Interactive Brokers Forex Review - 2020 Spreads To Platforms

Demographic:International
Grades:GPA 4.0(expected since I am taking A levels and exams scores are predicted)
Subjects
1.Economics
2.Mathematics

1. Business

4.language
SAT:1570 Not giving SAT 2 due to corona-virus
Attended Military School
Brief EC list
1.Ted x Chapter Curator and Speaker(Founder Chapter)-Invited and Attended Tedx Conferences Internationally representing my country
2.Founded two very successful cryptocurrency companies(Not mentioning name to protect privacy)

1. Trading in Financial markets(more than 40k dollar account value)

-mainly trade Forex on margin through interactive brokers
-Trade on Trader workstation software by Interactive brokers (also used by hedge funds)
-Also trade stocks(Highest gain was investing in Carnival Corp when it was brink of bankruptcy and Saudi Fund invested)
Average Returns of 14 percent on Stocks
-Chess National Champion U18-Natioanlly ranked 23 overall as of 2020
-Captain Basketball Team(Regional Champions Junior Level)
-Chess Club-Collaborated with national chess federation to organize events in regional events at School
-National Astronomy magazine writer
----
Awards;
3 national level awards for Astronomy
Represented Country Internationally at Spacecraft design Competition
Won multiple Investing Competitions
------------------

Hi there,
My base currency is Canadian and I hold some USD exposure right now due to investments. I am new to using Interactive Brokers and futures trading.
To my understanding it is possible to mantain a hedge using the cash-settled large and mini Currency Futures Contract and occasionally adjust depending on your USD exposure.
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/g10/canadian-dollar.html
Per https://www.retailinvestor.org/hedge.html#risk
"It is too expensive to hedge." The cost to buy a $100,000 futures contract good for a year, is about $5. Pittance. Yes you must provide collateral but that is not a cost. You will also find that buried somewhere in whatever method you chose, is a cost/benefit equal to the difference in interest rates between the countries. Since Canada and US rates are so close you can cancel out any cost by using limit orders that let normal market volatility make up the difference.
The fund managers who say hedging is expensive are referring to using options. This method IS expensive. Options are a one-sided bet on the direction of FX, expiring within a specific time span. They are not hedges.
The cash funding of open futures contracts come from the daily settlements. If your position gains $1,000 in value one day, there will be $1,000 put into your account. More importantly, if your position loses $1,000, it will be taken from your account. If there is not sufficient cash your broker will consider it borrowed and charge you interest. You must realize that because this is a hedge, you are not 'losing' that cash. For every dollar you might lose in the futures account, the offsetting investment in the foreign security will have gained the same amount. Agreed, you cannot liquidate that cash daily, but the value is there."
​
1) Anybody have any experience in this in how to consider which month of futures contract to purchase, (near month or 1 year from now if I want one year of) I believe futures contract automatically roll-forward to the next month.
The Price Curve seems to curve down, and is in some sort of backwardation? So farther away in time cost more due to priced in uncertainty - and also more thinly traded?
2) Collateral is required so I assume is some sort of Margin that is required to maintain the contract,
3) What are the calculations to determine how much to hedge out. Say I have $100k USD?
Is it just Looking at say $100k USD x the Future Price Rate (of CAD/USD) or the current Spot Forex Exchange Rate?
I.e. $100k USD / 0.74500s (Aug '20) = $134k CAD ~
So 1 $100k CAD Contract and 3-4 $10k CAD mini contracts?
4) Any resources to learn about this?
​
Thanks in advance

