Forex rebates on every trade - win or lose!

Hilary,

I've been looking at FXCM over the weekend. Do they widen their spreads at volatile periods, news etc?

(and what are those dingalings I keep hearing. I think it might be news but I can't seem to find the streaming news on the platform) :-)

Thanks

Edit: Sussed the Squawk Box now Hilary - now where are the charts?

H,

Yes, the dingalings are news items coming into squawk box. I've shuffled my screens around recently and have turned the sound off on the PC which runs Trading Station.

There's another plug-in that you must use to integrate charting within the Trading Station itself. It's called MarketScope or something, although I've never tried it myself.

FXCM also supply the data feed for a lot of charting packages which are web based. I guess that most people here probably use the FX Power Charts because of the ability to store multiple settings for re-use the next time that the application is started. My favourite charts are actually the FX Trek Intellicharts.

Link to different charts here

Re the spreads, it's constant. They did pop up a message on Friday giving advance warning that execution might be a problem during the NFP's. As I said the other day, I tend to use orders to enter the market which solved that problem. The prices can gap on news.

Many thanks for all that Hilary - I really like the Squawk Box, very useful indeed by the looks of it (except for the dingalings) :-)

I'll try the demo out over the next month or so then will probably change to it.

Thanks again.

Just a thought which was prompted because I received a notification a few minutes ago about Eligible Securities or something.

The BoE website has a RSS newsfeed wotsit which is free subscription. It notifies you as soon as minutes and rate decisions, etc are put on their website. Worth having imo.

Bakko,
I am new to Forex, as well. Interesting to read about your experiences with Finspreads. My mate's partner lost 750 after their server apparently crashed at an inopportune moment recently. Not happy.

Harlosh,
A tad concerning to read about your delayed "filling" with CMC. Could this be a one-off occurrence, do you think?

Hilary,

The BoE Wesite sounds excellent thank you. Much appreciated.

Markus,

I very much doubt it. Read the ongoing CMC thread if you need any more convincing. :-)

Dollar Drops Across The Board After Fed Pauses

Fed Leaves Rates At 5.25%; Still Sees Inflation Risk

Markus,

I suppose you will have trouble trading the news with any of the SB companies to be honest. I have accounts with Fins and CMC neither of which are too hot in that area. I don't know what the others are like but I doubt they are any better.

If I had my time again I would probably go straight to FXCM - I love what I've seen of it so far but it is hard enough trying to learn to trade Forex without having to learn a new platform at the same time. Having said that if you are patient enough, that would be my advice.

Good luck - Lord knows you will need it with this beast but if you are disciplined enough it can be done (though you might need deep pockets to begin with ) :-))

There was me thinking I had a hole in my pockets

Seem to hear lots of good things about fxcm, does anyone know anyone who trades large amounts, because they look similar to cmc and presumably if you start to take serious amounts of the table..............

Is anyone trading fx futures or thru IBs.

GFI There's a world of difference between cmc and FXCM. FXCM are a broker who make their money from your commission.The more you make and the more you trade the better for them, as for cmc, well........

So who do YOU use, Seymour? FXCM?

Markus, I use cmc :-)

However, I'm still cutting my Forex teeth, and if it works out I will be using a broker where I do pay a commission for each trade.

It's all about terrorism this morning.

goforit,

Depends what you call a large amount, but you'll probably find that most people who use FXCM look at 10/pip on cable as a minimum. Anything less and it's not worth getting out of bed in the morning.

I'll hazard a guess that the average position size with them is around 30 or 40/pip.

30 -40 p/p....that's enough to keep me awake forever!

The recent talk about fxcm has goaded me to download their platform. It's cost me an absolute fortune in dummy money as been putting through lots of trades, orders etc. Extremely impressed :-))

It's time to ditch the SBs and move on.

Bakko, 30-40 pence per pip is enough to make me lose sleep, the way my investments have been nose-diving over the past 18 months or so!!

Still putting fxcm through it's paces.

Placed buy and sell limit orders just ahead of an announcement earlier. The sell order got triggered and I was out for a 1400 profit...what a pity it was only funny money :-(

Can't wait to ditch Fins now!

markusantonius,

Re 5840, if you are new to FX, CMC is ideal......but only as a TRAINING PLATFORM!!
The reason is simple, whether S/B or CFD spread is generally small, and fixed! also they will do small trades, ie S/B 1 per point, CFD about 60p per point.
Hopefully you will progress and become accomplished, this WILL require a better platform.....which means just about anybody else.
To illistrate, I have E-Trade and CMC CFD platforms, when things are zinging on cable, like FOMC rate days, E-Trade fill is 1-3 secs, CMC....30secs to 5 mins, and this is not a one-off!!!
It is also not unheard of to find CMC will re-quote you, but take so long that the re-quote has expired before you see it, when this happens as cable moves 100 points in less than a minute, the result, as I recently found to my cost, can be very painful...:-(
Hope this helps

Regards

SC

While I am here, I need some help if possible....can anyone tell me how FOMC rate days, and minute days, are scheduled?
I have a memory like a sieve, and always forget them, if I knew the schedule in advance I could programme the electric diary
(And yes I do mean electric, not electronic......it's wired to my n*ts as a guarantee it will get my attention...LOL)

SC

SC

http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/

Scroll down this link and you should find all the info and dates you're looking for.