Hi Rusty and thanks for a glimpse of the inside of large investment banks and how they operate.
Regarding CFTC, the word is out that NFA (National Futures Association) is in the process of auditing all forex brokers and those with Adjusted Net Capital of less than $5 million will most likely be shutdown. Quite an upheaval. This means that FXCM, CMC Markets, IG Markets etc are all in the firing line.
Oanda makes the grade with ANC of $35 million and seems to be a popular choice as a broker.
One thing I want to share is that even though a company with a high ANC may give assurance of it's stability, this does not necessarily mean that their forex broking facility is good for individual traders like us. I'll give you an example:
I made a shortlist of companies with the highests ANC from the cftc list and chose Deutsche Bank (ANC of $2.4 billion ) as they have an easily accessible facility for trading forex online.
Their trading software platform looked very familiar...it actually closely resembles FXCM....and after a little research thru various forums and reviews (for those wondering...sorry, I don't recall the names and can't provide the sources of this info, so don't ask...just do a goolge search like i did) I found that Deutsche Bank and FXCM do seem to have some affiliation....for instance, the address of DB customer service is the same as FXCM....and for those who have checked ratings and reviews on forex brokers, you will know that FXCM don't have much credibility.
This all created an air of suspicion for myself in trusting DB as an fx broker, what to speak of the fact that the trading platform was not the most user friendly with delays in placing orders etc...
I am currently facing the challenge of switching brokers for the above reasons and please forgive me if my next question is inappropriate to this thread.
Rusty, as I'm also a fellow Aussie residing in Brisbane, I'm interested to know which broker/s you trade with?
There doesn't seem to be a lot of choice here in oz...the accounts i have with IG and CMC (as they have oz offices)will have to be closed soon...I've checked out Man Financial who have a min.$20K account requirement(too much for me) and have no online trading platform (apparently coming soon) and UBS have no facility....
For ease of funds transfer I was hoping to stay with a local broker, though if need be will go offshore with someone like Oanda.
What do you suggest?
rgs
mike
Regarding CFTC, the word is out that NFA (National Futures Association) is in the process of auditing all forex brokers and those with Adjusted Net Capital of less than $5 million will most likely be shutdown. Quite an upheaval. This means that FXCM, CMC Markets, IG Markets etc are all in the firing line.
Oanda makes the grade with ANC of $35 million and seems to be a popular choice as a broker.
One thing I want to share is that even though a company with a high ANC may give assurance of it's stability, this does not necessarily mean that their forex broking facility is good for individual traders like us. I'll give you an example:
I made a shortlist of companies with the highests ANC from the cftc list and chose Deutsche Bank (ANC of $2.4 billion ) as they have an easily accessible facility for trading forex online.
Their trading software platform looked very familiar...it actually closely resembles FXCM....and after a little research thru various forums and reviews (for those wondering...sorry, I don't recall the names and can't provide the sources of this info, so don't ask...just do a goolge search like i did) I found that Deutsche Bank and FXCM do seem to have some affiliation....for instance, the address of DB customer service is the same as FXCM....and for those who have checked ratings and reviews on forex brokers, you will know that FXCM don't have much credibility.
This all created an air of suspicion for myself in trusting DB as an fx broker, what to speak of the fact that the trading platform was not the most user friendly with delays in placing orders etc...
I am currently facing the challenge of switching brokers for the above reasons and please forgive me if my next question is inappropriate to this thread.
Rusty, as I'm also a fellow Aussie residing in Brisbane, I'm interested to know which broker/s you trade with?
There doesn't seem to be a lot of choice here in oz...the accounts i have with IG and CMC (as they have oz offices)will have to be closed soon...I've checked out Man Financial who have a min.$20K account requirement(too much for me) and have no online trading platform (apparently coming soon) and UBS have no facility....
For ease of funds transfer I was hoping to stay with a local broker, though if need be will go offshore with someone like Oanda.
What do you suggest?
rgs
mike
DislikedNice insight Rusty - wish I'd read this sooner. Could this also be a sticky candidate in the brokers section?
Anyway the link you suggested is:
http://www.cftc.gov/tm/tmfcm.htm
I've pulled off the spreadsheet and highlighted a number of retail brokers and sorted on net capital requirement. Oanda is highlighted as a benchmark.
Looks like FXCM is #1 so their blurb about being the biggest retailer might be true. Interestingly Oanda's adjusted net cap is quite high in proportion to their requirements. I would presume a lot of small traders are parking their spare cash there as a savings account!Ignored