Who to trade with? Scalping EUR/USD, IB *was* perfect... :(

A few years ago I traded forex profitably with Interactive Brokers, and I've been practicing the last couple of weeks, with a view to get back in (got 40 pips clear, both weeks). Problem is, IB don't offer Aussies margin accounts any more. I can't trade live.

I scalp EUR/USD off the 1-minutes, and I *really* need to be able to draw some profit from 4 pips, and preferably better. I'm looking at FXCM who have 0.7 pips each way, but I'm hoping to find better, and preferably a straight commission, rather than manipulating the spread. I mean, scalping at the level I scalp at, if the spread on the EUR/USD goes to 1.5 or so, that's a meaningful thing. Don't fancy needing to peer through fake spreads to see the real action...

The other thing I really miss, trying a few demos, is IB's old trade pricing, where the graph showed the last exercised price, rather than the bid or offer.

I enter on a stop market, and I exit by moving the attached stop. One trade, one stop, and I just adjust it manually (on the chart) as I go. I do reverse, but I'm happy to sort that out myself.

So I MUST have an attached stop that ALWAYS triggers when the trade is entered, and I want it to be easy to move it.

After all of that - anyone know who would fit the bill? Thanks heaps, anyone who read this far!

(IB has all of that, with a flat 0.2 pip commission each way, but they don't offer margin to Aussies. I seriously considered moving overseas, for a couple of minutes...)

In case anyone hits this post on a search, I've settled on FXCM after all - they've got an upcoming price change that'll put their commission to $4 per 100k each way (or about 0.4 pips). That's twice what IB has, but it's still well doable. Otherwise they will be leaving the spreads alone (as of the next couple of weeks).

I didn't 100% love their trading interface, but I've looked at their new spreads (running for other countries now), and they are what they should be on EUR/USD - that is, 0.5 or less most of the time (they claim an average of 0.2, but my own scalping often comes when it moves fairly fast, so I expect a fair bit of slip, up to a couple of pips sometimes).

And they look pretty solid, in size and regulatory compliance. I've traded with dodgier people in the past, but the worry that *today* will be the day they go belly up and take my account down, needing to withdraw from the account every 10k... it's just not worth the aggro.

Anyway, I'll come back and update after I get into the markets on Monday and see if I can like their platform. Were they the ones who couldn't attach a stop to your entry? Or was that someone else? 'Cause that's just not going to happen, dude. Even if it only takes one second to plonk on a stop after entry, that one second could be when the power goes out. *shudder*

If anyone knows of a better commission (apart from IB), please let me know! I'm putting my funding back a bit (two weeks of profit with the new stuff), but I'm really keen to get going.

Damn, I talk too much.

How does the local ECN Broker, Pepperstone compare?

https://pepperstone.com/trading-accounts/accounts-razor.php

Modest said:

How does the local ECN Broker, Pepperstone compare?

https://pepperstone.com/trading-accounts/accounts-razor.php

Click to expand...

DUDE!

It's a smidge cheaper. Excellent! Will check them out and then have a play with their thang on Monday - I can put trades on both and see who does better - at least on the demo accounts (which... yeah. Sometimes fail @ reality, so maybe I'll need to fund each a little bit and try both at a lot each).

Two contenders go in, only one comes out.


Geez, MT4 has taken off since I last traded. Everyone seems to be using it...

Weatsop said:

DUDE!

It's a smidge cheaper. Excellent! Will check them out and then have a play with their thang on Monday - I can put trades on both and see who does better - at least on the demo accounts (which... yeah. Sometimes fail @ reality, so maybe I'll need to fund each a little bit and try both at a lot each).

Two contenders go in, only one comes out.


Geez, MT4 has taken off since I last traded. Everyone seems to be using it...

Click to expand...

Glad it was of some help Weatsop! I think I am part of the small minority who do not use MT... I prefer cTrader interestingly when researching platforms cTrader got a lot of good positive feedback from scalpers.

Do let us know what you decide to use

Actually you can still use an IB account if you only use forex futures - the margin stuff only applies to margins for stocks and cash forex - futures on forex is fine ( just like futures on SPI ES Z etc ) in a cash IB account.

We Aussies always get the short of the stick with brokers. When margin problems started I setted up another IB account overseas to overcome margin issues. Still do funding through AUD account and everything works fine.

May help if you think it's worth the trouble to get IB.

Otherwise Pepperstone isn't great but it's probably the best of the bunch locally because there's such a lack of competition..

Well, I spent the day with FXCM's platform, and it is bloody awful. I actually logged 4 separate bugs. Serious. And, not a bug, but the demo account was wildly optimistic - it filled my market orders instantly and exactly on the money. LIES!

