Sunday, May 30, 2010

Forex Losses: Is It You Or Your Forex Broker?

If you go through different articles and forum posts about forex brokers, you will most likely come across disgruntled comments about forex brokers. It is even quite possible for you to read about forex brokers who are nothing but scams or rip offs. However, not everyone who blames a forex broker for their own failure can be 100% that it has been the broker's fault. Some brokers end up as scapegoats because some forex traders cannot accept that there own trading strategies have failed. Therefore, if you are evaluating or reviewing currency exchange brokers, it would help that you to separate fact from fiction.
There are times that you can easily end up thinking that your broker has intentionally tried to cause you losses. You might complain about the market direction reversing as soon as you have placed a trade or about your forex broker who has stopped hunting your positions or you always having slippage on your orders that are never to your favor. These complaints are quite common and in a lot of cases, your broker is not at fault.
Before you go blame your broker for you loss, try to check if you have indeed tested your trading plan or strategy before you committed your capital. You should always check if you made a trade out of analysis or you made it just out of plain psychology (perhaps you just felt like you should). Keep yourself from entering a position when your emotions are waning. Take time to understand market dynamics so you too can become aware of these junior tendencies before stepping in. In this way, you can keep yourself from feeling that the market or your broker was only out to take what would have been your individual profit.
Problems with slippage can also be associated with the psychology phenomenon. It is quite usual for an inexperienced trader to panic and you end up being afraid to miss a move. When this happens, you tend to hit your buy key. You might also end up being afraid to lose more that you cannot help but hit the sell key. In a volatile world like the forex market, your forex broker cannot always ensure that your orders will be executed at your desired price. This can result to sharp movements and slippage that cannot always be blamed on brokers.
There are also times when the losses are indeed the fault of your forex broker. This can happen if your broker attempts to chalk up trading commissions at your expense. There are brokers out there who arbitrarily move quoted rates in attempt to trigger stop orders when their rates have not gone to that price. These are the kinds of brokers that you will need to be wary of.

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