Going offshore to escape the CFTC

Hi billko1997,

Well, FinProTrading has killer commissions (I mean good…)
but there are times when the Spreads are a bit wider than
I would like but generally not that bad… Fast, stable execution
tight spreads (mostly) and good commissions.

If you are trading at times when spreads are THAT WIDE, maybe
you are “chasing” a News Event while it’s happening, and that’s
not really a recommended way to trade the News, not in a
"reactive" manner. Instead, you should enter a market BEFORE
the News takes place. Or be Bidding or Offering slightly outside
the market on the news.

But the best thing is to formulate a view where a Currency will
be moving, and get in BEFORE the News Event, choosing a
secondary Currency to form the Pair. If CAD is high, and JPY
is low; then SELL the CAD/JPY pair slightly ahead of the
News Event.

But to do that, you have to have Currency Trend Analysis, so
you can see what each of the individual Currencies is doing.
For me, a News Event marks a change of trend in the dominant
Currency’s trend which can be seen days or weeks prior to the
major Calendar News Events regarding Interest Rates, GBP
or major Economic Data disclosures, most of which are
on the Calendars…

hyperscalper

FinPro’s spreads at this very moment are:
symbol min , avg , max spread pips
AUDCAD, 0.6 , 1.0 , 1.4 #
AUDCHF, 0.5 , 0.7 , 0.9 #
AUDJPY, 0.4 , 0.8 , 1.2 #
AUDNZD, 0.9 , 1.4 , 1.9 #
AUDUSD, 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.4
CADCHF, 0.9 , 1.1 , 1.2 #
CADJPY, 0.3 , 0.8 , 1.1 #
CHFJPY, 1.8 , 2.0 , 3.0 ##
EURAUD, 0.3 , 0.6 , 0.8 #
EURCAD, 1.1 , 1.3 , 1.4 #
EURCHF, 0.4 , 0.6 , 0.7 #
EURGBP, 0.1 , 0.3 , 0.5
EURJPY, 0.3 , 0.4 , 0.6
EURNZD, 1.0 , 2.4 , 11.6 ##
EURUSD, 0.1 , 0.1 , 0.3
GBPAUD, 0.5 , 1.1 , 1.4 #
GBPCAD, 1.7 , 1.9 , 2.2 ##
GBPCHF, 0.5 , 0.8 , 1.0 #
GBPJPY, 1.4 , 1.7 , 2.1 ##
GBPNZD, 2.4 , 2.7 , 4.7 ###
GBPUSD, 0.1 , 0.3 , 0.6
NZDCAD, 1.1 , 1.4 , 2.6 #
NZDCHF, 0.6 , 1.5 , 7.5 ##
NZDJPY, 1.3 , 2.7 , 4.4 ###
NZDUSD, 0.1 , 0.4 , 0.6
USDCAD, 0.1 , 0.4 , 0.8
USDCHF, 0.3 , 0.5 , 0.7
USDJPY, 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.3

I appreciate your response but Im in no way “chasing news”. Thats for newbs and gamblers and I am neither. For example today the CAD data came out at 8:30 est. I was short USDCAD since yesterday morning from 1.28777. News came out and price was 1.2800 before it hit. My target was 1.2686 and it was triggered at 8:30:32 est and I was filled at 1.2837. Yes, you read that right, Price was over 60 pips from my target when it triggered and then i was filled 80 pips ABOVE price. So in total my limit filled 140 pips from my actual target. This is an extreme example but its a re-occuring theme with Oanda. Crazy huge spread for milliseconds and then filled at some random price in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I came back AGAIN to Oanda is I get paranoid having too much money in an offshore account. The swaps suck with TradersWay but I could deal with it since I have never had a similar issue with them, ever. Just wish the US Gov. would get their shit together and do something to allow some broker competition. The spreads are fine at TradersWay and they appear to be at FinPro too, just wonder how they deal with swaps. Thanks

OK,

Glad you are a “wise trader”. In general you will get high
precision fills at FinProTrading, so … go for it ?

[EDIT] I must say I really don’t know that much about swaps
since I don’t hold for that long. I did notice some swap
charge yesterday, and realized I need to factor in not only
commission, but swap into my Net Profit calculations.

