First post, please help!

[dn1]

Hi, totally newby here. I'm going to buy million dollar pips, for a bit of fun and will only let it mess around with a very small bankroll.

A few questions...

How do the brokers feel about us using bots? I've used poker bots before (with no success, whatsoever) and despite the invariable losses, the poker rooms and other players were vehemently against it, despite it giving away my money.

I want to trade for real money, but as little as possible to begin with. On the clickbank selling page it says the minimum bankroll is $150. Will any brokers accept less and still offer rebate? Which broker should i choose? Is rebate similar to rakeback, in poker? Is rebate vital?

I was just going to use the bot on factory settings. Would you recommend this?

Disconnects - What happens when they occur? I guess you have as much chance winning as losing?

Any help appreciated. Will post my results.

[capsmart]

Hell DN
And welcome to the forum since this is your first post.
I do not play poker online or offline (lol) so I cannot compare forex and poker.
There are brokers that will accept small amounts to start a micro account. Pepperstone requires 200$ for a standard account and if you search the internet for brokers and then check the "account types" you will find what each broker wants to open an account.
Pepperstone is an ECN broker if you use their razor account and this is the kind of broker you are looking for a scalping robot.
There are two types of brokers. The normal ones that increase the spread and usually take the other part of your trade or the ECN brokers that charge a commission and pass your order to the interbank network.
The default settings for the robot are ok.
In order to avoid disconnections a VPS is needed. This is a remotely operating computer that you rent and that will run your robot 24/7 without internet or power failures.
If you search the forum you will find more information about VPS. Pepperstone is offering a free VPS for larger accounts.
I hope that I answered most of your questions. If you need more help do not hesitate to ask again.
Welcome once again.

[dn1]

Thanks Capsmart. That helps a lot. A few points I'd like to clarify, if I may, before going ahead...

I regard this as gambling. I know so little about Forex that I am unsure if I will be gambling against 'the house' or other traders. If it is against 'the house' and MDP is constantly beating the odds, isn't it likely that they will begin to employ bot-detecting software and ban users of MDP? Is there any other way the brokers will look to screw you over, if you use a bot successfully. I realise how ignorant all this probably sounds.

I found this on another forum...

"An ECN is like an interbank broker. They don't trade against you so there is no need to manipulate the price. They consolidate bank quotes and show you the best bid and offers available. Spreads are tighter, but you have to pay commissions. When you make a trade they pass it through to interbank, so the counterparty is a real trader. Leverage is generally lower and minimum balances are higher. Interbank trades in $100,000 increments, so you need to be large enough to fit $7-10 per pip trades into you rmoney management."

Is that all correct? If so, then I guess I won't be starting with the correct bankroll to take downswings at $7-10 per pip?

Does this mean I should forget about ECN until I have built at least a 4-figure bankroll - something I will be forced to do with a retail broker who will offer me no rebate?

Is rebate vital to me at this stage? In poker, a solid winning regular will make approx 104 big blinds per hundred hands. On every pot thay win, the house will rake in about 5%. If they have a 50% rakeback deal, then half of that will go towards their monthly rakeback cheque. This means that the player will recieve nearly as much in rakeback as actual profits from playing, due to the money going back and forth so much, at the table. Rake is the killer in online poker and is destroying it, now there are so few weak recreational players, compared to 5 years ago. Without a good rakeback deal, few can make any money at poker.

Pepperstone seems to be quite liked by forum members. I am inclined to go with them, even if it means depositing $200, but at the moment I don't quite understand how rebate works, don't know if I will get it with such a tiny deposit and it appears that $200 is way too small a bankroll to run an ECN account, if trades are at $7-10 a pip.

Sorry to take up more of your time. Hope you can help further.

[dn1]

One other thing. Is everybody happy about Pepperstones, in terms of solvency? Two of the biggest poker rooms, Full Tilt and Ultimate Bet were found to be not in a position to honour player deposits, when the Dept. of Justice shut them down this year. Some players lost millions.

Thanks

[capsmart]

Forex can be compared to poker playing somehow. I know the poker rules even if I do not play. The difference is that you gamble/trade after "seeing" your cards. So it is like deciding to gamble only if you already have 2 aces or two kings (just a stupid example).
So if things are setting up in a certain way (indicators, price action, news) then you decide to open a trade. There is no guaranty for the outcome but you have the odds in your favor.
I would say in a more elegant way that when you trade there is risk.

Concerning the Pepperstone solvency (or any broker) most of them (but not all of them) are regulated somehow depending on the country they operate. By visiting each broker's site you will find this information.
Generally speaking most serious brokers have no solvency issues. Your money is not managed by them. They cannot touch it. The worst case scenario is to lose your profits of an open trade.

If you use the Aslan Group to open your account a percentage from your commission will be re-reimbursed to your account. There is a link in Pepperstone's site. Aslan group (if you open your account through them) offers a re-reimbursement for some brokers.

As you mentioned the non ECN brokers take the opposite position of your trade so they do not like you when you are profitable. ECN brokers do not care because they make their profits from commission. Concerning the size of the trade it depends on the broker. Usually you have to trade standard lots to have access to the interbank network. Some brokers do not require this to offer you this service.

Pepperstone has a live chat communication channel and you can contact them and ask them precisely how they operate. Similar facility is found in most brokers.
It is much better if you do your own research and decide what is better for you.
We did our own research on Pepperstone and Thinkforex (both ECN brokers) and feel happy with them, but they are not the only ones.

[dn1]

Thanks again capsmart. I will take the aslan route. In poker you do see your two hole cards when you bet. (eg. Ace King). The problem is that the industry is not properly regulated. The big firms spent more money than they had in a desperate attempt to lure new players, through marketing.

I have more questions, but I will leave them for another day, as you've spent enough time answering my queries already and I am very grateful for your swift response.

[capsmart]

Anytime me, or another member we are here to help.
My suggestion is to learn how to trade and not base yourself on robots.
The ideal is to use a robot like approach that will alert you when there is a possible setup and by using your own judgment you will decide if you will take the trade or not.

[Charles]

Welcome Dn1,

I think Caps gave you some great advice. Stick with Dean, Marc's, and Pierre's strategies, and trade them in a demo account. They do work....

Forget about the holy grail robots, you have already found through your poker dealings they don't work very well, things are the same here in the forex world. Even, I am guilty of buying some of the robots. They have all killed demo accounts, even after trying to tweak the system. Man those guys are good at writing incredible sells ads for those things.

Besides, if you teach yourself how to trade with free indicators, and free platforms. Nobody can ever take that away from you.

Charles