Trading Platform for Forex

[xavier34]

Hey guys,

A noob in Forex trading here.

Been using Phillips for 3 years since Sept 2012.

I am wondering if there are cheaper platforms per transaction.
I make 2-3 mini lots with 1-2 trades a week and.

With this kind of low volume, the $2/trade/mini lot (10,000) can be on the high side.

I have spoken to Saxo and they go by $10/trade (if you trade above 100,000, 1 standard lot) there will be zero transaction cost.

With Oanda, there is no transaction cost at all, (too good to be true?)

Hope some pros out there will help me out here.

Thank you!

 

[hfts_james]

by platform i thought you meant MT4 or MT5. You've mentioned you're a noob... were you trading FX for the past 3 years?

Usually FX brokers do not charge transaction costs, they earn by the spread. there are lots of FX brokers out there, but choosing a reliable one is tough. Oanda is trusted by the community, cant go wrong there.

 

[bei_ge_wang]

for my personal preference, CMC Market..

tbh, fx trading costs more or less levelled across the board already.. due to market competition..

CMC Mkt lets you do commods and equities and bonds as well.. and platform technology is pretty much 'up there'..

 

[littlegrasshopper]

I'm using LMAX. 0.025% comm per trade no min cost. Min size 10k. Found my fills are better (less slippage) than IB and Tradestation.

Edit : Swap rates for minors pairs are high though.

 

[Kissmequick]

Hey guys,

A noob in Forex trading here.

Been using Phillips for 3 years since Sept 2012.

I am wondering if there are cheaper platforms per transaction.
I make 2-3 mini lots with 1-2 trades a week and.

With this kind of low volume, the $2/trade/mini lot (10,000) can be on the high side.

I have spoken to Saxo and they go by $10/trade (if you trade above 100,000, 1 standard lot) there will be zero transaction cost.

With Oanda, there is no transaction cost at all, (too good to be true?)

Hope some pros out there will help me out here.

Thank you!

Check out Maybank KE Forex. You can even trade in macro lots of 1,000. Although spreads are slightly wider than Oanda, there is no transaction cost. They recently launched their revised platform; setback is you can only trade with their terminal installed in your PC. In terms of portability, practically none. No Android apps, no IOS apps and not even web based.

Oanda, no transaction cost. Spread are tighter but tend to widens between 6.00 to 6.30 AM. Execution of limit orders up to expectation. Strong Android and IOS apps for mobile trading. Can even trade macro lots of 1,000.

I have traded with POEMs in the past, with their spreads and transaction cost, my personal experience and opinion is you have to be very good to make money. Imagine take profit, transaction cost and spread. Cut loss, transaction cost and spread. End up, most of your pips go to these costs.

Good luck!

PS: By ''transaction cost" I meant brokerage fees. AFAIK POEMs charges US$2.14 (inc GST) for each mini lot trade and it adds up if you are an active trader.

 

[adammax]

Have you considered IG.com? I find their spread reasonable. Oanda spread used to be very competitive at 0.9. Its now averaging about 1.6.

 

[dyr]

anyone wants a stress free trading way?

copy my signal. I'm using robot to trade and I'm stress free. This robot is I write de and I'm place 35th on MQL championship.

PM me to know more.

 

[archcherub]

Anyone using UOBKH forex platform? (UOB kayhian)
curious whether the spreads are competitive.

Heard it is not a marketmarket, but STP instead.
STP is better and tighter than marketmaker right?

 

[Knight_Rider]

Anyone using UOBKH forex platform? (UOB kayhian)
curious whether the spreads are competitive.

Heard it is not a marketmarket, but STP instead.
STP is better and tighter than marketmaker right?

Market Maker - like the name already says, this broker makes the market. This means that every time you buy or sell a pair the broker is the counter party. If you lose your money, this means that the broker earns it. So you can see that their interest is you losing money and that's bad. The only good thing is the instant execution, all your orders are filled almost in the same second and you won't get any re-quotes. This type of brokers are OK for smaller amounts but when you'll start making trades at 5$/pip they will delay your execution or even make your trades re-quote. But on the other hand, market maker have account types with minimal deposit requirements and often offer nice welcome bonuses for newbie trades. Some will give you 5$, 10$ and up to 200$ bonus without any deposit made, other have some nice bonuses on deposit up to 50%, check out here for at Free Forex Bonus

ECN Broker is a broker that offers you direct trading on the real market. This broker makes money from spread displayed to you: let's say if the current real spread on an GBPUSD pair is 0.3 pips, this broker might display you a 0.6 pips spread, so he's making 0.3 pips on every trade you make. And ECN brokers have commissions per round turn lot traded, around 10$/round lot. Real ECN brokers have min deposits above 1k$ and min lotsize of 1$/pip. Some ECN brokers can even offer you 0 pip spreads! But like mentioned for a small trader ECN execution is often beyond reach: because its interbanking nature, traders are typically required to trade very large lots and minimum deposit requirements are somewhere from $50,000 to $100,000. This model is also responsible for all the re-quotes and order rejections because when you open a large order the broker routes it to the real market, but the prices there might have already changed so the broker is faced with two options: either rejecting the order asking for you to adjust prices or completing the order by taking the risk that it might end up a successful trade meaning the broker will have to pay you from its pockets and this will not happen.

