You can also place conservative hedge positions when you buy two currency pairs at the same time such as the USD/CHF and the GBP/USD. This can pay you a net positive interest each day and as a general rule, the two pairs tend to move in opposing directions with each other. Keep in mind though, that the forex market sometimes has a mind of its own and you should never participate without fully understanding and accepting the inherent risks.

Hedge trading is a very intriguing way to participate in the Forex market and very few people actually understand the benefits.

Good luck.

Paul

And to answer your question whether your "simulator" will work with "one of these brokers" really depends on which code the simulator was created in. Is it an Expert Advisor coded for Metatrader? If so, MB Trading does not yet support the Metatrader software ( though are Rep there tells us they are working on it). MB uses the MBT Navigator which is much more difficult to create auto trading software for. FXCM recently began using Metatrader in conjunction with their FX Trading Station 2.0. Their Metatrader platform has huge drawbacks including not allowing demo accounts, not supporting multi-user accounts, and reportedly experiencing problems communicating between their FX Trading Station trade servers and their Metatrader Trade servers. I would recommend you google "Metatrader broker reviews" and find the brokers that best works for your situation.

I use FXDD and they're for real.

If you already have a futures broker, you can also trade Currency Futures. I also trade the Forex, but I get better fills on the futures.

Actually, I trade the Forex through PermiereTrade software, and most of their customers (over 1,000 on the Message Board) trade through FXDD. But I can choose any broker.

If you don't already have charting software and a data feed, this may well be what you should be concentrating on. Of the legitimate brokers, they're all pretty much the same, if the spreads are comparable. You shouldn't pay over 2 or 3 pip spread on the majors, definately something to ask about.

On the futures, you pay a commission, rather than a spread difference, and they are in points, rather than pips. The currency futures are just like any other commodity. I use a very professional charting and trading platform called RealTick, through TerraNovaOnline; state-of-the-art stuff, technically oriented. TerraNova is the home of the Day Trader. I can trade currency futures for $11 roundtrip, which is not possible on the Forex. I pay $200/month for RealTick, but I think you can get their Investor package for free, which is RealTick just sized down to one screen. I use five 21" monitors. But Investor would be a good starting point. Check out their free trial offer.

http://terranovaonline.com/

Here is PremiereTrade's website:
http://www.premieretradeai.com/index.php
The great thing about PremiereTrade is their Message Boards and their Live Trader Commentary, and the ability to speak with their traders at any time. Keeping you informed is their business, and this is real unusual. They do not tell you when to trade, the software does that, but you are always informed; a definate plus.

Other Forex sites:
http://www.dailyfx.com/

http://www.forexnews.com/

Here's a good Forex educational site:
http://www.babypips.com/forex-school/market-hours.html

And here's another legitimate broker, this one international:
http://www.gftforex.com/land/index.asp?aid=500

I have been trading forex for years and found a few brokers to be very reliable while most forex brokers are not trustworthy. You can find a list of the best brokers at http://www.forexlane.com/brokers.html

InterbankFX has another cool feature and that is the ability to use their credit or debit cards in order to quickly access money from your account. One word of caution is that all brokers make it very each to put money in….and many make it extremely difficult or time consuming to get money out. I guess they like that float.

The third reason that I like Interbank FX is that they have actually developed an EA for us that monitors my account balance and automatically closes all my positions and locks in my profits using either a profit target or a trailing stop setup. It is very cool waking up and seeing that you have just made $800 while you were asleep.

Lastly, we have negotiated institutional interest rates with both of these firms that are not available to other retail clients.

I hope this helps.

paul

Good luck.

Paul Upp

But a stock broker doesn't have a license to trade commodities, and vice versa.

And wouldn't it be great if you could afford the best in the business, the most advanced technologically, on the cutting edge of online trading?

TerraNova is such a broker. Now you can have your cake and eat it too, and trade anything you wish from one broker, albeit, not from one account. Obviously, the laws cannot be broken. Their subsidiary, or is it parent company, Townsend Electronics, is the one that electronified and digitized the NASDAQ, and I believe they're getting ready to do the American Stock Exchange next.

You'll be amazed at their trading software. I've been using RealTick for over a year, and still haven't learned how to use all of the features.

It's all really incredible. I am just a Day Trader in index futures, and have no association with any of these companies, and have nothing to gain by applauding them; they simply deserve the applause, and you should take the opportunity to check them out.