Here are some steps that you can take to choose the best currency pairs to trade in forex:
1- Open charts of at least seven currency pairs
This could be your morning coffee time read. Before getting distracted by the news and the noise from the media, it is always best to take an unbiased look at the charts to see how the markets are doing. Which pairs are under pressure? Are any of them consolidating? Which pairs are moving up? Is there a specific currency that is behaving the same against most other currencies? This initial, unbiased interaction with the currency pairs on the forex dance floor is important because it will help you prepare for the next step of choosing the best currency pairs to trade in forex.
2- Skim through the latest market news:
Now that you have your heart set on a few currencies, you can quickly listen to the latest global news on your local news media, to see if there are any unusual market updates. This can include a Chinese stock market drop, a (lack of) interest rates hike, or a Swiss Franc jawboning). Reading the news will help you discover the latest market sentiment and the risk-off/ risk-on situation of the best currency pairs to trade in forex. We would typically want to avoid currency pairs that are facing huge volatility risk because even though one could argue you can find trading opportunities in volatile markets, I would argue chances are the market chaos and lack of a solid direction would kick you in the butt with unexpected surprises. Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to investing your hard-earned cash!
3- Check out Invest Diva’s blog for the latest forex trading strategies
Now that you have the breaking news on hand, you can turn to our blog for the longer term, solid trading strategies on select currency pairs. If you find the currency pairs you had your eyes on, great! Read on and find out if these are the best currency pairs to trade in forex right now.
You should also determine if these pairs are suitable for your portfolio at this time. It is important to note that we don’t publish forex trading strategies for every currency pair, every day. The reasons include our goal to cut down on market noise, as well as avoiding to mislead forex traders to trade more than they should. We have noticed that traders with larger risk appetite tend to jump on any trading signal we publish, whether it is suitable for their portfolio or not. So, in order to promote responsible trading, we have limited our trading signals to only 3 per week. Anything more than that needs a thorough consultation with your truly, to analyze your current account, open positions, available margin, investment portfolio, and more.
Eagle I Markets is an award winning forex and commodities broker, providing trading services and facilities to both retail and institutional clients. Through its policy of providing the best possible trading conditions to its clients and allowing both scalpers and traders using expert advisors unrestricted access to its liquidity, Eagle I Markets has positioned itself as the forex broker of choice for traders worldwide.
visit: https://www.eagle-imarkets.com/

Redditors, just so you know, people associated with Pepperstone control Forex.
They just banned me for my post below, alleging "Note from the moderators: Copy / Paste spamming of your opinion on a broker comes off as you being a paid basher."
IB doesn't pay random nobody's on the internet like me you corrupt morons. My dislike of Pepperstone or in fact any business that fundamentally thrives on exploiting vulnerable poeple motivates me.
Please read my post below which caused me to be censored by corrupt Forex who want you to be cheated by Pepperstone:
Pepperstone - never ever use them (self.Forex) submitted 3 hours ago by playingpoodles Hi, just a quick suggestion of my opinions regarding Pepperstone. Nobody can use Pepperstone and pay their default fees and profit over the longer term ever. In my opinion, which I think will be born out by your own account if you are with Pepperstone, and bother to look, it is impossible to profit over any extended (eg. three months or more) period of time while using Pepperstone. This is because their margin prices from what I can see seems to be around 15%, or around 15 times IB. Think about it, you go long/short a pair, and profit 10% on average over time, that means you're 5% in the red over that same period of time. Nobody can out-trade that handicap. Pepperstone's spreads are also around 10 times Interactive Brokers. This would make difficult to profit over time, but not impossible, but see above it is impossible because of the margin interest charged by Pepperstone. Pepperstone's business model is to "truck" vulnerable men who want to get rich quick trading forex with probably usually small account sizes. I'm sure some better off men would set up on Pepperstone too after some sort of winfdall inheritance or whatever. But people who've managed to earn real $100,000s are unlikely to generously give it up to Pepperstone's rich, exploitative, owners. That's okay to Pepperstone, they're fine ripping $1000s off everyday disadvantaged Western men. If you want to trade forex, use IB, if you can't use IB in your jurisdiction Google a similar cost effective competitor. Or trade forex in futures lots through CME using IB, Ameritrade or TastyWorks instead.