[EDIT2] You should get FinPro’s “Pure ECN” account, last
time I checked. Anyway, it should be variable spread plus
commmission type of account. Don’t get anything where
commish is paid for by the spread…

hyperscalper

Wisdom comes from getting your ass handed too you, repeatedly, so I guess I may qualify… lol. Looked at FinPro and the swaps are pretty similar to TradersWay. To be honest I would rather deal with the swaps and be more picky about which pairs I hold longer term and just go back to TradersWay than deal with Oanda’s “glitches”. So far I have never had any issues with execution at TW and at least there I can leverage up and keep the bulk of my trading capital in my bank and add if needed. The spreads and commissions seam similar as well between TW and FP too so at least I have history with TW. Its just a shame that by trying to “save us from ourselves” the govt. has actually put all of us who trade FX in the states at greater risk, simply by leaving us with little to no respectable options to trade with. I appreciate your reply’s.

Well, considerations of Commission rates are more
important if you are doing closer scalping at times,
where the commissions can be a larger percentage
of Profits or Losses.

Tradersway is a good brokerage, offering perhaps the
highest leverages available. Their pricing is much more
stable that what you describe at Oanda or others,
I’d say… and the higher leverages do make it possible
to have far less money “at risk” if you see offshoring
as a significant risk…

hyperscalper

The Nanny State in Japan

We have known for years that Japan is the largest retail spot forex market in the world. And recently we’ve seen that Japan is the largest bitcoin market in the world. Now we learn that Japanese regulators are shocked – SHOCKED! – that there’s large-scale trading going on in these markets.

And these regulators (who hate not being in control of everything that goes on in Japan) are worried that something huge (and out of their control) might happen in these huge markets. So they’re determined to cut these markets down to size – starting with forex leverage, which they want to crush down to 10:1.

Needless to say, traders and brokers in Japan are not happy with this regulatory overreach.

Well, Japan, welcome to the club.

Regulators everywhere want to control other people’s lives. That’s what regulators do. And it’s not just the agencies, themselves – CFTC, NFA, SEC, FINRA, FSA, FCA, BaFin, ASIC, CySec, FSMA, IIROC, BCSC, OSC, AMF, ISA, FSA-Japan, etc., etc., etc. – it’s also the bureaucratic grunts who work for these agencies.

All of these people derive their sense of self-worth from controlling other people. These sneaky regulators are a dangerous bunch, and their control tactics tend to metastasize from one agency to the next, and from one country to the next.

Accordingly, the control freaks in Japan are looking at the draconian measures implemented in the United States, and in other jurisdictions, and they’re saying, “We could use those same measures – or even harsher measures – to restrict our own markets.”

You can read about the debate currently going on in Japan in this Finance Magnates article –

In that debate, an issue frequently raised is the “threat” that will be posed to Japan’s domestic brokerage industry by offshore forex brokers – who offer more reasonable terms than Japan’s regulators will allow Japan’s domestic brokers to offer. Sound familiar?

I couldn’t resist posting the following –

A message to Japanese traders from your Regulator

This image was adapted from a popular meme that developed from the Japanese arcade video game Zero Wing. If you’re not familiar with that meme, you can read about it here – All your base are belong to us - Wikipedia



The list of regulatory agencies in the fourth paragraph above is a partial list. For a more complete list see – Forex Regulation - Forex Regulatory Organizations and Agencies

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REGULATORY OVER-REACH

IN SOLIDARITY WITH CLINT, AND EVERYONE IN
THIS THREAD, HERE IS THE ORIGINAL VIDEO
WHICH YOU MAY ENJOY WATCHING, AND STUDYING…

"All Your Base Are Belong To Us (Original) "

I keep a link to this on my website to remind everyone
that there is one truth:

[EDIT] For background understanding of this meme’s origin,

“All your Base are Belong to US”

hyperscalper

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A NEW YEARS GOAL – FIND SOME MORE GOOD BROKERS OFFSHORE

Your Mission, should you accept it, is to find a new offshore broker in January who works
with U.S. persons, and who has quality technicals and reputation.

