Thanks for your view, roughtrader. I'm not sure the platform is as bad as it appears at first sight - one of the posts above mentions that the Demo platform is attached to a vastly inferior datafeed to the real thing. Sure, the graphics aren't as pretty as some, and setting it up isn't very intuitive, but how it works in actual trading is what interests me.
On the minimum deposit side, I personally think that a high minimum deposit requirement is probably a good sign rather than a bad one. I've been looking at every broker's site, every opinion on brokers, and every complaint and conspiracy theory about brokers I can find for the last three weeks, and here's what I've observed:
ECN brokers with higher minimum deposits, and 'low spread plus commission' fee structures (as opposed to 'commission in the spread' brokers with low minimum deposits), are generally, but not exclusively, the ones which are most often recommended by people trading real money with them (I haven't come across enough posters trading a Currenex account to relay a view on those). Opinion from those who declare themselves to be profitable and/or professional traders appears to be that for most people, a small account plus high leverage is a recipe for going bust, even if you have extraordinary luck and know when to quit. There must come a point below which a broker can't make enough from padding the spread on small trades, and that creates the temptation to get your money by other means. Also, it appeared to me that most complaints about brokers concern low deposit high spread brokers - and most of those brokers (in which 70-80% of clients lose money, according to October figures) use MT4. Oanda is one of those that doesn't use MT4, and nearly 50% of their clients make money, according to their figures. Call me supertitious if you like, but however user friendly it is, I think I'll avoid MT4, without concerning myself as to whether or not all the software conspiracy theorists are right or not.
Enough from me, and apologies for getting OT - any more opinions please from traders who have used Trader Workstation, NinjaTrader or other platforms on IB accounts for real trading?
Max
On the minimum deposit side, I personally think that a high minimum deposit requirement is probably a good sign rather than a bad one. I've been looking at every broker's site, every opinion on brokers, and every complaint and conspiracy theory about brokers I can find for the last three weeks, and here's what I've observed:
ECN brokers with higher minimum deposits, and 'low spread plus commission' fee structures (as opposed to 'commission in the spread' brokers with low minimum deposits), are generally, but not exclusively, the ones which are most often recommended by people trading real money with them (I haven't come across enough posters trading a Currenex account to relay a view on those). Opinion from those who declare themselves to be profitable and/or professional traders appears to be that for most people, a small account plus high leverage is a recipe for going bust, even if you have extraordinary luck and know when to quit. There must come a point below which a broker can't make enough from padding the spread on small trades, and that creates the temptation to get your money by other means. Also, it appeared to me that most complaints about brokers concern low deposit high spread brokers - and most of those brokers (in which 70-80% of clients lose money, according to October figures) use MT4. Oanda is one of those that doesn't use MT4, and nearly 50% of their clients make money, according to their figures. Call me supertitious if you like, but however user friendly it is, I think I'll avoid MT4, without concerning myself as to whether or not all the software conspiracy theorists are right or not.
Enough from me, and apologies for getting OT - any more opinions please from traders who have used Trader Workstation, NinjaTrader or other platforms on IB accounts for real trading?
Max