In a variety of stocks to invest in, it’s very important to find a trustworthy one. That is when our Top 5 business trading portals will assist you! We have prepared the set of those platforms that have actual and useful data available, are trusty, and can really help you in earning. Thus, we would like to share our reliable services and stocks to invest in – which one to choose is up to you upon reading this article!
Everything about Cryptocurrency and Financial Markets
The first place in our Top 5 belongs to investing.com. This portal has a global influence since it consists of 28 editions in about 20 languages. Besides, each edition covers a wide range of world and local financial instruments and vehicles. Being launched in 2007, the platform already impresses by its growing and expanding readership.
It contains a variety of data about cryptocurrency – from their types to main features. Also, the resource provides breaking news, important analyses of business trading, and market overview. For those, who look for interactives, there are charts about Forex, indices, stocks, and so on. Brokers will get here working tools and even can count on education in this sphere.
Trustworthy Bitcoin Exchange
The 2nd place is deservedly held by cex.io – the service for Bitcoin exchange that was established as the first provider of cloud mining. Since then, it has become a multifunctional cryptocurrency exchange used by over one million people.
It’s based on cross-platform trading via official website and applications. The portal distinguished itself by a variety of payment options, strong security, globe coverage, margin trading, competitive commissions, legal compliance, advanced reporting, and high liquidity. What’s more, 0% of users witnessed theft of the service – that means time-proven stability.
The Biggest Exchange in European Volume
Are you ready to see the 3rd position in our Top 5? That is the portal kraken.com to buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin that has become the largest exchange in European volume. It works as with dollars, so British pounds, and yen. The portal was the first one in many spheres: to display the Bloomberg Terminal, to pass a verifiable audit that is proof of reserves, and to become the partner of the first bank that used cryptocurrency.
The platform features advanced order types, ranked #1 security, reliability, fast funding, low fees, and leveraged trading. You can create your account to get more options at hour hand or open its blog for more information. Besides, it offers trading guide and charts to ease the process of understating such a difficult topic.
Gold and Silver Buyer and Seller
Now it’s high time to present our fourth place of stocks to invest in – kitco.com. This world-famous and award-winning service renders to buy and sell gold and silver. It’s a true expert in market commentaries that provides information and up-to-the-minute news. As a result, it disposes of about a million users a day.
At the website, one can get to know with all metal quotes, necessary data and useful charts, markets with their overviews and future development options, etc. There is a special section called ‘Jeweler resources’ for those who are keen on this topic, while users interested in mining will be glad to read the latest press releases and stock indices.
Currency Exchange of the Next Generation
And the last place for today is taken by bittrex.com! It offers as businesses, so individuals to buy and sell digital tokens and cryptocurrency. The portal is a kind of go-to spot for those traders who appreciate safe strategies, reliable wallets, and fast trade operations.
The service works with such types of currencies as Bitcoin, Ubiq, Gridcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, etc. It’s based on blockchain technologies that don’t stop to innovate and algorithmic trading, that’s why the platform can be called the next-generation digital currency exchange, where security comes first.
Other ratings can be found on our website:https://www.ratrating.com/

Dear Reddit,
We are a team of three people that have developed an algorithmic trading strategy for Forex during the beginning of this year.
It is coded in .NET and the broker we use is Interactive Brokers (API). Strategy is simple and trades after technical indicators, but highly optimized.
The algorithms works very well and has already given us a return of 30% without margin during three weeks of live trading. We did get good results when we backtested the algorithms too (6 months), but we get even better results during live trading. We have developed our own backtesting software with our own recorded data. The strategy is only trading EUUSD right now because this currency pair has the highest amount of liquidity in the market, and our robot needs liquidity. We hold positions from 60 ms up to 1 hour.
We are trading Live with our own money right now. But we are very interested to get in touch with people in this area to continue to develop this strategy, attract capital or collaborate with other people in this area.
We often get the question: "Is it really possible to make money with algorithmic trading?" Answer: Yes you can, but it involves a lot of work, experience and sense of how markets work. This strategy for example should only be used when the markets conditions are "right" for this strategy and that is; High liquidity in the FX markets, low volatility and no major news events or volatile stock markets that can have spill over effects on the FX market. Otherwise big unexpectedly moves in this currency pair will occur more often and and this will result in unnecessary losses.
Which boards or communities are best for this kind of things?
Please let us know. If you have any questions about our strategy or anything else, feel free to ask :)
Thanks.

