Forex rebates on every trade - win or lose!

Fourth .I left the third for you Klal

fifth

Has anyone any experience trading forex options with easy forex??

Bob,

I've no experience of their options, but I am a registered introducer for Easy Forex. They're a market maker and I refuse to promote them on my websites, despite the fact I could probably make a good few bucks if I were to.

If you want my advice, I'd find yourself a good raw spread ECN broker who won't trade against you.

Hi hilary

Thanks for info. It is the Forex options that interest me.

I only want to trade for an hour a day at most. I am still looking for the "Easy option".

If I only trade straddle type strategies, it is the premium costs which may or may not make trading viable.

Back to the drawing board!

Regards

Bob

Bob,

If you really do want to trade Forex options, I would personally look at specialist options brokers (who quote FX as well as other markets) rather than going the route of a retail Forex broker who makes his own market and who has decided to offer options simply because he sees it as a further way of fleecing punters of their hard-earned.

OK hilary

I had already opened an account last week but not used it yet. I will close it.

Your advice much appreciated.

Bob

Why would anyone want to trade Forex?

Floss,

That's the very reason why punters should only ever trade with a broker where they can be 100% sure that the broker isn't taking the other side of their trade. STP/ECN is the only way to go imo.

Dodgy market maker brokers get away with it in MT4 by using a nasty, little known device called the Virtual Dealer Plugin. After GAIN were had over the coals by the NFA for using it a couple of years ago, I thought the practice had stopped (the damage to your business in terms of both fines and loss of reputation if you get caught should far outweigh the gains), but clearly that's not the case.

If you do a bit of Googling, you can probably find the odd Russian firm or two who make these plugins for brokers to shaft their punters. :o)

I'm well aware of this Hils, I think you've banged on about it a lot over the years and a few firms were caught.

I think the thrust of the article was more about why anyone would trade Forex instead of shares etc.. I mean, it's not as if we don't buy & hold Forex for the long term :-)

I know I've mentioned the Virtual Dealer Plugin previously, Floss. But the article's author did spend the first half of his piece saying how FXCM had been weighting the dice in their favour, so I figured it was worth mentioning again.

But, going on to the second half of the article, I did think the author's logic was flawed. I felt that what he was actually trying to say was that trading in general was dumb in comparison to investing. That's an age-old argument of course, and I won't bother to expand on it here.

For some reason, however, he chose to target Forex trading as being dumb, and that's where his argument fell apart imo. He pointed out that the spot Forex market was open 24/5 and was gapless. He pointed out that it was liquid and that it was efficient. He also pointed out that it was necessary to use leverage to optimise returns. Now, where I come from, those are all very valid reasons TO trade a market.

If he had said that trading some out-of-favour commodity such as Elk Toenails was dumb, I'd have kinda agreed with him. But to choose a market where it's very easy to push through 1 or 2 mio units bc of a major in under 0.5 of a second, and with typical combined spread and dealing costs of about 0.001% the bid. Nah!

Finally he acknowledged that the market employed battalions of strategists and economist capable of disseminating news in the blink of an eye. Well I personally don't think those guys are super-human because it's the bots that react quickest to the news but, whatever, he implied that smart people traded Forex (which I already knew) and then, in the next sentence, he implied they were dumb.

Really?

Totally agree Hils. Forex is simply any other market magnified and speeded up.

I agree with Hils,as always.

The reasons the guy was giving for not trading FX are the ones which have driven FX trading. I only ever traded cable because I could get in or out at will.

I always thought that FX was the most efficient of all traded markets and came closest to the economic model of perfect competition.


But I'm thick as sh*t so wtfdik.


:-)

Is anyone on here still trading Forex? What trading platforms are people using?

Raw spread ECN on MT4 or cTrader through Aussie regulated brokers, IC Markets or AxiTrader, who have dediboxes inside NY4 and LD5. $7 comm per rtl (or less through the green shed).

Interesting day for FX providers:

Alpari:

Important announcement

Submitted on Fri, 16/01/2015 - 12:00;

The recent move on the Swiss franc caused by the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected policy reversal of capping the Swiss franc against the euro has resulted in exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity. This has resulted in the majority of clients sustaining losses which has exceeded their account equity. Where a client cannot cover this loss, it is passed on to us. This has forced Alpari (UK) Limited to confirm today, 16/01/15, that it has entered into insolvency. Retail client funds continue to be segregated in accordance with FCA rules.



CMC

Peter Cruddas, Chief Executive, CMC Markets said:
“Yesterday's unprecedented move by the Swiss National Bank created a large amount of volatility in the Swiss Franc and Foreign Exchange markets.

Like many of our competitors, CMC Markets sustained some losses, however, the overall impact including possible bad debts has not materially impacted the Group.

The Group’s balance sheet post these events remains strong, with a regulatory capital ratio of 24% (300% pre CRD IV) and own funds in excess of £130m. All retail client funds are fully segregated and protected.

CMC Markets continues to have a strong balance sheet and business model; the Group remains on course to exceed last year’s financial performance.

It’s business as usual.”



Capital Spreads

London Capital Group
Statement on Swiss Franc movement
RNS Number : 3731C
London Capital Group Holdings PLC
16 January 2015


16 January 2015


LONDON CAPITAL GROUP HOLDINGS PLC

("London Capital Group", "LCG", the "Company" or the "Group")

Statement on Swiss Franc movement
LCG maintains minimal exposure

Following yesterday's announcement by the Swiss National Bank, which resulted in extreme movement in the value of the Swiss Franc, and a sudden reduced liquidity in the Swiss Franc foreign exchange market, London Capital Group provides an update on the financial impact to the Group. The impact on the Company's balance sheet from market and credit exposure will be dependent on the Company's ability to recover client debts, but in total it will not exceed £1.7 million.

All clients' positions were closed at a more beneficial level than the Company could close its own exposure.
The Group is well capitalised with a strong balance sheet upon which the recent events relating to the Swiss Franc has had no material impact. LCG will publish its results for the year ended 31 December 2014 on 25 March 2015.



IG

IG Group Holdings plc
15 January 2015



Statement on Swiss Franc movement

Following this morning's exceptional announcement by the Swiss National Bank, which resulted in a sudden and extreme movement in the value of the Swiss Franc, IG Group Holdings plc ("The Company", "The Group", "IG") believes it is appropriate to provide an update on the negative financial impact to the Group. The precise level of the impact will be partially dependent on the Company's ability to recover client debts, but in total it will not exceed £30 million, from market and credit exposure.

The market exposure occurred where client positions were closed at a more beneficial level than the Company was able to close its entire corresponding hedge due to the market dislocation.

This occurs against the backdrop of very strong recent and current performance and IG's extremely robust financial position.

As scheduled, on 20 January 2015, IG will present its results for the first six months of the 2015 year, and will provide an update on progress on its strategic initiatives.

credit Suisse on currency brokerage FXCM: "With that said, we do not think the company will be able to conduct business tomorrow." (today)

Edit: http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/fxcm-comments-on-swiss-franc-movement-20150115-01137

Hilary

Do have a good source for news that affects Forex movements?

Do you mean an event calendar, a pre-event strategy on how best to deal both sides of the risk, where to get the news itself fast, or a post-event synopsis and analysis, Haystack?