# Forex Brokers - your experiences



## pharaoh (20 September 2006)

Hi scsl

Who are you using?
I just set up my account today with Easy Forex www.easyforex.com.au 
They are brilliant. 
I am no expert, but they have exellent customer service, got an office in syd and melb and I got a 1 hour 1-1 training on the phone today with an account manager

If anyone is interested, i can refer you

I need to develop a system, seems to hard to find one, but will try the link mentioned above...

Did look at moving averages, but they always seem to predict the moves AFTER they move...

Anyway, I am new to it all too, so happy to swap ideas


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## scsl (20 September 2006)

*Re: Forex Trading*



			
				pharaoh said:
			
		

> Hi scsl
> 
> Who are you using?
> I just set up my account today with Easy Forex www.easyforex.com.au
> ...



I did that initial AUD/USD trade through CMC Markets' MarketMaker platform. The info I put up was from the live streaming news feed. 

The one-on-one training sounds very helpful. May I ask what was covered?


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## pharaoh (20 September 2006)

*Re: Forex Trading*

The training was on whatever I wanted, he said platform and website or forec trading and basics

So i opted for plaform, so learnt mainly about how the site worked, got some great charting tools, and it took an hour

Got another one tomorrow with the same guy, how good is that for service??
My min trade can be as little as $25usd to open a possition, i internet transferred funds at 3pm into their account, emailed them a reciept, and the funds were cleared in my account 30mins later

they rock
they want you to do well, so you keep trading and they make more money, and I make money too

so very very surprised with how good the service is, and how easy
he gave me tips also on a few things, nd is my account manager now

If I wanna call him and ask his thoughts on how the usd/euro will go for the rest of the week, I just call and we have a chat

cool huh


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## scsl (20 September 2006)

*Re: Forex Trading*



			
				pharaoh said:
			
		

> The training was on whatever I wanted, he said platform and website or forec trading and basics
> 
> So i opted for plaform, so learnt mainly about how the site worked, got some great charting tools, and it took an hour
> 
> ...




Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the manager not allowed to give financial advice? (unless of course Easy Forex is authorised to do so) I'm just curious because when I last asked one of the dealers at CMC on their opinion of a particular stock, I was given the standard line of "We are unable to give..." Their explanation is that this is reason they are able to charge such low brokerage, which is fair enough.

Otherwise, I might have a look at trading with Easy Forex.


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## pharaoh (20 September 2006)

*Re: Forex Trading*

Sorry for late reply

It may well be the case
easy forex are a global company with offices in australia
they are a relatively small head count here, compared to cmc markets, and just mainly do currency trading

So, I guess you get much more personal service, it may not be advice, but he may tell you what he would be doing with his own 
He was actually the nsw sales manager I think, so i may have got lucky

If you're keen, pm your details and i'll send you a referral and his name as a contact.

Oh, you can open up an account with as little as $100 and that will also allow you to attend free training seminars they have coming up, they hired some TA lady who knows her stuff to do a few hrs training for customers of EF

Hope this helps...


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## jovan (5 November 2006)

*Re: Forex Brokers- your experiences*

EasyForex also allow you to trade USD/Gold, however I find that their spreads are a little high.


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## Smurf1976 (9 July 2007)

I won't name the broker for the moment but I'm having a little trouble getting money out of a reasonably well known forex broker.

First they said they needed 100 points of ID to make a withdrawal. Seems a bit funny since they would be depositing funds into the exact same account they were withdrawn from in the first place. But anyway, I sent them the documents they requested.

Two days later, apparently there was some problem with the fax and one page was missing. Hmm... I'm damn sure I faxed all the pages. Not to worry, I sent them again just to be sure. That was last Thursday.

Today? Still can't withdraw any money and I'm getting just a little suspicuous that this isn't going to be too easy. So far, they have taken literally 150 times as long as it took a major bank to approve a loan for 90 times as much money as I'm trying to withdraw from this account. It's slack service at best.

But then "...this authorization does not obligate the Company to perform any Withdrawal, and that he performance of any Withdrawal shall be at the Company's sole and exclusive discretion.".

I'm no lawyer but that sounds awfully like "you agree that we may keep your money if we want to and it's up to us whether we give any or all of it to you".

Thankfully the amount isn't huge, it's thousands not millions, but it's enough to be worth pursuing.


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## yonnie (12 July 2007)

financial problems? sounds very suspicious and I for one wouldn`t leave my money there.

maybe you should name them so other people will get a warning not to go there.

might be better to get all your money out

plenty of brokers after all so why risk it.


