Why trade indices ?

emoun

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Hi guys!

Why do you trade commodity and index futures rather than forex?
I know it depends on personal preference and each market has a risk factor.

I find one advantage trading future index is low spread. FTSE, DAX, DOW only have 1 tick spread as compared to any major currency pair in forex.

Futures Index does not care about economy, GDP or news announcements but they do fluctuate and manipulate by market makers.

What is your opinion about trading futures over forex ?
 
If you know what you are doing then some indices are easier to trade in my view than forex. The issue is that most people don't have a clue what they are doing.
 
Futures Index does not care about economy, GDP or news announcements but they do fluctuate and manipulate by market makers.

What is your opinion about trading futures over forex ?

Not true , indices are highly influenced by the economy ...
 
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If you know what you are doing then some indices are easier to trade in my view than forex. The issue is that most people don't have a clue what they are doing.

Please recommend some indices.
 
Trade options if you want to make money- if you want to torture yourself try everything else
 
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Then why forex is more popular and heavily traded on earth :innocent:

If you want to know where to lose your money look to see what instruments the brokers are most keen to offer you - forex .
 
If you want to know where to lose your money look to see what instruments the brokers are most keen to offer you - forex .

In forex brokers earn money on spread + commission, brokers do need profitable and more consistent traders than losers.
Currencies moves by news and fundamentals but indices moves by market makers.
 
Then why forex is more popular and heavily traded on earth :innocent:

Its a big market because its where people exchange their currencies/money , that doesn't mean they do it to make a profit , many banks , institutions ... etc buy/sell a currency vs another just because they need to .
 
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In forex brokers earn money on spread + commission, brokers do need profitable and more consistent traders than losers.
Currencies moves by news and fundamentals but indices moves by market makers.

:) that's the theory, but most retail clients are just betting against the house so it's in their interests to see you lose.

TFs count on their side, too. Why do you think most of their trading platforms default to 5 or 10 minute time frame?
 
In forex brokers earn money on spread + commission, brokers do need profitable and more consistent traders than losers.
Currencies moves by news and fundamentals but indices moves by market makers.

:) that's the theory, but most retail clients are just betting against the house so it's in their interests to see you lose.

TFs count on their side, too. Why do you think most of their trading platforms default to 5 or 10 minute time frame?

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
not so, then?

Hi Jon

I can only speak with regards to retail forex trading.

Forex trading is a big world wide "money game" that is non regulated and full of corruption as well as totally legal manipulation.

Price moves first - because someone wants to make money from the movements - whether Deutsche Bank ( the largest player)or a government or another big world wide player - and the fundamentals are just really an excuse for movements - although indirectly there should be some type of correlation through out the quarter or year.

Once you understand that and realise Fundamental analysis is basically a waste of time - unless your are investing in a currency pair for the longer term - ie over 6 months or years etc - and even then its still not much help - as profit is the name of the game not a fair and proper relative price compared to other world wide currencies.

Moving onto brokers and charts - yes between 2003 and 2010 - brokers were screwing their clients and up to every trick possible - just like their commercial friends - the banks.

However in the last few years - with more competition - reduced spreads - large fines - most regulated brokers have had to tidy up their act - and so the games a little bit fairer - especially if you use a ECN/ STP regulated broker.

The legal manipulation is by the liquidity providers of the day and the players

If the players see a pair with loads of billions of dollars on sells and price as dropped say 150 -400 pips - like the EU in May - then if they chose to - they can just bet against the masses or sheeple - and turn price the other way - and therefore taking the profits away or taking all sellers out etc.

PS - a player need not necessary be a Bank or major Hedge Fund - don't forget the dark pools and the Mafia and the new drug barons in South America and Russia

They end up with a nice profit on their stake - and of course they have the muscle to do it - and there is nothing illegal is there ( lol) if 2 or 3 large players do the same thing.

To have any chance of being with these moves - forget really any chart with a time frame above 1 hour - so the 5 -10 min charts have their use - its just most newbies and traders with less than 3-5 yrs of experience will not be able tor read and use them to their advantage

I have noticed on quite a few sites a "new" fashion for using weekly and monthly charts - great if you are investing for 3- 12 months - but hardly helpful for making daily and weekly profits - as you need large stops and have to wait too long to achieve your targets

Why wait 2 weeks for a 250 pip target with a 125 pip stop to come to fruition - ie a RR of say 2 - when a 5 -10 min experienced FX trader can get the same result in under 30 mins??? ie 15 pip win with a 7 pip stop. ( yes and same money earned if done correctly)

So in conclusion - Forex trading is for the brave and for the experienced - and basically that maybe just for 10 out of every 50 traders - not like it was in the massively hyped days of 2000 -2009 - when you would get 80% of all new traders only looking at FX - as it was sold as the "dream" - not just by dodgy vendors - but also by the trade - they had a lot to gain from it :)

Just my opinion

Regards


F
 
If the players see a pair with loads of billions of dollars on sells and price as dropped say 150 -400 pips - like the EU in May - then if they chose to - they can just bet against the masses or sheeple - and turn price the other way - and therefore taking the profits away or taking all sellers out etc.

Don't you think the same rule apply to Futures and Options too :innocent:
 
Don't you think the same rule apply to Futures and Options too :innocent:

Maybe - but having only traded Forex for 11 years plus - I just don't know really anything about Futures and Options - as i have just not looked into them - but I do know about FX as for nearly 7 years I have been a full time short term intraday trader spending on average 25 -45 hrs a week at least 45 weeks a year trading mainly 4 -6 key pairs
 
Maybe - but having only traded Forex for 11 years plus - I just don't know really anything about Futures and Options - as i have just not looked into them - but I do know about FX as for nearly 7 years I have been a full time short term intraday trader spending on average 25 -45 hrs a week at least 45 weeks a year trading mainly 4 -6 key pairs

What time frame you use and what is your strategy? Do you use indicators or just use PA with S/R levels.
The most annoying thing with forex is the price often retrace back and sometimes profitable trades end up into loss.
 
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What time frame you use and what is your strategy? Do you use indicators or just use PA with S/R levels.
The most annoying thing with forex is the price often retrace back and sometimes profitable trades end up into loss.

Hi emoun

This link to another thread on this forum will explain better

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/tra...ding-forex-market-make-consistent-profit.html

My main 2 time frames are the tick and 1 min chart. Anything over 5 mins is too slow and lagging to catch intraday scalps or short term trades with the accuracy I require.

I agree HFT as created as now turned forex pairs into bouncy balls - ie 10 pips one way - 8 pips the other way with lower daily ATR's and loads small waves - rather than nice directional moves that are not stop hunting every hour.

I would only recommend persisting with Forex if you have the time and commitment - ie 3- 5 years to get to a reasonable level and 5 -7+ yrs before it might all start clicking and you start to make consistent profits daily and weekly - rather than having up and down months with your capital failing to consistently grow.

Its 10k + hours of watching live charts normally - but this can be cut down to 3- 5k hours if you know what you are looking for and have a good strategy.

Retail FX trading is not the same as commercial FX trading - its like chalk and cheese so don't be mislead by so called traditional institutional methods - as far as I am concerned they are average at best and only produce 30 -70% per annum returns - rather than 20% + minimum per month you should be aiming at.

Hope that helps

Regards


F
 
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