Spread betting at FXCM

[Spectro]

Fxcm = scam scam scam!

 

[kerching]

Fxcm = scam scam scam!

Spectro.. may i ask what has happened for you to form this opinion?

 

[William Waller]

Hi Jason,

Is there any way to make Marketscope display mid prices? I can only see options for bid and offer (I foolishly was not thinking of this and it cost me an entry as the close - at the bid price - was just slightly low).

Just wondering, no problem if not.

Regards,

William The Conqueror

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason,

Is there any way to make Marketscope display mid prices? I can only see options for bid and offer (I foolishly was not thinking of this and it cost me an entry as the close - at the bid price - was just slightly low).

Just wondering, no problem if not.

Regards,

William The Conqueror

Hi William,

The charts don't have an option to display the mid-price, though I would bet this type of chart feature could be coded into the new Strategy Trader platform if you have any knowledge of C#.

-Jason

 

[JamieNash86]

whistling:whistling

 

[gle101]

Spectro.. may i ask what has happened for you to form this opinion?

Yes, this kind of post by Spectro should be deleted by the moderator. Without an explanation to what has happened, its only aim is to hurt the company. I am not myself trading with FXCM. I doubt very much you will receive a reply.

 

[Jason Rogers]

There have been questions over the previous months asking about plans to offer MT4 for spreadbet accounts. With the public beta release of the Strategy Trader platform, we now have an MT4 alternative, which gives you the same automated trading functionality and in our opinion a much more powerful charting package that what is available in MT4 and even when compared the MT5 platform.

Any FX Trading Station II account can login to Strategy Trader, including spreadbet accounts. Though you will need to make sure hedging is first disabled through www.myfxcm.com .

Here's a comparison we've put together for Strategy Trader vs. MT4:

An overview and videos of Strategy Trader can be found on the FXCM UK website http://www.fxcm.co.uk/strategy-trader.jsp#Overview . Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[nowhere_man]

Is there any way to make Marketscope display mid prices?

Yes, and pretty easy. The Marketscope supports custom indicators feature. Unfortunately, it's not possible to attach the indicator to the post, but here is an example of the indicator which shows mid price between bid and ask typical prices:

function Init()
    indicator:name("Midprice");
    indicator:description("Indicator shows the middle price between bid and ask");
    indicator:requiredSource(core.Bar);
    indicator:type(core.Indicator);

    indicator.parameters:addColor("clr", "Indicator Line Color", "", core.rgb(255, 255, 0));
end

local bid;
local ask;
local first;
local res;

function Prepare()
    bid = core.host:execute("getBidPrice");
    ask = core.host:execute("getAskPrice");

    first = instance.source:first();

    instance:name(profile:id());

    res = instance:addStream("MP", core.Line, profile:id(), "MP", instance.parameters.clr, first);
end

function Update(period, mode)
    if period >= first then
        res[period] = (bid.typical[period] + ask.typical[period]) / 2;
    end
end

Please note that it's extremely easy to show even a mid candle from the bid and ask candle, so you will use mid price instead of bid or ask prices in the marketscope. he custom indicator can easily show any data, not only prices, but also all these dailyfx news, COT reports and so on.

I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to put a link right here, but just google fxcodebase. This is a big community for Marketscope indicators and signals. BTW, I just don't understand why FXCM hides this resource from the traders.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Please note that it's extremely easy to show even a mid candle from the bid and ask candle, so you will use mid price instead of bid or ask prices in the marketscope. he custom indicator can easily show any data, not only prices, but also all these dailyfx news, COT reports and so on.

I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to put a link right here, but just google fxcodebase. This is a big community for Marketscope indicators and signals. BTW, I just don't understand why FXCM hides this resource from the traders.

Hi Nowhere_man,

Thanks for posting the code for the custom indicator to show mid-prices.

For anyone not familiar with the Marketscope custom indicators, below is a screenshot of where to load custom indicators into Marketscope. Click on Chart > Manage Custom Indicator (Step 1) and the custom indicator window will appear. At the bottom of the window is a link titled "Download more indicators" which will take you to www.fxcodebase.com where you can find more indicators to import into Marketscope.

After loading the custom indicator into Marketscope, you can then access the indicator by going to the top of the chart and selecting Insert > Add Indicator. Any indicator you have added to Marketscope will then appear in the indicator list.

 

[Jason Rogers]

There's an update this weekend for the FX Trading Station II. When you login on Sunday (August 27), the trading platform will automatically update to the new version. Here's what's included in the update:

1. RSS News Window
A window is being added to the trading platform down at the bottom for News. The DailyFX Real Time News feed is already included for forex alerts and you can add any additional RSS feeds. For example, I added the Marketwatch Break News Bulletings and Real Time News updates to mine. See below:

2. Trailing Stops

Dynamic vs. Step: Traders will be able to choose between having a dynamic trailing stop or a step trailing stop. The dynamic trailing stop moves pip by pip whereas the step trailing stop lets you choose the minimum moves the market must make for the stop to trail.

3. Entry Order Time in Force
Entry orders will have the option to be either Good Till Cancelled (by default) or Good for Day. If time in force is set to "Day", the order will expire at 17:00 Eastern Time (New York).


4. Signal Notification via E-Mail:
Signals that you set in the Marketscope Charts will be able to alert you via e-mail, in addition to the usual sounds and message windows. You will be able to be notified via e-mail about signals, including technical indicators such as RSI levels or Moving Average crosses, Price levels, Pivot Points, as well as custom technical indicators and signals that you can program yourself or download from the Internet. I also noticed the inclusion of a order and trader alert so you can have an email sent to you when a specified order is executed.


