Easy Forex, Oanda and IFCM, Which is the best?

[tymen1]

Is ECN just a technical way of saying "online internet trading", something we all do?

Regards, Tymen Wortel, Perth, Western Australia.

[PrivateFX]

Originally Posted by Tess

No. It's a totally different option to trading via a dealing desk (bucketshop) outfit, which the traditional forex brokers are. The wiki article explains what the ECN engine is & does.

Main benefits in utilizing an ECN or Prime Broker execution model are obviously geared toward costs & execution.

Traditional FX brokers such as FXCM, Gain, Oanda, gft etc operate a dealing desk regime. In other words, if you're trading with 'fixed spreads' & no commissions, then your broker controls the playing field.

You're not only trading against your fellow market participant, but also the broker desks.

They're basically controlling every aspect of your deal, from entry to exit. If they don't want you to leg into an advantageous position at the point in which you would like, then they'll restrict you.

They usually adopt tricks such as re-quoting a different price to the one you requested - blaming market movement or non-availabilty of price LOL...or blatantly freezing screens and/or ignoring requests to trade.

They'll frequently slip & shade prices by a few pips at key levels, coincidently just as you're seeking to exit or enter.

The costs (over the medium term) of trading with these characters are horrendous. You're never executing ina fair & even marketplace. You're trading their prices, prices which they control & can manipulate at any time they choose!!

An ECN facility is everything the traditional FCM isn't.

well said. It gives no reason to play the bucketshop game. I can't see myself forking over my hard earned in a trading account that can easily be manipulated by a bucketshop broker. I don't understand why people even bother to trade with bucketshops. They are no better than just going to a casino and gamble away lol

[tymen1]

To Tess and PrivateFX :

If you are trading with an ECN then tell us who it is. Tell us how to get started and how to progress from there. Are you trading successfully - how much money have you made?

Your post will be revolutionary to this forum. Everyone will want to read it and dump their present broker................or will they?

I think that before you go and state that the brokers are basically corrupt and evil and post that sort of stuff on this forum you really need to come up with some proof.

Why do Master contributors such as James who has given so much to this forum recommend Oanda? Is he stupid?...............I think not.

I have been on this forum a little while now and have learnt a great deal from these people.
I look carefully at the posts from Master contributors such as James, Pipgod, Elang, Rhodytrader and others whose names deserve full acnowledgement here and from whom i have learnt much, especially Rhodytrader. There are also Senior members who I have learnt from. I am greatly indebted to all these people and the very existance of this forum.

I remember a post by Rhodytrader in which he stated that brokers do not trade against you.

My broker is not corrupt and yes, I am absolutely sure that they are not up to anything shonky. They were encouraging me to make money and warned me in advance to avoid trading news releases in the short term because of the possibility of loss. (slippage). I spent a fair bit of time yakking to a few of the blokes over the phone............they are real people. They were very helpful and sent me a number of interesting documents and even went to bat for me on a particular issue.

It is different here in Australia. The regulations appear to be very loose in England and America. I see that some of those brokers you list are easy to get started with. But getting started here in Oz is a bit like applying to be a pilot in the air force - there is stacks of paperwork.

Finally, please understand that there are many successful traders on this forum. Yes, we all make losses, but maybe we should look at our strategies first before blaming our brokers. A bad workman always blames his tools - you know that.

The idea is to learn from your mistakes and go forth from there............at present I am learning all about candlestick trading methods - it is going extremely well, and I am very excited about it.

So I am going to return now to Newbie Island where I can be of some use.

Bye now,
Tymen Wortel, Perth, Western Australia.

[tymen1]

To Tess :

I have looked at your ECN sites. I am downloading a demo of one and have compared the live charting of another with my own broker Hallifax FXS Forex. The pip difference at most at any time was only one pip! I consider that no advantage. There may be other advantages but as such do not compare with my wish to have my money stay in Australia. Long distance internet can also be a problem. Further these ECNs have a subscription cost do they? My broker is free.
So my decision on using an ECN is still pending.



But I want to talk about something else.

With your experience and knowlege you have a lot to offer this forum. The aim of this forum is, of couse, to educate us traders and I, being ignorant, have benefited greatly.
By participating in this forum we all benefit. There is a wide spectrum of knowlege here. Some people cannot even spell correctly but do amazing things in their trading. Therefore, constructive commentary is very useful.

But what are you doing?

I have absolutely no idea? & neither do I care.

I would humbly submit that this approach is not the best for us.
Criticizing, judging and being cynical are not really useful attitudes, especially since many of the posters on this forum are total beginners and post here in a genuine effort to improve their trading.

Let me be constructive.
Why do you not open a thread in the Newbie Island section entitled "The advantages of trading with an ECN"?
In your post define an ECN, what it does and where they exist.
Compare some of the major matters that posters ask and outline the pros and cons of ECNs versus the standard online brokers. Your extensive knowlege will be a valuable contribution to this forum

You will end up with a multitude of replies asking questions and will have your time cut out answering them.
Compared to your knowlege some of the enquirers will appear quite stupid but remember that you were also once ignorant and knew nothing about trading. And that is the whole aim of this forum...........to learn.


I have seen people in the past take a very "high horse" attitude to everyone else on the forum. Eventually, everyone gets wise to this, that person's posts are ignored and then they either get edited by Pipcrawler or end up leaving the forum.

Kind regards, Tymen Wortel, Perth, Western Australia.

[tymen1]

I originally entered this thread to find out from Tess what an ECN is as an alternative to to the 3 retail brokers that Evelyn has asked about.

I have received my answer and looked up the hyperlinks provided by Tess and have learnt from these links. I have yet to learn more.

