guys, i had enough of the perpetual whining i encounter on these retail forums. if you are serious about trading, then start thinking like a professional. what do professionals do? they find and use professional solutions.
right there, MT4/5 is not it. right there, your street corner retail broker in Limassol is not it.
so what does a pro do? s/he finds a prime broker. and if the entry fee is too high, then he goes for the next best thing: a broker that caters to pro traders that have graduated from being retail douches that can’t seem to be able to manage anything greater than a 10K/USD account! here is a list of brokers with which you won’t have any of the issues that people complain about on these pages:
prime brokers first:
Baxter-FX: intial capital = 50K/USD (Australia, which means great legal protection, especially when compared to the joke the regulatory environment is in the USA)
RJOBrien: intial capital = 50K/USD
compared with some of the higher initial deposits at GAIN GTX or even Dukascopy (250K if memory serves), not a bad deal at all, especially considering all the institutional platforms you gain access to with Baxter-FX–RJOBrien only uses Integral for SPOT FX.
professional brokers:
LMAX Professional: initial capital = 10K/USD
Interactive Brokers: initial capital = 10K/USD
GAIN GTX
Dukascopy: initial capital = 100/USD but to get the Bank guarantees or using a 3rd party bank where you keep your funds out of reach from the broker but linked to your trading account (for ex funds at UBS, but you trade through Dukas) you need to start with 250K/USD.
the latter should put things into perspective. think about it for a sec. 50K/USD and you are in business in Australia with tough regulatory protection. i think it’s a no-brainer.
for the rest of you who are probably bltching and moaning that you only got a $500 to play with, well… then all i can say is good luck with the crazy leverage the offshore brokers give you (crazy == anything > 50:1). but if you have no other choice,
0- know what you are doing and be sure you have an edge that works longer than 12 months. if not sure, go on tradingview.com and keep testing until your fingers bleed;
1- once you know you have a system and the discipline to apply and stick by its rules with – NO EMOTIONS – go with a broker that gives you true DMA and passes your orders on to a matching engine such as LMAX’s or Integral or Currenex.
2- your goal now is to grow your $500 into the $50K minimum that you need to open your first account with your first prime broker.
3- keep the discipline until you reach your first 1M/USD. then open a 2nd account with another prime broker.
4- grow to 10M/USD and repeat.
5- you get the idea.
and remember, only when you are informed, will you know how to talk to your broker, and only then will they listen to you.
best of luck and godpseed.