I haven’t actually traded with GFT yet, nor forex at all, but have been studying it,
have had a few teleconferences with a salesman, have the platform,
etc., and more importantly, have been doing my homework. Reading
here about GTF is simply more homework. To add some bit of
credibility to my comments, I add that I am an experienced securities and
equities trader, gold and silver buyer ( never seller ). I have for some long
time, and still do work as an industrial consultant in and out of the country,
and am paid quite well for it. Now, though, I make a small bit more, from
my investments. So, that is to say, I have a nice bit of money. And, there is
always room for a little more money, isn’t there?
So here I am, boning up on GFT itself. After reading all of these comments,
I feel compelled to offer what I believe to be good information to all. First off,
is that I am a person that definitely believes in doing homework and due diligence
in all matters important. So, having read, studied watched and observed the
forex markets for some time now, before contacting GFT, I have the following
to offer:
GFT will be slow in execution. This is because of their lowly position in
the financial community as well as their providing timely information to clients.
Larger clients will get their stuff done first. ( They are not more important, but
their larger amounts of money are, to GTF). If you have put in a formal order,
such as an OCO order or better yet a contingent order like a OCO if/then stop
loss order, they must fill it or you have legal recourse. I know people ( including me)
like the online button pushing, but there is nothing like a telephone order. Timing
orders will only end in frustration with GTF because, they by nature are slow. So
event, or specific news driven decisions, is out. This is silly anyway. Since, newse
brings on only emotional stupidity in the markets, of any kind, a knee jerk reaction
only makes things worse. Because, people tend to jump into the markets when
they are going up, and jump out when the market goes down, even so called
experienced traders. Well, Warren Buffet says otherwise, and he ought to
know. Buy when the market is headed to the dump, and sell when it is headed
to the top ( just be on the correct side of the SMA. Which brings us to the next
important thing.
GFT promotes, or coerces or forces clients to leverage. 100:1, 400:1. Well
this is a major part of peoples problems. So, it’s really difficult to buy in/sell out of a
currency pair and hit it just right, the wide spread complicates it too. So that with the
margin, a 5 % misstep, on 1,000 with a 100:1 margin is a loss of 5k. If that’s what
you’ve got in your reserve, you still have your stuff. But, if you’ve only got 4k with
them in reserve, well, thay take your cash, close you out, and you don’t even get
a kiss. Remembering that GTF is counter party to all your deals, they won’t cry
too much when you bite the dust. They are a lot like a casino, in this way, that
the house is stacked against you. You’re not going to get an even deal. They
are not going to be dishonest about orders, just, things are not in your favor.
And, leveraging, is almost always a bad idea for people that really don’t understand
it, the power for loss and gain.
I guess this last is the most important part. You have money. And GTF wants it.
They will tell you tales of fortunes made, happy millionares made from forex over night,
win - win situations. Well, that’s their job. Salesmen, hawkers, carnies, sideshow barkers,
” Come one, come all, step right up Ladies and Gentlemen, spin the wheel of fortune,
everybody’s a winner, step right up.” Now, I don’t have anything against carnies. I just
recognize them for what they are. The situation here, is that you have money. And they
need it. They don’t only want it, they need it. They can’t make money with out your money.
The reason? They don’t want to use their own. They are not silly enough to enter
in on a margin bet with their own money. They want you to do it. They make your money
if you can’t make your margin. They don’t make formal margin calls. They just take your money.
A margin call, is with equities. If you’ve leveraged on a stock, and the price falls below the
margin limit, they do a margin call, and you have to either come up with the cash, or they
take your securities. GTF doesn’t to margin calls. They just take your money when it
falls below the margin limit. They don’t call, they don’t even send flowers, they take your
money. It’s forex. If you can’t afford to sit out maybe a month or two, with out going below
your margin limit, by either having a large reserve, or by being just super perfect, then you
can’t afford to margin in forex. But really my point here, is that they need your money
because they don’t have any of your own. They need speculators to make a buck. They
make money on the spread, yes. But the big bucks, are when you lose. Your loss is their win.
Things are stacked in such a way, as be sure, that mostly, you lose. Not because they are evil.
But, because, you’ve got to make the spread ( for them) before you can make anything for
yourself. And, if you’re trying to trade for the short term, the timing has to be perfect,
or things have to go just right, which they usually don’t. Maybe, it’s better for most
to do mutual funds. You can get 10-20% with that. With a little dilligence, more. The point
is, they don’t have any money of their own to do this. They need yours. You have money.
You’ve worked hard for it. It’s real money. money that you spent a good chunk of your life to
get. If you don’t have whole pile of it, forex just might
not be the best thing. I’m here, trying to get ready to try forex trading with my real money, because
well, I do in fact have a whole pile of it. I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Forex trading, for most
people, rides the edge between spectulating and gambling. It’s on the other side of the planet
from investing, if your leveraging. If you want just to hold your money in another currency,
that’s one thing. You won’t make a lot of money fast that way ( the reason most are here),
but you will at the same time head off inflation, and beat away from deflation. But, you still
have to do it at the right time. It’s easier though, because you’re not trying to pinpoint a spot
in time but a range of maybe days. You won’t make a killing, but, if you can put down a
couple of hundred thousand of real money, and switch, say, from a declining US dollar, into
a rising Aussie dollar, they you can save a few thousand. Then when they pass going the other
direction, switch back, save some more. They do it at least a couple of good times a year.
Remember, that forex, is what countries and large institutions do back and forth. It was
never designed for small fries like you and I. It’s just been opened up to us. And, that’s only
because places like GFT can act as go betweens. We trade in small lots, they must trade in
large lots. So, guess what else. They make the large money. We make the small money.
That’s how it is. That’s how they earn their daily.
Well, that’s all. Now we can all sit back and watch the response letters, telling me
what an ignorant jerk I am. That’s ok. Maybe I am. But, I’m a rich ignorant jerk,
with lots of my very own real money. And, guess what. Whether I do forex or not,
GFT or not, I’m going to keep it that way.
( Elvis has left the building )
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