Hi all,
Trying to decide on a broker but having some trouble...
Oanda - very easy to use platform, spreads are decent during peak hours but pretty shocking outside of that which is an issue if price is trading near a stop order and a wide spread causes it to trigger. Seems to be very little in the way of security of funds for a UK client. They offer trade sizes to the unit which is good for granularity but I don't think this is too big a deal as Dukascopy/IB offer to the nearest 1K units which can allow sizing to get pretty close to the required risk.
Dukascopy - security of funds, fast execution, good liquidity and spreads are roughly the same as Oanda during peak hours but far better whilst Oanda are running on their widened spreads. I just don't know if this is worth paying the commission (not that it's a massive expensive. I am trying to find out if Dukascopy are open 24 hours a day throughout the weekdays as IB close for whatever reason.
IB - like their platform (took some getting used to), would assume liquidity and spreads to be similar to Dukascopy. P/L is delivered in the actual currency traded and costs $2.50/transaction to be converted back to base (under $25k which will be the case for my individual trade P/L's). They also shut for 15 mins a day which I can imagine at some point in my trading career will end up costing me money.
Everything is pointing to Dukascopy but just wondering if I am missing anything here? Does anyone want to share their own experiences of these brokers if they've used them before? I know costs are relatively small but I don't like the idea of paying to withdraw as it just feels wrong to me heh. Oanda charge £10, Dukascopy charge 20CHF & IB are free (but they charge for P/L conversion so no better on that front really).
Trying to decide on a broker but having some trouble...
Oanda - very easy to use platform, spreads are decent during peak hours but pretty shocking outside of that which is an issue if price is trading near a stop order and a wide spread causes it to trigger. Seems to be very little in the way of security of funds for a UK client. They offer trade sizes to the unit which is good for granularity but I don't think this is too big a deal as Dukascopy/IB offer to the nearest 1K units which can allow sizing to get pretty close to the required risk.
Dukascopy - security of funds, fast execution, good liquidity and spreads are roughly the same as Oanda during peak hours but far better whilst Oanda are running on their widened spreads. I just don't know if this is worth paying the commission (not that it's a massive expensive. I am trying to find out if Dukascopy are open 24 hours a day throughout the weekdays as IB close for whatever reason.
IB - like their platform (took some getting used to), would assume liquidity and spreads to be similar to Dukascopy. P/L is delivered in the actual currency traded and costs $2.50/transaction to be converted back to base (under $25k which will be the case for my individual trade P/L's). They also shut for 15 mins a day which I can imagine at some point in my trading career will end up costing me money.
Everything is pointing to Dukascopy but just wondering if I am missing anything here? Does anyone want to share their own experiences of these brokers if they've used them before? I know costs are relatively small but I don't like the idea of paying to withdraw as it just feels wrong to me heh. Oanda charge £10, Dukascopy charge 20CHF & IB are free (but they charge for P/L conversion so no better on that front really).
