I’m new to forex and have not opened my account yet. I have been trading on oanda for practice for months now and am now financially and emotionally ready to open a real account with Oanda. I was wondering what you guys think about having your real account with Oanda and using a FXCM demo for there charts because I don’t like the Oanda charts at all. FXCM chart is really is to use and very clear. I wanted to know if this is a good idea.
Another thing i’m worried about is what is the best way to put my money into an Oanda account. I have $2000 cash on me and was wondering what will be the quickest and best way to open my oanda account (paypal, cheque etc.) I will be using 50:1 leverage and EUR/USD.
I use Oanda to place my trades while using an IBFX demo account for charting. In 1.5 years of live trading I’ve only lost a trade once because of the price difference between the platforms, so I think it’s a fine idea!
I put my money into my Oanda account with a check. It took less then a week for the funds to show up in my account. Just remember that per Oanda rules if you put your money in with Paypal you have to withdraw it with Paypal. So you’ll always end up giving around 3% of your winnings to Paypal in transaction fees.
I’m not sure what FXglobal is, but doing a bit of googling it doesn’t look like anything you really need.
As for trading, ya I do the same thing as phil. I place trades with Oanda but use an FXDD demo account. Why FXDD you say?..well that was just the first mt4 demo I tried and felt most comfortable with the feed an all.
As for depositing, I do use PayPal because honestly its WAY easier than a check and stuff. It’s deposited into your Oanda account w/in a day. I didn’t know about the having to withdrawal with Paypal if you deposit with them, so you’ll have to check that.
Also, there’s a double edged sword you have to think about. One of the biggest problems with beginner traders is that they are under capitalized. Now, 2k is really great for a starting account. However, keep in mind that since you’re new to trading…even if you think you’re ready emotionally, chances are you aren’t and with that much capital, it would be very painful to blow that much as your first account.
Personally, I’d start with 100 - 200 and since with Oanda you can trade any size lot, trade very small at first and work your way up. this will expose you to the rigors of trading with real money. After feeling comfortable, then increase the amount of money in your account.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking about a few days ago. Maybe I should start with half that ($1000) then after a month or so deposit another $1000 if all goes well. By the way, I will be doing 50:1 leverage.
you could do that. Be better than the full 2k first. But just some perspective on where I’m coming from. I’ve been fully committed to forex for 2 years. After 6 months of learning and demo trading and being consistent I moved to live trading with 100 bucks.
Now, when I demo’ed I was brining in like 600-900 pips a month. It was great. I liked my trading plan and everything worked well.
When I went live and suddenly felt the draw-down it was like a whole new game. I had to go and practically relearn everything. After seeing how much draw down their was on 4 hour, I started developing new systems for a shorter time frame.
Well fast forward that time, after blowing roughly 1k, I’m now just becoming consistent with my trading and reading the market.
The point I just want to make is that I lived and breathed forex, demo’ed awesome, and still fell into the same pitfalls that most people do. Part of going live and using real money is learning to disconnect yourself from your money and make rational decisions. Because believe you me, it’s nerve racking starting out and losing a couple trades in a row. If you’re too emotional you do what I did…which was go after the next system…then the next, and so on.
So just prepare yourself to lose most if not all of your starting capital for the first year or so. Hopefully you won’t fall into the traps I did, but if you do just be prepared.
FxGlobal has something to do with converting your money into different currencies than your account is in or something like that. I live in the US and my account is in USD, so I’ve never messed with it.
I agree with Virtecs on the account balance issue. Start small so you don’t lose it all if there’s a problem. When I was new and excited I made stupid mistakes like typing in the wrong lot size and screwing up my pending orders. You don’t want to get a margin call and lose $2000 because you’re nervous about trading real money and make a stupid mistake.
I started with $50, and after a couple months I bumped it up to $1000, and then after a few more months I added the rest of my money.
Also, I checked Oanda’s website and the rule is you have to withdraw your money the same way you deposited it. So if you put it in with a check you have to get it out with a check, in with Paypal out with Paypal, etc…
I think you misunderstood my post. I meant that the price difference between my live account with Oanda and my demo charting at IBFX has only caused me to lose one trade. I lose trades for other reasons all the time!
This thread is almost 2 years old and obsolete now, though. Oanda has MT4 charting now.
