Does anyone here know if forex traders have any ethical guidelines that they operate by? I understand forex is largely unregulated, but do traders regulate themselves? For example, if a forex trading company is trying to sell me their trading signal service, shouldn’t they show me in great detail before I buy it how it works and what I can expect from it? So that I can fully understand it before I plunk down my money for it? I have a company in mind that does this and I am wishing I had stayed clear of it.
Hey Bill let me clear the air about the nature of my business… Its more of an art then a science, so you enlisting the services of some one else would be like saying you want to paint and you hired Michelangelo to teach you how he does it and no matter how much you practice and study his ways you will never paint like him. So best thing to do is read all the books you can about trading and develop your own style. Be your own boss.
Sorry to hear you had an unfavorable experience. I think the CFTC offers information on some brokers, but I don’t think any company offering a marketing service needs to register or report to anyone.
Not sure whether a company offering a [I]marketing service[/I] will be regulated.
However any business or individual offering investment/trade advice such as [I]forex signals[/I] needs to prove its/his/her expertise and must be properly licensed (in the US and the ‘serious’ countries of Europe at least).
Do you know what all these: tips, services, courses, webinar’s, advice, coaches,mentors and signals have in common? Somewhere in their presentation they all read somthing alon these lines . . . Trading in the forex is very risky and nothing in this presentation is guaranteed and results very.
So the short answer to your question is no. Forex is the consummate buyer beware. Most legit services and products will have a free trial period, a contact us button, before I buy anything I send them a request asking for more information. Personally I stay away from any service or product that has phrases like: never before, once in a lifetime, secrets revealed, must act know, pretty much anything that tells me to act now out of fear of loss.
Ethics and finances do not get along. Where there is money at stake there is always someone willing to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it. Individual traders have no ethical constraints nor do teachers/services. There are jurisdictional regulations that reign in trader/broker/institution activities that try to force certain ethical constraints upon them but even those are circumvented at every chance.
Even the largest trading institutions fail to maintain control over their traders until a government investigation into illegality/unethical practices is underway. Recently, the lead traders at Citi, Barclays, JPMorgan, etc. – basically all of the big banks – have been suspended pending internal and external investigations. They have [allegedly] been colluding to manipulate currency prices (not to mention actual currency price manipulations) by all gathering together in an online chat room and setting the price, so to speak.
Interesting that none of the financial institutions cared to watch over their traders’ activities too intently while they were making money for the banks by price fixing…
They will simply find new ways to gain advantages, ethical or not, in the future.
These are the MOST regulated financial institutions in the world and the executives at these banks will circumvent any law or regulation by finding every loophole that exists if it profits them.
Now consider how an unregulated signal provider, online course, mentor-for-hire or unregulated broker will act. Is it really out of beneficence that they are there to help you or is it the allure of cold, hard cash? Do you think unenforced ethical guidelines will reign them in? How about no ethical guidelines at all (as exist for those you mentioned)?
When it comes to your money only YOU care about keeping it safe while others simply want to part you from it any way they can – including me on the open market, trading against you. Be careful out there. The world is a dangerous place.
I follow the traders ethic! I never place the trade with full mouth, I always wash hands before and after trading, and I always say ‘please’ after yelling “Close this freaking trade, you piece of a junk…please and thank you”
Another great example why I keep telling traders to learn how to trade if they want to succeed or get out of the market. Trading is not for lazy people who think they can spend 5 minutes per day getting some freebie somewhere and enjoy consistent profits at the end of each trading week.
As far as what a company is supposed to show you that is debatable. They are not required to do anything just because you like it. A signal provider does not need to be regulated and as pointed out above they have it in their fine print. Read what you are throwing your money away at.
I agree with you The Last Bear. Laziness always leads to failure and so many approach trading with the wrong mindset and believe it is rather simply and by clicking a few buttons they can earn money.
Until when you are in charge of other people’s money, Ethics is just but a word…
Institutional traders know better…
Mess up and you are gonna get sued by some very angry fellows, but the worst part is that once caught you will be frog matched out of your cubicle at 12PM