There is still a lot of "snobbery" which still abounds in Forex & Stocks trading,
where the "big boys" (ie the banks, large institutions, fund managers, etc.) do
not want any Tom. D#ck or Harry to trade.
Therefore the "big boys" have attempted to muddy the waters, by making it very difficult for the average person to obtain quality information concerning these businesses.
With the onset of the internet it has become increasingly difficult for them to withhold this information completely, so I would venture to add, they have thrown us, the average Joe, a few crumbs.
But also I feel they have created these "bucket shops" etc. to relieve the average joe of his need to dabble in the markets. Even putting up more barriers in the form of stop hunting, slow feeds, bad market execution, etc. Also laying down false trails, absurd "holy grail" systems, et al.
At Oanda they have attempted to simplify matters for the average Joe. Yes you still need to put the time in to learn all the ins & outs of the various mechanisms, but at least it is doable.
As an example I always quote their market order, where it is simplicity itself to place an order on the market, the trade size is in units, (100 000 units = 1 lot) you can trade in as little as 1 unit if you so wish. (Not very practical though, I suggest trading in no fewer than 100 units, 1/1000th of a lot)
Prior to putting your trade figure into the market order, you can check how many units you have available for that trade. When you put the amount of units into the market order it then gives you 1 pip size, trade value, margin used. If you have a stop loss & Take profit level it also gives losing amount & winning amount.
This is just one example of the transparency of Oanda's platform. Okay the charting isn't the best but with free MT4 platforms & feeds we can get that part sorted out to a level of competence.
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