micro-wave

Hey, just found this forum. I would never scalp or trade with MBT, besides there commissions are too high. If you must go ECN, I'd say your best bet for anything under 50k deposit is IB. If you have 20-50k you can try negotiating with a Tier 2 PB. Anyone who doesn't tell you who their liquidity providers are... forget it. Same thing with Dukascopy, and there commissions are CRAZY... out of the question. Whats even more fishy is how much volume they claim.... FXDD/CMS/Alpari etc have CNX platforms, but they are CNX Viking, which is a market maker model. They might be STP, but incoming data can be manipulated, and they have last look before your order goes through (same with MBT). FXDD being the best of the bunch as far as spreads/commissions are concerned, and you will have no problem getting your money from them, and they are ok. Liquidity providers are also a question that won't be answered here... so you know none of these are TRUE ECN's in that sense. IB has high commissions also, but not THAT bad. I am not a fan of the ladder, but I here good things about them, and a lot of people do like booktrader. I like Oanda... even though they are a market maker, they are not a bucketshop. They can't be beat as far as net costs are concerned.. I love there platform and execution has been great and there feed is really nice now. The only brokers I would use until I get to a Tier 2 PB on CNX is... Oanda, FXDD, or IB... especially for scalping. FXCM was ok too, but spread is too high now...

Hey everyone, new member here, but definitely not new to trading forex. I just recently found this forum. Anyway here is my thoughts... I won't consider MBT because of their commissions, IB has a bit better commissions, but still high. Perhaps you could negotiate them down?? I tried once, but they didn't allow it until a certain volume. If you can do a certain volume, you will get discounted. It is pretty high though. MBT claims to be a true ECN platform with STP, but I am really not sure about that to be honest. There has been much argument and debate. I will tell you one thing... If a broker doesn't tell you their liquidity providers, look the other way. Dukascopy does this as well, what is also fishy about Dukascopy is they claim such high volume.... and there commissions are CRAZY. I am a scalper, and the person asking the question sounds like he is a scalper as well. I don't know which pair you trade or how many ticks you go for on average, but if you're like me and scalp EU or UJ, anything over $2 per 100k is pretty much out of the question along with anything > 1 pip spread (for me). I keep my stops 5-6ticks including the spread/commissions. However, if you trade more volatile pairs like EJ/GU then $2.50 commissions per 100k that IB charges might not matter THAT much. Depends on the style I suppose. I trade with Oanda, and to be honest I am quite happy there. The net costs are much lower then both MBT and IB and the execution, platform, and feed is great these days. This was different a few years back. Forget about trading the news with Oanda... so if thats your thing, stay away. I also much prefer fractional pips being a scalper. They are a market maker, but they aren't a bucketshop. I would never use MT4 to scalp... or ever for that matter. MT4 is bucketshop. I would consider IB.... but never MBT. My next stop after Oanda is a tier 2 prime brokerage using a CNX platform. You have to negotiate commissions and deposits with most of them though. Minimum deposit for a true tier 2 ECN is around 50k... most are higher. You could always try negotiating them down though! one more option... You could try FXDD using the powertrader platform... They are the lowest deposit ECN with the best commissions I know of... and offer 100:1, but also note that brokers like FXDD/CMS/Alpari... etc aren't TRUE Currenex, they are Viking CNX, which is a market maker model CNX platform. It might be STP, but incoming data can and will be manipulated and the broker has last look before your order goes through. This is not the same as tier 2 PB CNX models.... So True ECN brokers are limited for retail traders who don't have at least 50k to drop into a tier 2 PB. The only one I know of is IB..... for 10k.