My name is Andrew Host and I am the CEO & Founder of the FXSyndicate.org
In the past 12 years I have worked with more than 10000 Forex traders, investors and interested individuals who were seeking advice, reliable services and methods on how to better perform on the Forex market. Let me tell you... The industry is very diverse in all its aspects, it's like a hydra with many services and individuals using and providing them, all seeking to make profits.
The main players are the Forex brokers and the Forex traders, after which comes to additional services like Forex signals, Forex account management, news and indicators providers. All these are players interacting with each other so the connections are multiple, but all leading to the final point: the Forex trader. He is the final piece of the puzzle, the one that benefits or not.
More than 90% of the Forex traders are losing money and this is due to a certain number of aspects. I will, based on my own experience and views, give some examples of genuine investors and advices for those who are not.
1. The Broker There are 100+ Forex brokers operating in the industry, differentiated by 2 main aspects: Market Makers or ECN / STP. The investor must know what these 2 means and he should conclude that a Market Maker will always play against him. A responsible investor will not deposit his money into an offshore, unregulated or poorly regulated broker, because the chances of him seeing those money again are very low. After the ESMA rules taking into action, almost all reliable brokers have a cap at 1:30 leverage. Still there are unregulated and offshore brokers who will let you use even 1:1000. The mirage is strong and many will fall for it.
ADVICE: Never use an offshore or unregulated broker. There are only a 3, 4 really reliable brokers in the industry!
2. The Equity Before making any investment decision, any responsible trader should know and accept the fact that you need money to make money. I have seen thousands of individuals seeking to make unrealistic profits with a low $500 account. That won`t happen unless you are a professional and you will build it step by step, with very rigid rules of risk management, over a long period of time. Of course, you will see advertising claiming to do that on a daily basis, but that is just a scamming method and unfortunately many fall for it.
ADVICE: Never start with a low balance account. A $5000 initial investment would be a healthy start!
3. Investor qualities What I call a good investor material is one that knows how to put patience above all. Emotions in trading are a real thing and you need to manage your instincts very well, otherwise they will manage you and the results will most likely have a negative impact on your investment. If you can not stand to see a certain degree of risk or draw-down in an open session, Forex trading might not be for you. I have seen traders and managers acting reckless when seeing negative sessions, raising the risk by quite a lot hoping to recover the lost funds and heading straight to margin call. The investor must be educated with strong financial principles, to understand the risks involved and the methods to handle and using them to generate consistent profits.
ADVICE: Never invest money you can not afford to lose and never trade money based on emotions and primary instincts!
4. The strategy When you place your money in the market we must assume that you already have a very good understanding of it and you already know that unrealistic gains does not happen overnight. You must plan your investment for medium - long term. A $5000 investment can reach a few millions in a few years. Of course it will take you a few years, but in a few years you will either be a millionaire or short of a $5000 amount. As a genuine investor you will always build capital slowly and responsible and once you reach a certain level you can diversify it and split it into multiple investments based on multiple strategies, rather than risking everything from the start.
ADVICE: Do not expect unrealistic gains overnight with a low investment. Plan it carefully and responsibly on long term!
5. Professional management Rather than losing his money on the markets by failing to understand that it takes years and years to master a profitable strategy, a responsible investor should look for professional account management if he is really decisive on investing in the Forex market. As an investor willing to let someone else manage your money, you must always get all your facts about that someone. Ask for performance proofs, analyze the way they trade, their business practice, the risk management strategy and the consistency in delivering profitable outcomes. Anything short of that, you might just do yourself a favor and stay away.
ADVICE: Always let someone manage your investment portfolio only if you are 100% convinced that your money are on good hands!
REMEMBER: Forex trading is a risky affair and should be done only by those who really understand all the key aspects of this industry. Many individuals do not understand how important this is and it results in them losing their money. Get educated, hold your emotions, choose the best environments for trading and take care of your profits! There are people on the Forex market that embodied unhealthy principles because they were fed with all the lies and unrealistic goals for so many time that they have reached a point where they highly believe the million dollar trade is just around the corner. It`s not!

My name is Andrew Host and I am the CEO & Founder of the FXSyndicate.org
In the past 12 years I have worked with more than 10000 Forex traders, investors and interested individuals who were seeking advice, reliable services and methods on how to better perform on the Forex market. Let me tell you... The industry is very diverse in all its aspects, it's like a hydra with many services and individuals using and providing them, all seeking to make profits.
The main players are the Forex brokers and the Forex traders, after which comes to additional services like Forex signals, Forex account management, news and indicators providers. All these are players interacting with each other so the connections are multiple, but all leading to the final point: the Forex trader. He is the final piece of the puzzle, the one that benefits or not.
More than 90% of the Forex traders are losing money and this is due to a certain number of aspects. I will, based on my own experience and views, give some examples of genuine investors and advices for those who are not.
1. The Broker There are 100+ Forex brokers operating in the industry, differentiated by 2 main aspects: Market Makers or ECN / STP. The investor must know what these 2 means and he should conclude that a Market Maker will always play against him. A responsible investor will not deposit his money into an offshore, unregulated or poorly regulated broker, because the chances of him seeing those money again are very low. After the ESMA rules taking into action, almost all reliable brokers have a cap at 1:30 leverage. Still there are unregulated and offshore brokers who will let you use even 1:1000. The mirage is strong and many will fall for it.
ADVICE: Never use an offshore or unregulated broker. There are only a 3, 4 really reliable brokers in the industry!
2. The Equity Before making any investment decision, any responsible trader should know and accept the fact that you need money to make money. I have seen thousands of individuals seeking to make unrealistic profits with a low $500 account. That won`t happen unless you are a professional and you will build it step by step, with very rigid rules of risk management, over a long period of time. Of course, you will see advertising claiming to do that on a daily basis, but that is just a scamming method and unfortunately many fall for it.
ADVICE: Never start with a low balance account. A $5000 initial investment would be a healthy start!
3. Investor qualities What I call a good investor material is one that knows how to put patience above all. Emotions in trading are a real thing and you need to manage your instincts very well, otherwise they will manage you and the results will most likely have a negative impact on your investment. If you can not stand to see a certain degree of risk or draw-down in an open session, Forex trading might not be for you. I have seen traders and managers acting reckless when seeing negative sessions, raising the risk by quite a lot hoping to recover the lost funds and heading straight to margin call. The investor must be educated with strong financial principles, to understand the risks involved and the methods to handle and using them to generate consistent profits.
ADVICE: Never invest money you can not afford to lose and never trade money based on emotions and primary instincts!
4. The strategy When you place your money in the market we must assume that you already have a very good understanding of it and you already know that unrealistic gains does not happen overnight. You must plan your investment for medium - long term. A $5000 investment can reach a few millions in a few years. Of course it will take you a few years, but in a few years you will either be a millionaire or short of a $5000 amount. As a genuine investor you will always build capital slowly and responsible and once you reach a certain level you can diversify it and split it into multiple investments based on multiple strategies, rather than risking everything from the start.
ADVICE: Do not expect unrealistic gains overnight with a low investment. Plan it carefully and responsibly on long term!
5. Professional management Rather than losing his money on the markets by failing to understand that it takes years and years to master a profitable strategy, a responsible investor should look for professional account management if he is really decisive on investing in the Forex market. As an investor willing to let someone else manage your money, you must always get all your facts about that someone. Ask for performance proofs, analyze the way they trade, their business practice, the risk management strategy and the consistency in delivering profitable outcomes. Anything short of that, you might just do yourself a favor and stay away.
ADVICE: Always let someone manage your investment portfolio only if you are 100% convinced that your money are on good hands!
REMEMBER: Forex trading is a risky affair and should be done only by those who really understand all the key aspects of this industry. Many individuals do not understand how important this is and it results in them losing their money. Get educated, hold your emotions, choose the best environments for trading and take care of your profits! There are people on the Forex market that embodied unhealthy principles because they were fed with all the lies and unrealistic goals for so many time that they have reached a point where they highly believe the million dollar trade is just around the corner. It`s not! Should you need professional account management with over 3700% certified performance in the past 26 months, we can help! Reach us at www.fxsyndicate.org

