PipStop

Trading Post Tuesday, or TP Tuesday as it is more affectionately known, is set for next Tuesday, Jan. 22. For those who aren't aware, TP Tuesday is where Trading Post showcases the best of its products and services, and allow some of our select partners to do the same.

There are also always special trading sessions included.

This was one of those hair-brained ideas that one of my partners here at Trading Post, Douglas Sereda brought up last April. Now we're here almost a year later, and we have our best schedule yet - and it will only get better.

I'm aggressively seeking to fill the schedule for the remainder of the year, and I know that each time slot through the day will be in demand. It will definitely be a day to look forward to.

In other words, what are YOU in search of? Of course the typical answer will be to be a successful trader so that you can make lots of money. How that money is spent would vary wildly.

I had a conversation with Jerry Rankin, who is the president of one our partners Pro-Act Traders on Wednesday. While the conversation centered around how to make our relationship a better one, I came away thinking a number of things.

Jerry has seen his fair share of success trading, and made that comment that it it's not money that guarantees happiness. Sure it's a chiche, but I think it's something we all need to really think about. Becoming a successful trader is one thing. But what happens when you do become successful?

Is that when you dispense with all the discipline you honed while trading, and spend like the dickens?  

Another quick thing. Jerry is in his 50s and he was going to be playing basketball at his church with all the young bucks. It's great to hear, and leaves someone like me who is two decades his junior no reason NOT to be active.

This is a much deserved form of self-promotion. Steve Croft, Trading Post's VP of Sales has been doing a terrific job with his Mind of a Trader podcasts. The subscription number just passed 600, and if you listen, you'll know why.

This session is the latest, entitled "Aim Small, Miss Small." Great job Steve, I look forward to these every week, and an increasing number of traders are expressing the same. If you haven't subscribed yet, you're missing out.

Mind of a Trader - Aim Small, Miss Small

I've followed Rich at ForexProject.com who has done an unbelievable job of putting his blog together with some interesting and helpful tools. He's traded for 2.5 years and is one of the very few who has admitted that he isn't successful enough in his trading to do it full-time yet.

Then today I see his most recent post of looking sideways at the stock market. Not to rag on Rich, but it has seemed to me that most Forex traders who are not successful don't have the requisite focus on their Forex trading. 
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Babypips offers a buy on the USD/JPY, DailyFX.com's Jamie Saettele offers perspective that the GBPUSD will explode higher, which sentiment Tony Juste also agrees with.

And just out of curiosity ITME is one who keeps a very interesting trading journal in the forum over at FXstreet, which just might be the most viewed area of that particular forum right now. Let's follow along with a trade set-up just posted ...

Thursday January 17 at 2:00 ET
Buy GBPCHF at 2.1582
Target is 2.1650
Stop is 2.1548
Reward / Risk Ratio is 61 / 41 = 1.488

OK, so trading isn't necessarily "friendly" to Mac users ... but Mac users is a small but staunch community. Most diehard Mac users know this already, as Steve Jobs has done his thing down at the MacWorld San Francisco event, but as of a few of hours ago, the MacBook Air is now official. 

It will start shipping in two weeks, and at $1799 I'm sure that the demand will be absolutely nuts! Having been a previous Mac user, it definitely gives me pause for thought ... 

... It is beautiful. Sure I'll still trade on a PC because not all trading applications are Mac compatible, but how can you not have one of these.

Go to www.macrumors.com and be in awe.

Yesterday I touched on evolving NFA regulations and how they are affecting the Forex broker landscape. I then put in a quick request to Karen Wuertz, who is the SVP of Strategic Planning and Marketing at the National Futures Association, and she responded to me with the following list.

It's important to note that sometimes there is a little more behind a name. For example, Hamilton Williams LLC ran Velocity4X. Many of the smaller Forex companies that have relied on trade commissions from smaller brokers will as a result also go out of business.

While many of you may see this as "less competition" making it a marketplace for a select few, I see it as cleaning up the industry where the inference that a quick buck can be made is rampant.

One point I've got to make to Trading Post Clients is that we have always strived to forge strong relationships with solid brokers which are well capitalized. Of course the process isn't perfect, as we see what happened to Refco a number of years back, but we're definitely looking at things with eyes wide open.