It may be that they do not “solicit” U.S. persons, but they will accept unsolicited
applications from U.S. persons.

Go forth and find those new quality brokerages !!! You have your Mission !

hyperscalper

A NEW BROKERAGE I FOUND IS “FXTSWISS.COM” , BUT HAS
SOME QUALITY ISSUES…

So, http://FXTSwiss.com is a broker who apparently accepts U.S. persons,
although I do not know for sure. For me, one immediate strike against them
is that they appear to offer FIXED SPREAD accounts only, so far as I know at this
time. My preference is Variable Spread plus Commission.

At least their “open a real account” did not immediately reject the choice of
both U.S. citizenship, and U.S. residence. (Could be rejection further down
the line, I don’t know…)

Other than that, although I have not made an application, and know nothing
else, it appears they will deal with U.S. persons. They also offer a
MetaTrader 4 interface, which is a requirement for me.

Further investigation may prove me wrong, but that’s the result of 10 minutes
of searching. GO FORTH AND SEARCH FOR OFFSHORE BROKER
OPPORTUNITIES, and do better than I have by finding higher quality
brokers…

[EDIT] I sent them a message inquiring whether they could provision Variable
Spread accounts plus Commission with MetaTrader 4 and, also, whether they
are able to accept both U.S. citizens and residents. Will let you know their
response.

hyperscalper

1 Like

it means TW sucks :Þ
and they have crappy swap!

Hello,
Hyperscalper, you could try Loyal bank in St. Vincent, they take US Citizens for their MT4.

However it behooves me why any one would want to manual trade in a market place dominated by robots.

Last year my friend introduced me to an [removed due to Forum Polocy] trading firm that trade all robots.
[removed due to Forum Polocy]
They don’t solicit, so they use crowdfunding and perks to get around regulations.

When I first signed up for the first month I was afraid that I was being scammed, after the 2nd months returns I was at ease. While they try to provide thirty percent per month on a best effort basis, from January to now, I have only had 2 months where the roi was under 30.

Joe

Thanks for the info.

I am up to my neck refining a “nibbler” BOT as we speak !!

I believe that BOTs have an important role to play, but they must
not be designed to trade “like a human”…

My project is called BOT-10 since it seeks a maximum of 10 PIPs
per scalp; and filters based on Currency Cluster Dispersion,
Moving Average relationship history, and uses "Smart Order"
types… So… yep, BOTs have a place in an overall trading plan !!

hyperscalper

LOOKING BRIEFLY AT LOYAL BANK’s FOREX SPREADS

Overlooking that you have to bank with them before being offered
a Forex account, their published spreads seem 5x - 10x wider than those
we get at FinProTrading.

[EDIT] Maybe I am reading it wrong. Maybe these are not their
spreads… Anyway, perhaps they offer good trading conditions,
maybe someone can look into it more closely.

http://myloyex.com/forex-trading-condition.php

Right now, as the week is ending,
here are FinProTrading’s pricing spreads, which are slightly wider
than you would generally see mid-week, by comparison.

symbol min , avg , max spread pips
AUDCAD, 1.1 , 1.7 , 1.9 ##
AUDCHF, 1.2 , 1.3 , 1.3 #
AUDJPY, 0.9 , 1.1 , 1.3 #
AUDNZD, 1.2 , 1.4 , 1.6 #
AUDUSD, 0.1 , 0.3 , 0.3
CADCHF, 2.2 , 2.2 , 2.4 ##
CADJPY, 0.9 , 1.0 , 1.1 #
CHFJPY, 1.5 , 1.6 , 1.6 ##
EURAUD, 0.3 , 0.5 , 0.8
EURCAD, 1.5 , 2.0 , 2.2 ##
EURCHF, 0.5 , 0.8 , 1.0 #
EURGBP, 0.2 , 0.3 , 0.5
EURJPY, 0.4 , 0.6 , 0.8 #
EURNZD, 1.9 , 2.1 , 2.2 ##
EURUSD, 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.4
GBPAUD, 0.6 , 1.2 , 1.5 #
GBPCAD, 3.2 , 3.5 , 4.0 ####
GBPCHF, 1.9 , 2.1 , 2.5 ##
GBPJPY, 1.5 , 1.7 , 2.0 ##
GBPNZD, 2.9 , 3.2 , 3.7 ###
GBPUSD, 0.3 , 0.5 , 0.8 #
NZDCAD, 2.5 , 2.6 , 2.7 ###
NZDCHF, 1.0 , 1.1 , 1.1 #
NZDJPY, 1.4 , 1.6 , 2.1 ##
NZDUSD, 0.3 , 0.4 , 0.6
USDCAD, 0.1 , 0.4 , 0.5
USDCHF, 0.3 , 0.5 , 0.8
USDJPY, 0.1 , 0.2 , 0.4