My name is Andrew Host and I am the CEO & Founder of the FXSyndicate.org
In the past 12 years I have worked with more than 10000 Forex traders, investors and interested individuals who were seeking advice, reliable services and methods on how to better perform on the Forex market. Let me tell you... The industry is very diverse in all its aspects, it's like a hydra with many services and individuals using and providing them, all seeking to make profits.
The main players are the Forex brokers and the Forex traders, after which comes to additional services like Forex signals, Forex account management, news and indicators providers. All these are players interacting with each other so the connections are multiple, but all leading to the final point: the Forex trader. He is the final piece of the puzzle, the one that benefits or not.
More than 90% of the Forex traders are losing money and this is due to a certain number of aspects. I will, based on my own experience and views, give some examples of genuine investors and advices for those who are not.
1. The Broker There are 100+ Forex brokers operating in the industry, differentiated by 2 main aspects: Market Makers or ECN / STP. The investor must know what these 2 means and he should conclude that a Market Maker will always play against him. A responsible investor will not deposit his money into an offshore, unregulated or poorly regulated broker, because the chances of him seeing those money again are very low. After the ESMA rules taking into action, almost all reliable brokers have a cap at 1:30 leverage. Still there are unregulated and offshore brokers who will let you use even 1:1000. The mirage is strong and many will fall for it.
ADVICE: Never use an offshore or unregulated broker. There are only a 3, 4 really reliable brokers in the industry!
2. The Equity Before making any investment decision, any responsible trader should know and accept the fact that you need money to make money. I have seen thousands of individuals seeking to make unrealistic profits with a low $500 account. That won`t happen unless you are a professional and you will build it step by step, with very rigid rules of risk management, over a long period of time. Of course, you will see advertising claiming to do that on a daily basis, but that is just a scamming method and unfortunately many fall for it.
ADVICE: Never start with a low balance account. A $5000 initial investment would be a healthy start!
3. Investor qualities What I call a good investor material is one that knows how to put patience above all. Emotions in trading are a real thing and you need to manage your instincts very well, otherwise they will manage you and the results will most likely have a negative impact on your investment. If you can not stand to see a certain degree of risk or draw-down in an open session, Forex trading might not be for you. I have seen traders and managers acting reckless when seeing negative sessions, raising the risk by quite a lot hoping to recover the lost funds and heading straight to margin call. The investor must be educated with strong financial principles, to understand the risks involved and the methods to handle and using them to generate consistent profits.
ADVICE: Never invest money you can not afford to lose and never trade money based on emotions and primary instincts!
4. The strategy When you place your money in the market we must assume that you already have a very good understanding of it and you already know that unrealistic gains does not happen overnight. You must plan your investment for medium - long term. A $5000 investment can reach a few millions in a few years. Of course it will take you a few years, but in a few years you will either be a millionaire or short of a $5000 amount. As a genuine investor you will always build capital slowly and responsible and once you reach a certain level you can diversify it and split it into multiple investments based on multiple strategies, rather than risking everything from the start.
ADVICE: Do not expect unrealistic gains overnight with a low investment. Plan it carefully and responsibly on long term!
5. Professional management Rather than losing his money on the markets by failing to understand that it takes years and years to master a profitable strategy, a responsible investor should look for professional account management if he is really decisive on investing in the Forex market. As an investor willing to let someone else manage your money, you must always get all your facts about that someone. Ask for performance proofs, analyze the way they trade, their business practice, the risk management strategy and the consistency in delivering profitable outcomes. Anything short of that, you might just do yourself a favor and stay away.
ADVICE: Always let someone manage your investment portfolio only if you are 100% convinced that your money are on good hands!
REMEMBER: Forex trading is a risky affair and should be done only by those who really understand all the key aspects of this industry. Many individuals do not understand how important this is and it results in them losing their money. Get educated, hold your emotions, choose the best environments for trading and take care of your profits! There are people on the Forex market that embodied unhealthy principles because they were fed with all the lies and unrealistic goals for so many time that they have reached a point where they highly believe the million dollar trade is just around the corner. It`s not! Should you need professional account management with over 3700% certified performance in the past 26 months, we can help! Reach us at www.fxsyndicate.org

