Y,
This now totally makes sense. Sorry I didn't understand previously.
It is a tough business, choosing a broker. There are many reputable sources out there, but depending on who you ask, you'll get different recommendations. So, it IS extremely difficult.
There ARE scams out there, for certain and there ARE brokers that are less suited to do certain types of trades. So you have to take that for what it's worth.
Do your due diligence. There are sources (the CFTC for one, or the the regulating entity if you're going foreign) that can provide you with enough information. DO NOT just take the forums as the word of God. Normal folks write reviews and it's easy to dismiss the gung-ho pumpers as well as the once-bitten-forever-grudge holders. So from a Forum point of view, broker reviews are almost useless (notice I said almost). It's hard to say this, but honestly, once you find a good liquid broker (hopefully one with some financial safety nets and good revenue streams - read: solvent) the ONLY review you need to do is the one by yourself because let's face, no broker is a one-size fits all shop...they'd like to believe they were, but it's not. Some brokers will be nice and liquid during news but have poor long-term crossover rates. Some brokers will have outstanding trading platforms but high spreads. Some brokers will tout the ECN model but charge commissions for EVERYTHING. Some brokers have excellent customer service but have difficult-to-swallow long-term holding requirements (like 20:1 leverage requirement in order to GAIN interest). So a lot your questions will have to almost be directly answered by your research into the platforms, their requirements and your system requirements so it's a very personal thing.
I personally have worked with over 40 brokers and currently have 6 floating accounts of various sizes doing different things for me. And let me tell you, the big key here is that they're doing DIFFERENT things. Like I would never trade news with 2 of my brokers...but they're fantastic for long-term trades. So you need to work the kinks out of your system in order to determine what the requirements you have in a broker are. The reputable part can easily be determined by doing your research on outstanding public records (financials and legal). Good luck
This now totally makes sense. Sorry I didn't understand previously.
It is a tough business, choosing a broker. There are many reputable sources out there, but depending on who you ask, you'll get different recommendations. So, it IS extremely difficult.
There ARE scams out there, for certain and there ARE brokers that are less suited to do certain types of trades. So you have to take that for what it's worth.
Do your due diligence. There are sources (the CFTC for one, or the the regulating entity if you're going foreign) that can provide you with enough information. DO NOT just take the forums as the word of God. Normal folks write reviews and it's easy to dismiss the gung-ho pumpers as well as the once-bitten-forever-grudge holders. So from a Forum point of view, broker reviews are almost useless (notice I said almost). It's hard to say this, but honestly, once you find a good liquid broker (hopefully one with some financial safety nets and good revenue streams - read: solvent) the ONLY review you need to do is the one by yourself because let's face, no broker is a one-size fits all shop...they'd like to believe they were, but it's not. Some brokers will be nice and liquid during news but have poor long-term crossover rates. Some brokers will have outstanding trading platforms but high spreads. Some brokers will tout the ECN model but charge commissions for EVERYTHING. Some brokers have excellent customer service but have difficult-to-swallow long-term holding requirements (like 20:1 leverage requirement in order to GAIN interest). So a lot your questions will have to almost be directly answered by your research into the platforms, their requirements and your system requirements so it's a very personal thing.
I personally have worked with over 40 brokers and currently have 6 floating accounts of various sizes doing different things for me. And let me tell you, the big key here is that they're doing DIFFERENT things. Like I would never trade news with 2 of my brokers...but they're fantastic for long-term trades. So you need to work the kinks out of your system in order to determine what the requirements you have in a broker are. The reputable part can easily be determined by doing your research on outstanding public records (financials and legal). Good luck
Quoting ycompDislikedyes, sure I read your post. It is a good post. It's just that what you mentioned there was not really what I was asking about... so I tried to clarify my question. But I did appreciate the response.
I have a certain style of trading where it is more unpleasant compared to many other styles of trading to switch brokers (sometimes I hold positions for a while), therefore I am just trying to do enough research first before choosing the appropriate broker(s).
But judging by this last post of yours, I guess things aren't as bad as I thought from the impressions the forums give me... I had been under the impression that there are certain brokers that count on you losing your account sooner or later in order to make their money and that they could get away with this because FX is growing so there are new people opening accounts all the time.
I had been getting the impressions from the charts I would see posted that some brokers would spike prices occasionaly and other such shennegans (including widthdrawal problems). I guess this isn't the case then for many brokers, now that I've seen your stats.
as for news trading, I'm not really interested in it that much (directly)... unless maybe possibly to trade after the initial spike sometimes. But the majority of complaints seem to be by people trading news and I'm trying to separate their problems from people who don't trade the news (or at least the initial spike)
thanks for the insightsIgnored
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