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Does NFA changes really hurt FX trading business?

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So, we know NFA has been changing rules. Retail traders are complaining, moving away from U.S based brokers.
But, is the change really bad? Well, firstly, I am not trying to defence NFA. I am just thinking, should I really look for another European based, or Australian based broker?
I am not sure. The change of the margin requirement does not affect my trading, since I am never a high leverage player. So, increase capital requirement of broker, increase margin requirements for Forex position, is there anything that I miss out and it is really bad for the business?
Any thought?
And, about European brokers, I’m totally unfamiliar with them, and hence,not confident of sending money to them. So, I maintain status quo now, leave my trading fund with some big U.S based broker.

So, we know NFA has been changing rules. Retail traders are complaining, moving away from U.S based brokers.

But, is the change really bad? Well, firstly, I am not trying to defend NFA. I am just thinking, should I really look for another European based, or Australian based broker?

I am not sure. The change of the margin requirement does not affect my trading, since I am never a high leverage player. So, increase capital requirement of broker, increase margin requirements for Forex position, is there anything that I miss out and it is really bad for the business?

Any thought?

And, about European brokers, I’m totally unfamiliar with them, and hence,not confident of sending money to them. So, I maintain status quo now, leave my trading fund with some big U.S based broker.

Updates

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I’ve only made a couple of trades early of the week. I generally do not initiate new positions during FOMC, NFP week. So, most of the time, I am just enjoying watching the markets.

Meanwhile, I am preparing my travel-trading plan for the coming months. As mentioned before, I’ll be travelling around South East Asia countries for the next few months.  One thing for sure is, I’ll never stop trading. So, I need to get my equipments setup.  On the other hand, we are heading into holiday season soon (Christmas, New Year is around the corner), I think it is worth to observe the volatility and liquidity for the coming month.

No open position at the moment.

Updated free trading courses

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Marketclub has recently updates the free trading course, which I think it is worth checking out.
Here are the lessons that you get in your inbox
(1) The importance of psychology in price movement
(2) How to spot mega trends
(3) Understanding of technical price objectives
(4) How to picture price objectives
(5) How to trade with moving averages
(6) How to use point and figure trading techniques
(7) How to use the RSI indicator
(8) How to correctly use stochastics in your trading
(9) How to use the ADX indicator to capture trends
(10) How to capitalize on natural market cycles.
Plus, you will you will learn all about fibonacci retracements,MACD, Bollinger Bands and much more.
Check it out here https://tradergav.com/fmn

Marketclub has recently updated the free trading course, which I think it is worth checking out.

Here are the lessons that you’ll get in your inbox

(1) The importance of psychology in price movement

(2) How to spot mega trends

(3) Understanding of technical price objectives

(4) How to picture price objectives

(5) How to trade with moving averages

(6) How to use point and figure trading techniques

(7) How to use the RSI indicator

(8) How to correctly use stochastics in your trading

(9) How to use the ADX indicator to capture trends

(10) How to capitalize on natural market cycles.

Plus, you will you will learn all about fibonacci retracements,MACD, Bollinger Bands and much more.

Check it out here

Chart of the moment $GBPUSD 27-Oct-2009

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To me, the Cable buying during last session did not change the trend. Instead, I thought there might another opportunity for SHORTs? This is a text book pattern. Nothing fancy, let’s see how it works out. If the the breakout of the pattern realized, I am revising the downside target to around 1.6-ish, still in the zone support zone as mentioned in my last post.

What do you think?

Here is the …. CHART!

GBPUSD_4hr_27Oct2009

Some technical statistics

GBPUSD_4hr_27Oct2009_trend

About this tool

NFA new margin requirements

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This is not a breaking news, just a reminder to my readers since THE change is coming in around a month time. Official date given by NFA is 30th November 2009. CFTC approved NFA amendments to Section 12 of NFA rule book, which requires FDMs to collect a margin deposit of 1% of the notional value of the position held in the USD, GBP, CHF, CAD, JPY, EUR , AUD, NZD, Swedish krona, Norwegion krone and Danish krone, and 4% of the notional value of other positions.

This simply means that, more margin is required to open or hold a FX position. In short, for the major pairs mentioned above, maxim leverage of 1:100 is allowed, and 1:25 for the other pairs. Though at the first glance, this seems to be protective for novice traders who naturally loves the high leverage game  before getting burnt. I guess the most impacted group is the experienced professional traders who know how to handle their trades and prefer high leverage which allows them to achieve more profits with less capital. This will surely affect the way of conducting the trading business.

I haven’t made a thorough research on brokers’ reactions. I had a quick look at FXCM, Oanda, MB trading and Interactive Brokers. So far, FXCM is one the first to comply the new margin requirements starting 22-Nov-2009. Oanda has already met the margin requirements set up by NFA.  And I don’t see any big change for big firm like Interactive Brokers where leverage level for sport FX trading is always low. No update on MBT website so far.

Check your U.S based broker for details.