Hey guys! I found a super cool list of everything a new forex trader would need to get started! Originally made by to nate1357. Link to original thread http://redd.it/328cjr
Free Resources
Education:
www.babypips.com/school
www.informedtrades.com/f7
www.forex4noobs.com/forex-education
www.en.tradimo.com/learn/forex-trading
www.youtube.com/useTheTradeitsimple
www.traderscalm.com
www.orderflowtrading.com/LearnOrderFlow.aspx
www.profitube.com
Calendars:
www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php
www.dailyfx.com/calendar
www.fxstreet.com/economic-calendar
www.forexlive.com/EconomicCalendar
www.myfxbook.com/forex-economic-calendar
www.investing.com/economic-calendar
Free News Websites:
www.forexlive.com - Daily live news, analysis and resources
www.financemagnates.com - FX industry news and updates
www.fxstreet.com - Daily news, analysis and resources
www.forextell.com
www.forexcup.com/news
www.bloomberg.com/markets
Forums:
www.reddit.com/forex
www.forums.babypips.com/
www.forexfactory.com/forum.php
www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php
www.forex-tsd.com/
www.fxgears.com/forum/index.php
www.trade2win.com/boards
Margin / pip / position size calculators
www.myfxbook.com/forex-calculators
Brokerages:
There are many factors to consider when choosing a brokerage. Regulations typically force US traders to only trade at US brokerages, while international traders have more choice. After considering location you need to consider how much capital you will start trading with as many have minimum deposit levels. Once you’ve narrowed that down you can compared spreads and execution. ECN brokers execute your orders straight through to their liquidity providers, while market maker brokers may pair up your trades with other clients. Market maker brokers typically will partially hedge your positions on the interbank market. Many consider this to be a conflict of interest and prefer to trade at an ECN broker who would have an active motive to see you succeed. Lastly, brokers run inherently risky business models so it is important to consider the risk of bankruptcy.
www.forexpeacearmy.com - Aggregates broker reviews. Be warned though that people only seem to make bad reviews.
www.myfxbook.com/forex-broker-spreads - Live comparison of executable spreads
United States & International-
-Interactive Brokers

• ECN. Used most by professional traders. Difficult platform for beginners
• Tight spreads
• Minimum deposit $10000 (or $3,000 if under 25yo) * Well diversified -Oanda
• Market maker. Second largest retail FX brokerage in the US. Easy platform for beginners.
• Fair spreads
• No minimum deposit
• Not well diversified, but well capitalized -Gain Capital (whitelabel forex.com) *Market Maker *Fair spreads *Minimum deposit $250 *Well diversified -FXCM Inc
• ECN. Largest retail FX brokerage in the US
• Tight spreads
• Minimum deposit $2000
• Not well diversified. CAUTION: FXCM nearly went bankrupt in Jan-2015 due to a lack of diversification and low capitalisation. As a result FXCM LLC was bailed out with a large loan which may prove difficult to pay back. Be warned that their business may not be sustainable in the long term. -MBTrading
• ECN. Mid-sized retail FX brokerage
• Fair spreads
• Minimum deposit $400
• Well diversified.