STP Brokers are a hybrid between Market Makers and ECN brokers. This type of broker displays most of the time its own quotes which are correlated to the actual inter banking quotes.

And now here is the real complexity of STP brokers: This brokers sometimes routes your orders to the real market (acts as an STP broker) but other times it doesn't and acts like a Market Maker.

STP brokers use complex algorithms that finds if a trader is successful and automatically routes those traders to the real market while small and losing traders aren't routed to the market. This way the broker profits twice: once by clients losses and another by not losing money to successful traders. STP brokers are currently a hit and are not so long around.

Personally I would choose to trade with a TRUE ECN broker that routes all my trades directly to the market, but then again other then Dukascopy those other ecn I come across all also tarik the chart a bit. But if UOB is not too bad can close one eye as it's local and easier to bang table and most important got MAS look after.

 

[archcherub]

Market Maker - like the name already says, this broker makes the market. This means that every time you buy or sell a pair the broker is the counter party. If you lose your money, this means that the broker earns it. So you can see that their interest is you losing money and that's bad. The only good thing is the instant execution, all your orders are filled almost in the same second and you won't get any re-quotes. This type of brokers are OK for smaller amounts but when you'll start making trades at 5$/pip they will delay your execution or even make your trades re-quote. But on the other hand, market maker have account types with minimal deposit requirements and often offer nice welcome bonuses for newbie trades. Some will give you 5$, 10$ and up to 200$ bonus without any deposit made, other have some nice bonuses on deposit up to 50%, check out here for at Free Forex Bonus

ECN Broker is a broker that offers you direct trading on the real market. This broker makes money from spread displayed to you: let's say if the current real spread on an GBPUSD pair is 0.3 pips, this broker might display you a 0.6 pips spread, so he's making 0.3 pips on every trade you make. And ECN brokers have commissions per round turn lot traded, around 10$/round lot. Real ECN brokers have min deposits above 1k$ and min lotsize of 1$/pip. Some ECN brokers can even offer you 0 pip spreads! But like mentioned for a small trader ECN execution is often beyond reach: because its interbanking nature, traders are typically required to trade very large lots and minimum deposit requirements are somewhere from $50,000 to $100,000. This model is also responsible for all the re-quotes and order rejections because when you open a large order the broker routes it to the real market, but the prices there might have already changed so the broker is faced with two options: either rejecting the order asking for you to adjust prices or completing the order by taking the risk that it might end up a successful trade meaning the broker will have to pay you from its pockets and this will not happen.

STP Brokers are a hybrid between Market Makers and ECN brokers. This type of broker displays most of the time its own quotes which are correlated to the actual inter banking quotes.

And now here is the real complexity of STP brokers: This brokers sometimes routes your orders to the real market (acts as an STP broker) but other times it doesn't and acts like a Market Maker.

STP brokers use complex algorithms that finds if a trader is successful and automatically routes those traders to the real market while small and losing traders aren't routed to the market. This way the broker profits twice: once by clients losses and another by not losing money to successful traders. STP brokers are currently a hit and are not so long around.

Personally I would choose to trade with a TRUE ECN broker that routes all my trades directly to the market, but then again other then Dukascopy those other ecn I come across all also tarik the chart a bit. But if UOB is not too bad can close one eye as it's local and easier to bang table and most important got MAS look after.

Wow thanks for the detailed explanation!
Yah skipping Oanda and IG coz they are market makers.
my UOBKH stock brokers told me their forex is new and STP, asked me to give a try.

But the ECN that we love... I dont have $50,000 to trade leh.. hahaha.

 

[Knight_Rider]

Wow thanks for the detailed explanation!
Yah skipping Oanda and IG coz they are market makers.
my UOBKH stock brokers told me their forex is new and STP, asked me to give a try.

But the ECN that we love... I dont have $50,000 to trade leh.. hahaha.

This wan can try. Capital Trust Markets

$10000 to start from 0.1 spread.

 

[archcherub]

This wan can try. Capital Trust Markets

$10000 to start from 0.1 spread.

hmmm can aim for that later!

got any lower? lol!

 

[rayzzzz82]

There are so many STP / ECN brokers in the market. However they are in oversea. Sg brokers mostly are MM. If you like, u can try ASIC brokers such as global prime, direct fx, ICM, pepperstone, etc. UK one for eg are LMAX, FXPro...

