Quote from late apex:
jimrockford,
Your posts are usually sensible and worth paying attention to. Including right here, the last paragraph of your post above. However, by continuing to automatically recommend Interactive Brokers to everyone who asks, as the one and only broker choice for spot forex trading, you are doing a major disservice to the thread starter and countless others reading this.
Since you don't trade forex yourself, let me summarize. Just because IB's forex dealing platform (IDEAL Pro) is conflict-free -- the way forex should be -- does not make it a default choice for a newcomer like the OP. IB is a top-notch firm, in many ways, for experienced traders who know what they're doing. It's a terrible choice, virtually guaranteeing early failure, for any forex newbie, for many well-known reasons. Their own ET reps (def, Steve_IB and others) will readily confirm this.
Please stop giving out well-intentioned but misleading advice.
Hold on a minute there, late apex. I think your statements are incorrect and unfair.
I have said over and over again that nobody should entrust their funds to any dishonest or uninsured broker. I don't claim that IB is the one and only honest and insured FX broker, and I am open to the possibility that some worthy FX competitor exists, but so far, none brought to my attention have persuaded me.
I have also stated, though much less frequently, that a forex newbie, who is not ready to trade at IB, should not be trading forex AT ALL. This was, essentially, the advice I intended to give to the starter of this thread. My ET postings, when they reached the issue, have advised that newbie traders should start by swing-trading odd-lots of stock, NOT DAYTRADING, NOT FX, AND NOT FUTURES OR OPTIONS. I have also advised that newbies need to learn the fundamentals of how competitive auction markets operate, before they start trading. I have advised that newbies first learn to distinguish between the educational process of learning about trading, and the self-destructive process of indulging a gambling fever.
You seem to advise that newbie traders should consider trading FX, even if they are not sophisticated enough to trade via IB. I think that such advice is not only incorrect, but that it is misleading and harmful, and that it promotes both gambling fever and fraud. If a customer is not ready for IB, then he is not ready for the unregulated environment of FX trading
anywhere. The fine print of FX broker customer agreements generally warns that FX trading is suitable only for financially sophisticated individuals, though their promotional materials contradict and undermine these boilerplate warnings.
I agree with you that IB is not oriented toward newbie traders. I think that in many ways, a trader needs greater sophistication to deal with IB than with other more friendly and more supportive brokers. IB compensates for these weaknesses by focusing on execution, costs, speed, product variety, API, account safety, integrity, and other issues of greater importance to the more experienced customer. I think that a newbie trader should begin by trading odd-lots elsewhere, if he is not ready for IB, but that he should avoid FX altogether. I have also noticed that the trend, at IB, seems to be in the direction of appealing to somewhat newer traders than previously, and fostering their growth into more experienced traders - without defrauding them.
I doubt your suggestion that IB reps would recommend that newbies, not ready for IB, should instead speculate in foreign currencies elsewhere. I doubt that you will be able to provide any evidence supporting your suggestion. I doubt that any IB rep will come forward to support your suggestion.
Hi all,,