Need the Fx Basics

[Anna-Maria]

	Quote:	milliard
	I’m afraid I can’t comment on the rest of your post, & I wouldn’t imagine Mr Krantz or Ms Gistane (Anna-Maria) could either. We don’t ply our trade in gamblin shops.

Now what would you know about my whereabouts & the kind of company I keep mister. I’ll have you know I’m more than adequately versed on the intricacies of the retail spot environment. Stop being so grouchy & mean spirited with these nice folks.

Pay him no mind Mr Sledge, he’s just pissed coz he’s got to spend Good Friday ploughing through accounts & reports. His laziness is paying him an overdue visit

torero offers a playable alternative if you’re looking to maintain an independent slant, rather than hook up with a fund or private money. I’d also highly recommend sticking your snout in the CME trough. In fact it wouldn’t do folks any harm to spread their funding base around & have an iron in each fire.

I understand EFX are a tad on the heavy side with their commissions? maybe take a looksy at Hotspot & London Capital Group, who I believe offer a sample of Interbank access routes accommodating differing palates.

I/we don’t have any front-end experience of any of them unfortunately, but I’m sure if you approach them & make yourself heard you’ll get any pertinent questions answered.

Failing that, Andre does actually make a valid point regards hawking your CV down appropriate avenues if you can proof a solid track record & fight your corner whilst looking the money-men directly in the eye when they test your mettle.

Sorry can't be of more assistance. I certainly hear you though regards the banana skin tactics of the retail shops. They really are distasteful characters of the highest order.

[milliard]

Why doesn’t that surprise me any. I ought to have figured you’d be sticking your beak into places & things that don’t concern you.

I guess we’ll have Mr Krantz informing us he’s a major investor in Oanda next?!

Mind you, that’s not such a shabby income stream judging by the bemusing attraction, apparent high strike-out rate & account pumping antics of the gamblers.

Think maybe we ought to divert & branch into retail shop distribution Annie Oakley? What do you reckon.

Grease the slimy palms of the laughable regulators & we're home & hosed.

[torero]

Hi Anna-Marie, I see you're not spending Good Friday at a pub or in some country club sipping some hot tea or better yet an icy margarita! So much for teasing Andre about being stuck at the office!

Thanks for the recommend on these 2 brokers, I'd certainly research around for them.

Just out of curiosity, a commoner wanting to know about the forex biz, what is the length of time is considered solid record before a firm would even consider looking at it?

[Anna-Maria]

Good morning torero,

We've got end of quarter meetings looming, so it's all hands on deck I'm afraid. The bars will have to wait till tomorrow & Sunday

We had a fella approach our parents just last year via one of the suppliers we do business with. He had 3 years (live money) records + sound business (trade) plans behind him. He wasn't short on confidence that's for sure, which tipped the balance.

It very much depends upon the individual torero. Most firms/investors will only talk to prospects who possess extremely strong & well defined (trading) structures. They know exactly what they want & how you should operate out there.

They'll quickly close negotiations if a candidate fails to deliver robust risk & quantifiable presentation parameters. They can smell bullshit from afar.

The better prepared you are, the more serious you'll be taken.

[Sledge]

	Quote:	milliard
	Sure, but all I was concerned with was that the important little tag (retail) was inserted in front of your comment regards cowboys & thieves. Quite crucial to distinguish between the hobby shops & the legitimate working environment. Instead of wasting energy on things which can’t be changed, funnel it into area’s that can make a difference.

Milliard-
I think if nothing else my initial "comment" shed light on a subject that is hard to know unless you have lived it from this side of the trade. I remember when I started I said- "Damn I know how to trade, but where I park my money and feel safe about it is the hardest part of trading."

Taking all of my hard work to seed my account and to have it stolen by a shady broker would yield results that I cannot and will not mention. So sadly for me (even still) I just don't have the money backing to play in your arena. I'm not sure what brownsfan's account trading size is- but if he wants to play the spot fx market and isn't a VERY LARGE monetary holder- I am warning him to the pitfalls of the "bucketshop"

I know there are honest brokers, I know that the comment was general and sweeping. I am not here to offend, but I'm also not here to pander to anyone I don't know and am honest about what is out there. Would I be a good contributor if I said "Yeah go to FXCM they are the largest broker out there- that makes them good" Hell no- they are one of the biggest thieves. That is HOW they are the largest.

Your post sheds light on the other side of spot- a side I cannot speak from as I am not in that ballpark. So no offense intended.
Sledge

[milliard]

I hear ya sledge, & you certainly didn’t offend.

I totally agree with your comments re; majority of the retail fx brokers out there. Spot has attracted a bad rap now for a good while, & the double barrel kick from clueless punters & scum bag (retail) brokers really pisses the genuine players off big style.

On the whole, those dirt bags (brokers) attract exactly the type of punter they deserve, & vice versa.

Most of the crowd who have jumped on the wagon over the past few years are under capped, over leveraged, & gunning totally inadequate strategies for their intended aims.

They do very little (initial or ongoing) research, planning, testing of sorts or even understand the generic marketplace & what makes it tick. Little wonder they go underwater so quickly. Most of them are a brokers wet dream.

