Quote from Full Tilt:
question for those living is LOS now:
1. is IB your broker and, if so, what is your ping time and server (i assume you use the HK server)? i trade mainly futures (nikkei, OZ, and Europe), scalp and do a lot of trades, so IB is the broker that really suits my needs cost and product-wise).
2. do any of you scalp (seems like it would be very tough given the internet issues)?
3. what is THIS year's high season like (some stuff i read says it's dead, others like hotel operators on Thaivisa claim they're booked and it's much improved). the only place that seems consistent is Chiang Mai being dead because Thai's aren't visiting as much due to the red shirts.
4. for those in BKK: are rents really as high as the property sites and Thaivisa classified's reflect or is there serious (like 40%+) negotiating room? i ask because nice, furnished (by my western standards) flats in the central area (ie: only a couple minutes max walk to bts or subway) seem to be minimum 40m baht, and most that i find appealing are more more in the 60k baht area. these are small 1 bedroom places priced at rates higher than most US cities and really about equal to Singapore- which i would think would be considerably higher than BKK.
thanks.
1. I do have an account with IB and it has been no problem trading equities or futures and in BKK, it seems to automatically go to the HK server from what I can tell. Right now, i am back in the states but when i was in Bangkok 9 days ago(and the prior month), CAT ping tested between 50 and 90 ms with TRUE almost always much slower (they are the backup and i am paying for a slower connection so...).
2. When trading, I do some scalping and definitely put in some orders every day where i will want to be ready to stop or scratch out quickly if things do not go the way i thought they would and with the internet services i have, am confident on placing orders.
3. don't know but deadbroke saying chiang mai down 35% sounds reasonable and i think he is comparing to the winter of 2007-2008 as december 2008 was unimaginably dead and much moreso than a month ago. at least, that was when we flew in there to circumvent the airport troubles in bkk?
4. in BKK, i had a really nice place, 2/1 85 square meters, on the 30th floor, marble floors and view, for 25k baht per month in walking distance to asoke station(now might be 30k). recently saw a place for 40k at the legend on sala daeng, new place and close to 100 square meters.
as we are only there half the time now, we have a quiet place a 10 minute walk to lumphini subway station for 9000 baht per month. whilst not what i would call "nice," have good internet and convenient to the city yet quiet in the jungle. google earth it and you will see what i mean, as many trees as the everglades.