Evelyn has already received some good answers to her question. I have no experience with these brokers and cannot usefully contribute.



Now if Tess can provide me with an ECN operating in Australia that keeps its funds here and has a quality charting platform like GFT, then I will be greatly interested.

I still challenge Tess to be constructive and open a thread to give quality information about ECNs as an alternative to these brokers.

Maybe if they were fully informed, they could investigate the alternatives with open eyes?

from Tess. Now, who is going to inform them???

But instead I am met with increasing hostility and sweeping statements regarding "ignorant people", "horse food" and "if it offends, then tough" and more.


There is no point in continuing. I have better things to do than put up with this.
This is my last post on this thread.

Regards, Tymen Wortel, Perth, Western Australia.

[lagunacat]

Originally Posted by Tess

I also trade my priv accounts via 2 ECN’s: EFX Group & Knight Capital (Hotspotfx) + currency futures via the CME.

EFX Group - FOREX Trading
Foreign Exchange Trading | Spot Price Executions | White Label | Introducing Brokers
Trading CME FX
!

Tess,

Do any of these ECN's insure client accounts, that you know? I know EFX Group insures against fraud but not bankruptcy.

Also, have you ever had experience with DBFX?

[hellofromolivia]

My first post. I am a newb who has only been trading a couple of months, and this website has been invaluable. I have been using Oanda and have been pretty happy with it so far... UNTIL TODAY! I haven't been able to login to my account now for over an hour. I called their Cust Service, and they could only say their server is down, and they are trying to fix it right now but don't know why it is down or how long it will take to get back up. I am a night owl and trade at night when I can, so I their website being down at midnight Eastern time is a huge problem for me, if not for others, because I will often trade during Tokyo or London hours. I use linux (ubuntu) so I was originally attracted to Oanda because of its java platform and positive reviews by others. Now I have to find a new broker! <cry>

How can you trust a broker with your money when this happens??!! The potential for loss is HUGE!

I am going to look thru the rest of this thread to find rec's for another broker.

[hellofromolivia]

Hi Tess,

You seem pretty respected in this thread so I appreciate the reply. 3 hours later, Oanda's finally back up... Do you think this is really prevalent at other houses as well? It just seems surprising that a company that handles so much $ wouldn't have better backup... Where were the backup servers?! The occasional blip in service I could understand, but 3 hours seems like a long time! Maybe you are right, and I am being too naive b/c of my noobiness to have these expectations? Luckily, their outage did not adversely affect any of my live trades. The big problem is that since I don't like using Windows, I am stuck with a java-based solution, and Oanda seemed the best when I did my initial research. I guess I will try to shrug this off and continue to trade, warily, for a few more months as I read up on other brokers and then make a decision. However, if all of the brokers have these problems, it does not inspire much confidence. Thanks for the advice -

[lagunacat]

Originally Posted by Tess

Hey lagunacat,

You'll note, I spray my personal funds around at 3 different houses Like anything else in (financial) life - it often pays not to stack all your eggs in one basket

Sorry, cant throw any light for you on Deutsche Bank retail spot. Our Mom worked for their institutional division back in the late 90's, & they hold a terrific reputation in that field, but I have no personal experience of their retail FX outlet.

Tess thanks for your insight. I have been following some threads concerning the NFA raising cap requirements to $5 mil. I emailed EFX G about this and they said they are not concerned at all. Any concern on your end?

Yeah I have always been a believer in the 'not all eggs in same basket' thingy but I feel I can employ better money management if I have it all in one basket. Yeah I know, it is poor money management if the basket busts.

From what I found DBFX seems pretty respected in FX. I emailed them and they told me they are neither a MM or ECN and that all aspects of trades are done through their bank. Unfortunately they have a minimum trade set @ 100,000. Too rich for my conservative (financially speaking) blood.

Thanks again,

Lagunacat

[tymen1]

To Tess :

I saw your post directed to me..............thank you for your apology.........it is ..........very heartwarming! You have taken a lot of stress off me. I am still researching those ECNs as you have suggested. I cannot find an ECN in Australia.

Yes, there are a lot of beginnings on this site, my beginning included. I too went thro the school here to learn - i guess thats why they call it "Babypips"

I do not rate with your knowlege, the reason I am Senior member is because I have scored over 100 postings - not all are useful. The fastest moving poster on this site must be Bazooko - he is into all sorts of interesting research.

As a retired schoolteacher, I like to teach things. But on this forum, I can only help in a very small way because I know very little about forex.

However, I am astonished at the power of candlestick charting and the sheer rate it has made money for me with no losses so far.

Now I see that this thread is about Easy Forex, Oanda, IFCM, EFX and other brokers.
So may I take this opportunity to suggest that willing readers take a close look at (and maybe even try) these Australian brokers. You may be pleasantly surprised - a breath of fresh air. In each case your money is segregated into a major Australian bank where it is protected against creditors or use by the FX company.
If the Australian share market (which I use) is anything to go by, then the regulations governing these FX companies must be pretty tough.

The first is my own broker who has given me NO trouble whatsoever.
Hyperlink........Best Forex Trading - Broker Forex - Chart Forex - Contact Us
You can talk to Akhi or Darryl, tell them Tymen sent you (they know me - Australia is a friendly country). They will make time to talk to you.


This second one pays interest on funds deposited for forex use.
Look up.........CMC Markets Australia - Home

Both of these have real addresses in real buildings in Sydney which means you can talk to real people behind a counter. I do find that reassuring.

So thats all from me for now :
Kind regards, Tymen Wortel, Perth, Western Australia.