Need the Fx Basics

[brownsfan019]

I was hoping with our FX traders that could provide some links to useful FX sites so I am not spending this long weekend all over the place.

I just need some FX basics and good informative sites to have in my bookmarks.

Some questions that come to mind:
1) What are the major pairs to look at?
2) What is each pip worth?
3) Exactly how worried should I be about placing money on deposit with a firm?
4) How about leverage? I know there's a ton available, but I'm not interested in being leveraged to the tilt.

And anything else you can suggest.

Thanks in advance!

[Hlm]

Hey Brownsfan. Here is just some QUICK replies since the market is currently open. I am sure others will pop in here and answer a little more detailed.

1) Take a look here
2) Depends on the pair and your lot size.
3) I personally remove money on a regular basis. It depends on the broker. But yes, no account protection like futures.
4) Again, just depends on the lot size you use. FX is very flexible.

Haha, very helpful, I know.
Main reason to post so fast was the link in number one. I have found that to be a good link to show people. If anyone has a better one please share.

Edit: Here is a good link as well. It is the "preschool" section of babypips.com --> HERE

[brownsfan019]

thanks hlm!

[Sledge]

	Quote:	brownsfan019
	I was hoping with our FX traders that could provide some links to useful FX sites so I am not spending this long weekend all over the place. I just need some FX basics and good informative sites to have in my bookmarks. Some questions that come to mind: 1) What are the major pairs to look at? 2) What is each pip worth? 3) Exactly how worried should I be about placing money on deposit with a firm? 4) How about leverage? I know there's a ton available, but I'm not interested in being leveraged to the tilt. And anything else you can suggest. Thanks in advance!

Brownsfan:
A. EUR/USD is the Flavor of the day currency- every noob and their brother is riding the rocket.
GBP/USD- Our old soul and my personal favorite
USD/CHF- The inverse Euro
USD/CAD- I'm not even going here!
USD/JPY- Get your feet wet with EUR/GBP/CHF first!

Each currency pair has its own personality (took me months to figure this out)
1. Euro- is our resident toddler, exploring every day but continually growing for the most part.
2. GBP is the grandfather, he has had his wild days and is a bit more tame- but with enough movement to keep the party going and plenty of opportunity to make pips!
3. CHF- Pretty much the Euro twin (in inverse)
4. CAD and JPY- Both these currencies are the resident "Wild Teenagers" They whip and dip on a whim, they give you 50 pips and then steal it back before you can say "YEA.... Oh no!"

B. Each Pip is worth $10 on a 1.00 lot on the GBP, EURO and CHF, somewhere in the $9.90 range for the CAD and JPY.

C. Your best bet is to trade on the Globex. Any of the "bucket shops" even the big boys- you are trying to trade against their "dealing desk" They will tell you that you are "out in the market" but in essence- you are buying and selling against their other clients. Do well? You can and will get banned- not outright, but you'll see crap like bad data feeds, lagging, charts that don't update or "outages" Think it isn't possible? I was banned from the same brokers "demo program" TWICE! I was not a customer they wanted!

The BIGGEST reason to trade on the Globex is the following- if you get into a "bucketshop" and they go bankrupt- if you have a $100,000 account- you stand in line in bankruptcy court behind their landlord, or any other creditor. You ARE NOT protected with YOUR money if they go belly up! You say "but wait isn't the NFA overseeing them" Yup. But the spot FX market is the wild west of the trading landscape. Full of cowboys and thieves!

In The Globex you are trading out in the actual market with the rest of the world (not a brokers client list) and they are regulated by the CME, your funds are safe!

This site will give you the scare of your life and verify everything I stated above:
nondealingdesk.com

D. Bucket Shops will allow you to leverage to the hilt! You'll see everything from 100:1 to 400:1.
As you are no doubt a seasoned trader- you know darn well the basics of money management and protecting your capital to "live to trade another day" so I won't expound on this one at all.
Sledge

[milliard]

	Quote:	Sledge
	But the spot FX market is the wild west of the trading landscape. Full of cowboys and thieves!

That's a pretty (general) sweeping statement you make there buddy. Stick RETAIL in front of the above highlighted text & your comment maybe holds water.

I can assure you there are very distinctive levels of quality between the institutional & retail engines within the spot market. Pricing, delivery, execution & working practices are worlds apart.