There are so many in the market... What you should be concerned with are:

1. Are you able to withdraw as and when you like
2. Are you able to trade in the most optimal condition. No high spread / slippage and no requote.

 

[Knight_Rider]

hmmm can aim for that later!

got any lower? lol!

Have. The I dun disturb you you dun disturb me kind.

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

 

[rayzzzz82]

If you want low spread, just use this for comparison

Spreads | Myfxbook

 

[Knight_Rider]

There are so many STP / ECN brokers in the market. However they are in oversea. Sg brokers mostly are MM. If you like, u can try ASIC brokers such as global prime, direct fx, ICM, pepperstone, etc. UK one for eg are LMAX, FXPro...

There are so many in the market... What you should be concerned with are:

1. Are you able to withdraw as and when you like
2. Are you able to trade in the most optimal condition. No high spread / slippage and no requote.

If spread not viable they will makan your account. Optimum conditions well ............ NFP sometimes hang abit. I am still looking.

 

[rayzzzz82]

You just have to look hard for a broker which doesnt slip much and requote during news. I have been trying over 30++ brokers and there are only a couple of brokers suitable for news trading.

 

[supercalifragillim]

So pleased to have found this thread! First of all hello guys! I have been researhing on ECN/STP Brokers vs Maket Makers whole of last night and decided to google "Hardwarezone Trading Forex" for a localised feedback and chanced on this thread!

I am with a Market Maker and after about 3 times of insane spread widening (over 40 pips, non news period) hitting my SL i am really tired of it, though they may be a reputable Broker in Singapore. I am not confidently saying that they did Market Make and hunt Stop Losses. Some may think its because I may not be a good trader which is why i got stopped out so easily and now blaming the broker for MM-ing. Regardless, i am trying to seek more information on these! In my opinion, if one were to be aspiring to be a long term profitable trader, this is a crucial factor to consider. I wonder what are you guys' views on this?

May i also know which ECN Broker is recommended for Singaporean traders?

Thank you guys so much in advance and any input is appreciated!

 

[alexchia01]

So pleased to have found this thread! First of all hello guys! I have been researhing on ECN/STP Brokers vs Maket Makers whole of last night and decided to google "Hardwarezone Trading Forex" for a localised feedback and chanced on this thread!

I am with a Market Maker and after about 3 times of insane spread widening (over 40 pips, non news period) hitting my SL i am really tired of it, though they may be a reputable Broker in Singapore. I am not confidently saying that they did Market Make and hunt Stop Losses. Some may think its because I may not be a good trader which is why i got stopped out so easily and now blaming the broker for MM-ing. Regardless, i am trying to seek more information on these! In my opinion, if one were to be aspiring to be a long term profitable trader, this is a crucial factor to consider. I wonder what are you guys' views on this?

May i also know which ECN Broker is recommended for Singaporean traders?

Thank you guys so much in advance and any input is appreciated!

If you are a serious trader, you trade Futures.

 

[Shiny Things]

I am with a Market Maker and after about 3 times of insane spread widening (over 40 pips, non news period) hitting my SL i am really tired of it, though they may be a reputable Broker in Singapore. I am not confidently saying that they did Market Make and hunt Stop Losses. Some may think its because I may not be a good trader which is why i got stopped out so easily and now blaming the broker for MM-ing. Regardless, i am trying to seek more information on these! In my opinion, if one were to be aspiring to be a long term profitable trader, this is a crucial factor to consider. I wonder what are you guys' views on this?

So, firstly, don't blame your broker because your stops got done. Wide spreads happen whether you're using a market-maker broker or an ECN. In the immortal words of Mark "Chopper" Read, why don't you try a muggaccino of...

The distinction between the two is a little bit silly, really. The big single-bank platforms like Deutsche Autobahn or Citi's Velociti are market-maker platforms, because it's one single bank streaming you a price, but they're still good platforms. Conversely, you could have an ECN platform that's dog-slow and doesn't get you fills when you need them. Getting hung up on the distinction between market-maker platforms and ECN platforms is a distraction. The solution is not to fixate on some magical idea that you'll be a better trader because you've switched to an ECN, the solution is to get a better broker.

There are very few actual ECNs out there, mostly because building an actual FX electronic crossing network is a major task, and it's not worth it if all you want to do is run a little FX bucket-shop where your customers trade in tens and twenties.

May i also know which ECN Broker is recommended for Singaporean traders?

Thank you guys so much in advance and any input is appreciated!

You've got two choices:
1) Interactive Brokers. It runs an actual ECN, which gets liquidity from IB users and adds in streaming liquidity from a bunch of major banks; or,
2) As Alexchia suggested (and he knows his stuff), use futures. The CME FX futures market is incredibly deep, incredibly liquid, and because it's a centralised marketplace you'll only have yourself to blame if your stops get pinged during the post-NY-close witching hour.