I am a visual trader and trade exclusively from the charts. I've been with Oanda for 2.5 yrs and sort of quite used to its simple Chart UI for trading. I am looking for an alternative to Oanda. I am looking for :
1) ECN
2) Regulated (I am not looking at BVI, tax havens, Cyprus, Middle East, Russian, African or LatAm based brokers)
3) Charting user interface for trading (not so much of techical analysis) Mostly order entry, visual indication of order placed/traded on the charts itself. (The average cost line on the chart is so useful but very few UI ofers it). Would love more order management flexibility than Oanda's.
4)The spreads+commission has to better Oanda's spread
5)Hedging. Oanda doesn't offer this and I guess all US based brokers are out. Right now am using subaccounts to hedge.
6) Segregated funds or something with sufficient security.
7) Reasonable rollovers.
8) Interest on excess funds. Many brokers do not offer this and I'd guess is a funding source most will want to keep quiet. Not a lot of impact given low interest rates currently. However, if base currency is AUD, that is an extra 4% annually.
9) Looking for lots of currencies. Gold, silver, oil would be a bonus.
I trade for a living and I want to improve my cost structures so every pip, interest counts.
So far my search has narrowed to Dukascopy and their Jforex platform is the closest. They don't offer 3rd party charting software so that flexibility is not there. However, the spreads for EURUSD is not neceesarily better than Oanda's all the time as it fluctuates constantly between 0.5 - 1 pip. Or at least this is what I saw on the demo. Oanda 0.9 spread at least stays for reasonable length of time throughout the day outside of news time. So if you average out 0.75 pip + commission, may or may not be better than Oanda even with the 50% Introducing Broker rebate. I guess the savings depends on the portfolio of currencies traded. AUD based pairs are about the same as Oanda's spreadwise.
Also considered Interactive Brokers. However, the minimum trade size is 25k (for resonable commission). However, I don't know enough about the trading interface and the 3rd party software that works with it. Ninja trader and Sierra Chart were mentioned. If anyone with experience with the IB interface and/or Ninja Trader/Sierra Chart etc care to share their experience that will be really useful. How about Amibroker as an interface for trading? Does anyone here know whether that will suit my need?
Also demoed London Capital Group's Capital Forex Pro. Haven't got the hang of it in short. Maybe I am not so smart in learning new software.
Am considering these as well: Nordmarkets, Baxter-fx, Vcap and Icap. I think Nordmarkets fell out due to some nasty comments from traders.
My trading style is : ad hoc. I scalp when the opportunity arises and take positions when it is at the "right place of the graph". So it is a mix.
Lastly, not a fan of Metatrader.
My capital is >USD50k and trade tens of millions monthly.
Would appreciate your comments. Thanks.
Why would I want to move out from Oanda? Diversification and trying to get better costs. I estimate I can squeeze and extra 1 to 2k savings from an ECN monthly. Oanda's platform is prone to disconnects and data and charts may show lags. Execution times can be better and reporting capability and customer service can be much much better. For a company with that kind of funding and size perhaps i was expecting more.
1) ECN
2) Regulated (I am not looking at BVI, tax havens, Cyprus, Middle East, Russian, African or LatAm based brokers)
3) Charting user interface for trading (not so much of techical analysis) Mostly order entry, visual indication of order placed/traded on the charts itself. (The average cost line on the chart is so useful but very few UI ofers it). Would love more order management flexibility than Oanda's.
4)The spreads+commission has to better Oanda's spread
5)Hedging. Oanda doesn't offer this and I guess all US based brokers are out. Right now am using subaccounts to hedge.
6) Segregated funds or something with sufficient security.
7) Reasonable rollovers.
8) Interest on excess funds. Many brokers do not offer this and I'd guess is a funding source most will want to keep quiet. Not a lot of impact given low interest rates currently. However, if base currency is AUD, that is an extra 4% annually.
9) Looking for lots of currencies. Gold, silver, oil would be a bonus.
I trade for a living and I want to improve my cost structures so every pip, interest counts.
So far my search has narrowed to Dukascopy and their Jforex platform is the closest. They don't offer 3rd party charting software so that flexibility is not there. However, the spreads for EURUSD is not neceesarily better than Oanda's all the time as it fluctuates constantly between 0.5 - 1 pip. Or at least this is what I saw on the demo. Oanda 0.9 spread at least stays for reasonable length of time throughout the day outside of news time. So if you average out 0.75 pip + commission, may or may not be better than Oanda even with the 50% Introducing Broker rebate. I guess the savings depends on the portfolio of currencies traded. AUD based pairs are about the same as Oanda's spreadwise.
Also considered Interactive Brokers. However, the minimum trade size is 25k (for resonable commission). However, I don't know enough about the trading interface and the 3rd party software that works with it. Ninja trader and Sierra Chart were mentioned. If anyone with experience with the IB interface and/or Ninja Trader/Sierra Chart etc care to share their experience that will be really useful. How about Amibroker as an interface for trading? Does anyone here know whether that will suit my need?
Also demoed London Capital Group's Capital Forex Pro. Haven't got the hang of it in short. Maybe I am not so smart in learning new software.
Am considering these as well: Nordmarkets, Baxter-fx, Vcap and Icap. I think Nordmarkets fell out due to some nasty comments from traders.
My trading style is : ad hoc. I scalp when the opportunity arises and take positions when it is at the "right place of the graph". So it is a mix.
Lastly, not a fan of Metatrader.
My capital is >USD50k and trade tens of millions monthly.
Would appreciate your comments. Thanks.
Why would I want to move out from Oanda? Diversification and trying to get better costs. I estimate I can squeeze and extra 1 to 2k savings from an ECN monthly. Oanda's platform is prone to disconnects and data and charts may show lags. Execution times can be better and reporting capability and customer service can be much much better. For a company with that kind of funding and size perhaps i was expecting more.