International Only-
-LMAX (whitelabel DarwinEx)
*DMA broker based in the UK. Note that as a DMA broker LMAX eliminates the ability for LPs to last-look transactions. This may result in reduced liquidity during volatile times as liquidity providers would be likely not to risk posting liquidity to LMAX's pool. *Tight spreads *Minimum deposit $10,000 *Fairly well diversified
-Dukascopy
*ECN based in Switzerland, but available elsewhere depending on local regulations.
*Tight spreads *Minimum deposit $100 *Fairly well diversified
-IC Markets *ECN based in Australia *Fair spreads on standard account, tight spreads on professional accounts. *Minimum deposit $200 *Fairly well diversified
-Pepperstone
*ECN broker based in Australia. *Fair spreads on standard account, tight spreads on professional accounts. *Minimum deposit $200 *Not well diversified
Software / Apps:
Desktop/mobile

• Apps are typically broker dependent. Some brokers have their own proprietary software, while others lease common software like Metatrader or NinjaTrader. Some software has a large development community for indicators and EAs.
  
• https://www.tradingview.com/ - Great for HTML5 browser based charting and alerts
  

Terminology/Acronyms:
www.forexlive.com/ForexJargon - Common terms and acronyms
FAQ:
I need to exchange money, how do I do it?
This isn’t what this sub is for. Your best bet is using your bank or an online exchange service. Be prepared to pay a hefty fee.
I have money in one currency and need to exchange it into another sometime in the future, should I wait?
Don’t ask us this. We speculate intraday in FX and shouldn’t be relied on to tell you what’s best for you. Exchange the money when you need it.
I have an FX account, should I start trading demo or live?
This is highly debatable. You should definitely demo trade until you have mastered how to use the trading platform on desktop and mobile. After that it’s up to you. Many think that the psychology of trading live vs demo trading is massively different. So it may pay to learn to trade live. Just be warned that most FX traders lose almost their entire first account so start with a low affordable balance.
What’s money management?
Money management is a form of risk management and is arguably the most important aspect of your trading when it comes to long term survival. You should always enter trades with a stop loss - the distance of the stop allows you to calculate how large of a percent of your account balance will be lost if your trade stops out. You can run a monte carlo simulation to figure out the risk of having a number of trades go against you in a row to drain your account. The general rule is that you should only risk losing 1-4% of your account per trade entered.
More on this here: www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/06/fxmoneymgmt.asp[35]
www.swing-trade-stocks.com/money-management.html[36]
What about automated trading?
Retail FX traders have been known to program “Expert Advisors” (EAs) to automate trading. It’s generally advisable to stay away from that until you’re very experienced. Never buy an EA from a developer because the vast majority of them are scams.
What indicators are best?
That’s up to you to test and find out. Many in this forum dislike oscillating indicators since they fail to capture the essence of what moves price. With experience you will discover what works best for you. In my experience indicators that are most popular with professional traders are those that provide trading “levels” such as pivot points, fibonacci, moving averages, trendlines, etc.
What timeframe should I trade?
Price action can vary in different timeframes. In longer term timeframes the price action and fundamentals are much more clear. Unfortunately it would take a very long time to figure out whether or not what you’re doing is successful on longer timeframes. In shorter timeframes you can often tell very quickly if what you’re doing is profitable. Unfortunately there’s a lot more “noise” on these levels which can prove deceptive for those trying to learn. Therefore the best bet is to use a multi-timeframe analysis, working from top-down to come up with trades.
Should I trade using fundamental analysis (FA) of technical analysis (TA)?
This is a long standing argument in these forums and elsewhere. I’ll settle it here - you should have an understanding of both. Yes there are traders who blindly ignore one of the other but a truly well rounded trader should understand and implement both into the analysis. The market is driven in the longer term through FA. But TA is necessary to give traders a place to enter and exit trades from a psychological risk/reward standpoint.
I’ve heard trading Binary Options is an easy way to make money?
The general advice is to stay away from binaries. The structure of binary options is so that when you lose the broker wins. This incentive has created a very scammy industry where there are few legitimate binary options brokers. In addition in order to be profitable in binaries you have to win 55-65% of the time. That’s a much higher premium over spot FX.
Am I actually exchanging currencies?
Yes and no. Your broker handles spot FX is currency pairs. Although they make an exchange at the settlement date they treat your position in your account as a virtual currency pair. Think of it like a contract where you can only buy or sell it as a pair. In this sense you are always long one currency while short another. You are merely speculating that one currency will appreciate or depreciate vs another.
Why didn't my order fill?
Even if price appears to cross over a line on your chart it does not guarantee a fill. Different charting platforms chart different prices - some chart the bid price, some the ask price and some the midpoint price. To fill a limit order price needs to cross your limit's price plus the spread at the time that it is crossing. If it does not equal or exceed the spread then it will not fill. Be wary that in general spreads are not fixed. So what may fill at one time may not at another.