They offer MT4, though, so I've gone back to them with a request to get a login for that (the one they gave me for the other one didn't work).

One thing, though, is that they aren't lying - they do have negative spreads pretty often. Whether you can hit it, I can't say, but they do show.


Modest: I can say that every time I've seen MT4 lately, it's annoyed the crap out of me. I assume that more time will give better results, but FFS I can't even get a 5-pip grid. I can eyeball, but I need to see that scale or I'm slow as hell. Be damn glad to ditch the bloody thing.

Man, for a while I was using NinjaTrader, until I realised I wasn't good enough, hahaha! The temptation to use the reverse button was too much. The folk who use (and I know they exist) that are gods, as far as I'm concerned. Don't get me wrong, I set up plenty of reversals on top of my stops, but compared to the hallowed reverse button... it's the difference between hanging a net, and actually swimming with the damn sharks.

I still have that icon on my desktop, and it still makes me a little scared to see it. Still, might need to see where you can use Ninja nowadays. I just want a stop-market entry with an easily adjusted stop! No god-damn confirmation, EVER. Is that so much to ask?


Sinic: can't really trade on cash, since I go up to a million each way. I can't fund that! Recently divorced, so asset-rich, but cash-poor.

40:1 is plenty for me - don't need 400:1 or whatever - honestly don't know who the hell would ever NEED 400:1 in forex, unless they're just looking to lose all their money as fast as possible. But yeah, on the other hand I do need some leverage with any realistic near-term capitalisation (my best friend watches me trade, and is dead keen to fund my account, but I strongly suspect that's just tempting Fate to be an ********. I'll build it myself, I reckon. I can scrape up 5 grand, and $10 pips will be good practice to start with).


Minwa: Honestly, never even occurred to me that I could open a US account. Surely I can't, without being a US resident...? Is that all above board, or did you have to fake it?

I really want to get back into IB. Their fills, their supernatural fills. Tried a lot, never found anyone better.

And can you expand on what's wrong with Pepperstone, specifically? So far they seem pretty decent - I don't know anything about their reputation and I'm only just now about to fire up their MT4, but their pricing seems legit (the best I've found outside of Russia, and yeah, I 'aint going to Russia). Their spreads are just this side of "worrying", but then the spreads in Oz time get weird and I guess that skews their figures.

Currency. It's dumb as a plank, but it's what I know...

(Though Pepperstone's 400:1 margin does carry the flavour of "shonky"...)

Weatsop said:

(Though Pepperstone's 400:1 margin does carry the flavour of "shonky"...)

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Ignore what margin the broker will give you. It has no influence on your position sizing.

I didn't open in the US, I opened in Asia. Not sure if that qualifies it as a "US account". Process was pretty much same for opening an account in Australia, except when you fax/mail the identity documents it went to the Asian office for processing.

As for Pepperstone their founders CEO & Director have questionable history in the finance industry.

The company's been in many bad spotlights in the media. For example just recently http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/10/13/financial-services/pepperstone-forced-japanese-market

The company was built on "fast start-ups", which is a no-no for me for a finance company. Normally they are for entrepreniual online businesses that build the business fast and sell them and move on.

Despite all that, if I was forced to choose between them or some other CFDFX broker I would choose Pepperstone.

Trembling Hand said:

Ignore what margin the broker will give you. It has no influence on your position sizing.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, for sure. I was always happy with 40:1, since I never use more. I just see really high margin offers as a sign of a possible shonky organisation. That is, the shonkier, in general, the higher the margin they'll offer. I remember Russian outfits offering 1000:1. 'Course, that was years ago, and maybe it's just my old-man's bias now.

It's like (though not as bad as) a virtual office. Doesn't effect my trading, but it 'aint a great sign.

minwa said:

I didn't open in the US, I opened in Asia. Not sure if that qualifies it as a "US account". Process was pretty much same for opening an account in Australia, except when you fax/mail the identity documents it went to the Asian office for processing.

As for Pepperstone their founders CEO & Director have questionable history in the finance industry.

...

Despite all that, if I was forced to choose between them or some other CFDFX broker I would choose Pepperstone.

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You've given me hope for IB. I'll get the hang of Pepperstone's MT4 in the meantime, but I'll poke around with IB to see if I can get the good stuff. Thanks Minwa!

Well there goes Pepperstone. Look at THIS:



Oh HELL no. What do they have? One liquidity provider? Who hates them? Do they not know how candles work?

Look, I admit I've lived in my cozy little corner of the trading world and don't know much about anything, and maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick, but that's just about the worst thing I've ever seen.

