Eremarket, I seriously don’t understand why you are unleashing on me like that about how wrong my trading mentality is and how I know nothing about trading etc. Didn’t I make it clear that I am only asking this question out of pure interest? I already have an account with Oanda and have received ZERO bonuses and have absolutely no intention of ever making use of a bonus myself. Wow, I thought you were one of the nicer guys on this forum… my mistake.
It does seem strangely excessive. Probably just as well the subject matter was only broker incentives. I’d hate to see the reaction to anything slightly more controversial
I wouldn’t mess with Puremuscle - he is a bodybuilding Afrikaner - probably about 6 6 ft tall if he is average for a South African.
Hmmm… i think something is becoming lost in translation here PM… Although I am meaning everything I’m saying… the TONE of it is being taken to…well… strong.
I’m stating this strongly (vivid, exaggerated metaphor… not cold elitist vocal tone) because I’m trying to get you (and others who read this) to understand the implications of this type of question. And as I said earlier… this may just be my own personal bias here…nothing against you, as much as against anyone thinking anything is easy when it comes to trading.
As others have said in this particular thread…there is really no free lunch. My point was to say since there is no free lunch…spending time looking for it will not get one the success they would want, and its largely a waste of time (at least…it sure won’t make a good trading income for anyone)
And i was responding in such a strongly worded manner, because the way I understood your question, it sounded like you were genuinely considering supplementing any trading profits with such broker discounts. It was not clear from what I could tell that in that first post that you were NOT considering this. Above… post 21, you make it clear, but in the first, you mentioned cool and with ease. I will give that I misunderstood your intentions…and, in fact, that I am projecting my own disguest of brokers who use such ploys upon those who don’t understand the ultimate price they pay for such things.
In this area, i am jaded an cynical. trading is hard enough for everyone (i’m absolutly no exception) without distracting bells and whistles like this created to snag new folks into an otherwise genreally more expensive…generally less competitive, dealer created marketplace.
As a futures trader, I can tell you that no such incentive exists. I daresay I believe it to be actually illegal in the united states for a futures broker to offer such. not sure about that…but i’ve never seeen it.
And heh…ya… I do come off strong sometimes. Think I might have been in a particularly intense conversation if I recall correctly, anyway.
I am sorry you took it this way, and I see how that would be a pretty darn easy thing to do. I apologize.
That being said… I still hold firm in the points I made. I personally think its absolutely disgusting for any broker to offer such a thing unless it is the absolute genuine article. It’s a ploy. designed to convince you why an otherwise less competitive broker should get YOUR MONEY.
They care nothing for you… and their poorly constructed business model illustrates this very clearly. It’s not the same as using a coupon in a grocery store. this is a financial business decision (at least that is everyones intentions usually), and to think that they would sway such a big part of ones decision to who they may trust their future career on with a free incentive of a rather trivial amount of money (in the world of having a trading business)… this to me is rather abhorant.
I can’t imagine going into business with someone just because the offered me “a new car!!” or whatever. if they have to do this to convince me…then the facts don’t speak well for themselves, IMO
If they really had the goods…they wouldn’t need bells and whistles. I see u use oanda. I have, and still do, and I love them. there are things I dont’ like, but overall…great.
What I like most of all is … I can honestly see very clearly what I can expect from them, and what they will deliver: low spreads, quick payouts, minimal requotes, and a very very high frequency of of times that my orders get filled without any broker games or what not.
Again… I said earlier that my ferocity in this manner is more a reflection of me than you…it’s my own “hot point”, and (now) very obviously, not yours.
Bottom line: I on a very deep level have a great issue with inauthenticity, “games”, anything “slick”, or anything that is used to take advantage of people by playing on their emotional desires rather than just offer what will really help this person best get to what they really want: to be a successful trader.
I just think they should offer the lowest spreads, fast reliable payouts, good customer service, and anything else that they can give their customers to make them ACTUALLY make real money.
Instead, they play on your emotions, do not ever actually give you the money without some catch(s), and often have to have these catches because they can’t really compete in a toe-to-toe match with the best retail brokers.
I find it immoral, flawed, shortsighted, and manipulative. Just deliver the best product you can, that will help us (forex traders) best achieve our goals.
Although polarized, I’m far from alone in this camp. Here is an article you may find interesting:
How to find a good Forex broker
Jay
P.S. Simon seems to be one guy who got a bonus for signing up…and he seems happy with his broker as someone who is to a degree holding an informed, opposing view point. I still see it as a intrinsically “lesser” way of doing business, as it does not serve to help someone get what they really want in the forex markets: trading success.
