Forex Lot Sizes

[JenniferS]

I have two questions:
a) Does anyone know roughly how many lots (100,000 units) the average retail trader trades in either the EURUSD or GBPUSD? I've heard everything from 5 to 25.
b) If you do become good enough to trade 50 or 100 lots, will the typical broker fill orders of this size from a retail trader?
If anybody does know the answer to these questions, I'd really appreciate hearing your comments.
Thanks,
---Jennifer

 

[Rhody Trader]

a) Does anyone know roughly how many lots (100,000 units) the average retail trader trades in either the EURUSD or GBPUSD? I've heard everything from 5 to 25.

Considering that a large portion of the retail trader set is at a pretty low capitalization, I would expect that average number of full lots per trade much closer to 1 than to being in the double digits. Think about how many mini and micro lot traders there are out there. That's the bulk of the retail market.

b) If you do become good enough to trade 50 or 100 lots, will the typical broker fill orders of this size from a retail trader?

If you're trading with an ECN then it's all about the depth of the liquidity pool. As for the dealers, some do have restrictions. For example, I believe Oanda has a max of 12 million. Others will have their own caps, or none at all.

Realistically, though, if you're trading 50 to 100 lots you shouldn't be going with a retail broker. You're at the interbank level where you could get better pricing (and carry rates), especially if you're a liquidity provider.

 

[JenniferS]

Thank you John, I really appreciate your information.

 

[Magos]

I have two questions:
a) Does anyone know roughly how many lots (100,000 units) the average retail trader trades in either the EURUSD or GBPUSD? I've heard everything from 5 to 25.
b) If you do become good enough to trade 50 or 100 lots, will the typical broker fill orders of this size from a retail trader?
If anybody does know the answer to these questions, I'd really appreciate hearing your comments.
Thanks,
---Jennifer

is differs in company’s
retail vs institutional clients is usually up to the head trader (due to hedging)