Where's the retail trading going?

[juanoxxgege]

I would like to know what you think about this topic: how long do you think that retail traders will be able to continue "accessing the market"? Lately, I have been thinking about this, with all the boom of cryptos and when the WSBs beat up hedge funds a couple of months ago... Everyone who starts now seems to be going straight to the model of anchored accounts, which I understand perfectly well, but I never see that there is talk of the real duration of that. Will regulations change? Will it be banned in some countries? Do we know that retail does not represent a large part of the market movement in CFDs, but is it possible that at some point, even in this next decade, we will be taken out of the play and left alone for the big fish of the banks? Although there is also the liquidity factor that we bring to the banks, the fact that they take advantage of the rookies, the broker commissions, the circus of "education" (which I don't even want to mention).

[egwin23]

Good question, really. I hope that in the future there will be more brokers that will allow people from outside to directly access the US stock market. Forex is fine because of how accessible it is, but it would be great to have access to a centralized market such as stock market, which is also a good way of investing. Access is key. I hope there will be more access to more markets, not less. Although of course, one thing is what I want and another that can happen.

[Nui]

I think they need retail to make this work. I don’t think it’s right for them to leave us out. I’m sure they’ll make it harder and harder for us to win. Traders in the United States have it especially complicated. FIFO is already a sample of how unfair all this can be for the retailer.

[oli3593]

The FX for retailers has been around since 1996, so the bigwigs were already playing since they were 70, minimum. Do they need us? I'm not sure...

[cisco2225]

If they don't need us, then why are we still here? We're operating on FX because, one way or another, we serve them.

[juanoxxgege]

Brutal answers, very interesting! In the cable thread, the post ##610,407 is of the highest quality. Recommended for anyone who wants to take a look at it.

[Mikolomg]

We know why we are needed in the retail FX as much as we know why the market really moves. We make educated assumptions, but we don’t have the truth. If they already had liquidity before us, they will have it later. I think they just enjoy emptying our accounts.

[juanoxxgege]

What worries me is not so much that they close the access tap, but that they do it so technical and expensive that they can only follow those who have a lot of capital or legal resources. We don’t talk about a free market anymore, we talk about a private club with rules that they themselves rewrite. And when that happens, you know who always wins. I still believe that there will be room for retail, but increasingly limited. The anchored accounts will keep going up because it’s a way to keep us on the wheel without having to put capital of their own. But that can also become a trap if the terms become abusive or if they cut you off as soon as you get some advantage.

[juanoxxgege]

It has to be said clearly: if 90% loses, the big ones are doing well. Each retail trader is a small bag of liquidity with legs. As long as we keep leaving money on the table, they will keep letting us in. But make no mistake, that does not mean that we play on equal terms. They give us access, but full of obstacles. And that without counting the algorithms, the slips, the spreads inflated in news... the game is rigged since you enter.

[juanoxxgege]

It's funny when someone says the market is free. Free for who? For the retail trader who operates from his mobile phone while working on a 12-hour shift? Come on. The only thing free here is illusion. But yes, as long as we put our money into play and accept to lose it joyfully, the big ones won't close the door. It would be like closing the tip tap.

[juanoxxgege]

I'm hoping, man. I think there's more and more information, more access to tools, and more people who don't fall that easy anymore. Yeah, most people keep losing, but every year there's more that actually learn. And that critical mass, if it keeps growing, can push for more respect for retail. If not the same, at least as voice players. That would already be something.

[juanoxxgege]

I don't know about you, but every time I see a new broker offering 0 commissions I get to laugh. Does anyone really believe it? If they don't take it out on one side, they take it out on the other. And in the meantime, we're happy because we enter the market for free. You'll see when free access is the only thing left, but the conditions are so manipulated that it's impossible to survive.

[juanoxxgege]

The market needs fresh meat, and that's what we are. Cannon meat. That's why they're going to let you in forever. They need the flow of newbies losing to make the wheel work. The key is not whether they'll leave us or not, but whether there will ever be a structure that protects the retail for real. One where the trader isn't doomed from day one. But for that he would have to change the whole system.

[juanoxxgege]

Totally according to those who say that retail is necessary. Not out of respect or out of justice, but because we are useful. Like the pawn in chess. Precindible, but essential at the same time. If one day they find another way to maintain that liquidity without us, there we are out. Until then, we will continue in the circus, paying for playing.

[juanoxxgege]

Your post reminds me a lot of how this started for me. I wanted freedom, not bosses, not routines... and at first it was hard. Very hard. But I also think that the market rewards constancy, even if it is late. I don’t know if they will let us follow, but if they do, make it clearer rules. What I can’t stand anymore are dirty tricks, information gaps and platforms that kill you with excuses.

[juanoxxgege]

People here talk as if the problem is access. The problem is what they do with you once you’re in. The market doesn’t need to close the door, it just needs you to kill yourself with a lever. And that’s what happens every day. Access there is, yes, but you’d better come with helmet and bulletproof vest, because if they don’t eat you alive in the first week.

[juanoxxgege]

I think the retail trader will continue to exist, but more as a platform client than as a free operator. We’re on our way to becoming financial consumers, not traders. They’ll sell us signals, robots, anchor accounts, courses, VIP memberships... all but let us win. Because if you win, you don’t pay back. And that doesn’t matter.

[juanoxxgege]

The real danger is not that we get pulled out, but that they make us irrelevant. That we have less impact and more restrictions. A golden cage, but cage at last. That’s why I’m diversifying now. If the FX gets ugly, I get into futures, options, even crypto if necessary. The important thing is not to depend on a single channel.

[juanoxxgege]

You're young and you've already found something that works for you. That's gold. But don't trust it, because what works today, tomorrow they can erase it with a line of regulation. So start thinking about how to always have a second way. Because if you wait for the door to close, it may be too late to find another.

[juanoxxgege]

You know what would be fair? That there was an organism that really protected the retail trader, as they do with consumers in other sectors. But it seems here that if you lose, the fault is always yours. I’m not saying that they give us an advantage, just a more balanced field. And that, unfortunately, seems science fiction today.

[juanoxxgege]

The market gives you the feeling of freedom, but it’s full of hidden traps. From night spreads to ghost movements that only see those who pay millions for real-time data. But yes, you go in, open an account with $1,005 and think you’re a shark. That’s how all the horror stories I’ve read in this forum begin.

[juanoxxgege]

The good thing about all this is that, even if they have us as cannon meat, we also have real opportunities. People like you or like me can go far if they learn to dodge the blows. We are not fools, we are only unarmed at first. But over time, if you are disciplined and you don’t believe all the stories, you can compete. Not with the banks, but against others who are as lost as you were.

[juanoxxgege]

There's something nobody mentions: the ego. The market not only empties your pocket, it also breaks your soul if you don't have your feet on the ground. Many retail traders lose not because of lack of access, but because of excess confidence. And as long as that doesn't change, the market doesn't need to change anything. We destroy ourselves alone and we pay for the privilege.

[juanoxxgege]

No, brother. Access is just the door to the trap. The hard thing is to get out of the other side alive. But still, I'm still here, just like you. Because when you get the point, this is more addictive than any drug. And that, those up there know it.

[juanoxxgege]

What bothers me most is the double speech. They sell you the idea that everyone can do it, but then they put in regulations, leverage limits, and laugh spreads. If they want us to play, let them say it. But don’t come with financial inclusion stories while they sink us with every regulatory update.