Shame On Fxcm

well, last week i made me first fx futs trade trough ib booktrader'n'execution was lightnin' fastn'n'durin' a major news announcement.
of course u can acces also da mini-stuff'n'even tho it is not as liquid as da standard contract da spread is often more or less da same...not sure how much commish on mini tho.
 
Quote from RedDuke:

It is not the platforms, it is forex in general. I still did not hear a single valid reason why trading forex (on retail level) is better than currency futures. The only "advantage" is more crosses, but if you know what you do, you can construct pretty much any strategy with using majors.

If one is big enough to trade directly with banks, it is a different story, but we are not talking about it.
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Comparison:

EURO FX future:

Contract 125,000 Euros.
Margin $2,835 Initial , 2100 maintenance.
Commision /RT: $6.00 (IB)
Spread 1 - 2 pips
Premium over Spot 30 to 45pips, Front month.
Can lead or lag Spot market.
RTH 8:20EST to 15:00 EST. (70% of liquidity)
Globex 15:00-16:00, CLOSED 16:00-17:00, 17:00-16:00
Avg Daily Volume, 200,000 contracts ($30 billion notational)
Expiration 4 times a year on 3rd Friday of DEC, MAR, JUN, SEPT
Exchange traded

EUR/USD Spot OTC

125,000 Euros
Margin 50:1 (IB) approx $3125 if Spot Eur/USd @ 1.2500
Commission /RT :$6.00 (IB) if spot @1.2500
Spread .5 to 1.5 pip.
24 hours. (21 on IB, soon to be 23)
Avg daily volume, Approx $300 - 600 billion For Euro.
No expiration.
OTC market.

Anyway, likewise, there appears to be no valid reason why trading the Futures is better then trading the Spot OTC, unless of course one is using a very bad Forex dealer. BUt if one is using an ECN like CoesFX, IB, MB Trader, etc. to trade the Spot OTC, then the futures really has no material advantage over the spot. In fact the spot provides more total liquidity and uniform liquidity than the futures. And the Spot will have tighter or equivalent spreads.

When you add a FOREX ECN into the equation, it then comes down to trading style, trading system, and subjective preference as to why one would choose the Futures over Forex Spot and vice versa. Otherwise, if one is using a maker maker/Dealer in Spot Forex, the futures would offer you a material advantage worth investigating further.
 
I trade forex with several brokers. I keep small amounts in each account-- my way of money management that restricts my tendency to risk large sums. Here is this weeks account with fxsol.
 

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Making $10 here, $20 there won't appeal to most of you, but it limits risk for me.
These are my trades from monday to thursday morning- they don't seem to have Friday calculated yet.
 

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Wow great job....i have never made that kind of percent in one week...


Quote from roberk:

I trade forex with several brokers. I keep small amounts in each account-- my way of money management that restricts my tendency to risk large sums. Here is this weeks account with fxsol.
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Quote from ElectricSavant:

Wow great job....i have never made that kind of percent in one week...
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For the sake of honesty I have to point out that I showed my best account, my trades with the other brokers were considerably more patchy.
 
Quote from RunningTurtle:

First of all ... as a retail trader you won't get access to Currenex, because you do not have a credit line to connect directly through this bank portal. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Trading through propfx.com has some merits then... as you can't get credit lines you are trading on FXCM's (FXCM is a counterparty in each trade) - this is the reason for a bit wider spreads (usually 2 pips). Of course you can trade NFP and GDP numbers if you use propfx as opposed to their retail platform (trade station2). You should know that if you are really trading. Furthermore if you are not happy with wider spreads then FXCMPRO is a solution (a white-label of Currenex).

Don't like FXCM...there are so many places to go... (Hotspot, GFT, Oanda, IB etc.) all of them have some drawbacks and it is up to you to choose.

You just did not read my post ... I really don't get it why you are calling me a socialist or communist :eek: :D Wonder why would you like the "communist" to explain anything to you. You seem to be so educated (not to mention well-mannered). :)
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Get a demo access to Currenex via http://www.capitalforexpro.com/ and see for yourself. You'll get an idea how much FXCM makes on YOU on every trade that you make. Trading NFP with FXCM is nearly impossible as FXCM widens Currenex spreads to to 15-25 pips instead of direct currenex 3-7.
Of course every other broker has drawbacks, but again one has to look hard to find such a greedy one as FXCM is.
Years ago I myself traded with FXCM but that was due to lack of information on other brokers.
If you remember straddling the news with guaranteed fills in 2003-2005, then I can tell you what FXCM did: seconds after the numbers were released and say the EUR/USD gapped up 70 pips FXCM had a 30 pip spike down that of course could not be found anywhere else just to trigger sell order, another thing sometimes when somebody would make dissent money(5-20k) they would just cancel your gains and say "there was a lag in our feed, so the quotes you were trading on have not existed). There are many more stories about that "honest" broker.
At the end my question is, why to pay 3-5 pip spread to FXCM if everyone can trade all the majors at 0.5-1.5 spread. Why give away your money. Charity???
 
Quote from sccz97:

Once CME/Reuters thing will come live things could be different, but that is yet to be seen.

Shame we'll have to wait at least another 18 months before it really gets going :(
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Q1 2007 so its actually 9 months.
 
Quote from siki13:

Q1 2007 so its actually 9 months.
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If you think there will be sufficient liquidity for it to be worthwhile switching from spotfx or current fx futures starting day 1 then yes. More realistically, it'll take some time for ppl to migrate in sufficient quantity to make it worthwhile.
 
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