5. Chart Templates:
You may have experienced the frustration of spending a lot of time setting up a chart exactly how you want it with all the technical indicators and then realize you can't copy the indicator setup onto another chart. We have added a chart template option which you can use to save the indicator layout and then copy it onto other charts. Makes setting up charts much easier and efficient.


6. Tick Volume
Tick volume indicator has been added to the indicator list.

7. Technical Indicators Customization:

More customization options have been added for the indicators such as the ability to increase line thickness. This has been a very popular request.


8. Save Zoom Level:
If you're zoomed into a chart and change the period or currency pair, the zoom level will continue to the next chart. The zoom will also be saved when you save the layout of the chart. Previously, the zoom level would default to 300 candles when you change currency pairs or time frames.


9. Empty (hollow) Bearish Candles:
You have the option to make the bearish candles empty or hollow as opposed to the current setup where the candle is always filled.

Those are the major feature updates coming out this weekend. As always, if you have any suggestions for improvements to the trading platform, please feel free to let us know. We typically have 2-3 updates for the FXTSII per year and try to implement the top requests.

 

[fibbinstarchi]

FXCM spreadbet are fooking crooks! Completely different data to the market sometimes, stuff that, I'm closing my account and am going to trade the real market, I've had enough of bucket shop (spreadbet firms) games, it's hard enough to beat the real market somedays let alone having to fight these spreadbetting thieves.

 

[Jason Rogers]

FXCM spreadbet are fooking crooks!

If you have anything specific you would like to discuss, you're welcome to ask me any questions.

-Jason

 

[gle101]

FXCM spreadbet are fooking crooks! Completely different data to the market sometimes, stuff that, I'm closing my account and am going to trade the real market, I've had enough of bucket shop (spreadbet firms) games, it's hard enough to beat the real market somedays let alone having to fight these spreadbetting thieves.

With a attitude like that, you won't succeed trading the real market either.

 

[Ross Spur]

FXCM spreadbet are fooking crooks! Completely different data to the market sometimes, stuff that, I'm closing my account and am going to trade the real market, I've had enough of bucket shop (spreadbet firms) games, it's hard enough to beat the real market somedays let alone having to fight these spreadbetting thieves.

If the data's different surely you could make money by arbing?

 

[fibbinstarchi]

With a attitude like that, you won't succeed trading the real market either.

You think? I've traded the markets for years. Funny that with the MT4 platform I use I'm doing fine, and with FXCM spreadbet I'm making money but with 40% less success rate because of being stopped out and set ups not working because the data has been altered to their favour. So you're ok with data going in the opposite direction to the market to hoover up stops? Good luck with that.

 

[fibbinstarchi]

If you have anything specific you would like to discuss, you're welcome to ask me any questions.

-Jason

It's easy to discuss. Simply follow the true FX market, and stop with the slippage (at quiet times) but then you wont because every Pound I take from you, I reduce your bottom line by the same amount, and don't say you hedge every trade, I know the inner workings of the bucket shop spreadbet companies.

 

[Jason Rogers]

It's easy to discuss. Simply follow the true FX market, and stop with the slippage (at quiet times) but then you wont because every Pound I take from you, I reduce your bottom line by the same amount, and don't say you hedge every trade, I know the inner workings of the bucket shop spreadbet companies.

You may be familiar with how a market maker works, but FXCM uses NDD execution for forex transactions. All of the forex transactions on the spreadbet accounts are executed by No Dealing Desk execution, so every transaction is hedged immediately with a bank or financial institution. You can read about our forex execution as it is explained in detail. FXCM is compensated by a pip mark-up on the bid/ask spread (essentially a commission), and your profit or loss does not affect our bottom line.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have about our NDD execution.

-Jason

 

[FX Bandit]

Hi Jason, excellent thread. Very good to have an accessible representative.

I've got a quick question about Marketscope (can't find anything in the "help").

This might be a really stupid question, but how do I bring up a 2000 tick chart? Can't seem to find anything to alter the tick chart at all.

Really like it as a charting package by the way.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason, excellent thread. Very good to have an accessible representative.

I've got a quick question about Marketscope (can't find anything in the "help").

This might be a really stupid question, but how do I bring up a 2000 tick chart? Can't seem to find anything to alter the tick chart at all.

Really like it as a charting package by the way.

Thank you for your help.

Hey Bandit,

Thanks for the post, and sorry about the delay in getting back to you.

Whenever you load a Marketscope chart, it will display 300 periods worth of information but you can do increase the amount of data being displayed on the chart from there. To view more data, you'll need to scroll back or compress the chart.

At the bottom of the chart, there is a ruler area. See the image below. I highlighted the area and drew an arrow to it. If you left click on this area, and drag your mouse to the right it will compress the chart showing more data and ticks. In the chart below, I dragged the chart back by 5000 ticks.

We're also working to have 1 million+ ticks available in historical format for automated trading platform Strategy Trader; however, it is not yet available.

Thanks for the feedback on the charts, and let me know if you have any additional questions!

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

US Labor Day Holiday & Trading Hours

Monday September 6th is the US Labor Day holiday. Forex trading hours will remain the same despite the holiday, opening at the regular time of 5:15pm ET on Sunday.

For traders with FXCM UK and FXCM Australia, trading hours for some CFD* products will be modified due to the holiday. Here's the list of CFD products affected along with the corresponding change in trading hours:

• US 30, SPX 500 and NAS 100 (US indices) will close at 11:30 AM EST and re-open at 6 PM EST.
• US Oil will close at 1:15 PM EST and re-open at 6 PM EST.
• UK Oil will close at 1:30 PM EST and re-open at 8 PM EST.


*CFD trading not available for US residents