I sent the list from Ms. Wuertz to Francesc Riverola at FXstreet.com, and he responded back saying he just got the list, also. Francesc is the CEO and Founder of FXstreet.com and authors a great blog where he posted this information, also. Keep up the the great work!

Without further ado, and so there is no mistake and to put an end to the rumors of who's in and out, here is the list of registered FDM's.

Registered Forex Dealer Members

(as of December 21, 2007)

Advanced Markets Inc.

Bacera Corporation

Capital Market Services

CMC Markets US LLC

E FX Options LLC

Easy Forex US Ltd.

Forex Capital Markets

Forex Club Financial Company LLC

Friedberg Mercantile Group, Inc.

FX Solutions LLC

Gain Capital Group Inc.

GFS Securities and Futures, Inc.

Global Futures & Forex Ltd.

Hotspot FXr, Inc.

I Trade FX LLC

IFSCL USA, Inc.

IFX Markets, Inc.

Interbank FX, LLC

MB Trading Futures

Money Garden Corporation

Oanda Corporation

ODL Securities Inc.

Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.

RJ O'Brien Associates Inc.

Forex Dealer Members Who Have Ceased Operations Since September 1, 2007

American National Trading Corp.

Direct Forex FX

Farr Financial Group

Forex Liquidity

Hamilton Williams LLC

One World Capital Group LLC

Royal Forex Trading LLC (Freedom FX LLC)

SNC Investments, Inc.

Solid Gold Financial Services, Inc.

XpressTrade LLC

If I were a latent observer, I'd say that the National Futures Association is on a rampage to fine as many firms in the futures industry they can.

But adding somewhat of an educated perspective on things I can say that there is much needed increased oversight that is present for the Forex market - and there will be more to come.

Last Friday (Jan. 11), the NFA issued the following release, which I'll comment on then paste in below.

Good for the NFA for cutting out the riff-raff in the broker side of the business. There has needed to be more accountability, and we can see it in action. What strikes me is that the number of registered FDM's dropped from 34 to 24 in less than a year with the most recent regulations.

We'll see what increased regulations will bring, and how it will affect the landscape. For one will other brokers step out and do what FXDD has done? Or the question is can they?

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NFA reports four forex firms have ceased operations in light of increased capital requirements

January 11, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) announced today that four of its Forex Dealer Members (FDMs) have ceased operations as a result of NFA's new $5 million capital requirement, which became effective on December 21. In addition, six additional FDMs have ceased operating since September 1, 2007.

"When NFA's Board of Directors adopted the increased capital requirement on August 15, 2007, NFA had 34 registered FDMs," said Regina Thoele, vice-president of Compliance. "As of December 31, 2007, that number has decreased to 24."

The four firms that were unable to meet the new capital requirement and ceased operating transferred their customer accounts to other FDMs.

"We closely monitored each of the firms to ensure that customer funds were transferred to another, fully-capitalized firm," says Thoele.

NFA is the premier independent provider of innovative and efficient regulatory programs that safeguard the integrity of the derivatives markets.

As the carry trade continues to get hammered and the GBP/JPY continues its decline, Jordan Lindsey has just come out with his most recent outlook on this fast moving currency pair. Although Tony Juste doesn't think it can go down any further.

Adding to the number of "free" signals that are out there now is Elliott Wave Forex Signal, which put out a buy signal on the AUD/USD today. Of course there is a lag in subscribing to the RSS feed, which can span up to a few hours. But it's interesting to look at anyway. When I saw it a few hours after it had been send out, it was just above the buy price specified anyway. 

How far up can the euro go? It's almost at an all-time high against the US dollar, and while internally Pierre has maintained that it'll break 150, who knows? But it sure is nice to see a little beating the dollar is taking. I only say that because it seems as long as I've lived - all 32 years, the US dollar has been beating the Canadian dollar to a pulp.

I just listened to the Evening broadcast of the DailyFX Radio and its a horrible post. Both the hosts are reading (not very well) off a script, and while one voice is squeaky, the other is monotone - you can barely hear him - both of whom cloud their message to me.  


Now Rob Bookers radio podcast is more refreshing and actually draws you into the listening experience. Not scripted, loosely organized, but effective nonetheless. But naming it Piptopia is a blatant rip-off of Fruitopia, don't you think?