It's always "oh they stop hunt" or "oh they're another bucket shop." Are there any good, non-shill reviews anywhere? Where would I go if I was interested in trading Forex in either micro or variable lot sizes, not getting a shit spread, not getting stop hunted, and not being unable to place orders at some times during the day (see my OEC Forex thread). Oh and what's this about some pairs pay interest on short positions or something? How does that work? And do you have to give interest if you take a long position then?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with trading with a bucketshop, where else are you going to get micro trades filled or be able to get market orders filled instantly across volatile data like NFP? Sure they manipulate quotes, that's the nature of the game, but usually the pros far outweigh the cons. Like everything else there are good and bad bucketshops and they're not all alike, you need to make a list of what you want and what's important to you and then see if that marketmaker fits the bill. For example you might be a scalper so one-click instant fills with minimum slippage and narrow spreads are going to be important, or you might be a longer term trader so those things won't be important to you. It's not one-size-fits-all which is why there are conflicting opinions about particular marketmakers. Don't believe everything you read on review sites, read between the lines, and don't forget (allegedly) 90% of retail forex traders consistently lose money and prefer to blame their broker rather than take responsibility for their own lack of ability! For an explanation about interest rate differentials and how they work in forex trading go here, there's also a calculator to help you work it out.
that is absolute bullshit!!! Dude, you have so many posts you really should know better. Shame on you!!! Bucketshop is bucketshop, period. What is good about a) manipulated prices that are sometimes several dozen pips away from the interbank/ECN market such as EBS/CURRENEX/HOTSPOT/BARX? b) spikes during news events that DO NOT reflect real markets. Knowing that fx markets are OTC is one thing, running stops by magnifying a spike during news by sometimes 100 pips is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT!!! c) the knowledge your brokers wants you to fail but not entirely...thats very similar to casinos. They want you to have the infrequent wins to bestow the belief in you that you can score big but the system is so rigged and biased against the trader that the probilities of success at the outset are hugely skewed. Now, I dont say that you cant make money trading with a bucket shop (and I define EACH AND EVERY broker who provides price feeds that are not pure ECN price feeds a bucket shop, as well as brokers who take the other side of your trade, NO EXCEPTION). But why trading with a broker who benefits from you losing money??? SIMPLE QUESTION, SIMPLE ANSWER: DONT DO IT!!! Solution: Trade with brokers who charge commission, who have ZERO interest in how wide or tight the spread is, and who do not manipulate prices!!! Simple as that. Cabletrader, you definitely disqualified yourself with below comments!!!
lol, you were way too eager to contradict me, you should have read the OP's post and my reply first.....he's talking about micro. Please tell me a true ECN who offers micro trades with STP! Depending on your trading style bucketshops can be ideal, and with the small size they offer they're ideal for a starter as he can follow sensible risk and money management.
I define *micro* as something around 20k - 30k lots. Interactive Brokers for example lets you trade lots on Idealpro (ECN) in variable size from 20k upwards. I think signing up with brokers o trade 2k or 5k positions is an absolute waste of time. Use a simulator and then when ready start trading 20k-50k positions. You never learn to trade when you put on positions that dont hurt your pocket when you violate rules and let losses accumulate. In that sense I find micro lot trading actually harmful to larn to trade. Just my 2 cents...
I must admit that I don't understand why people trade FOREX when they can simply trade the FUTURES. I experimented with forex, and came to realize that my cost ended up being about $60 per trade compared to $4.25 for futures because of the simple fact that you have to pay the spread to BOTH enter and exit a trade. Plus, the spread widens during volatile periods (which are the juiciest periods to trade I might add). FOREX is a FUCKING RIPOFF like I have never seen before!!!!! edit: I must add that I demo'd with a Bucketshop using a Gain feed.
may i add as reason for the above made stament that pretty much most people who are complaining about socalled "unfair" brokers in their eyes are unserieus traders, from which are most of them starters searching for a place to start with a initialcapital of 100usd, socalled "mini-lots" expecting to make giant gaines by scalping if they do not succeed they are to naiv to blame theirself instet of finding the failures in their missunderstanding of the fx market or their platform long story short - oanda is one of the few fx brokers which lets you trade as small as you wish without a minimum deposit there is a tread here on ET called "OANDA AD YOUR SCAMS HERE" try read a couple of pages of that tread you will find people complaining at the start of the tread and you will find the same people still complaining years after if you open the last page of the same tread now what does that tell us..... me and some college-traders of mine have been trading with oanda since over 4 years, if i ever have had a problem it was solved within a short mather of time i am not affiliated with them in any way, only thing what i want to say is most inexperienced traders you will find in the fx section
Generally a 'micro' lot in forex is understood to mean 1,000 units. Scaling up from 1k is an easy exercise once you have developed the skills and discipline necessary to produce consistent returns, starting off too big can be extremely harmful psychologically. Trade size and 'hurt your pocket ' are relative terms, $10 can be a lot of money to some people especially in countries where the average wage is $100 per month! (I think you'll find it's you who has "definitely disqualified yourself" )
Available pairs, flexible trade sizing and minimums, 24/5 market (24/7 for placing orders with some brokers)..... I'm not sure trading a demo account with Gain qualifies as an in-depth experiment into what forex has to offer and what can be achieved from trading this market!