Controversy I can handle. It’s manipulative and greedy (and in all other U.S. regulated markets…illegal) marketing tactics that get to me, and this is only compounded by people who for a variety of reasons fall for them.
Jay
Hi,
Again a strange post coming from me but never forget: I’m a trader FIRST AND FOREMOST. Unless you’re ALREADY profitable: don’t let the bonuses lure you. Alright: ‘there are bonuses and there are bonuses’ i.e. the terms and conditions are not always the same. But for the MOST part: the terms and conditions are there to encourage you to overtrade JUST to be able to claim the bonus and that’s the ‘ploy’ (even although at the time you may not even realise that this is playing a part in your risk management psychologically). You’ll lose that account, make every excuse ‘under the sun’ as to WHY you lost the account, by that time you’re ‘hooked’, and then comes a series of deposits of your OWN money, and so on and so forth. Think about the logic behind (most) of these bonuses: the broker is GIVING you money so that you can use that money to TAKE MORE money from them??? What a world THAT would be if it were reality!!! LOL!!!
I won’t lie to you: I still keep my eye open for those ‘no deposit cash bonuses’ at other brokers. I get a (morbid???) ‘kick’ out of trading with the broker’s money, make enough to be able to withdraw the profits once they exceed the amount of the ‘no deposit cash bonus’, and then look for the next one!!! LOL!!! Alright: it’s never a lot of money e.g. sometimes $20, maybe $50, and in one case $100. It’s really only to ‘stick it to them’ really!!! LOL!!! If anything I’d say to look for those types of bonuses. If you cannot profit from the broker’s ‘no deposit cash bonus’ then keep demo trading before committing your own funds and once profitable THEN take advantage of the different bonuses on offer but never allow them (the bonuses) to affect your risk management, trader psychology, or trading decisions. If you ‘make it and take it (the bonus)’ then ‘good on you’. Accept it as a ‘gift’ but never let it influence your trading!!!
Regards,
Dale.
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Dale. You’ve just given me a whole new outlook on these shady characters! I think I might do the same thing if I ever find myself bored on a sunday evening! LOL! And thank you VERY much for chiming in with an “industry insiders” perspective. I really appreciate seeing someone such as yourself being so open and forthright about this, and it’s refreshing to see that I’m not the only unhinged angry nut here in babypipsville 
Anyway guys… sorry for that ranting. I should really just do what Dale does. Rather than get mad. Get even! lol
Jay
Always remember “brokers are not your friends”, brokers are your b*tch and when it happens the opposite you lose.
Regards.
Hello again.
Look (I think I’ve posted this somewhere before): as in any business there are brokers and then there are brokers. And, as in any business the brokers are there to make money TOO. But it’s the word ‘TOO’ that I emphasise for the reason that it SHOULD be a ‘symbiotic relationship’ and NOT a ‘one-sided affair’. It’s just an unfortunate statistic that most new traders will lose their accounts anyway without ANY ‘help’ from the broker. And it’s not for any other reason than human nature so if a trader fails and finally gives up it no bad reflection on them and they should not look upon their trading endeavours and feel like a failure. They were just being human and, unfortunately, in most cases, were just unable to develop the trading discipline required. But it’s when the broker ‘oversteps the mark’ and ‘preys’ on ‘known inherent human weaknesses’ that absolutely ‘grates’ me like you have no idea. And the ‘tools of prey’ (that MUST be an original phrase SURELY!!! LOL!!!) are some of these bonuses that due to their terms and conditions will encourage you to overtrade, massive amounts of leverage offered, some of the ‘gleaming and sparkling’ advertisements promising ‘easy and quick riches’ in this business, and the the list goes on and on. And here we’re not even DISCUSSING the brokers where there’s all manner of withdrawal problems and those type of issues!!! That’s another whole thread (all you need to do is spend a couple of DAYS reading some trader reviews and ‘horror stories’ on Forex Peace Army of the various brokers and you’ll see what I mean).
