The way we trade

[Mike Kshemaraja]

If most of the "institutional boys" in the "City" open their books in the morning and book profits/losses before "Wall Street" opens, why are most of the retail traders trying to find an edge in a larger time span than that and is it possible that this conventional way of trading is the reason why most cannot make it?

Articulate as much as wish if you like.

 

[DionysusToast]

Institutional traders trade on all sorts of timeframes and for all sorts of reasons.

There's a massive amount of money in funds & a great deal of the time the "institutional boys" trading these funds dont have to do much at all on a day to day basis. I would wager there's a lot more money there than being day traded in London each day.

So - I think first you need to back up your premise that most "insitutional boys" do anything at all.

I know an "institutional boy" that runs an open outcry forex desk & he goes as long as the banks are open and he NEVER books a loss. Not once.

 

[Mike Kshemaraja]

Institutional traders trade on all sorts of timeframes and for all sorts of reasons.

There's a massive amount of money in funds & a great deal of the time the "institutional boys" trading these funds dont have to do much at all on a day to day basis. I would wager there's a lot more money there than being day traded in London each day.

So - I think first you need to back up your premise that most "insitutional boys" do anything at all.

I know an "institutional boy" that runs an open outcry forex desk & he goes as long as the banks are open and he NEVER books a loss. Not once.

OK.

What about the majorities of banks? (which are providing most of the liquidity in the currencies market).Do they open and close their books in the same session or the same day?

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Most retail traders are loosers for trading outside of main market hours. They'd get picked off and raped.

 

[Liquid validity]

FX Market Participants
A Day in the Life of a FX Spot Desk Trader (Part 1)
A Day in the Life of a FX Spot Desk Trader (Part 2)

 

[Enzzo]

There's a massive amount of money in funds & a great deal of the time the "institutional boys" trading these funds dont have to do much at all on a day to day basis. I would wager there's a lot more money there than being day traded in London each day.

Very very true imho...

 

[Dominator4fx]

Most retail traders are loosers for trading outside of main market hours. They'd get picked off and raped.

When we trade with little or no scope for Profits we are bound to get the loss. It is always better to be able to spot the trading opportunities at the right times.

 

[ChocolateDigestive]

OK.

What about the majorities of banks? (which are providing most of the liquidity in the currencies market).Do they open and close their books in the same session or the same day?

Geez. Sounds like you really understand the currency market.

 

[ZEN archer]

I would wager there's a lot more money there than being day traded in London each day.

London accounts for more than 1/3 of total daily currency trading volume.

Average daily currency trading volume is estimated to $4 trillion per day which is up to 20 times the size of daily trading volume on all the world's stock markets combined.

 

[LiveForexTrading]

Most retail traders are loosers for trading outside of main market hours. They'd get picked off and raped.

I read an article posted by FXCM recently that surprised me. The only markets that traders made an average profit (across all their trades) was during the Asian session.

I thought the lack of volatility would make it harder to make money, but the fact is that more punters make money on the asian session than any other.

 

[DionysusToast]

There's a presumption here that people's trades get open then closed.

That's not always the case, I'm not sure of which group is the most active in Forex, I'd always presumed corporate trade was the what everyone was trying to feed off.

I still move roughly $60-80k per month USD->THB. Just a one way transaction. There's no closing it out for a profit or loss. It's just necessary to facilitate business.

 

[robster970]

I still move roughly $60-80k per month USD->THB. Just a one way transaction. There's no closing it out for a profit or loss. It's just necessary to facilitate business.

Don't you try to buy using a forward rate if it's advantageous? I would say for that size and above it's probably worthwhile.

 

[BeginnerJoe]

I read an article posted by FXCM

Then you aught to do what they suggest and post up a statement showing the profits.

I find without being shielded by bigger fish, I'd get taken out in 5 minutes flat.

 

[Enzzo]

I read an article posted by FXCM recently that surprised me. The only markets that traders made an average profit (across all their trades) was during the Asian session.

I thought the lack of volatility would make it harder to make money, but the fact is that more punters make money on the asian session than any other.

When I was actively trading 6E on the lower intraday tf's I usually noticed that Asian sesions were mostly flat-range sessions, but when it went, it really went... I think it traded more "pure", as per say, than the other 2 main sessions...
I mean, not so many fakes, or SL triggering, or qick reversals undoing the whole move, etc, etc....
I don't know if any of you also experienced this, but it sounds to me that this can help to this statistic from FXCM (assuming it is true)

 

[NVP]

I read an article posted by FXCM recently that surprised me. The only markets that traders made an average profit (across all their trades) was during the Asian session.

I thought the lack of volatility would make it harder to make money, but the fact is that more punters make money on the asian session than any other.

if this is true it wouldnt surprise me ...........the "sleeping" western markets reduce noise levels and you can get a few decent moves off the AUD and the NZD against the USD and Yen - based on prevailing Asian market conditions

N

 

[DionysusToast]

Don't you try to buy using a forward rate if it's advantageous? I would say for that size and above it's probably worthwhile.

No, never even thought about it tbh.

Thailand is a bit odd - you really want USD to hit the Thai bank. Partly because they often implement currency controls and you get offshore & onshore rates that can be 10% apart.