Broker review - scalping strategy

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
1

I have started a two week review of 8 Forex Brokers using the same EA with the same VPS provider - FxPro and Pepperstone London and the others New York, as that is where the brokers servers are located. All had lightning quick pings of less than 1ms.

  • Pepperstone & FxPro - lost money hand over fist, so much so I had to terminate after 15 mins of trading.
  • Go Markets - despite zero commission also lost money.
  • Vantage - not as bad but lost money.
  • FP Markets & ICMarkets - if it wasn’t for their high commission charges, would have made money.
  • Fusion - well surprisingly a good apple in the bunch.
    I used FxDreema to create the EA and on backtesting I’d be richer than Elon Musk in a week (another subject altogether) but it shows that you really need to properly test your EAs in the real world.
    Happy to take questions and give advice based on my experience.
    I am also keen to hear from you on which brokers work best for scalping (so opening around 15-20 trades an hour sometimes more aiming for small gains).
2

Any decent futures broker, because they’re on your side and want you to win.

A spot/CFD broker is the counterparty, the party being scalped - how long’s that going to last, even if you could do it successfully?! With spot/CFDs, you’re not scalping the market, because your “trades” aren’t in a market: just the “broker”. :wink:

3

Then why does a high stake trader like Tom Hougaard use a CFD broker (TD365)? - Because you get instant filled, unlike a futures broker where you hope to get matched with someone on the otherside of your trade.

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4

Tom told me (very openly) that he’s an affiliate of TD365 and gets paid when viewers of his Youtube channel open accounts there, following his link.

5

In your dreams :rofl:

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6

You get matched in a centralized market, for God’s sake, just like the stock exchange. It’s completely transparent. Nobody can fiddle the prices against you. There are no spreads. Every broker has the same prices. It’s an actual market.

Tom isn’t an EA scalper anyway, surely? So how is he relevant, here, anyway?

What’s the problem today, Johnnyboy?!

7

Any recommendations? Never traded futures before, only CFDs.

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8

Doesn’t matter much, really.

Unlike spot/CFD “brokers” they’re all properly, strictly regulated and none has any incentive at all for you to lose. Just the opposite.

(If you like Metatrader, you might like AMP? They have MT5 for futures.)

9

Please tell me more. Does AMP act like a broker? Do I apply to them for an account?

10

It’s a broker, yes.

11

Reply from Tom himself via his Telegram -

I must be the worst affiliate in the world, then, because I don’t have an affiliate link.

I trade CFDs because futures only allow 10 to 1 leverage, while TD365.com has 200 to 1.

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12

Sorry, this “test” sounds like absolute nonsense!

You backtested your strategy and proved your would be making billions.

Then tested forward data and lost consistently.

For those to follow who are clueless, this is the whole story.

The strategy was curve fit to a historical section of the market. So much that it is useless for anything other than the trash bin.

The results are not the fault of any broker but rather the design of the trading system.

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13

Thanks for sharing your experience! It’s crucial to test EAs in real-world conditions. For scalping, Fusion seems promising. I’d also recommend considering spread and execution speed. Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

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14

Fusion’s spread is ok for XAU but not consistent like ICM. However, their execution is honest and slippage not as much as ICM. The other broker with decent trade execution is FP. The issue that is frustrating is that these brokers all also charge commission so I am working on my strategy to ensure trade efficiency - less trades but each trade more likely to deliver a return.

15

Lol1 Bad by name… no not curve fitted at all. The EA works for a set time period with a very simple entry determinant. It works for every month period I have tested and works in reality for one broker, and would work with another two brokers other than commission. It’s a scalping strategy and per trade costs are crucial.