Is forex a fcking scam or what?

Quote from gtor514:

Forex Brokers operate as bucket shops. They have x number of dollars on each side of the market that you purchase from them. They make money by the number of trades you make so it is in there best interest to keep you satisfied with there service.

I have an account with Oanda, FXCM, IB. For spot FX I would recommend checking out FXCM for good spread, execution, reliabiltiy. I don't recommend Oanda except for the absolute beginner. You can trade minimum lot size but spreads are terrible and price quotes and data feed aappear to be "buffered".

How is the job at FXCM going?
 
I've always thought the whole idea of opening up the "cash market" to under capitalized "wanabe traders" was nothing more than the big institutions "whoring" out their data, with a "can't lose" guarantee of offering (originally) spreads of 5pts between the B/A. And then touting the illusion of "no commissions."

But that's just me

When forex first went public I thought, why would anyone enter the market $50.00 in the hole! How can they trade without volume data? Back then (80's) you could see prices all over the map at the same moment in time on different platforms!

I CONFESS I tried it (cash mrkt).... the platform I traded on posted the prices of Eur/Usd in Euros not Dollars (that was common). That f'd with my head too! None of "it" made any sense to me, it still doesn't.

Soon I was back to the CME and never went there (cash mrkt) again... At the every least, when I trade thru the CME "somebody" is "in charge" (regulations)

Keep looking, I hope you find what your looking for.

<*)))><
 
GS19: my experience with Oanda has to date been good
their live customer service and email support have always answered my questions
and resolved problems promptly and to my satisfaction

trade execution has for every trade to date been instantaneous; rth spread on the
eurusd is 0.9 pips and like All other brokers will widen during the release of news
economic reports, when the market becomes fast, and during the 'weekend' and
holiday hours - Oanda provides 24/365 trading but not 365 customer service

the FXTrade program, both charting and order entry leaves MUCH to be desired
(the exception is they have 5 10 30 second charts) and their lack of not just
development but simple improvements speaks perhaps to a 'let them eat cake'
attitude of the company's principles

i chose Oanda because of their rth spread, recent regulatory changes in the
province of BC have reduced the choice of fx brokers to 3, and neither US nor UK
brokers will accept BC applications - they do accept non BC resident applications
FXCM state they have 150,000 clients, based on CFTC filings Oanda has several
tens of thousands more clients than FXCM and/or Oanda clients have larger $
amounts in their trading accounts
 
Understand that trading with an (fx) broker you are not trading at the interbank level, you are in fact trading only your brokers market ,as he controls it. That fact must be understood.

Therein is the inherent fallacy.

1 pip or less spreads? Your broker can't get that through their liquidity providers, offering it to you is a sham as bid/asks are shaded.Stop hunting, yes it happens, if your dumb enough to leave a sitting stop within reach, mainly twilight hours but it can happen when enough orders pool, they are great for engineering turns.

If you know how the game is played, you can make money in the spot markets, but the real money isn't going through your local broker.

I run through Oanda, best of the lot imho, but that's not saying much.

fwiw
 
Quote from gr8tr8r:

So by your definition GoldmanSachs, E-Trade, Ameritrade, etc., are all bucket shops since they also primarily make money off the number of trades you make!

I don't think those firms are what we are considering to be "Forex Brokers". They make money in the retail market by commissions they charge for each trade, typically equities, options. You most likely will not pay comissions to a "Forex Broker". If you do, get another one.

Now if "Forex Brokers" are not charging commission, how do they profit? They get the spread which is possible if they are on both sides of the market. Think about it.

Oh yeah, I also have a TD-Ameritrade account which I haven't used in years. A hold over from when it was TD-Waterhouse. I really should close it. Thank's for reminding me.
 
Back
Top