Comments for GoodmanWorks

Comment on Broker Review – PFGBEST – WWW.PFGBEST.COM by admin

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:20:19 +0000

Hello, Dev -

Thank you for taking the time to write, explain the issue. International wires can certainly be difficult; I’ve experienced a few ‘mishaps’ myself in that regard.

As to PFG specifically: Of several US contacts I know who trade with PFG I know as a fact wires have always been fast, efficient both ways. Overseas I do know of a friend in Panama who had the wire bounce the first time but go through the second time. My suggestion – with PFG or any broker – is to make a personal contact first, verify that the Instructions are current, have the contact ‘walk through’ the wire for you. If you email me directly duane at goodmanworks dot com I can certainly have my PFG broker contact you in this regard. All the online stuff is wonderful, but nothing trumps a real live person at least as a backup!

I continue to like PFG, fills are great, issues are resolved promptly and courteously. Service is generally very good although if they have a weakness that is it. How they support so many platforms I don’t know, but they do. They must have quite an IT department.

Comment on Broker Review – PFGBEST – WWW.PFGBEST.COM by Dev Anshul

Dev Anshul — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:26:25 +0000

Hi,
Thanks for your review. I was considering opening a forex trading account with PFGBest, but wasn’t sure after reading a few (dated) bad reviews. However, there is one bad review that is still in my mind, because you haven’t addressed that issue in your review, since I assume most of your clients would be in the US and wouldn’t face this issue. This was from a person in Canada who complained about extremely complex and confusing instructions regarding wire transfer to fund his account, so much so that even the bank officials to whom he took those printed instructions couldn’t fugure them out. Ultimately, he tried to wire the money, but the transfer failed, and he was charged $57 for a round-trip of his money back to his own account. Since I live in India (outside of the US – just like this individual), I’m concerned about this, and would like to know, in particular, about the experiences of people living outside the US with PFGBest, especially with regard to money transfer and withdrawal. Please note that I can’t use a credit card, because the credit limit on my card is not large enough to fund a forex account, and can only use options available with an INR-denominated bank account in India, including, but possibly not limited to, wire transfer. I can, however, use the credit card to withdraw money, since the credit card company says that any amount above the outstanding balance will be sent to me as a cheque or demand draft; this would in fact be favourable to me, since credit card foreign exchange conversions do not attract exchange commissions, at least not INR-denominated credit cards in India.
Kindly throw some light on this matter, if this has been in the purview of your experience, or if you would be kind enough to find out abou the same.
Regards,
– Dev.

Comment on Welcome! by admin

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:19:55 +0000

Hi, Joseph -

Thanks for reading the book!

Selecting a broker can be more difficult than trading. Trading is fairly objective; the broker selection process fairly subjective. No FX broker is perfect although some are certainly much better than others. Factors you need to consider to narrow down the choices: Trading Platform offered, Service (If you read the book you know my opinion of service in this business!), fills, pairs traded, account size, costs, etc).

The other issue is ‘YMMV’ – Your Mileage May Vary – A broker one trader swears by may be the same one another trader swears at. That said, these are brokers I use or have heard from real traders positive experiences. Please note I do not recommend brokers, per se. I can tell you who I have had positive experiences with is all I can offer. Nor do I receive any form of compensation from any broker:

(Most traders have at least two brokers; a primary and a secondary.)

PFGBest – http://www.pfgbest.com – This is my primary broker. They offer multiple platforms, service is generally very good (although it can vary some), costs are mid-range and fills are excellent on the Majors and OK on the Minors/Crosses. I believe the minimum account is $2500.00. They are an ECN.

ATCBrokers – http://www.atcbrokers.com – This is my secondary broker. Service is excellent. Fills are usually very good on the Majors.

Brokers who I hear good things: MB Trading, InterActive Brokers. I personally found service @ MB poor – but that was several years ago.

If you would like contact information for either of my brokers, just use the Contact Form and I will reply.

Brokers, again, are like mates: None is perfect and the ideal mate for you might be a disaster for another. It is unfortunately some subjective. For this reason (as I note in the book) build ‘less than perfection’ into your expectations so that small issues don’t throw you off course.

Comment on Welcome! by Jack

Jack — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:47:20 +0000

I bought your book Getting Started In Currency Trading 3rd. I am almost ready to start trading via a demo account. What I am still not confident about is the choice of brokers. I see so many positive and negative comments about all brokers, and I don’t really want a market maker whose objective is to trade against me. Would you know of a very reputable forum that I can trust in deciding a broker – or would you suggest a particular broker or 2?

Thanks – Excellent book for the beginner.

Comment on NinjaTrader – Version 7 by admin

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:47:04 +0000

You are correct. It does have a number of bugs even at the time of the current 0-4 build. But I think the major downside of NinjaTrader (versus for example MetaTrader) is that it is a bit difficult to use and maintain if you are not techie-proficient. More features ->more issues.