Do Brokers really manipulate the market?

Hi all

Sorry for this stupid question. I am a newbie and wondering whether allfx broker manipulate the market? Also the fx systems posted on this website, do they work forever or until broker finds out what you are up to?

thanks
sam

Yes market makers make the market, but forex is soo big that a single broker can't do soo much, in this market brokers are little fishes too i think..

Yes, bucketshops can manipulate the price feed they give you. Contrary to what the previous poster said, they can move price wherever they want because they are not trading anything on the interbank market, they are just providing a price feed internally. So, they can stop hunt, spike prices, etc.

However, just because they can do that doesn't mean they do or will. As you have probably noticed, if a broker screws somebody, it will be all over Forex Factory in a matter of minutes and the brokers know this. So, that's something in our favor.

Re. the real interbank market which is what you get trading with an ECN broker, it's the investment banks that move the market by placing huge orders, but not individual brokers.

Virtually any system or EA can be used at whatever broker, with a couple exceptions historically. I'm not sure, but it sounds like you think these systems are definitely going to be profitable, and that's usually not the case. There are probably millions of systems available, all of them claiming or hoping to rake in the profits.

You might be better checking out the James 16 thread and group. Not a system, but more a strategy and method that works.

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331

Anyway, that's more info than you asked for...sorry

Most of us are wary of the issue of broker price manipulation to their advantage and it weighs so heavily on choosing a broker+platform itself [I posted this on MT5 forums, whether there is a way to identify platform integrity and got no response/ comments-perhaps it is not practically feasible] - Is this not addressed comprehensively by the Regulators? I have seen such recent litigation(s) posted on NFA website of a large brokerage house being sued. Whereas smart traders can understand and find out such manipulations,it may take time for most of us rookies-perhaps one strategy to insulate oneself is trading exchange traded instruments ?

Institutional Brokerages I've been told have have the ability to see retail traders limits and can take advantage of that. Is this true?

It is common sense to deduce that with large investments at stake the platform will be so designed to provide for most information that can be generated towards management of there own risk and enhance profitability. Whether these are reported to the Public domain is something a Regulator should analyze and frame technical audit policy and so forth as this would be a systemic platform loop hole the (unaware) retail clients can be exploited with- hence should be disclosed. In the case of Retail FX the clients are at the mercy of the broker who configures and controls the Server(s), hence retail clients should take extra care and get to investigate thoroughly,prior to contracting with their chosen broker platform- I hope my argument makes sense ?

Here's is a recent case:
http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/CaseDocument.aspx?seqnum=2888
and the Regulatory action=decision:
http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/CaseDocument.aspx?seqnum=2902

Only market makers can manipulate quotes in your trading platfrom

The real impact on markets is done by "fat-cats"

HI I am new here, just saw this interesting discussion. I'd like to mention that at the end of the day somebody has to be a Market Maker.. Imagine your broker offsets your positions to the net level broker.. the next level broker passes the order to the next, etc. At the end there is a bank or big fund, so it's the market maker... My point is that sometimes using a real ecn would cause slow executions and high trading costs.. If you trade without scalping, news, etc. MM is a good choice (except unregulated Mauritius or other sunny islands based bucket shops).

Brokers can manipulate the bid/ask spreads they offers clients. It's a myth that brokers manipulate the fx market as a whole - they're way too small for that.
However, big banks certainly can .

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0IW0E520141112

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?p=7866708

The biggest manipulators of the market are the central banks..

dont bother nothing we can do about it. just like gecko said, BULL win, BEARS win, and the pig shall slaughter. as traders we already adapt to the harsh market environment, a minor adaption to the brokers trading condition would be much more easy. all we have to need is accept the fact, for example i have experience with a widen spread almost 10 pips others than other brokers, so i just need to set my entry, tp/sl level, etc at +10 pips distance. this just a simple example, the preaction would be vary at different brokers trading platform.

shady brokers do have the possibility to manipulate, but not all brokers are doing it, and they can't do much anyway,
but it has been know they can spike you out of a position by executing your stop, that kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable,
mostly what they do is changeing the spread a tiny bit, the real manipulation is done by the big boys who have the money to move the markets,
they can for example press the price down to a level where they are prepared to buy it from other traders now willing to sell because the market is tanking down,
with the effect that the market is turning on a dime and stops everyone out,
this kind of manipulation occurs all the time and really is a part of trading.

From my experience, possibility that broker manipulates prices on his platform is very low. Only new and unknown brokers can try to make such illegal behaviors, but it is a short time strategy and only scam brokers can try to do it. Brokers which exist more that a year are generally ok (maybe there are some exceptions). Regarding bad execution I have mixed experience only with admiral markets, their customer support is very poor as well.

Someone is cheating on us?
This is 2 accounts on open market Sunday...
Did they get stops by their needs?

Admiral and CapitalTrust...