hyperscalper

One thing to pay attention to while creating your BOT-10 project. If you use Mql4 and the ifeatures such as iMA and iRSi etc, brokers do manipulate data feeds, this is the most popular way they get you trapped with fake direction.Therefore it is best to go old school and not with the ifeatures.

I wish you all success with BOT-10.

Joe

The stick up is that you can get zero spread from brokers in Asia like Pepperstone, the problem is that most of the good brokers will not take US Citizens. And I presume that your BOT-10 project hedges, which is a no no based on FIFO.

The iTrees guys operate offshore outside US jurisdiction, so they get to avail themselves of the use of zero spread.

https://www.loyalbank.com/eng/banking/bank-account/personal-account-open

This page suggests they will deal with U.S. persons or citizens…

hyperscalper

Hey, take it easy !!.. Why would you assume my BOT was
using Hedging? It’s micro scalping a position in just one
direction Long or Short… nothing about hedging either inside
the same instrument, or across brokerages, etc… Anyway,
a retail MT4 account most likely couldn’t profit across brokers
anyway; and hedging inside a symbol (Long and Short in
same symbol) is logically equivalent to just reducing your
overall position exposure anyway… I do use multiple orders,
so that I can get a more favorable “cost basis” but the trading
is all in “one direction” i.e. all Long or all Short in a Forex symbol…

[EDIT] I do generally process orders in a LIFO manner, though,
meaning Last In, is generally the first one on which I would take
a partial profit, and my overall position in a symbol would be the
aggregate of a number of individual positions. As such, yes, I
would not function well in a FIFO environment !..

hyperscalper

No, I am far from regulators, I do my business offshore. I use to be in investment banking and have been manually trading for the past few years.

I am not a fan of regulators, especially after they restrict Reg Y program which are Gov risk-less program for their friends. while being comfortable with banks paying customers 5 to 7% annually, when the truth is that the banks themselves makes these kind of returns in a month. Before any naysayers point out that there is no such thing as risk less principal activities program, you only need to consult the feds, they can’t deny these programs, though they may tell you that they have been discontinued

As to your issue you might be better off with a forex brokers in Belize some will take US clients, but then you have to worry about security of your funds, if it is not a large amount, then it is worth the effort to try them.

Joe

What’s with these “withdrawn posts” by @RJ9000 ?

hyperscalper

Hey RJ9000,
You sound like you have reservations about trading offshore. If so, check out this GreenTraderTax article. It may allay your concerns regarding legalities, etc. As you may know, Green is a widely respected authority on trader tax issues. The article specifically addresses offshore CFD trading, but same regulations would be applicable offshore FX.

https://greentradertax.com/tag/cfd/

Green writes, “Some American retail customers trade CFDs with counterparties that are not registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or another U.S. regulator to allow CFD trading by American retail customers. I asked the CFTC and National Futures Association (NFA) if that is legal, and both said CFTC regulations for American retail customers apply to counterparties, not American retail customers”.

Many of us on this forum will remember Mr. Green as a bit of a nemesis. A couple years back, Green took it upon himself to start reporting offshore traders coming to him for tax advice to regulators. Really seemed like he was trying to get us into some sort of trouble. But there was no trouble to be found. Instead, Mr. Green confirmed straight from the horses mouth what Clint has been saying all along… CFTC rules apply to retail brokers not traders.