Alternative Technical Templates.

[Tess]

Originally Posted by kagein

I seriously doubt the regular contributors use that, i personally dont. You dont have to predict future s/r levels, the idea is that old s/r levels are still valid unless price tells you otherwise. So as its been said many times in this thread, look to your left to identify low risk areas to initiate a trade. I wouldn't try and predict prices if i were you, you develop a bias instead of having an open plan that covers all possible scenarios.

Yep, George has nailed it right there.

If using Gann assists you or anyone else to consistently turn a profit out there, then I guess you'll use it to compliment your ticket.

I'm not against anything which helps someone progress their work or adds confidence, each to their own.

What you see is what you get on here. Our folks have used the exact same templates down the years in one form or another (obviously updated as technology has progressed), & we've used them from the get go.

It really is all that's required.

[pipvader]

Hi Tess,

What time do professionals get to their desks in the morning?

[Tess]

Too damned early according to one or two of the regular party animals, LOL.

The Banks, large institutional desks & main line players will usually have 24 hour coverage, or at least "handover" windows where a specific firm will pass their book/order sheets across from London to New York to Tokyo etc.

If they're based in London then dependant on their particular desk or current circumstances etc, they'll be in for pre-market briefs & prep certainly by 6.00am (London) ready for Frankfurt traffic.

Smaller entities are generally pretty flexible. They might have a late, or night pod keeping an eye on things in the event of something kicking off or orders which require watching as they float around specific levels.

We operate a flexi-approach to be honest. Anything from 5.30am right thru to mid New York if the circumstances dictate. Just depends how busy things are & what types of strategies/models are being worked.

[pipvader]

Are these normal trading conditions? Pairs seem to be ranging during the european session and moving late into the US session and asian session. Is there something im missing?

Also how much does the fundamental side of things weigh on your trading?

[daydreamer65]

Originally Posted by pipvader

Are these normal trading conditions? Pairs seem to be ranging during the european session and moving late into the US session and asian session. Is there something im missing?

Also how much does the fundamental side of things weigh on your trading?

Classify "normal" this is the forex market, always expect the unexpected.

They are cyclical, the same as the peak & trough nature of the charts.

A respect always needs to be given to fundamental analysis, as an
extreme example the 1st Friday of every month, the NFP.

What you will find though is what shakes the markets the most is the
unexpected, as an example lately the RBNZ rate cut of 50 bp which was
expected to be 25 bp. Here's what one commentator had to say,

The 50 bps cut from RBNZ to bring OCR down to 7.5% was a surprise to the markets which expected a 25bps cut only. In the accompanying statement, RBNZ Governor Bollard said that "medium-term inflation pressures" is expected to "ease" and it's now appropriate to move to a less "restrictive stance". The cut is "warranted in light of tightness of credit conditions" and the time to take to "affect actual interest rates faced by households". Aussie was dragged down by Kiwi despite a strong employment report which saw 14.6k growth. More surprisingly, unemployment rate dropped from 4.3% to 4.1% in Aug.

Big hand for technical analysis but ignore the fundamentals at your peril.

[saraiva25]

Hi Tess

I would like to know your opinion and the opinion of others traders about which is the best european broker .

Do you know a way to know the financial health of european brokers.


How can i know if a broker is legit.

Do you have any opinion about ACM and the others known european forex brokers?

Thanks

Saraiva

[Jocelyn]

I'm afraid we're unable to comment on, or recommend any retail broker saraiva. We don't use them.

We trade almost exclusively via (Institutional) Prime Broker access these days on our main client platforms as well as our private execution deals.

Tess & our brother did use Hotspot up until 2nd Quarter of last year for some of their personal deals, but haven't used them since then.

I believe they offer retail access to one of their platforms. You could google them & take a look at their offerings.

[Tess]

If you’re in the initial stages of developing your strategies & looking to get some experience of live trading on a limited budget, then I’d maybe look towards someone like MB Trading (the old EFX). At least they appear to adopt an ECN type approach to trading.

When you’ve gained a foothold on the ladder, possess more experience with your trading management, strategy & execution skills, & can ramp up your account & size structure, you might want to explore the benefits of Hotspot FX & maybe Interactive Brokers. Both those firms adopt ECN templates. Just google them to explore the options & benefits.

I would avoid fixed spread brokers like the plague if I were you. Their business model & general behavior out there leaves an awful lot to be desired.

They totally control the play field in which you operate. You’re basically playing their rules not the markets.

Try stack the odds as firmly in your favor as possible from the outset, & you’re certainly not achieving that aim if you deal via the likes of those outfits.

That’s the best we can do on that subject I’m afraid. Always ensure you check & double check before making a decision!!

[zenocorp]

Originally Posted by Tess

If you’re in the initial stages of developing your strategies & looking to get some experience of live trading on a limited budget, then I’d maybe look towards someone like MB Trading (the old EFX). At least they appear to adopt an ECN type approach to trading.

When you’ve gained a foothold on the ladder, possess more experience with your trading management, strategy & execution skills, & can ramp up your account & size structure, you might want to explore the benefits of Hotspot FX & maybe Interactive Brokers. Both those firms adopt ECN templates. Just google them to explore the options & benefits.

I would avoid fixed spread brokers like the plague if I were you. Their business model & general behavior out there leaves an awful lot to be desired.

They totally control the play field in which you operate. You’re basically playing their rules not the markets.

Try stack the odds as firmly in your favor as possible from the outset, & you’re certainly not achieving that aim if you deal via the likes of those outfits.

That’s the best we can do on that subject I’m afraid. Always ensure you check & double check before making a decision!!

erm how about oanda? are they ECN type too? i heard ppl says about oanda charting is not so good, for me its fine, coz i juz using TL, fibo and candle for analysis. any comment?

[Tess]

The last time I was aware, Oanda weren't operating an ECN facility. They were/are marketmakers. You buy & sell their book & they (to all intents & purposes) control the field.

Like we said, we've had direct experience with Hotspot & have colleagues & contacts who use the services of Interactive Brokers both in the States & Europe. Those 2 firms operate a variable spread, straight thru execution deal.

At the end of the day if folks are satisfied & happy with the costs of transaction, service & deals they're being offered thru their platform providers then fine. Just ensure you're fully aware & up to speed with exactly what you're being offered & how they operate.