Ive been watching the FX market for about 8 months now and I was a pretty dismal trader in the beginning. For the most part what I did was look at other people tech analysis and tried to find situations where I saw a few people in agreement. I managed to lose my entire account trading like this, basically copying other peoples trades and then I started trading news releases instead.
I have found this so far to be a much more effective strategy. I basically scalp small amounts of points and then just use larger lot sizes to make up for the difference.
But there seems to be some conflict between the way I trade the news and the way most others do. I have seen people refer to the method i use as "straddling." I wait for the big releases and then put buy and sell stop orders 5 points in both directions the second the data is released.
This has been the method that has worked best for me but when I started making higher gains with it, the company I use sent me an email saying that they were switching my account to a no dealing desk option and that i didnt have any choice about it. they have suggested that it is in the news traders best interest to do this, but i find this extremely hard to believe.
The account was just changed last Friday so I have not had a chance to try it out but I am curious if anyone else has any perspective on whether or not the no dealing desk option is a better way to trade the news.
Mostly what I am worried about is the slippage issue. I have had almost perfect execution in the past but now my company is telling me there are no guarantees against slippage. And when you are only looking to scalp a small number of points, a few instances of slippage could be detrimental to a traders account.
I expect that there will be responses that suggest it is better to wait for the dust to settle after data is released. But I have heard this before and I just dont buy it. I think those initial price spikes are the highest probability trades, because the direction is clear for that moment.
Too many times I have seen positive numbers released, only to see the currency close lower on the day than before the data came out. I dont think it makes sense to try to predict what the market is going to do in a given situation. Id rather just play the news releases themselves and then get out.
But as far as i can tell (and granted i havent actually watched what happens without the dealing desk) it seems as though my initial strategy is obsolete or unusable. anyone disagree?
I have found this so far to be a much more effective strategy. I basically scalp small amounts of points and then just use larger lot sizes to make up for the difference.
But there seems to be some conflict between the way I trade the news and the way most others do. I have seen people refer to the method i use as "straddling." I wait for the big releases and then put buy and sell stop orders 5 points in both directions the second the data is released.
This has been the method that has worked best for me but when I started making higher gains with it, the company I use sent me an email saying that they were switching my account to a no dealing desk option and that i didnt have any choice about it. they have suggested that it is in the news traders best interest to do this, but i find this extremely hard to believe.
The account was just changed last Friday so I have not had a chance to try it out but I am curious if anyone else has any perspective on whether or not the no dealing desk option is a better way to trade the news.
Mostly what I am worried about is the slippage issue. I have had almost perfect execution in the past but now my company is telling me there are no guarantees against slippage. And when you are only looking to scalp a small number of points, a few instances of slippage could be detrimental to a traders account.
I expect that there will be responses that suggest it is better to wait for the dust to settle after data is released. But I have heard this before and I just dont buy it. I think those initial price spikes are the highest probability trades, because the direction is clear for that moment.
Too many times I have seen positive numbers released, only to see the currency close lower on the day than before the data came out. I dont think it makes sense to try to predict what the market is going to do in a given situation. Id rather just play the news releases themselves and then get out.
But as far as i can tell (and granted i havent actually watched what happens without the dealing desk) it seems as though my initial strategy is obsolete or unusable. anyone disagree?