This may not generate as much as interest as a "my broker sucks thread" but there are some exciting products entering the currency market that you should know about and at least consider.
For the record, I have no interest in any of the firms offering or proposing these products.
1. The CME is teaming up with Reuters to offer a Forex platform that will trade on a regulated, centralized market place. This could be a huge deal and might just force a few bad brokers out of business or at least encourage them to fly right in an effort to remiain competitive. This could be released as early as 2007. Several very large banks have already signed on to participate and this platform could serve to level the playing field. That might be a little rosy but you get the idea. Here is an email that the CME recently sent out. You can sign up for future notifications.
http://view.exacttarget.com/?ffcb10-...fef61579716003
2. World Currency Options. The Philadelphia Stock Exhcnage (PHLX) is in the final stages of SEC approval to offer Currency Options on their exchange. This is a regulated exchange and all transactions are backed by the OCC (options clearing corporation). I have heard that a competing exchange (ISE) is also considering offering a similar product but I have not found information to confirm that. These options are not the "draw a box on your chart and we'll trade against you" options. These are real options, just like stock options. You will not need a futures account to trade these. Here is the product sheet for these options:
http://www.phlx.com/products/currency/XDB_XDESPECS.pdf
3. Gold and Silver trading. While this doesn't really appeal to me, many brokers now offer or are considering offering gold and silver against the USD. You would be able to trade this just as you would any currency pair. A few brokers offer this now under the symbol XAUUSD.
4. Currencies will be traded as a stock. You can already trade gold as a stock under the symbol GLD. The price represents 1/10th of an ounce of gold. There are gaps on the chart because it is only priced during US market hours. The EURO can be traded as a stock as well. With TradeStation the symbol is FXE. Like GLD is has some gaps because it trades during the US hours. I know this might not appeal to a lot of spot traders but there are some stock traders out there who would prefer to stay out of the spot forex market and stay in the stock market where things are a bit regulated. Bring your money though, the FXE closed Friday at 127.83 per share. Remember, it is different than spot because it closed trading earlier.
5. Unified Brokerage accounts. Many US brokerages are now offering mroe than one product in a common account. Introducing Brokers (IB) has done this for quite some time now. Others are catching on. Someday you might have a single account to trade stocks, options, futures, and currencies. Think of the hedging possibilities!
6. TradeStation is very close to completing their intergration of Forex directly onto their platform. This means that if you have a hot strategy you will be able to automate it and have signals sent directly to the broker without the use of any 3rd party platform.
On most of these subjects I can't really say more simply because I've said everything I know. I just thought it might make for some interesting discussions and encourage others to hang in there.
Phil
For the record, I have no interest in any of the firms offering or proposing these products.
1. The CME is teaming up with Reuters to offer a Forex platform that will trade on a regulated, centralized market place. This could be a huge deal and might just force a few bad brokers out of business or at least encourage them to fly right in an effort to remiain competitive. This could be released as early as 2007. Several very large banks have already signed on to participate and this platform could serve to level the playing field. That might be a little rosy but you get the idea. Here is an email that the CME recently sent out. You can sign up for future notifications.
http://view.exacttarget.com/?ffcb10-...fef61579716003
2. World Currency Options. The Philadelphia Stock Exhcnage (PHLX) is in the final stages of SEC approval to offer Currency Options on their exchange. This is a regulated exchange and all transactions are backed by the OCC (options clearing corporation). I have heard that a competing exchange (ISE) is also considering offering a similar product but I have not found information to confirm that. These options are not the "draw a box on your chart and we'll trade against you" options. These are real options, just like stock options. You will not need a futures account to trade these. Here is the product sheet for these options:
http://www.phlx.com/products/currency/XDB_XDESPECS.pdf
3. Gold and Silver trading. While this doesn't really appeal to me, many brokers now offer or are considering offering gold and silver against the USD. You would be able to trade this just as you would any currency pair. A few brokers offer this now under the symbol XAUUSD.
4. Currencies will be traded as a stock. You can already trade gold as a stock under the symbol GLD. The price represents 1/10th of an ounce of gold. There are gaps on the chart because it is only priced during US market hours. The EURO can be traded as a stock as well. With TradeStation the symbol is FXE. Like GLD is has some gaps because it trades during the US hours. I know this might not appeal to a lot of spot traders but there are some stock traders out there who would prefer to stay out of the spot forex market and stay in the stock market where things are a bit regulated. Bring your money though, the FXE closed Friday at 127.83 per share. Remember, it is different than spot because it closed trading earlier.
5. Unified Brokerage accounts. Many US brokerages are now offering mroe than one product in a common account. Introducing Brokers (IB) has done this for quite some time now. Others are catching on. Someday you might have a single account to trade stocks, options, futures, and currencies. Think of the hedging possibilities!
6. TradeStation is very close to completing their intergration of Forex directly onto their platform. This means that if you have a hot strategy you will be able to automate it and have signals sent directly to the broker without the use of any 3rd party platform.
On most of these subjects I can't really say more simply because I've said everything I know. I just thought it might make for some interesting discussions and encourage others to hang in there.
Phil