And while this may off-topic (maybe not???): I was sort of ‘betwixt and between’ when the Dodd-Frank Bill was passed and I read all the posts where traders in the US were moaning and complaining about certain ‘restraints’ that were imposed on retail brokers. I never got involved in any of the discussions because I have to admit that at first I sort of agreed with all of the ‘moans and groans’ and all the ‘nanny state’ comments. But since that bill was passed, and seeing one or two things happen to clients since then, my personal opinion is that they should have gone as far as lowering the maximum permissible to leverage to 10:1 if not 1:1!!! Unfortunately in this business: most people are ‘their own worst enemy’ and will overtrade ‘just because they can’ or ‘just because they cannot help themselves’. So my NOW opinion is that traders in the US actually don’t realise how lucky they are!!!. Those that are profitable and able to be disciplined when it comes to money management: sure I can understand that they don’t like being ‘dictated to’ as to how to use (trade) their own money. But unfortunately, for the reasons given above, they are in the minority. Up until that bill was passed: most new traders were simply ‘fodder’ (they still are but at least to a lesser degree now). I know this is a controversial subject and many will disagree with me (just let’s not let this turn into a ‘flaming session’ is all I ask i.e. let’s agree or disagree like gentlemen if at all possible). I’ve been looking around at some (dare I say ‘proper’) Futures Brokers in the US (as opposed to CFDs on Futures AGAIN with massive leverage etc.). The ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM that you can open an account with at these type of brokers is $5 000 to trade Futures Contracts and even THAT will limit you to VERY VERY few trades or tradeable instruments because you’ll be LUCKY to get 4:1 leverage on certain Futures Contracts. For the most part: there is NO leverage offered i.e 1:1. In other words: ‘if you cannot pay you cannot play’ and so far as I can tell that’s the way it should be. That’s how I feel NOW. I’ve seen it happen in my very own trading. I’ve sometimes (ESPECIALLY in the beginning) gotten into trades on certain instruments that I had absolutely no business trading given the capital that I had at my disposal at that particular point in time. But because of massive leverage: I was able to trade instruments with minimal capital, making or losing the same $ value per point or pip movement, at a retail broker, that a Futures Trader, trading with a ‘proper’ Futures Broker, would need twenty times the amount of capital that I had or, in the case of FOREX, two hundred times the amount of capital that I had at my disposal at the time (not EXACT math but you get the idea). So assuming the same trade went ‘south’ for both traders: I was losing a HUGE percentage of my account while the Futures Trader was losing a minute portion of his account and ‘lived to fight another day’ whereas I was almost always in the position of having to fund my account again and again. And so on and so forth. So it’s my belief that there is such a thing as TOO MUCH ‘freedom and liberty’. It’s the same thing as is happening here ‘in life’. What with our new (well not so new anymore now I suppose) ‘ever so liberal’ Constitution where just about ‘anything goes in the name of human rights’ (and please DO note: I’m by no means talking about any racial aspects here). NEVER did we have children stabbing other children in grade school or taking weapons to school or children being raped by other children at age nine or being drug addicts by the age of ten. Those types of things only happened in FIRST World Countries. Now the FIRST World Countries are starting to take a step back and think ‘wait a minute: maybe we’ve gone too far with our freedom and liberty and human rights at all costs’ while WE seem to be on track to repeat the same mistakes although knowing FULL WELL ALREADY what the eventual outcome is going to be. At any given time: you cannot tune in to a TV Channel that isn’t depicting drug abuse, graphic violence, (almost) explicit sexual content, and so on and so forth. And to say that it’s a parent’s responsibility to shield your children from things that may negatively impact their value system??? Well then no parents would be able to have jobs because that would BE a full time job in and of itself. And believe me: I’ve ‘been around the block’ and am no prude by any means. But I do believe that ‘life’ here has become ‘over leveraged’ (there’s the correlation maybe between this philosophical part of my post and trading)!!!
Regards,
Dale.
Buy one, get one FREE! 
Or: You are the 1 million. visitor to our website, so you are the luckiest person, granted to win a prize if you buy …
Or: Open a trade account with us and overtrade and you will get xx% of your trading volume …
Or: [B]Save[/B] xx bucks and buy this now on sale (what we can’t sell otherwise) … (You actually spend bucks and don’t save any, do you?)
All the same category. If a broker starts to go with that, what can you expect behind the curtain? I am very careful if I see something like that on a brokers website. It is very obvious then that they don’t fish for serious traders or investors, but for gamblers. At least partly.
Frankly, no noob who starts trading should make it to this prize. Maybe a serious trader would get it, but he doesn’t need it, because he can get the money anyways. Albeit a serious trader doesn’t get attracted by it and only noobs get hooked. Every broker who tries it with such a promotion knows it. Here we have again the reason why somebody should be very careful with such a broker.