The minority who go in amply prepared & with eyes wide open quickly find out (as you appear to have done) the reality is very different from the rosy, sexed up picture being painted by all the bullshit marketing.

But there are alternatives out there for you & any other player who has their head screwed on, & has been ever since these slime balls began sprouting up over the last 5 or 6 yrs. All’s it takes is a little snouting & ferreting around & a confident persona. Ring the larger supply houses up & talk through with them what you’re looking for.

They’re not ogre’s. They want to do business with professional players. If they can’t accommodate you, then push them to recommend an alternative over & above the lower tier retail shops.

Ask them if they have contacts into private money or short to mid-term investment vehicles seeking an avenue outlet etc etc. How can you get on the lower rung of the Interbank engines blah blah blah……

These fella's (dealers, clerks, reps) speak to a lot of customers every day (including spec desks/hedge outfits/CTA pods/high net worth punters etc) & know what's going on out there.

You got to put yourself out there & hustle these characters. They’re not going to come knocking your door. Not many have the balls to contact them. As long as you’re confident, know your onions & you’re polite yet ballsy, they won’t hang up on you.

As Anna-Maria said, if one possesses a keen awareness of what’s what out there & has his-her shit wrapped tight then the options are a little more varied.

[Sledge]

	Quote:	Anna-Maria
	It very much depends upon the individual torero. Most firms/investors will only talk to prospects who possess extremely strong & well defined (trading) structures. They know exactly what they want & how you should operate out there. They'll quickly close negotiations if a candidate fails to deliver robust risk & quantifiable presentation parameters. They can smell bullshit from afar. The better prepared you are, the more serious you'll be taken.

Anna-
I am most apprciative of all of you that are actually in the market and on the side that you are. As you and Milliard seem to be open and honest about contributing to this conversation- Would you elaborate on this?

With so many people out there who WANT to get their feet wet, but don't want to go to a "bucketshop" can you give more details on the info in the quoted text above?

Are you saying that on the high-end spot brokers you have to lay out a plan (like a business plan) to them before they would take you as a customer? What do they want to know? How much of my actual trading "strategy" would I need to reveal to them?" Also- what is the minimum account size at these larger "non-retail" sopt firms? This is a whole new world for me, so hopefully my questions do not seem like "no-brainers" to you.

If I could find a reputable spot firm that would work with me, or allow me to trade with them without a huge account. I'm all ears to know more info!
Thanks in advance.
Sledge

[Sledge]

	Quote:	torero
	Sledge, have you tried Interactive Brokers, MBTrading or EFX?

Torero-
I did demo their platform at one time but unless something changed--when I did- they had no charting to go along with it. Some folks didn't care, but it was too cumbersome for me to have a charting program running and alt+tabbing over to EFX to make my entries and monitor trades. I'm a longer term trader now so I may look into it, but at the time I was scalping and it was nearly impossible to do it with no charts
Sledge

[Anna-Maria]

	Quote:	Sledge
	This is a whole new world for me, so hopefully my questions do not seem like "no-brainers" to you. If I could find a reputable spot firm that would work with me, or allow me to trade with them without a huge account. I'm all ears to know more info!

I think we’re talking at cross purposes here Sledge.

The comments you highlighted above are in reference to individuals approaching investors or backers, not the requirements of brokers.

Price providers don’t care what your strategy consists of, as long as you stump up the required (minimum) capital to trade & behave yourself.

I believe Hotspot still operate a two tier entry grid. Last I heard an individual could leg in for $7.5k min. Take a snoop around their site for more info, I haven’t had occasion to look in there for a long time.

http://www.hotspotfx.com/main.jsp
http://www.hotspotfxi.com/


London Capital can lever you into various portals (incl Hotspot via a straight-thru link) dependant upon your stake, aims & variables. They cater for small to mid-sized specs as well as multi-outlet operators across several streams.

Take a look around the site, make a few notes & maybe give them a call & explain your situation. My brother had dealings with a couple backers who dealt with them a while back – according to him, they spoke highly of the reps at the time.

http://www.capitalforexpro.com/bankPortal.php


I’m a little rusty on stuff which doesn't directly affect how & where we operate, so I'm not sure who else you could approach as an “independent” to be honest.

Most of the next level price suppliers such as your Prime Brokers & low tiered Bank desks are geared more towards funds & firms. The houses we use only entertain well financed specs & high rollers who have substantial capital input.

Anyhow, I hope some of this stuff assists in some small way. Let us know how you go on, & if Art (Krantz) can throw a log on the fire when he rolls in middle of next week, then I'm sure he'll let you know.

[Sledge]

Anna-
$7.5K is absolutely alright. I was sure to start with at least $10K when I started anyways. So this absolutely is OK and I would advise anyone who does get into FX to seed their account with at least $10K.

ANYONE READING THIS ASIDE: Just because the bucketshops LET you open an account with $500 does NOT mean it is a good idea! They will be glad to get you in as a client, overleverage yourself, take your $500 and wait for the next sucker, all while turning you off of the market.

Ok, back to Anna:
Thank you for your post & links. I will be sure to look at the sites you gave and look to making some phone calls! Yes this helps, this helps a lot! Thank You!
Sledge