hello…I am very new to forex… but I paper traded futures…(corn, live cattle)…and did pretty well w 4 contracts (corn)…I was making $12,000/ month on paper (not trading w real money, or trading simulator)…I made my own charts using bollinger ban… and used wall street journal to see if my trades were successful the following day…
…but when I went to open an account at lind waldock, my annual income and net worth were no where near the requirements… so I need to know if forex eligibilty account application requirements are even remotely as strict as trading futures… what are the applications like to open a $1000 account at various online forex brokerages??
any info is very much appreciated…so glad I found this website…and sorry I didnt search for this info in search feature…but Im in a hurry today…and just need to know about this ASAP…thanks again in advance
I know Oanda and IBFX do not have a minimum requirement to open an account. However, you will have to have enough money in it to cover your margins.
In any case, you can easily start trading micro lots with $500 USD. However, as said so many times, you should start out with a demo account and go through the babypips school before you dive into live trading.
I’ve just downloaded the forms to open an account, and they want to know salary, savings, property investments, etc., - I was surprised because I thought as long as you deposited an initial amount with them, that’s all they would need to know. That’s UK based broker.
The forms are a bit of a nightmare too - enough to put you off :eek:
I believe they ask for such details just to gain more insight on their customers and what their general habits are. Some details such as employment history could also be means of preventing insider trading? (Stocks anyways). That’s just how I see it, more like a survey if anything.
Come one don’t be silly, you can’t trade stocks through a Forex platform, it’s just data collection, and by that what they are actually doing is illegal under the Data Protection act, since it is information they are keeping about you that they don’t need, but like I said, it’s just standard stuff that companies do, i.e. flout the laws for their own benefit, so practically you don’t really have a choice about it.
I had major problems gathering documents required mainly because in Africa back in the days I got born such docs as Birth Cert never meant much. Heck the govt passed by-law on it just last year!
But really some forex brokers will accept just about any details I could be using anyone’s details so long as it adds up straight to a local bank account. The safe ones tend to require passport and proof of address on the downside - about the income & emplt details I observe if one fills lowest, in the tune of $20K p.a. they decline so you tick higher and they accept immediately lol - then they give you starting bal requiremts of as lowest as possible you wonder WTH.
After my initial doubts I decided to go with Forex.com because I’ve tried and demo’d many other platforms but just don’t feel comfortable with them or get my head around them ! I know how to use Forex.com now and am very comfortable with it, and have had no more problems since so I hope this continues.
fihunts - if you go to the Forex.com site (UK) click on open an account, you will be asked what sor t of account i.e. individual, joint, company etc., then click the download button, you will then be presented with loads of pages to read, on page 4 you will find these questions:
employment status
annual salary
Any savings or investments
do you own a property
what is the value of the property after mortgage
There’s other stuff as well, I suppose I can understand the employment status but I think the others are a bit intrusive, but if that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is :rolleyes:
hmm, I just closed my forex.com account about two weeks ago. They seriously pissed me off. I had some weird problems with them.
Cons -
A. I hate their spreads
B. I had a trade that was a winner, but then for some reason. I was taken out of it and then put back in at a different entry point that made it a loser for me. All this took place within a 45 second interval. I can show you the documentation on it if you would like.
C. MT4 only goes out 4 decimal places. Thats really not that big a deal, but i like 5.
D. Some very bad press lately on them. You can find that here on your own. They have been getting their asses sued alot lately.
E. Minimum account is 500 bucks and minimum deposit is 250 if you tank your account. Yes, I screwed up on my first run.
F. The only way you can trade micro lots is via MT4 otherwise you have to trade lot sizes of 10,000. We all know that a 10k lot size with only 500 bucks is toooooo much.
Pros -
A. Easy to start an account
B. From my experience, very easy to withdraw your money from them. I did a wire transfer from my account with my remaining balance and they actually didn’t even charge me a fee for that. I was impressed with that.
C. Great customer service from my perspective.
But if you are comfortable with them, that is awesome. I wouldn’t do any scalping with them though. The spreads suck.
