I keep hearing that the markets are fixed or manipulated. Bigger players are able to control certain movements and the small fish get eaten. Furthermore forex brokers will stop you out if your account is growing to large or your win/loss ratio is more win than loss? Any truth behind this?
Yes, there is such thing as stop loss hunting and large banks do that.
It you are making money with a retail broke, you are a loss to them and they will do everything possible to either stop you from trading or make your trading experience miserable.
Hello “Chip”, welcome to this forum; this topic has been covered a few times already on Forextown threads, and a quick search reveals threads very similar to yours in topic, such as the following:
http://forums.babypips.com/forextown/17707-retail-forex-market-rigged.html
I cannot really see what more could be added, but I hope that someone may come up with something more profound than what sometimes can be heard on forex forums, namely that all brokers are ‘out to get us’, which is certainly not the case.
Good luck with your trading, anyway!
It is ‘fixed’ in the same way that any market is so fixed.
Forex Brokers are a part of the market, they are not out to get us as PMH points out, they are however out to make a profit from their customers, as indeed all businesses do.
The brokers’ software may set you aside if you are a consistent profitable trader, and maybe not trade against you as they would usually do, it’s up to you to get there, can take some time, but can be done.
I think it’s too easy to totally blame the broker. Sure there are some bucket shops out there who are out to get your money unethically, but I think on the whole if brokers were so ‘evil’, the regulators would never authorise brokers to operate.
It’s also very easy to blame the broker if you’re trading strategy goes haywire.
The main thing I guess is to ensure you choose your broker wisely.
Well markets are driven by emotions and psychology of traders and banks. Any abnormality in the markets can be a catalyst for the market, I guess you can call this being “fixed”. Read the book [I]More Money Than God[/I]- Sebastian Mallaby, it’s about the beginning of super hedge funds and how some of them failed. Also, the infamous day where our hero, George Soros, broke the bank of England. He was able to manipulate the market by shorting the GBP with billions of dollars. The market will follow the money.
With that said, any catalyst can be viewed as a temporary fix. But in the long run, economics is such a complicated and gargantuan beast that cannot be tamed or calculated; even our Feds have trouble controlling/predicting it.
And for the evil brokers purposely hitting your SL, it may be possible for some of the smaller and shady ones. But overall, brokers profit and run off of their traders. Without customers they lose commission and profit to run their company, I doubt any big brokers will purposely risk their integrity and reputation for such a small “profit” scheme.
[QUOTE=“Nykevin94;695269”]Well markets are driven by emotions and psychology of traders and banks. Any abnormality in the markets can be a catalyst for the market, I guess you can call this being “fixed”. Read the book More Money Than God- Sebastian Mallaby, it’s about the beginning of super hedge funds and how some of them failed. Also, the infamous day where our hero, George Soros, broke the bank of England. He was able to manipulate the market by shorting the GBP with billions of dollars. The market will follow the money. With that said, any catalyst can be viewed as a temporary fix. But in the long run, economics is such a complicated and gargantuan beast that cannot be tamed or calculated; even our Feds have trouble controlling/predicting it. And for the evil brokers purposely hitting your SL, it may be possible for some of the smaller and shady ones. But overall, brokers profit and run off of their traders. Without customers they lose commission and profit to run their company, I doubt any big brokers will purposely risk their integrity and reputation for such a small “profit” scheme.[/QUOTE]
Thanks bro! Gonna look that book up
[QUOTE=“PipMeHappy;695130”]Hello “Chip”, welcome to this forum; this topic has been covered a few times already on Forextown threads, and a quick search reveals threads very similar to yours in topic, such as the following: http://forums.babypips.com/forextown/17707-retail-forex-market-rigged.html I cannot really see what more could be added, but I hope that someone may come up with something more profound than what sometimes can be heard on forex forums, namely that all brokers are ‘out to get us’, which is certainly not the case. Good luck with your trading, anyway![/QUOTE]
I agree with you. I think when you fairly new ,it’s something you don’t want to hear and all to easy to believe when things don’t go your way. I was at a traders meet which made me feel quite naive as I argued the point but being in the minority ,thought I would post on baby pips
[QUOTE=“andyCullen;695217”]I think it’s too easy to totally blame the broker. Sure there are some bucket shops out there who are out to get your money unethically, but I think on the whole if brokers were so ‘evil’, the regulators would never authorise brokers to operate. It’s also very easy to blame the broker if you’re trading strategy goes haywire. The main thing I guess is to ensure you choose your broker wisely.[/QUOTE]
Agree with you Mate
I often get this feeling also but as I’m earning at least something from forex market so its not the case all the time. During news time some moves really kill retail traders but one can avoid all this rush after some experience.
Right To Say
It’s not fixed. It’s not rigged. You just can’t predict the future and neither can your dealer, nor can any talking head on CNBC, nor can the FED chairman, nor can anyone. The tendency to believe that some mustache twirling swindlers are behind one’s losses is the reluctance to admit failure in the instance. Only you control your orders.
-Adrian
amen, brother!
I agree, Its easier to blame the fixed forex market instead of a bad entry or stop.
I had a trying week this week cant be my fault. (sarcasm) lol
There are good brokers and bad brokers. The forex market is hard to manipulate, you may lose your money to a bad broker, but a lot of people just lose money, because they dont know what they are doing, so they blame the broker.
To a certain degree it is. Internet search Tricom broker… prosecuted for fraud several years ago. When I was searching for a broker I went to Tricom to see what they where like (as it turned out only a few months before the fraud case was prosecuted). The person there actually boasted (with me there in the room, to a fellow colleague) that they manipulated the data feed on the charts and wiped out all the stop (profit or loss) orders (as he said this he motioned with his hand as though swiping the table in circular motion as though collecting money into his pocket). He said that Tricom did this so that their clients would have to put more money into their pockets as well, to re enter their orders. So it does happen. (This is a true story).
After that encounter I searched charts and tried to find a “neutral” chart (although that is a bit impossible as there is no central exchange). However the idea was to compare two independent chart systems. I compared broker charts with netdania. I found that no two charts are alike. So search diligently. If you find a chart system with a LOTS of “tails” (Up or down) then the broker actively participates in stop hunting.
[QUOTE=“Arbitrager on Acid;695368”]It’s not fixed. It’s not rigged. You just can’t predict the future and neither can your dealer, nor can any talking head on CNBC, nor can the FED chairman, nor can anyone. The tendency to believe that some mustache twirling swindlers are behind one’s losses is the reluctance to admit failure in the instance. Only you control your orders. -Adrian[/QUOTE]
Love ya post mate! I say after a bad trading ,grab a pint and start fresh the next day
Well if we put it that way:
- Human behaviour is 93 percent predictable (research shows)
- Market = people
MARKET = 93% PREDICTABLE 
Forex brokers usually offer two types of trade spreads, variable or fixed. So, which is the better option? Opinions differ among traders and it does depend on individual trading styles.
As for me fixed is better since broker can not widen the spread at a time of execution