less of that Eh eh Oldtime
all futures contracts are for a fixed amount/value, the 6E Euro FX - eurusd equivalent
contract is for $125,000 and the M6E Micro Euro FX for $12,500
the 'overnight' margin is first set by the CME Globex exchange but brokers may require
more funds, AMP Global Clearing's amount is $4,725 for the 6E, $270 for the M6E and
again, determined by the broker, AMP's daytrading margin for the 6E is $500 and $100
for the M6E
likewise fixed roundturn commissions vary by broker, some still charge $80 as a 'full
service broker' whereas AMP and others charge $5.94 and $1.99 for the 6E/M6E
above margins translate into a much higher leverage than the 50:1 maximum fx spot
leverage permitted by the CFTC and in Canada. as Jack's already pointed out most
fx brokers also have standardized trading amounts, lot, mini lot, micro lot, but Oanda
permits non standardized amounts to be traded that they refer to as 'units', so Oanda's
way means one can control both the amount of money per trade and also control the
amount of leverage:
http://fxtrade.oanda.com/analysis/margin-calculator
there's a new CEO at Oanda and besides no longer offering weeked trading - not that
there was much, there may be other changes that have been implemented. one is the
'Recent Oanda Spreads' page, it used to show the different spreads during each of the
daily sessions, so there'd be the lowest spread for the eurusd which was 1.2 pips and
maybe going up to 10 pips due to say the NFP release. not sure if the min spread is
still 1.2 , it used to be 0.9 ,
http://fxtrade.oanda.com/why/spreads/live weekend so the
spread tables are probably not accurate, but can't find 'Oanda minimum spread'
is Oanda's minimum spread for the eurusd now 5 pips ???
pip value is 0.0001 x the value of the currency being traded, however Oanda and other
brokers go to 5 values: $0.00001 - pipettes
so the spread cost of 5 pips on one mini lot of $10,000 eurusd @ 1.2000 is:
$0.0005 x $1.2000 = $0.0006 x $10,000 units = $6.00
Oanda forum:
https://fxtrade.oanda.com/community/forex-forum/