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## >Apocalypto< (12 July 2007)

Smurf1976 said:


> I won't name the broker for the moment but I'm having a little trouble getting money out of a reasonably well known forex broker.
> 
> First they said they needed 100 points of ID to make a withdrawal. Seems a bit funny since they would be depositing funds into the exact same account they were withdrawn from in the first place. But anyway, I sent them the documents they requested.
> 
> ...




Totally agree with yonnie.

That is total crap its your money and you can request it. read all there account details of conditions 

then get out of there, if they keep stalling threaten them with legal action or going public with a blog website whatever, it takes to get them to pay up.

close your account move on straight away. last thing you want is to hear is they go bankrupt! Yeh they are big but hey it can happen to any one. protect your capital.


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## reece55 (12 July 2007)

Trade_It said:


> Totally agree with yonnie.
> 
> That is total crap its your money and you can request it. read all there account details of conditions
> 
> ...




I agree with everyone here.....

Regardless of the PDS, you should be able to get your $$$ as and when you see fit...

Smurf, honestly, you should let everyone know here..... I would be more than happy to put pressure on them..... There is a reason why we have ASIC, one must utilize their services when required.....

No shame in talking to the corporate watchdog....... This is why we reinvented the Corporations Law's in regards to financial service providers...

Cheers
Reece


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## wayneL (12 July 2007)

Trade_It said:


> Totally agree with yonnie.
> 
> That is total crap its your money and you can request it. read all there account details of conditions
> 
> ...



This is perhaps the major reason I like futures over forex... counterparty risk.

Sure, futures brokers can and do go broke, but there are guarantees and you still own an asset.

MM organisations can just go *poof* and you lose the lot.


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## caribean (13 July 2007)

It would be nice to find an Aussie futures broker that is competitive on fees and provides a fast trading platform...at the very least it would be preferable to be dealing with problems here in Australia.
As far as futures go, your funds are supposed to be "safe", but have there been any cases to prove it?


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## >Apocalypto< (13 July 2007)

wayneL said:


> This is perhaps the major reason I like futures over forex... counterparty risk.
> 
> Sure, futures brokers can and do go broke, but there are guarantees and you still own an asset.
> 
> MM organisations can just go *poof* and you lose the lot.





That was one of the main reasons I chose IG markets as I saw they were one of the biggest cfd providers in OZ and a bigger one from the UK.

But it does worry me if they go belly up I am in trouble. you have a account but your money is in a pool. Unlike in a broker were you money is your seperate account. Sanford told me that each account holders money is in there own bank west account.

I also called IG to ask them about there record keeping they told me they back up data every 30-60 mins. I was worried if they had a crash they could lose my account balance from file.

hmmm the otherside of CFD's and forex risk.

when the exchange traded CFD's come out I will most likely be moving away from MM if it is better.


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## jovan (17 October 2007)

Oanda is great - low spreads. If you want to go through a non-dealing desk, InterbankFX is a good broker.


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## clowboy (7 November 2007)

Is Easy forex still only day trading or have they upgraded and you can hold a position for months years now?


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## ithatheekret (5 December 2007)

jovan said:


> Oanda is great - low spreads. If you want to go through a non-dealing desk, InterbankFX is a good broker.




I was under the assumption that Oanda was a market maker not a brokerage .
The pip spread is important , more so though is slippage , that can stuff up pip spread calculations straight away . 

I think the biggest brokerage for forex , with the tightest pip spreads , with direct to market and no stop orders missed , lends itself to a Swiss brokerage .


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## ithatheekret (6 December 2007)

Here's one I forgot .

one night actually early A.M I get a phone call . It's my brokerage , with a young Nordic voice , politely asking / enquiring from me what settings I had for my Ichimoku Kinko . So I politely told him the moon was up here , if he could jump over it for me , I'd tell him .

He promptly apologised and made excuses  , my reply to him is unprintable , but it had Piccadilly Circus and the Goon show mentioned in it too ...........


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## tayser (6 December 2007)

Anything that uses MetraTrader4 as the core platform is a market maker - IBFX included.  Justin from EFX explained on ForexFactory that they looked into possibly offering the platform due to its popularity and found that it wouldn't fit with their ECN/STP model.  

And anything with fixed spreads which can be arbitrarily widened when the broker sees fit is a market maker as well (Oanda).


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## MS+Tradesim (13 December 2007)

Hi tayser,

Who would you recommend?


