Hold on there, this does happen to work only when there is a slowdown in the system. For instance say reports are coming out in fundamentals that cause large volume and the platform you are on has a slowdown. There won’t be a slowdown on the demo accounts, and that is why they will be ahead. This doesn’t happen every day in the market, sure once in while you can scalp these chances, but you can’t routinely do it, since these slowdowns that I described happen so rarely. They are always updating the software, so it’s hard to find them these days, but it may still occur when big news comes out. I don’t know now, since I don’t usually trade around that time. But again it’s only happened once to me, so I doubt that there is a platform you can find that is ahead of the others. Some are naturally a few pips off, but you can’t “future trade them”. What I will say is thatyou can try to research this, but don’t look to hard because in the end you’ll have to conform to trading through sweat and tears. Anyways I don’t want to lead you into some trap that will inhibit your process as a trader, so my advice is stay away. Of course I’m not stopping you of course do what you want but take this comment into account. I’m sorry it may seem like a let down after I seemed to have gotten your hopes up but all the best to you.
I have been away for a few days “trading” was not so good not to much news…
Hi Shadow
I am doing my research via live account–for like you say
�reports are coming out in fundamentals that cause large volume and the platform you are on has a slowdown. There won’t be a slowdown on the demo accounts, and that is why they will be ahead.�
there may be a misconception of actual trade indications.
However, it seems that any kind of research that is looked into has some benefit, either a new tactic or approach for trading improvement, or, an example of a trade approach to avoid. Much appreciate your comments.
I am about to check out MT4, not certain which broker I will use, there are quite a few out there.
Thanks again!
What you are saying is very interesting, that is, MT4 showing in advance of FXCM. Looks like your dealer has faster software, or, uses a different live feed trading source.
I understand different dealers use different feeds for trading–now I will have to research the various dealers who use the MT4 MultiTerminal, and see who has the most rapid trading source.
Sometimes there are slight price differentials between platforms. I noticed a couple small breaks during very high volume periods. Like Shadow said, a 30 pip break is probably a very unusual occurrence. What you’re describing is a type of arbitrage. Stock Jocks do this using complex algorithms designed to locate and exploit small price differentials between ecn’s and exchanges. It is massively capital intensive and requires lightning fast connections and execution speeds. It only works because of central pricing and clearing in equity markets.
Arb strategies also work in currency futures, but spot forex is different. Each forex dealer runs their own pricing structure that is loosely based on inter-bank quotes. Also, because there is no central clearinghouse, you can’t buy at one ecn, then sell at a different dealer desk, and have both sides settled in one account. There are plenty of pips to capture through much less exotic methods. Simple is good. Best of luck in your trading…
(If you see anything incorrect or factually inaccurate, let me know.)
Well, I am certainly not in a position to mirror what the “Big Boys” are doing–but it is very interesting to learn what they are doing, thanks for the info.
Well, I am certainly not in a position to mirror what the “Big Boys” are doing–but it is very interesting to learn what they are doing, thanks for the info.
I think you missed this completely. I don’t think you can arb price variances due to the current structure of spot forex. Learn simple strategies. Keep them simple. Just my opinion.
This is EXACTLY the strategy that I tried, straddling the news just prior to a major news event. It worked so well on the demo I was convinced that I would be a millionaire in just a few months once I started trading for real. My first live account didn’t work because it was a dealing desk platform and I could not sell my trade fast enough to avoid a retrace after the spike. My second live account didn’t work, because although it was a no dealing desk platform (FXCM) the srpead increases so much on many news events that it swallows both entry orders. I tried up to 15 pips on either side as you suggested in your post, but the spread grew and swallowed both. When I complained I was told that the spread is controlloed by the central bank and is a reflection of liquidity. Basically, the spread will increase to whatever size is neccesarry to match up all buy orders with sell orders, as Forex is a zero sum system. It truly amazed me that the spread could increase by over 15 pips during a news event. You could just set you entry orders further away I suppose, but then you increase your risk of being to close to the peak to sell at a profit before it retraces.
In short, this strategy can work, sometimes, but it is rather hit and miss on a live platform, and can conceivably cost you alot of money before you can blink your eyes…
Amazing considering how well it worked on the demos. I turned one $500.00 demo into over $20,000.00 in two and a half weeks, and then tried it again just to be sure, and turned the second $500.00 demo into over $2500.00 in just over one week.
But when I went to the live account everything changed. I’m now currently $800.00 sown from trying this on the two different live accounts, and have abandoned the strategy.
If you can make it work for real, then more power to you, I wish you luck, but it did not work for me…
It will not work…
Nic