[torero]

Check out babypips.com, I usually recommend this site for those new to forex.

[Sledge]

	Quote:	milliard
	That's a pretty (general) sweeping statement you make there buddy. Stick RETAIL in front of the above highlighted text & your comment maybe holds water. I can assure you there are very distinctive levels of quality between the institutional & retail engines within the spot market. Pricing, delivery, execution & working practices are worlds apart.

Millard-
Fair enough, I am VERY interested in learning more about an honest and reliable broker, as would thousands of other people if they were to see this thread. You are talking to Joe Average here though- I don't have a $500,000 account.

If you would point me to a spot broker who:
1. Doesn't claim a NDD and is not lying
2. Won't ban you, like Livermore, if you end up actually succeeding
3. Have the platform "fail" when their is high volitility and not give you a B.S. answer that it is "slippage" (in reality they probably didn't have the liquidity to actually cover so they time the trade out or offer it too you 10 or 20 pips away at a loss)

I would Honestly be very happy to demo their platform to give them a test-run to see! I was banned from one broker twice! After the third run at it they changed their currency out to 1.XXXX decimal places and were STILL stealing my swap $ (i.e. on a GBP long I should be getting PAID at EOD if I hold my position not have that amount taken from my account) - I bailed on their program days later!

Right now the best answer I could provide Brownsfan is what I have lived and what I know. If you have a third option. I personally would like to know more about it and as said, I'm SURE others would too!
Sledge

[smwinc]

	Quote:	Sledge
	Millard- Fair enough, I am VERY interested in learning more about an honest and reliable broker, as would thousands of other people if they were to see this thread. You are talking to Joe Average here though- I don't have a $500,000 account.

Sledge, Millard is talking about the real Spot FX market, not Market-Making brokers like FXCM, interbank FX, etc.

The Spot FX market is able to be traded through Reuters D2 or EBS (the two largest facilitators).

EBS / Reuters D2 are designed for institutional clients.

Brownsfan, I would highly suggest trading the FX futures on the Globex as others suggested.

Depending on how you trade, I would also recommend getting the real cash data from EBS.

[milliard]

	Quote:	Sledge
	Millard- Fair enough, I am VERY interested in learning more about an honest and reliable broker, as would thousands of other people if they were to see this thread. You are talking to Joe Average here though- I don't have a $500,000 account.

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.

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.

If folks are sufficiently equipped & loaded with sensible (FX) market skills & experience, (note the word sensible!!) then they really shouldn’t be wasting time, effort or indeed, their own money hustling hobby shops & getting distracted with all that nonsense.

There are firms & groups of investors out there with pockets full of greenbacks only too willing to bankroll the serious hotshots.

Instead of wasting energy on things which can’t be changed, funnel it into area’s that can make a difference.

Slinging regular 5 & 10+ million clips (of someone else’s mooool-ahh) thru a decent Prime or heavyweight (spot) dealing engine will return far more bang for your buck than pissing around with 5th rate hustling shops. And that kind of financing will open those kinds of (Prime Broker/top tier supply) doors.

That’s providing of course one possess the aptitude & psychological maturity to handle both themselves & (regular) heavy size.

Retail shops exist for a reason. I assume most folks are savvy enough not to require the likes of me to lay those reasons out on the line.

[torero]

Sledge, have you tried Interactive Brokers, MBTrading or EFX? I heard IB is not bad, even for forex. I trade through MBT and EFX belong to MBT. I have no complaints from MBT, occasionally their quotes lags during high volume periods but I have FXCM quotes on Ensign and can monitor the real time quotes, I put in my orders and they are accurate with the bid/ask at the moment. They have demo acct you can try out. Try EFX as they have charting tools on their platform.

Sledge I was like you when I got started and was frustrated also at the swindling and dealing that goes on behind the scenes and worst was they were getting away with it. But I tried out a few accounts with different brokers with small lots to test their claims.

All I'm saying is don't generalize that all are bad. True the worst offenders are the largest companies with the highest budget in marketing to capture the inexperienced. These are the same guys that smear the reputation of the forex industry. But there is some decent ones out there if you look for them and of course read reviews from others.

Let's just say I used to lose money from DD (dealing desk) and now it's just the opposite from trading with NDD. With DD, you need to swing trade if you are to make money. For shorter time frame, there is 0 chance of winning. But with NDD you can do both and do all right for yourself.

Good luck.