1) Do you remember the B2BX Roadmap? Of course you do! Our company reputation, White Paper and Roadmap are the aspects most ICO participants pay attention to.
The roadmap for the B2BX ICO included options for action depending on the amount of funds collected.
🔥 Now it's time to present the actual B2BX development plan!
The B2BX Roadmap: https://medium.com/@b2brokeb2broker-past-present-future-f2876c406a7c
We marked on the map the most important events for the company, not just plans for 2018-2019, but a short review of the past. The most important events of the future, of course, are obtaining licenses, developing our own technologies and opening offices in strategically important locations on the financial map of the world. All this brings us closer to the moment when B2BX becomes Prime Broker in the market of cryptocurrency liquidity! Full version on Medium.
2) Integration with ONEZERO
We ordered the placement on servers of Equinix - LD4. This data center hosts the largest European banks and brokers. Given that B2BX will have a cross-connect with liquidity providers, the speed of obtaining prices from providers and the speed of execution of orders will be as high as possible! New working conditions with OneZero will reduce the cost of services for our customers and increase our attractiveness for new customers. Recall that in B2BX will be able to nominate margin accounts in any currency, including cryptocurrencies.
3) CRYPTOCURRENCY PAYMENT GATEWAY
There is also the possibility of accepting a B2B coin with zero commission. We have started integration with 10 merchants and have begun to develop a site for B2B coin, which will accumulate information about all crypto-brokers, exchanges and other customers that will start to accept the B2B coin for payment. As we launch each merchant, we will send out a newsletter. We have also implemented the support of tokens based on Ethereum standard ERC20. Now every merchant can start receiving any token/coin issued on the Ethereum platform. Please note that if you have a website, an online store, a broker company, crypto-exchange or a marketplace, and you want to expand payment methods you should connect B2Broker crypto gateway. To do this, you just need to select the cryptocurrencies from the list that you want to accept (BTC, BCC, ETH, LTC, DASH, XMR, B2B, BTG (bitcoin gold) and hundreds of tokens released on the Ethereum platform), provide purse addresses and make an easy integration with your site. In just an hour your customers will be able to pay for goods or services using cryptocurrency with low commission rates every day, free installation, no monthly fee, no freeze period, no banks and no any third intermediaries.
4) INVESTMENT PLATFORM
To date, this product is used by 11 brokers, two of which have become our customers this year. The investment platform allows brokers to popularize cryptocurrency trading products while customers have the opportunity to subscribe to the signals of professional traders and earn. Also for professional traders it is possible to create PAMM accounts or portfolios of cryptocurrencies. The IT department has redesigned the back-end platform to make the MT5 work more stable.
5) Work with clients
The B2Broker account department adjusts business processes to improve operational efficiency. For example, improving the interaction with the development department will positively affect the speed of working with customers. Of course, the number of our employees is growing, but we understand that without optimizing business processes, we can not build an effective company! We are expanding the product line and preparing knowledge bases to quickly train employees.
Our clients comprise 72 companies, 25 of which use B2Broker’s cryptocurrency solutions!
The team is also developing new standards of service which will correspond to the status of Prime Broker.
6) PLATFORM FOR ICO
To date, our platform for ICO has benefited 4 companies. Of course, all payments go through our crypto gateway leaving these companies to concentrate on their marketing. Such a collaboration has proved its effectiveness. Large ICOs prefer this model, choosing a solution that is ready, tested and constantly updated. A demo version is available by clicking on the link.
Oh, and by the way!
This week in Finance Magnates there was a press release about the opening of office in Malaysia. https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/technology/b2broker-extends-asian-expansion-malaysian-office/
🔜 In mid-May, a summit on blockchain technology will take place in New York. https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/sponsors/

Hi all
I decided to get into futures trading after spending some time doing forex. I have signed up with interactive brokers and for the life of me I can't find some of the information am looking for. I hope someone can help me ☺

1. When is intraday margin hours? On ib site it says that 15 mins before close of normal session and resumes next day opening... Is it from 8:30 am to 3 pm CT?
   
2. What time do contracts mature? I will be mainly focusing on emini s&p 500 and nasdaq 100. For example, currently the June contracts are the earliest. Do they mature by end of May 30th or opening of June 2nd? Is there anyway with ib i can have them close all positions i have before they mature?
   
3. Any advise for the newcomer?
   

Thanks!!!