A simple test for dealing-desk behaviour
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 7:40 am
Nobody needs a leaked document to get a rough idea of how a broker handles orders. Three cheap checks give a decent picture.
First, price comparison. Run the broker's terminal next to a feed from another source during a calm hour and a busy one. Spreads that are consistently a bit wider, or prices that lag, are worth noting, though differences alone prove nothing because feeds are built differently.
Second, the stop-hunt question. When a stop is hit, check whether the price on the broker's own chart touched the level and whether other feeds show the same spike. A one-off is noise. A pattern of spikes that exist only on one feed, near round numbers, in thin hours, is a pattern.
Third, the symmetry test from fills: buys and sells, winners and losers, how often is slippage positive versus negative, and how long does a fill take when the market is moving towards you.
None of these returns a verdict. Together they give a profile, and the profile is what lets a trader decide whether the costs are acceptable for the style. Plenty of dealing-desk brokers are fine for slow trading and terrible for scalping, and the reverse is rare.
Which of the three checks has given the clearest result in your experience?
First, price comparison. Run the broker's terminal next to a feed from another source during a calm hour and a busy one. Spreads that are consistently a bit wider, or prices that lag, are worth noting, though differences alone prove nothing because feeds are built differently.
Second, the stop-hunt question. When a stop is hit, check whether the price on the broker's own chart touched the level and whether other feeds show the same spike. A one-off is noise. A pattern of spikes that exist only on one feed, near round numbers, in thin hours, is a pattern.
Third, the symmetry test from fills: buys and sells, winners and losers, how often is slippage positive versus negative, and how long does a fill take when the market is moving towards you.
None of these returns a verdict. Together they give a profile, and the profile is what lets a trader decide whether the costs are acceptable for the style. Plenty of dealing-desk brokers are fine for slow trading and terrible for scalping, and the reverse is rare.
Which of the three checks has given the clearest result in your experience?