Actually, they have my bank account number for obvious reasons. My address, my phone number and my email. They also have my social security number, but they would have to have that as well.
It is pretty much just typical information any financial institution would need i believe.
Heck to open a checking account you have to give the bank the same info. I don’t see this much different than that.
doh, sorry, No, I don’t recall having to give them my lifetime investment history. But, i don’t think that is required, I think they just ask. I could be wrong though because i filled out the US application.
I’d stick with the major broker-firms: Oanda, IBfx, GFT. I have IBfx since before, and DeltaStock since they have DJIA chart. I have FBSholdings since they are closer home, got it in the CTFC rush but never fully moved after realizing 50:1 is indeed better? My first demo ever was Forex.com, I think because of the RealForex pdf, but didnt get to stick with them.
Those income questions are asked universally in application by all brokers and dont mean much since you can tick just about any box and no one will ask you ‘why’ or ‘prove it’. Just do it.
Something extremely vital has not been addressed here and I believe it should be addressed before ‘tears are shed’.
‘schooly76’:
There is a BIG difference between trading futures and spot forex. If you’ve been paper trading futures and you’ve been doing well then I strongly suggest that you think about ‘sticking’ with futures trading (of course I DO make the assumption that the ‘paper’ money that you’ve made was taking into account the same amount of capital that you actually DO HAVE to trade with and that you’re following all of the ‘golden rules’ of risk / money management etc.). DO NOT think that whatever trading system or methdology that you’ve been paper trading profitably on futures is going to be just as profitable on trading spot forex because I assure you that the chances of that are ‘slim at best’.
Notwithstanding the above: there are MANY brokers that allow you to trade futures WITHOUT all of those financial ‘stability’ requirements and with FAR lower margin requirements than the likes of the broker that you mentioned (I know because I looked at them once as well as a few others). Deltastock (deltastock.co.za. or deltastock.com) is one of them (YES I’m ‘punting’ but that’s only because I ‘believe’ in my broker) but there are others (Alpari UK being one of them although they don’t offer as many instruments as Deltastock OF COURSE and their futures platform ‘sucked’ the last time I looked although I was told the other day that they now offer futures trading through MetaTrader 4).
As far as ‘instrusive’ questions in account applications are concerned: in my experience the more ‘intrusive’ and the more documentation that is required the better. For the most part: a legitimate broker is required by the regulatory authority in their domicile country to obtain that information. As an example: I’ve been told MANY times that Deltastock’s account opening procedure and the documentation that is required is ‘painful’ but it’s a requirement of the regulatory bodies of each country where each Deltastock office is located. By contrast: I know of at least two brokers that don’t even require FORMS to be completed and NO ID is required i.e. one only requires an e-mail address and the other only requires an e-mail address and a MOBILE phone number (to send you a ‘verification code’)!!! Guess what: take a look at ANY forex broker review site and BOTH of them have a ‘scam’ rating (and one of them was MY first broker so I can most certainly vouch for the ‘scam’ ratings given them)!!! Get the picture???
Regards,
Dale.
Edit:
WOW ‘chizzenpips’: I didn’t know you had an account with Deltastock??? Nice huh!!! And I’m PARTICULARLY pleased to see the Dow being mentioned!!! LOL!!! Guess who was short the Dow, S&P, AEX, and CAC40 (at Deltastock) on Friday (practically from their opening prices)??? LOL!!! OK: I ‘bailed’ at the close i.e. Friday’s moves are considered (by me anyway) to be a ‘parabolic moves’ and at quite a few USD or EUR per point movement on the Dow and CAC40 I figured it would be ‘prudent’ to ‘bail’ and have a ‘stress free’ weekend!!! LOL!!! OK: so they may ‘tank’ even further but so be it i.e. I’ll now be waiting VERY patiently for the continuation of the uptrends. And besides: as YOU well know there are HUNDREDS of other instruments and opportunities ‘lurking’. I’m just sorry I never got short the DAX too (it never retraced enough to hit my limit sell order).
