it's all we've got if we want to trade spot and don't have the odd half a million lying around :)
 
Quote from zdreg:

what would be the ideal if you had "the odd half million lying around".
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Good question, I suppose STP on an ECN but how that could be accomplished with 500k I'm not sure, in the bigger picture 500k is chicken feed.

Out of my league anyway, and to be honest I haven't a clue what I would do with it but I certainly wouldn't mind having the problem of deciding!
 
Gentlemen


To date knew only two pure agent's

AMTD and OXPS

AMTD after selling interess in NITE (check 10-k by www.sec.gov
source of revenue)

Company-pure agent of principal must not have source of revenue as proprietary trading .In this case company would not have motiv to use information about clients behaviar ,which he have .

OXPS alsov pure agent ,but
1. not with fx activities (through FXCM)
2. not with future activities ?

3.Cleared through Legent(Goldman Sachs) AMTD for comparsion self-cleared
 
zdreg


Registered: Oct 2003
Posts: 2592


01-20-08 01:31 PM

what would be the ideal if you had "the odd half million lying around".
######################

divide broker's ,account and clearing house ...

alsov with small money . 4 accounts with 2000$ better
as one with 8000 $

That would more heavy operate ,but exsist no another way ...
 
Quote from cabletrader:

Then you're not scalping and more or less any reputable mainstream broker with a reasonable and reliable platform will do, it's swings and roundabouts, either pay in the wider fixed spreads without additonal commission or pay in tighter variable spreads plus commission. It depends on what time of day you trade as well, ECN's in the Asian session are going to work out more expensive.

None of it is ideal or transparent but it's all we've got if we want to trade spot and don't have the odd half a million lying around :)
More...

Well sometime, i might go for tp=5. I have however never traded with an ECN broker before, so how much does the spread vary during news/volatile market hours ,quiet times or during normal market hours?

Hotspot fx is praised for having the fastest execution of market orders, so the price might not change much after you have clicked on the market order button. So the problem: you get the best available price(and not a guarantee)....might therefore not be a huge problem with that broker.
 
Dont use marketorders on ECNs, and especially not during news. I have seen 30+ pips spreads for a split-second, if you click into this mess, you might be in for a bad surprise. Also, while spreads might stay small during news, the price still can 'gap' alot, and you can experience big slippage.

Use marketable limit orders instead (or, if you use Hotspot EU, define max. slippage in the user preferences for marketorders, which actually translates into a limit-order too).
 
Pippi436:I won't be entering market orders during news time. Just during normal/quiet market conditions. Or would slippage still be a problem?

Will the spread be low during quiet/normal markets or is it the other way around?

I read some reviews, and every other review of oanda get reviews like this:

"I have been trading almost 2 years with OANDA. I usually make more than 10 trades per day. I have mixed feelings about them.

PRO:

Nice platform.
Reliable and quick to get money in and out by wire.
Minute-to-minute interest accrual. (No rollovers.)
No minimum trade size.

CON:
Huge spreads (typically 10 pips) when there is news or during slow periods.
Frequent periods of slow response to market orders (3-10 seconds).
Slippage (varying and probably related to the slow response, but see below).

I have been reasonably happy with Oanda until now. Early last week when there was very heavy trading I traded heavily and did will. Even during the high activity my orders were filled acceptably.

But then the next day, when things cooled down, my orders were not filled well. Over the past two years, when response was good (at least half of the time) I could expect 80% of my market orders not to slip. But since last week, every day for 9 days, under all types of conditions, 90% or more of my orders have slipped at least 10 pips but usually 20 and sometimes 30 or 40 pips.

The response time during this period was generally very good, so I can only assume that I've been recategorized as being too successful and am having a built in slippage penalty applied to my trades."


Seriously, all these bucket shops should be shut down and deemed illegal. Their business model is too faulty and enforces too many constraints on the trader without clearly informing the trader before hand that: if you are too successful, you have to pay for it. We will stop hunt you, and requote if you are you are doing too well. You can't scalp or trade during news either.
 
Quote from drasfs:

90% or more of my orders have slipped at least 10 pips but usually 20 and sometimes 30 or 40 pips.

Seriously, all these bucket shops should be shut down and deemed illegal. Their business model is too faulty and enforces too many constraints on the trader without clearly informing the trader before hand that: if you are too successful, you have to pay for it. We will stop hunt you, and requote if you are you are doing too well. You can't scalp or trade during news either.
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Way too many conspiracy theories drasfs, but regards the 10-40 pip slippage during 'normal' market conditions I would definitely do something about that even if it's just using bounds, it sounds like more of a technical issue than slippage.
 
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