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## disarray (15 December 2007)

I've been looking around at a few before i decide to put my money with one of them, however the first thing to bear in mind is that your money is overseas and out of reach so that is a very high risk you have to factor into your decisions.

if the company you are with goes broke or just decides not to pay then they are difficult to chase and you will be last in a long list of creditors these companies would have. i plan to constantly keep taking money out of the account into australia and maintain only my bare minimum trading capital so my profits will be safe and sound back home where they belong. or possibly an offshore account until i decide how best to bring it home, but there are still high risks involved there too.

as for the brokers i've been trying oanda and efx (on taysers advice, thanks man) and i have come across a few things.

oanda - wider spread and i've seen the spread size fluctuate a fair whack which i don't like. also their stop chasing seems pretty suspicious to me so i have decided against putting money with these guys. their free charting service is excellent however and i pray for a broker that creates a user interface exactly the same as oanda and streams equitities, commodities any everything else there is to trade. i would gladly pay good money for a (preferably australian) company that can offer this service.

efx - more advanced and difficult for a noob like me but they have good documentation so self teaching is the go. they have a great array of order possibilities and a tighter spread than oanda, the only problem is at around 6pm or so i can't lay trades for some reason, i get offline or market not running messages so if i have a position open i can't close it for a while. i don't know what it is, reminds me to send a message to support. however there is no decent charting available so i've been running oanda charts on another screen and ordering interface of my main screen.

i think amibroker does currency pair charting (i think wayneL mentioned it?) but it was too advanced for me a while ago. jusy my opinion on what i have experienced so far.


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## ithatheekret (15 December 2007)

Well your own eyes don't lie to you , that's the most important thing , and if you don't feel comfortable with the trading operations , it is upto you to find one that suits your needs ........ or there will be a lingering doubt , that can interfer with your trading capabilities .

If you like the Oanda chart , why don't you try the VT trader platform , they have a sample account I believe or they use to .

I like it because they have the Ichimoku Kinko indicators in the charting format , just as does Oanda , but I must admit to liking to Oandas charts because I can quickly read them at a glance .

I have a small a/c with them and another with AMC , whilst AMC provides just about everything I need and want in my broker , their charts don't use the Ichi .
So like you , I normally have two screens up and running with different systems on each .


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## tayser (16 December 2007)

MS+Tradesim said:


> Hi tayser,
> 
> Who would you recommend?




For scalping: ECN only as spreads are not fixed (your entry/exit signals are made up of about 50-60% when the spreads narrow (as it gives a hint as to what the direction of the next movement is likely to be)).  

If you're just a little retail trader like me, your options are limited and EFX group or Interactive Brokers are the most logical choice.  I'm demoing with EFX and will go live with them when they offer AUD denominated accounts.

Can't really say with other trading styles, but I guess market makers would be fine as exact entry/exit isn't as critical when you scalp.  Most swing trading systems are based on Pivots which can be automatically generated.


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## MS+Tradesim (16 December 2007)

Thanks for answers. Actually, Tayser I'd come to the same conclusion. I'll be using oanda demo for charting and EFX for execution but won't go live with them until they have AUD accounts. Have no interest in having my surplus held in a falling currency. Until then, I'll keep playing and refining a system.

I think ultimately this might be a good direction:
http://www.smartquant.com/platform.php


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## IFocus (16 December 2007)

Boggo over on the Chartist posted this link talking about futures vers Forex Brokers....

http://www.mtptrader.com/showthread.php?t=1363


Focus


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## >Apocalypto< (16 December 2007)

disarray said:


> I've been looking around at a few before i decide to put my money with one of them, however the first thing to bear in mind is that your money is overseas and out of reach so that is a very high risk you have to factor into your decisions.
> 
> if the company you are with goes broke or just decides not to pay then they are difficult to chase and you will be last in a long list of creditors these companies would have. i plan to constantly keep taking money out of the account into australia and maintain only my bare minimum trading capital so my profits will be safe and sound back home where they belong. or possibly an offshore account until i decide how best to bring it home, but there are still high risks involved there too.
> 
> ...




Don't forget trading FX with Interactive Brokers they're a ECN as well, or with one of the many Australian CFD providers. I trade FX with IG or now. but i am looking at a fx specialist or IB as IG don't offer trailing stops which is a real pain.


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## >Apocalypto< (16 December 2007)

MS+Tradesim said:


> Thanks for answers. Actually, Tayser I'd come to the same conclusion. I'll be using oanda demo for charting and EFX for execution but won't go live with them until they have AUD accounts. Have no interest in having my surplus held in a falling currency. Until then, I'll keep playing and refining a system.
> 
> I think ultimately this might be a good direction:
> http://www.smartquant.com/platform.php




MS,

I spoke to Ryan at Efx on live chat. I asked him how hard it is to turn your US$ account to AUD and back again. he told me it was not a big drama , in case the US$ bear ever comes to a end!


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