I have the DJIA and dollar index charts for overall market feel (when a major turn in market happens it is seen on several esp the major charts) but doesnt trade them, I’m taking out e$ solely though tempted to peek at g$. Heck my current Delta account cant afford one lot unit of DJIA at 5% risk, I keep it solely for Dow since the other source wasnt as good & since they gave them away free for Thanksgiving? They have the best data feed measured by diversity and number of sources (seat at the high table) and a sound report for background check.
The DT platform is a mess all over desktop (however is good for multiple-desktop display); and sometimes pending orders are hidden until hit (I had major problem with that but wont say) and closing an open position once got tricky when it closed & inverted the position oneclick (just had to try for the correct option for close), and mt4 isn’t fully enabled (why not enable mt4 as standalone its advantage to the broker since universally accepted by clients, why the heavier DT&bridge rig); oh, plus DT wont install on my favourite UbuntuOS in wine guess due to dotnetframework (able to use it inside virtualboxXP, like the problem wasnt there). Its alright, but would be splendid if I figured out how to save my analysis as folders (like in mt4 as in c:/progfiles/…/mt4/profiles and …/templates folders) to load in any DT in another comp terminal like I do mt4?
Sorry I had to blow a hole in the yatch but you’re captain you plug it if you were me you’d blow one for me to plug if I was on duty, wouldn’t you? Readers should note I’m new with the platform and doesn’t work on changing that very much, main account with IBfx. Nor am I inclined to close my r/ship with Delta as small as is.
No problem (about ‘plugging the hole’)!!! LOL!!! I’ll do my best (but thanks for the mentioning the GOOD points)!!!
I know exactly what you’re talking about regarding the pending orders. They’re not ‘hidden’ i.e. sometimes you have to ‘refresh’ the order screen is all (I’ve just gotten used to doing it out of habit now I guess).
‘Just for fun’ I’ve attached the Delta Trading layout that I’d use if using a single monitor. When you open a chart it’s overlayed of course but yes: it’s ideally suited to multiple monitors (I have two and the charts open full screen on one and the layout as shown here is always visible on the other). ‘It works for me’ anyway!!! LOL!!!
As I’m sure you already know: you can save chart drawings (analysis) and and ‘screen dumps’ of charts but individually i.e. not as a ‘complete profile’ for a given set of charts. I have two workstations though so if I make any major changes or anything like that I just copy the entire Delta Trading folder to the other workstation (obviously they’re networked and have exactly the same configuration so that makes life a bit easier). But no: as I said there’s no way of creating a ‘complete profile’ with a given set of charts etc. and to save that ‘complete profile’ and simply call it up on another workstation (something to think about in all probability).
MetaTrader 4 IS INDEED live and standalone now i.e. none of that ‘bridge’ ‘stuff’ (which I personally had no time for either) but only for the forex pairs (the major indices are currently being tested and are visible in the MetaTrader 4 demo).
I’m not familiar with UbuntuOS (that sounds very ‘South African’ to me)!!! LOL!!! But yes (and as you’ve gathered): Delta Trading does require the MS .NET Framework to operate.
But let me say this: if you DO have any need for input or assistance on Delta Trading then ‘give me a shout’ i.e. it’s the mere fact that I know the platform ‘like the back of my hand’ that I was ‘bestowed’ the ‘honorary title’ of ‘Verified Broker Support’ (or whatever it is) (as a matter of fact, and even if I have to ‘pat myself on the back’ there are one or two things in the platform that were added upon my very own suggestions)!!! LOL!!! What I’m saying really is that my ‘role’ is actually (for now anyway) ‘technical support in English’ really and I know a few ‘tips and tricks’ about it if / when you’re ready. And WHEN your account is big enough to trade the Dow let me know and I’ll give you some trading systems that I’ve coded for Delta Trading that will ‘knock your socks off’!!! LOL!!! That being said though: never forget that you don’t need a HUGE amount of capital to trade some of the indices and some of the commodities. Just a thought (I think you already know WELL my forex vs. equities and commodities ‘argument’)!!! LOL!!!
to read, on page 4 you will find these questions: