there is much to say on this matter so bear with me if I seem a bit long winded...First, my impressions from what I read in your messages here. You sound like you may have found a method of interacting with the markets but there is something that is causing what you deems to be "unnecessary" losses, or failures, and that those failures are the result of manipulation and NOT your method. I do not KNOW this to be true, but I am concluding that from your tone and the message you write about market manipulation. It would seem a logical step that to prove your theory that you move to a different market to see if you find the same results...the frustration you must be feeling can be at time overwhelming...I understand completely.
I applaud your desire to change things in an effort to improve and agree that if your are a retail FX trader you most likely ARE the victim of some manipulation of prices on your broker's platform. While the US market is a bit more regulated than it was, the retail FX industry is still greatly flawed and no amount of regulation (short of elimination) will fix it...this is why:
The retail space is not the 'real' market. It is a "bucket shop" for lack of better terms because even 100 or 1,000 retail traders all combined rarely make enough volume to buy even 1 or 2 standard lots of currency. So the broker takes the other side of your order and waits until enough traders have the volume to transact in the actual market and the offloads the whole "bucket" of orders. Until that happens you are trading an "imaginary" market inside the retail broker's platform with the broker as your counter party. Only this counter party knows where your stops are and can control not only the price he quotes you, but also the spread...thus you are literally gambling with all your cards exposed. This will not change unless you have enough money (usually 10's of millions) to open a "real money account" and can trade the actual FX market.
If you move to a regulated stock or futures broker (in the US anyway), you will be part of the actual market. This industry is heavily regulated, and if you enter an order your broker does NOT take the other side, it must, by law, send your order to the market and allow it to be filled by another party. Thus your broker only makes money on the commission...If you are quick enough you can actually watch your order go up on the exchange and get filled. Thus the idea that your broker is working against you, is no loner an issue...your broker simply doesn't care, as long as you have enough money to cover your margin or trade.
In this sense, YES, there is less manipulation of prices and therefore if your method was getting knocked about by this previous manipulation, you may not see that on an actual market. HOWEVER...
Don't think that there are not other people (sharks) in these markets also using computer algos to manipulate prices to their advantage. We all know this to be true. Thus if your method does not account for this you will not be any better off....but there is good news in all of this.
In the actual market, those that manipulate price MUST (by law) do so the same way we all interact with the markets...by buying and selling. Those orders MUST (by law) be transacted through the markets the same way all our orders are done. AND those orders leave "footprints" behind in the price action that indicate their intentions. If your method is robust enough to detect these footprints you will do well. If not, you will succumb to the same frustration (or worse) that you feel now.
Bottom line, you will never know unless you try. So here is a checklist (if you didn't already have one) for you to think about before you put any more money on the line...no matter which market you chose:
- Is my method strong enough and/or robust enough to work in ALL markets? (or is it 'fine tuned' to just one market)
- Is my trading psychology robust enough to keep to my method in ALL markets?
- Can I verify (to my satisfaction) that manipulation is responsible for my current limitation in success?
- Will other markets (more or less regulated) be the type that my method can exploit?
- Will this market cost more money to transact than my current market?
- Do I have sufficient capital to exploit the new market?
Hope this helps!! I wish you the best of luck!!