Best Thread FXCM Discussion

[Jason Rogers]

UK100 will be closed for trading on Monday, August 26th for the Summer Bank Holiday in England.

All other CFDs and forex will trade as normal.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Monday is a bank holiday in the US which means a change to rollover and certain CFD trading hours.

1. Rollover: There will be 5x rollover for all TRY (Turkish Lira) pairs and 4x rollover for all other pairs today. On Friday there is 0 rollover for all pairs. This information is always available on the DailyFX Monthly Rollover Calendar.

2. CFD Holiday Hours: Below are the trading hours for CFD's which are impacted by the holiday on Monday September 2. This schedule is representative of our intended hours. Should market conditions dictate, we will deviate from this schedule.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jason

 

[Tytus_Barnowl]

There is no such thing as measurable vol in fx, only wht your broker wants you to see.

 

[Mr Fox]

Monday is a bank holiday in the US which means a change to rollover and certain CFD trading hours.

1. Rollover: There will be 5x rollover for all TRY (Turkish Lira) pairs and 4x rollover for all other pairs today. On Friday there is 0 rollover for all pairs. This information is always available on the DailyFX Monthly Rollover Calendar.

2. CFD Holiday Hours: Below are the trading hours for CFD's which are impacted by the holiday on Monday September 2. This schedule is representative of our intended hours. Should market conditions dictate, we will deviate from this schedule.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jason

Hi Jason.

I have an off topic question for you, and if you can be as kind as to reply to it I would appreciate it.

When FTSE opens at 8am I'm unable to place a trade till about 8.01am on this instrument, and I miss quite a mammoth move, but my indicators mostly have flagged this 8am trade up.

How can I get in on this trade at 8am, or do I have to wait till 8.01, 0r place the trade the night before, or can I put in a entry order at 7.59am.

I look forward to your reply.

Best
John

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason.

I have an off topic question for you, and if you can be as kind as to reply to it I would appreciate it.

When FTSE opens at 8am I'm unable to place a trade till about 8.01am on this instrument, and I miss quite a mammoth move, but my indicators mostly have flagged this 8am trade up.

How can I get in on this trade at 8am, or do I have to wait till 8.01, 0r place the trade the night before, or can I put in a entry order at 7.59am.

I look forward to your reply.

Best
John

Hi John,

You would either have to be in the trade the night before, or place the trade once trading begins and orders are accepted. I would urge some caution with entry orders before since they would likely experience slippage if pricing gaps at the start of trading. With the CFD products our trading desk has to be able to manage the risk on those positions and the market may be too illquid to immediately accept trades at the start.

I hope that helps clarify, and please feel free to let me know if you have additional questions.

Jason

 

[DigitalGeometry]

FXCM:

What is the reason for the overly inflated spreads that happens on a constant basis, even when market activity and liquidity remains at historically significant levels?

The pic below describes what I constantly see on the TS-II platform and the MT4 platform offered by FXCM. Yet, these same spreads are nowhere near as wide on other Retail FX Trading platforms - why?

 

[DigitalGeometry]

The time on the clock in the upper right hand corner of the trading system reads 21:40:09 GMT which corresponds to the 17:40 time on the TS-II trading panels.

 

[Jason Rogers]

FXCM:

What is the reason for the overly inflated spreads that happens on a constant basis, even when market activity and liquidity remains at historically significant levels?

The pic below describes what I constantly see on the TS-II platform and the MT4 platform offered by FXCM. Yet, these same spreads are nowhere near as wide on other Retail FX Trading platforms - why?

Hi DG,

In regards to your questions about spreads, there are a few things to consider.

First, while daily volume in the forex market has reach new highs, the time of day when you took your screenshot happens to be the slowest period in terms of trading activity. The US session ends at 5pm New York time, and the Tokyo session does not begin until a couple of hours later. During this quiet period, there is less volume, so you may see wider spreads than at peak times.

Second, it's important when comparing spreads between brokers to keep in mind what execution model is being used. For example, FXCM offers clients the choice between two types of forex execution: No Dealing Desk (NDD) and Dealing Desk. While we believe that NDD execution provides the best all-around trading experience, we also offer dealing desk execution as an option for traders whose primary concern is low spreads.

Above is a snapshot I just took from a table showing the live spreads from brokers regulated in the UK, and as you can see, our dealing desk spreads compare favorably with other brokers on the same execution model.

Third, while spreads are important, they are just one factor out of many to consider when choosing a broker along with 24 hour customer support, trading platforms offered, education, resources, etc. We seek to provide competitive spreads while also delivering great execution and a safe place for you to hold your funds.

It's no secret that the brokerage industry has been in the midst of a price war for the past couple of years. That combined with lower trading volumes last year have caused many brokers to struggle. There was even a broker in Ireland that went bankrupt after trying to entice clients with 0 pip spreads. Last year also saw the failure of a US broker that had previously touted their razor thin spreads. We've had other brokers have to pull out of the US after being unable to meet regulatory capital requirements.