To be fair to Axitrader who I have one of may many accounts with ..... Their EUR/USD 1 minute charts generally look fairly tidy, ............ but their SPI 1 minute charts which I started noticing a few weeks back look a bit dodgy, although not as dodgy as the Pepperstone Euro charts ............ that is simply

Weatsop said:

Well there goes Pepperstone. Look at THIS:

View attachment 59826

Oh HELL no. What do they have? One liquidity provider? Who hates them? Do they not know how candles work?

Look, I admit I've lived in my cozy little corner of the trading world and don't know much about anything, and maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick, but that's just about the worst thing I've ever seen.

Click to expand...

I don't see what is wrong there? That is a gap up. Rare in Forex but they happen especially during News Events. Look into "Candle Addition" to find out how higher time frame candles are created from smaller time frame candles.

What do you mean - you can't use a cash account with IB - You can do GLOBEX futures ie $100K aud.usd with a margin less than $2K which is 50:1 on a cash account.

Modest said:

I don't see what is wrong there? That is a gap up. Rare in Forex but they happen especially during News Events. Look into "Candle Addition" to find out how higher time frame candles are created from smaller time frame candles.

Click to expand...

There are about ten gaps I can see there - the second chart is the one minutes. One of the hour candles gaps ten pips!

Why would there ever be a gap? There's a fraction of a second (officially, zero time) between the end of one candle and the start of the next (whether it's one minute, one hour, or one day). Unless they have literally zero bids or asks on the book (whichever they're using for the chart), or will only place the next candle after a trade is made (which isn't how candles work), I really can't see how they would ever have gaps.

Unless I'm a dope, which is definitely possible...

sinic said:

What do you mean - you can't use a cash account with IB - You can do GLOBEX futures ie $100K aud.usd with a margin less than $2K which is 50:1 on a cash account.

Click to expand...

They told me on the phone I couldn't trade with margin on anything with a cash account...? I'll have a dig.

Important to note: I always traded in a bubble of one thing, never cared about other things. I am a frighteningly ignorant feller on most stuff.

Weatsop said:

There are about ten gaps I can see there - the second chart is the one minutes. One of the hour candles gaps ten pips!

I really can't see how they would ever have gaps.

Click to expand...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=forex+gap+up

Weatsop said:

They told me on the phone I couldn't trade with margin on anything with a cash account...? I'll have a dig.

Important to note: I always traded in a bubble of one thing, never cared about other things. I am a frighteningly ignorant feller on most stuff.

Click to expand...

You CAN do it - This is what I do with a cash account with my superfund. Put say $50k aud in. Then do a cash forex sell say $40k aud and buy $USD. This settles in 1 day - then you can trade Usd denominated futures. They hold margin out of the combine aud and usd cash. (they actually only take the commission of $2.46USD out the US dollar account) I trade GLOBEX AUD.USD, ES this way.

The confusion is that margin lending against SHARES is forbidden as is any negative Cash Balances. (Also you can trade SPI on the australian side as well) I must admit I got some conflicting advice from IB so in the end I actually did it to find out for sure.

Modest said:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=forex+gap+up

Click to expand...

Yes, I know what a gap is. I traded the EUR/USD for a couple of years and NEVER saw a gap *between the candles*. There is essentially ZERO time between candles. This isn't the market closing each day or whatever, these are one minute candles on one of the most heavily traded instruments on earth. Hell, it doesn't matter if their liquidity DID dry up - a new candle is started at the end point of the old candle, whether trades are happening or not. That's how candles work!

No Forex should ever have a gap between the candles, apart from the end of the weekend. It just should not happen. Period.

...
In fact, having a look through the links you sent, the people actually talking about gap trading in Forex (rather than just in general) are, in fact, talking about the gap after the weekend.

sinic said:

You CAN do it - This is what I do with a cash account with my superfund. Put say $50k aud in. Then do a cash forex sell say $40k aud and buy $USD. This settles in 1 day - then you can trade Usd denominated futures. They hold margin out of the combine aud and usd cash. (they actually only take the commission of $2.46USD out the US dollar account) I trade GLOBEX AUD.USD, ES this way.

The confusion is that margin lending against SHARES is forbidden as is any negative Cash Balances. (Also you can trade SPI on the australian side as well) I must admit I got some conflicting advice from IB so in the end I actually did it to find out for sure.

Click to expand...

Their customer service is a bad as always!

Thanks heaps. You may have saved my trading. It's hard to trade when you're swearing at the god-awful platform, and knowing you're spending double-commissions for the privilege. Found two more bugs in the FXCM platform (including a crash to desktop if you move your stop too often), and MT4 is making me grind my teeth down to nubs.

(Though I'm up a ridiculous 70 pips in two days - on paper - so maybe swearing makes me trade better...)

Now I gots ta go and educate myself.