I just sent in my paper work to Oanda to open a live forex account with them last week. Then I heard from @InEgoVeritas the news about Dukascopy (get 35% discount on commission with that link) reducing their minimum lot size to micro-lots. After doing more research comparing Oanda and Dukascopy in the last 24 hours, I think I will go with Dukascopy in the long term. But I won’t make the switch just yet. Here are my reasons why.
Before getting to that, I need to describe my situation. Choosing a forex broker is like buying a car, we are all unique and what fits me might not be right for you. Long story short though. My goal all along is to split my funds 50/50 between interactive trading and automated trading. Since Oanda’s API access cost $600 per month, I was to open an additional account with MB Trading for automated trading once I have developed something consistent.
In addition to this latest news from Dukascopy, they also lowered their minimal opening balance down to $5,000, and began beta testing for Metatrader 4 recently! Both Oanda and Dukascopy are very reputable forex brokers. But Dukascopy has the huge advantage of providing a free API access. That is one big motivation for me to go trade with them. Then I can just do everything in one account!
But as I said, I will proceed with live trading with Oanda as planned soon (once I am out of this drawdown from being too early in shorting Aussie and other pairs). The reason is that Dukascopy has always been catered towards institutional or big pocket forex traders. This aggressive move to welcome retail traders and small timers could be good and bad.
The good part is more business and more buzz for their service, obviously. The bad part though, is that widening the door to a new market can turn out stinking the entire operation. It would be analogous to Mercedes suddenly decided to compete in the budget cars market… oh wait, they did that! (Mercedes B-class, enough said) More specifically regarding Dukascopy, I am most concerned of the impact on the quality and speed of their trading service. As well as their customer service.
Let’s face it, we know that new forex traders (such as myself) whine a lot and expect a lot for little to nothing. Since I have my paper work done with Oanda already, it can’t hurt to just wait a few more months to see how the changes go. Nevertheless, I am thrilled of the new changes with Dukascopy! In the mean time, I will continue to work on my risk management, trading psychology, and trading strategy (great plug, isn’t it?).
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My name is Paul and I am a full-time engineer, part-time trader. Back in 2000, I deposited my $5000 interest-free student loan with an online broker. Since then, my interest in trading has become an obsession.
2 Comments
hi Quantisan, i discovered your blog searching for people who are participating to dukascopy jforex contest. I’m preparing for the next month contest, and i read with interest your considerations about the need to give the source code to them. I agree, it sounds quite difficult to accept…
Anyway, i read as well that you’re planning to open an account with dukascopy. I’m with them since months, and i’m so happy with their services that i decided some time ago to become also an introducing agent. So, if you register with me, you’ll have the 45% rebates each month, which means 10% more than the introducing agent you mentioned. More infos on my website, http://www.pips.it (ita/eng)
best regards.
one more thing:
i understand your doubts about the recent policy change from dukascopy. I entered as customer when they required 20000 usd to open a retail account…now we’re at 1000.
I must say that ’till now i didn’t experience some change in the service quality, or in the orders filling speed.
Anyway, as i am an IA, you should better not to trust me… ^_^
best regards,
Marco
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