If recent events have taught us anything, it's that the financial stability of the broker you choose can have far greater implications than we previously thought. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these brokers are privately held companies, so it's hard to know the state of their finances. Are they profitable, or are they barely staying afloat? How can you know whether they are safe place to keep your money?

FXCM is a publicly-traded company (NYSE ticker: FXCM), so information regarding our financial data is readily available. This is one of the reasons why traders have entrusted us with $1.190 billion in client funds as of the latest published data.

Welcome to the forum

Jason

 

[DigitalGeometry]

"Above is a snapshot I just took from a table showing the live spreads from brokers regulated in the UK, and as you can see, our dealing desk spreads compare favorably with other brokers on the same execution model.

Even during peak periods where liquidity is historically nominal, you I do not see sub 2.0 pips spread on USDJPY. Time on panel shows that this is not at the close of the US and before the Asian sessions.

I have sat and watched my panel show spreads widening across the major JPY spectrum of major pairs and seen Bid/Ask gaps as high as double digits - and those were during fairly active US trading sessions and just before a historically significant move where there was no pending news release - so it cannot be said that liquidity was low merely because market activity was sidelined waiting for a major fundamental release.

At times these FXCM spreads widen to absurd magnitudes. You just gave a fairly common and somewhat standardized answer. What I'm looking for is the real mechanism behind the reason for why FXCM widens spreads just before significant moves on far too common a basis.

 

[Jason Rogers]

What I'm looking for is the real mechanism behind the reason for why FXCM widens spreads just before significant moves on far too common a basis.

You mention seeing spreads widen before significant moves. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you give me an example?

 

[DigitalGeometry]

You mention seeing spreads widen before significant moves. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you give me an example?

The next time it happens while I have HyperCam running, I'll be sure to record it and post it to my YouTube account so you can see it. A picture is worth a thousand words but a video is worth at least a million.

It is not like I am making this stuff up. Anyone who trades for a living needs to pay attention to not only price action but spread action. My system tracks spread action and has an algorithm for determining not only the direction of price, but the probability for widening spreads as well.

I would like to be able to call these "Widening Events" anomalistic. However, that would not be a true statement when it comes to FXCM. On CitiFx's MT4 platform, my system's historical spread action database does not show anywhere near the same degree of widening that I continually see on FXCM's TS-II and MT4 platforms.

I'm slowly migrating my capital to the Currenex platform: Currenex FIX Protocol 4.x API. There is lots of API work still to do, so I'm not yet fully engaged on Currenex. I still use an FXCM account for various kinds of testing purposes and mostly because the majority of my development has been done using the MT4 platform (MQL) and Excel. I run my capital on two different platforms right now and intend to settle on Currenex as the single point of entry.

On the FXCM platforms all JPY majors seem to have one of the highest spread deviation norms across all pairs that my system tracks and relative to most other retail forex brokers that I have observed. The FXCM spreads are certainly nowhere near as tight as those found on platforms like Currenex.

Like I said, when I have Hcam rolling during another testing phase and my system encounters the widening, I'll post a link to the YouTube video right here so you can see it for yourself. Or, alternatively - you can roll video of your own on all the major FXCM JPY pairs and capture the event yourself. Either way, these events will show themselves and I estimate it wont be too long before it happens again, given their history.

 

[redtag12]

You mention seeing spreads widen before significant moves. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you give me an example?

What on earth do you mean you dont understand widening spreads before sig moves if you dont, may i suggest that i email your boss im pretty sure that he would want to know that Jason.Listen FXCM widen the spreads themselves its as simple as that they always have done and as long as they can get away with that they will as your client said he does not see that on his other paltforms not to the extent he seems to think you are .

 

[redtag12]

The next time it happens while I have HyperCam running, I'll be sure to record it and post it to my YouTube account so you can see it. A picture is worth a thousand words but a video is worth at least a million.

It is not like I am making this stuff up. Anyone who trades for a living needs to pay attention to not only price action but spread action. My system tracks spread action and has an algorithm for determining not only the direction of price, but the probability for widening spreads as well.

I would like to be able to call these "Widening Events" anomalistic. However, that would not be a true statement when it comes to FXCM. On CitiFx's MT4 platform, my system's historical spread action database does not show anywhere near the same degree of widening that I continually see on FXCM's TS-II and MT4 platforms.

I'm slowly migrating my capital to the Currenex platform: Currenex FIX Protocol 4.x API. There is lots of API work still to do, so I'm not yet fully engaged on Currenex. I still use an FXCM account for various kinds of testing purposes and mostly because the majority of my development has been done using the MT4 platform (MQL) and Excel. I run my capital on two different platforms right now and intend to settle on Currenex as the single point of entry.

On the FXCM platforms all JPY majors seem to have one of the highest spread deviation norms across all pairs that my system tracks and relative to most other retail forex brokers that I have observed. The FXCM spreads are certainly nowhere near as tight as those found on platforms like Currenex.

