117
votes
Is this broker a scam?
They call you, instead of the other way around.
They promise more than 10% a year return*.
They ask you for rapidly increasing sums of money.
Multiple unrelated domains use their exact website.
They ...
- 2,115
101
votes
Is this broker a scam?
This is part of highly sophisticated network of scammers. This scam is spread across hundred of websites (some list can be found here and here), most likely using "fake" or stolen details and they're ...
- 1,956
99
votes
Is this broker a scam?
It is a scam. There are quite a few websites with different names but same layouts.
https://www.master4x.com/index.php.
https://www.8infx.com/index.php.
https://topicmarkets.com/index.php
...
- 57.2k
96
votes
Accepted
Why do money exchangers give different rates to different bills?
When dealing with currency exchanges, it's important to remember that only the local currency is "money", all the other currencies are just "things".
This is the reason behind the "buying"/"selling" ...
- 762
81
votes
Accepted
Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
Mainly because they can.
Yes, there is a cost for banks to execute such transactions, and yes, there is a cost to cover the implied risks, but it is far from 3 or 4%.
There are banks that charge a ...
- 37.8k
80
votes
What stops you from using fixed income in developing countries?
assuming the currency value with respect to USD stays stable in that year.
This is where your analysis breaks down. The fact that the foreign bond pays a higher interest rate indicates that the ...
- 140k
74
votes
Is purchasing foreign currency before going abroad a losing proposition?
You don't need to be an economist to shop something. I just did some quoting of USD to EUR
The daily wholesale close: 1.1251
The daily rate from Visa: 1.121988
The quote from my brick and mortar ...
- 49k
68
votes
Can someone make money by cycling through currencies and exchanges?
I recently got this idea from ...
You're not the first. (Or the 8000th.)
Is there a word for it?
Arbitrage (pronounced in French) is "the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same asset in ...
- 50.8k
65
votes
Why don't unbanked people use cryptocurrency?
Let me tell you a true story that I observed in my working life about the importance of failsafes in financial transactions:
I was on my company's M&A team, preparing for the acquisition of ...
- 42.9k
60
votes
Accepted
What is the cause of sudden price spikes in the FOREX market?
If you do not understand the volatility of the fx market, you need to stop trading it, immediately. There are many reasons that fx is riskier than other types of investing, and you bear those risks ...
- 42.9k
57
votes
Can someone make money by cycling through currencies and exchanges?
An example should be something like this: $10 ⟶ ¥10000 ⟶ €5 ⟶ $12 (profit)
This is called triangular arbitrage. The concept is simple and well-known. The process is not risk-free. There are many ...
- 17.2k
55
votes
Why don't unbanked people use cryptocurrency?
There are several reasons why cryptocurrencies are no option for everyday commerce:
Transfers are expensive. Most cryptocurrencies are designed in a way that you need to pay cryptocurrency to ...
- 24.1k
44
votes
Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
All institutions, financial or otherwise, seek to maximize profits. In a free market, each bank would price its services to be competitive with the current state of the market.
Since the currency ...
- 561
41
votes
Why do money exchangers give different rates to different bills?
Because it is physical money. They need to handle it. And they may simply not be able to as easily and as efficiently offload 5 USD bills compared to 100 USD bills. Result is a different pricing ...
- 11.6k
41
votes
Accepted
Do I have a right to cancel a purchase of foreign currency in the UK?
The Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004 say in Section 11:
Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), regulation 9 does not confer on a
consumer a right to cancel a distance contract ...
- 23.5k
38
votes
Exchange gain on credit card refund
My question is, how is it possible? Who is bearing that AED 93/- additional amount I have received which obviously is not the hotel.
Short answer, it is the Fx market.
When you charged GBP 2760, ...
- 57.2k
38
votes
High conversion fee for failed bank transfer
It isn't a simple reversal, because money actually changed hands when the transfer was made.
When the transfer was made 50,000 Euros was credited to a UK bank, and some number of kronor was debited ...
- 34k
38
votes
Can dual citizens open crypto exchange accounts where U.S. citizens are prohibited?
Financial institutions are subject to additional reporting requirements where they deal with U.S. persons (→ FATCA). Many institutions therefore decline potential customers that are U.S. persons, ...
- 2,447
34
votes
Accepted
Why do market-makers usually win against traders?
A market maker has several advantages:
Faster access to market news and they can change their price faster than you can
If they are the market, they buy at the bid and sell at the ask when the ...
- 76.9k
32
votes
What stops you from using fixed income in developing countries?
Because currency risk is not the only risk in this scenario. The risk of the developing country (the state) not servicing their obligations are the bigger risk, hence the very high interest rates.
...
- 1,466
31
votes
Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
Why do these fees exist?
From a Banks point of view, they are operating in Currency A; Currency B is a commodity [similar to Oil, Grains, Goods, etc]. So they will only buy if they can sell it at a ...
- 57.2k
31
votes
Accepted
How exactly are exchange rates determined?
Currencies are indeed "actually" traded basically on what is called the "Interbank Market"
Here's a quick read on that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market
Let ...
- 13.8k
29
votes
Accepted
How to properly calculate USD income when paid in foreign currency like EUR?
You convert the income into USD based on the Treasury's rate for the date on which you received the income (See the IRC Sec 989(b)(1)). The Treasury's rate is accepted unconditionally, if you use ...
- 181k
27
votes
Is this broker a scam?
You got a call from someone, out of the blue, asking you for money. How is this not a scam? Cold calling is a good indicator of a scam. You also seem to be in denial of that fact that you’ve been ...
- 409
27
votes
Accepted
Should I invest or should I wait while having foreign currency?
Fundamentally here you're asking for a sound prediction on direction of currency markets (and in a secondary respect the direction of the stock market). No one credible who even vaguely knows this ...
- 5,768
26
votes
Is purchasing foreign currency before going abroad a losing proposition?
I don't know about other markets, but for travellers based in the UK going to popular destinations, the most competitive card providers give slightly better value than the most competitive cash ...
- 960
23
votes
Accepted
Why don’t forex traders deal in both currencies at once?
Well, your exchange rate changes are deeply unrealistic. But aside from that, there's another problem. You are assuming in step 3 that the exchange rate will return to the same position as it was in ...
- 14.1k
23
votes
Accepted
India: is making money by buying and selling foreign currency legal?
Is this method legal? Are there people who use this method to make money?
This depends on the intent. As per Foreign Exchange Management Act, an individual cannot trade in FX. There are specific ...
- 57.2k
23
votes
Sending a check from US to Canada - whose problem is the exchange rate?
If the contract requires that you pay in US currency - then you pay in US currency. What happens after you paid as the contract requires of you - is not your problem. The recipient may want to convert ...
- 181k
22
votes
Can someone make money by cycling through currencies and exchanges?
One of my teachers (established engineer doing his Ph.D. in older age teaching us) at the university made a solid amount of money designing special hardware, one of the uses of which was to trade on ...
- 320
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible