Quote from Burtakus:
I fully intend on trading more than just one instrument once I accumulate suffecient capital. Ultimately if I stay with currencies I would like to trade on the interbank with an actual bank. But that takes capital to trade in 1 mill lots or larger at the minimum.
I realize that the quotes that a FX borker gives are not the actual interbank quotes but then again the interbank quotes are not coming from a centralized source either so different banks quote at different prices as well. The currency world is much different than stock or futures in that the lack of a centralized clearing institution creates a market that does not have a single quote for a currency.
My first introduction to trading was with an FX firm that had a reuters quote stream and I could watch the different banks making quotes that were all different. And the quotes on the charting software that they used were slightly different than what the banks were quoting.
I do not use my brokers charting package and there is a difference of a pip or two but reraly more than 5 between the charting and the broker. When the difference is greater it has always been my charting that is off which I verify by checking with other quote providers. I wouldn't try to scalp with this setup but it works pretty good for my trading style.
The quote mechanism in FX is not refined the way that stocks and futures are so that can present problems for those who deal in absolutes. But overall the price difference is not more than a couple of pips
I am fully aware of the fact that my practically insignificant trades are not cleared on the interbank but are kept in house. At this stage in the game it does not bother me. If I get really large then I would switch to a broker that caters to larger accounts. But for right now my size dictates where I play at.
Also, I am for all practical purposes still a newb myself with a long way to go and people should take what I say as one persons view on things which may be relevant or not depending on the point of view from which they are looking
