Which "fixed Spread Bandit" to Choose??

[VTK 10]

Hey folks!

 

I am about to go live and mine two favorite spot FX brokers are MB Trading and Interactive brokers.Whit MBT i can not open account because i am citizen of Rebublic of Croatia:crap:

IB have minimum deposit of 10K,but i want to start small like 500$.

So the deal is,for now,i have to open account with MM type of broker.

 

Can anyone point me on decent broker?

 

One without often requotes,often slippage,slow order filling,weird spikes and all other bad stuff which i do not like..

 

Regards,

VTK

[zdo 20]

VTC

 

Maybe ask Michal Kreslik about some options.

 

FXDD is popular right now (and I don't have a clue why? ) - but may or may not be accessible where you are.

If nothing else, go with Oanda until you find something that fits your situation and needs.

 

... not much help but hth...

Edited June 6, 2009 by Soultrader
link removed

[VTK 10]

LOL!:rofl:

 

30 people have checked this thread and i have just one answer!:o

 

Can anyone point me on decent broker?

One without often requotes,often slippage,slow order filling,weird spikes and all other bad stuff which i do not like..

 

That just fortifies mine attitude that great majority of spot fx brokers are just a bunch of bandits!

Wild west baby!:shrug:

P.S.

Anyway zdo,thanx for reply!

 

VTK

[shreem 10]

Hello VTK, the only broker coming to mine, which is mine since 2 years, is Oanda. They are great for any forex method that i use, either sclaping, swing or position trade and their spreads are very good and they dont try to mess with you. Of course, at news time, they increase their spreads for few min but that is standard practice with bucket shops.

 

Im a very happy customer with them

 

Hope it helps

 

Shreem:)

[*ds-ds* 10]

Hi VTK, There is a lot of critisism of fixed spread brokers generally but many of the problems are fairly self inflicted by traders. All brokers are clear that should market orders be used to enter or exit trades there may be a degree of slipage and also that during market close hours (normally when those "wierd spikes occurr") that the price they quote will not track the underlying index/future as it isnt being traded. Armed with that knowledge, if it is ones intention to trade with a fixed spread broker, it may be beneficial to trade using limit orders only and to trade solely during market hours. Im not an employee of one of these brokers fwiw, however I have not had the problems many other traders claim to have had with them because I have read the terms of use and disclaimers attached to their accounts and worked my way around them. If using a fixed spread broker is your only trading option, perhaps you could consider a similar approach.

[VTK 10]

Hello VTK, the only broker coming to mine, which is mine since 2 years, is Oanda.

 

Thanx Shreem...Yeah,Oanda looks pretty decent.Only think that i dislike is web based platform.Have asked them do they have desktop version.They do not.

 

 

I have not had the problems many other traders claim to have had with them because I have read the terms of use and disclaimers attached to their accounts and worked my way around them.

 

Sure,one should do his/her extensive homework on particular broker before opening an account.Reading customer agreement is one of homework tasks.

To certain degree there are people who have problems whit brokers because of their ignorance.But lets face it,MM type of FX spot brokers are just in conflict of interest.For me way that they do business is not fair one,and as soon as i have chance to trade on some kind of ECN i will do so.That is way to go IMHO because it is fair and transparent as much as FX Spot can be.

 

Thanx for replies,guys!

Regards,

VTK

[zdo 20]

Soultrader,

 

Just curious - why did you take down the Kreslik link when so many other (shyster) links are left up? I have no affilitation with them, know very little about the site, and only recommended it because I thought he might be from the same area geographically as VTK? Is there something we should know?

 

Thanks.

[daedalus 10]

I would go with Oanda... it is web based which is a bit annoying... but what I would do is open up a demo account with some place like FXDD get the MT4 platform for free - use that for charting and then place orders through Oanda's interface.

 

Back when I was trading FX and was looking for brokers (I ended up going through MBT) I was really impressed with Oanda's low spreads. While they are variable to an extent most times I was getting 1 pip or less on the EURUSD during normal trading periods. Quick execution and I think their spreads (IIRC) were 1-2 pips less than most other "fixed spread bandits".

 

And they have no account minimum's and you can trade micro lots. Great for starting out and keeping the size REAL small.

 

Honestly, If I go back to FX at any time I think i'll end up using them as a broker over MBT because while you can get in at the bid and out at the ask, etc. with MBT I rarely found myself using those types of orders and more often than not getting worse fills just exiting and entering at the market in addition to having to pay comissions. I'd rather just pay a spread and be done with it I think.

 

Thing that peev'ed me was in MBT i'd set a limit order to enter or exit my trade and depending on what the spread was at the time I may or may not get filled... but since the spread was always changing you couldn't calculate what the correct price you needed to set it at to get a fill. It lead to a lot of missed exits and entries by factions of a pip due to the spread.

 

Fixed spread bandits aren't the demons we all make them out to be. Depends on how you trade I suppose... but for most people its much easier and simple to just use a broker like Oanda and be done with it.

 

Cheers!

[yiman 10]

nordmarkets if u want ti use metatrader and they dont charge spread,instaed you pay commission.they are ECN

[Blaiserboy 10]

I use Oanda and a couple Metatrader demos......

 

 

Oanda seems to treat me fairly well and I like to have the added resources of the Metatrader demos, particularly as they provide prices on many different instruments.

[thalestrader 14]

That just fortifies mine attitude that great majority of spot fx brokers are just a bunch of bandits!

 

My daughter trades a little micro account at FXCM. I haven't seen anything that would imply that they are "bandits."

[PeterFM 10]

Hey folks!

 

I am about to go live and mine two favorite spot FX brokers are MB Trading and Interactive brokers.Whit MBT i can not open account because i am citizen of Rebublic of Croatia:crap:

IB have minimum deposit of 10K,but i want to start small like 500$.

So the deal is,for now,i have to open account with MM type of broker.

 

Can anyone point me on decent broker?

 

One without often requotes,often slippage,slow order filling,weird spikes and all other bad stuff which i do not like..

 

Regards,

VTK

You might want to look at Alpari. Standard retail FX broker with MT4. As good/bad as any of these types of brokers but I have been with them (in the UK) for some time and have no complaints.

 

I don't scalp (my minimum timeframe is 1-hr for entries) but typically hold trades for days. As mentioned earlier Buy/Sell limit orders are preferable as my main trade entry method but as I never enter trades around major news releases the normal spread-widening that is typical of the FX market at these times is not a problem for me.

 

I would suggest that you apply for a demo and do your own due diligence. A quick email would confirm if your residential status is a problem but as they were originally a Russian setup I'll assume you'll have no problems

[ianf0ster 10]

Hi,

VTK specifically said he wanted a fixed spread 'bandit/broker'. Certainly Oanda, Alpari and many others mentioned in the thread are variable spread - not fixed.

The only reasons I can think of as to why he wants fixed spread are:

A). He is planning to use a robot overnight and so does not want the spread to increase when he is not watching.

B). He wants to trade the News and so wants to avoid increasing spread during announcements.

C). He plans to scalp and wants a constant spread.

 

I would say:

A). Only use a robot which first checks if the spread is acceptable.

B). I doubt if any retail brokers are still good for trading News announcements - if they were, then they would have gone bust many months ago.

C). For scalping you asnt the lowest possible spread, not necessarily a fixed one. Unfortunately most/all(?) ECNs require a much larger deposit than $500.

 

Ian