I know the last post was in June 2009 but i have to say this, my deepest respect to whoever developed FXCM’s market scope2.
Not only are the trailing stops much tighter, the chart behaves by the book. I tried a few softwares and it is frustrating to loose on their demos even when you are doing the right thing. After trying market scope i everything changed.
The problem is most meta trader softwares use trailing stops starting 50 points. (In some occasions 15 points like instaforex). Market scope secures your trade starting as little as 3-5 pips (correct me if i m wrong). Hence it is perfect for scalpers. Using a platform with 50 pips minimum to activate your trailing stop is frustrating especially when you were in the money for the first 10-15 pips then the price pulls back or rebounds against you. I am not a conspiracy theorist but why are forex softwares offering softwares that are not user friendly, why not adjust the software in favor of their client’s trading tactics so everyone is happy?
“Those of us who trade through FXCM have some decisions to make, and not a lot of time in which to make them.”
Hi Clint,
I’m getting closer to trading live with a very small account. I’ve got $4000 stashed, but I’ll trade with pennies until I prove myself in the live market, and will then toss in up to $4000. I’ve been toying with the idea of charting on Oanda’s MT4 and executing trade with much quicker execution on their fxTrade - I’ve been demo-ing on both. I’ve also been demo-ing with FXCM’s Trader Station’s Marketscope which, I read a year ago, you were using, though I don’t know when you wrote it. I would truly appreciate it if you would toss me some advice as to which brokers and platforms I could consider, even if they’re in Zimbabwe (really!). At this point, it’s between an FXCM Mini account and Oanda’s MT4 and fxTrade combo; but any advice or recommendations you can give will be seriously considered.
I’m glad to hear that you are ready to take the plunge. And I commend you for deciding to start out with a tiny account, risking tiny amounts.
As for a broker recommendation, Oanda clearly offers the ability to trade the smallest positions, taking the smallest risks. In my opinion, that’s the way you should go.
I feel very strongly that you [I]should not[/I] try to juggle two different platforms, one for chart analysis, and one for actual trading. Keep things as simple as possible in the beginning. You can get clever and fancy in the future, after you have taught yourself to trade.
[B]Teaching yourself to trade should be your one and only focus, until you have mastered trading.[/B]
You can learn to trade through almost any reputable broker, so don’t become obsessed with identifying the world’s best broker, at this stage in your development.
Start out with Oanda. If you feel more comfortable with their MT4 platform, then use it. If you like their FxTrade platform better, then go with that. After you have proven to yourself that you can do this forex trading thing, you can consider other brokers and/or other platforms. Your first broker doesn’t have to be your last broker, or your only broker. Fidelity and monogamy apply to romantic relationships, not to broker relationships.
You have one task, at this point: teaching yourself how to use a dollar to earn a penny or two. After you have learned to do that [I]consistently,[/I] then you will be able to easily fatten up your account and ramp up your trading to use a hundred dollars to earn a dollar or two. And then to use a thousand dollars to earn ten or twenty bucks. And, so forth. It’s often described as learning to crawl, before learning to walk; and learning to walk, before learning to run.
Got to agree with clint on this. With a small account you are better off with oanda as you can manage risk far better. I will say though the last I used Oanda I didnt care for there web based plattform at all. I dont remember the fxtrade plattform but it has been years since I traded with them so I am sure improvments have been made. Mt4 has a lot of cool features but it is a 3rd party software and most brokers I have used with MT4 the MT4 price does not match the actual price from the broker. Not sure how you trade for me it really dont matter to much as its not a big difference but for a scalper the difference of a couple pips can cause a major problem. I trade with fxcm and I like there plattform. You cant do quite as much as you can with MT4 but it is getting there very quickly and IMO is much more user friendly.
Also I cant speak for FXCM as I do not work for them but since they have a tenth of a pip in there price quote I am sure its only a matter of time before they follow suit with Oanda and offering partial lots. Again I dont know for sure thats just my guess as the show partial pips in there price quotes it would make sense to me.
Thank you, so much, for your personal touch and your encouraging words.
I’m certainly a newbie at trading, or rather, a wannabe newbie, but I’m not a newbie at life. I’m 72 years old, and on New Years Eve, my wife and I will be married 48 years. Yes, I’m glad that we’re on the same page about that monogamy and fidelity thing, and - I hope nobody flips out when they read this - we give all the credit to Jesus, who saved our marriage 38 years ago through much prayer and two solid years of Bible-based counseling. The result? Two grown daughters, both happily married, and five happy, thriving grandchildren.
Well, on to the “important” stuff! Your encouragement to go with Oanda has strengthened my leaning in that direction for the very reasons you mentioned. At present, my biggest challenge is getting my head out of every forex teacher’s website on the web and getting into serious demo trading - I’ve dabbled with demo in the past and came out the net loser - and backtesting probably, and finally going live. In other words, switching from being primarily a head-knowledge student to one with solid, consistent, hands-on trading experience until I go live with consistent profits.
Yes, I’ll go with Oanda. I’m sold on the idea of being able to trade individual units to keep my 2% risk truly 2% and not 1% or 3%, and I like fxTrade. Much smoother and more intuitive than Marketscope and especially MT4; but if and how I’ll use MT4 in conjunction with fxTrade remains to be seen. The main point is, I’m coming to a focus, and I’m happy about that. Things will get clearer as I proceed.