that is absolute bullshit!!! Dude, you have so many posts you really should know better. Shame on you!!!
Bucketshop is bucketshop, period. What is good about
a) manipulated prices that are sometimes several dozen pips away from the interbank/ECN market such as EBS/CURRENEX/HOTSPOT/BARX?
b) spikes during news events that DO NOT reflect real markets. Knowing that fx markets are OTC is one thing, running stops by magnifying a spike during news by sometimes 100 pips is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT!!!
c) the knowledge your brokers wants you to fail but not entirely...thats very similar to casinos. They want you to have the infrequent wins to bestow the belief in you that you can score big but the system is so rigged and biased against the trader that the probilities of success at the outset are hugely skewed.
Now, I dont say that you cant make money trading with a bucket shop (and I define EACH AND EVERY broker who provides price feeds that are not pure ECN price feeds a bucket shop, as well as brokers who take the other side of your trade, NO EXCEPTION).
But why trading with a broker who benefits from you losing money??? SIMPLE QUESTION, SIMPLE ANSWER: DONT DO IT!!!
Solution: Trade with brokers who charge commission, who have ZERO interest in how wide or tight the spread is, and who do not manipulate prices!!! Simple as that.
Cabletrader, you definitely disqualified yourself with below comments!!!
Quote from cabletrader:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with trading with a bucketshop, where else are you going to get micro trades filled or be able to get market orders filled instantly across volatile data like NFP? Sure they manipulate quotes, that's the nature of the game, but usually the pros far outweigh the cons. Like everything else there are good and bad bucketshops and they're not all alike, you need to make a list of what you want and what's important to you and then see if that marketmaker fits the bill. For example you might be a scalper so one-click instant fills with minimum slippage and narrow spreads are going to be important, or you might be a longer term trader so those things won't be important to you. It's not one-size-fits-all which is why there are conflicting opinions about particular marketmakers. Don't believe everything you read on review sites, read between the lines, and don't forget (allegedly) 90% of retail forex traders consistently lose money and prefer to blame their broker rather than take responsibility for their own lack of ability!
For an explanation about interest rate differentials and how they work in forex trading go here, there's also a calculator to help you work it out.