Like I said, when I have Hcam rolling during another testing phase and my system encounters the widening, I'll post a link to the YouTube video right here so you can see it for yourself. Or, alternatively - you can roll video of your own on all the major FXCM JPY pairs and capture the event yourself. Either way, these events will show themselves and I estimate it wont be too long before it happens again, given their history.

What was the volume like at these times??Mike.

 

[Jason Rogers]

What on earth do you mean you dont understand widening spreads before sig moves if you dont, may i suggest that i email your boss im pretty sure that he would want to know that Jason.

Hi Redtag,

Now that you mention it, I can see how my question could seem puzzling, if read out of context.

In a previous post, DG asked why he saw spreads widen "just before a historically significant move where there was no pending news release". I asked for a specific example, so I could look into why spreads might have widened at that time if there was no news event scheduled.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Like I said, when I have Hcam rolling during another testing phase and my system encounters the widening, I'll post a link to the YouTube video right here so you can see it for yourself.

Thanks DG, I'll be happy to take a look for you, when you're able to gather this info.

 

[DigitalGeometry]

Thanks DG, I'll be happy to take a look for you, when you're able to gather this info.

Here we go again.

I was doing some maintenance on my panel when it happened. This pic pretty much shows the matter quite clearly:

20.1 pips on the Chief. 16.1 on Jeppy. 9.9 on Caddy. 16.1 on Nzed and 11.2 on Audi. The only barely sane participant was the U.S. at this point. Time is shown on the panel in upper right corner and is MT4 chart time for FXCM.

The spreads widened on FXCM just before that spike seen here (Nzed chart):

This is pretty typical on JPY for FXCM. Spreads seem to take off into no-mans land just before a move of some sort which typically positions me out of a decent trade entry. It happens too many times to be considered acceptable.

Also, what's going on with FXCM that causes this continual missing bars of data routine that happens almost each day just after 2103 hrs MT4 chart time? That kind of routine can skew a digital trading system is it remains in effect for extended periods of time - like it does on to many occasions.

What's the deal with FXCM and these perpetual issues? They don't seem like anomalistic events to me. Do they seem anomalistic to anyone else?

 

[DigitalGeometry]

BTW - that blue dashed line that you see in the chart - yeah, that one. That one with the FXCM spike straight through the heart. Well, that was precisely the Target that was calculated by my system a couple of hours ago from the top of the move.

That means that when FXCM widened the spread, it moved the Ask price higher during that same move. That means that my Short position never reached the Target, when there should have been room to clear the exit on the move.

Do you see the solid blue line above the dashed blue line - that was the second entry level. The first entry level was a few pips more above that. Apparently, if you are a precise trader with keenly calculated TP levels, FXCM makes things exceedingly difficult for you with its perpetual Spread Widening Campaigns and Missing Bars of Data Routines.

Any explanations, platitudes, suggestions, compromises, solutions, repairs, etc.?

 

[Purple Brain]

Digital - no they are not anomalous. I've had a useful exchange of views with Jason on another thread, but whenever it goes anywhere near issues that underpin their business model, Jason is, understandably, unable/unwilling to answer.

He seems like a nice chap, but he represents the financial interests of his company - not yours.

You must realise when you use FXCM or similar, you are not trading the underlying market, but a synthetic derivative of that market as determined beneficial to the company providing that derivative.

 

[DigitalGeometry]

What was the volume like at these times??Mike.

Whatever they were, they don't seem to impact the Currenex platforms to anywhere near the same degree as FXCM. The gaps in bars is really a problem for my system. My system uses consecutive bars of data to perform its calculations. Missing bars of data all the time is a real pain to work around, especially when the actual market did not produce those gaps in the data.

This is a near 4.5 trillion per day market. Even with currency pairs being traded at the retail level, this is still a multi-hundred billion per day market. JPY is one of the most contested counter-currencies in existence when paired up with the rest of the majors. I trade all the major JPY pairs and the liquidity is typically "normal" - which means that this kind of stuff just should not be happening on such a frequent basis with FXCM. On other platforms, I don't see these same kinds of consistently derived data anomalies that I routinely run into on FXCM, ever since I switched over the the JPY stack. You see this kind of stuff dramatically more than you do on other reputable platforms.

 

[DigitalGeometry]

You must realise when you use FXCM or similar, you are not trading the underlying market, but a synthetic derivative of that market as determined beneficial to the company providing that derivative.

You are talking about the difference between Retail and Institutional. My belief is that if any retail FCM gets into the business of Retail FX, then they ought to provide pricing that is commensurate with interbank, or at least Fair & Balanced.

Yeah, they have to keep the spreads wide enough to make a profit from their business model, but the buck needs to stop right there. All of this jerking around on the spreads at moments when the market is either about the move, is completely unacceptable - not to mention rude.

I use a set of density probability calculations to protect me from too many losing trades, but the optimization of my system is lowered by stunts like this being played all the time by FXCM. Striking targets routinely are important to long-term profitability. When these guys start hitting the market with double-digit 20 pip spreads for no good reason whatsoever, right near a TP level that was predicted with a high level of precision - that's just wrong.