Looking to trade professionally, directly with the banks

a. in reference to earlier question, when trading on a wholesale platform, the transaction costs are broadly as follows, per $mio traded, one-side:

Currenex, HotspotFXi, FXAll: $10-15 or less depending on volume and negotiating skills, knowing that the expectation is of at least $1bio/mth turnover.

Prime Broker: $10 or less, same as above

Introducing prime broker: $5-10, same as above

all in all less expensive than trading via HotSpot Retail platform (can't remember exactly but off the top of my head they were charging $50 / $mio traded, one-side, right?) or other no-commission type retail platforms that charge 1/2-1pips per side on top of the wholesale pricing they have access to...

now thats not to say that people won't find better terms from time to time on IB, Oanda etc etc, when the spreads are tighter there... it happens... therefore transaction costs alone are no compelling reason to rush towards 'wholesale' type platforms...

b. re delayed demo prices etc, as earlier said, not sure whether this is still happening but in any case, HotSpot's institutional volume is perhaps 50 times the size of its retail volume... when demoing an ECN platform to trade wholesale, what one does is look at functionality, not the demo prices because they simply don't matter... to get a feel for live prices, HotSpot provides view-only access to anyone who asks...

c. market orders: to sell 'at mkt' simply place an offer 10 pips below the bid and the system will just hit all the bids until your order is filled... and vice-versa if you want to buy 'at mkt'

hope this helps...
 
Quote from achilles28:

How does a trader educate himself on the intracacies of dealing etiquette before he ever gains real interbank experience?

Is there a 'deailg etiquette for dummies' book i can pick up??
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There should be required reading:)
Unfortunately none exists and perhaps it is up to forums such as these to educate the great unwashed.
 
If it their own inability to know how to handle a platform's orders inputs, or their own negligence for leaving an order on the platform which got filled, or using using software that malfunctions, then it is their own wrongdoing.

In the case of an ECN that states that prices should not be within a certain range, and that such an order cannot be canceled, if a price maker leaves an order there which is taken by a price taker: if the price maker cannot cancel an active order and suffers a loss, while the price taker cannot profit from taking that price, who would have profited from the price maker's loss?

If a ECN or whatever doesn't want to lose money to profitable traders, then the company should get a gaming license and display clearly "Invitation to lose your money". If any professional trader doesn't know how to properly handle a platform's orders they should not be trading or pretend they know anything about trading.
 
taboni:

Thanks for clarifying my second point, which is confirmed upon reading "Dealing on Existing Prices" in Hotspot's manual. I misunderstood the situation, indeed.

2cents:

Thanks for the pointers.

In your judgement, would it be fair to say that both first- and second-tier PBs look for high-volume clients (with good credit history, ideally), and that a trader who does more swing trading and medium-term (say, 1 week to 3 months) transactions and relatively little day-trading, with an average trade volume of between USD 10 - 50 mio monthly, does not fit the bill as the commissions generated are relatively low?

Incidentally, is there a per-trade dealing minimum with ODL PB FX? Does ODL pay close to money market rates on margin balances (like IB)? Thanks!
 
Quote from taboni:

LonEagle, as a professional market participant for 16 of my 20 years in this business I couldn't agree with you more.


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Where have you mainly been based - there is a chance we know a lot of the same people as I have been doing it for about 18years!
 
Traded a little bit in NY in the mid-late 80's and then London throughout the 90's. Good luck to you!

I know I should respond to Inquirer's last comments (if I could figure them out) but I am getting tired of this argument.:)
 
inquirer mate - no need to jump on yr high horse here - simply on wholesale mrkts, accepted standards of 'behaviour' are different than those on retail mkts... they just are...
 
Quote from 2cents:

inquirer mate - no need to jump on yr high horse here - simply on wholesale mrkts, accepted standards of 'behaviour' are different than those on retail mkts... they just are...
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The one quote that gets me in his argument is "profitable traders" If one becomes a "profitable trader" by exploiting technological and human pricing errors, then they cheapen the efforts of those of us who have made a good living doing this business for a number of years.
 
Quote from wwx:

In your judgement, would it be fair to say that both first- and second-tier PBs look for high-volume clients (with good credit history, ideally), and that, for a trader who does more swing trading and medium-term (say, 1 week to 3 months) transactions and relatively little day-trading, with an average trade volume of between USD 10 - 50 mio monthly, do not fit the bill as the commissions generated are relatively low?
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correct, plus as a swing trader you'll find that your transaction costs are pretty much in the same range either way...

Incidentally, is there a per-trade dealing minimum with ODL PB FX? Does ODL pay close to money market rates on margin balances (like IB)? Thanks!
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500K units, preferably 1mio though... dunno for MMR at ODL honestly, i wld expect them to be fairly standard (ie tight L/S spread) but this is just not sthg i want to have to watch... other thing, i hear that ODL's retail platform offers pretty good spreads etc, worth talking to them, but i haven't yet...
 
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