Spread betting at FXCM

[Jason Rogers]

Jason
How are you going help about the data? As you rightly say, we are trading your market, all I'm saying is that there better company's out there that follow the market which half decent traders can trade alongside using a decent trading platform (MT4)....

Hi fibbinstarchi,

You said there is incorrect data. Please provide the details and I would be happy to review it with you. All of our charts allow you to access any past data so you can pull it up to show us.

As mentioned in the previous post and in the video I posted, with NDD forex execution you're not trading a market where FXCM determines the pricing and you're not trading against FXCM. There are over a dozen banks and market makers that stream pricing to FXCM. Out of those quotes, the best bid/ask is displayed onto the trading platform with a mark-up on the majors. So FXCM does not determine which prices are displayed or where the market moves. You automatically see the best bid/ask price with mark-up.

This is much different to trading against your broker making a market in which the broker can determine which prices are quoted and where the market moves, not to mention having to deal with re-quotes. You're basically trusting your broker making the market not to play games with your trading when their interests can be directly opposed to yours (i.e. when you lose they can profit).

MT4 is popular amongst the trading community for automated trading and charting, and most often times used by new brokers who don't have their own platform. FXCM offers the MT4 platform because of its popularity automated trading in addition to other platforms created in house such as the FX Trading Station II, which was named best retail platform the past two years by FX Week, and Strategy Trader. You can find a comparison of the different platforms here http://www.fxcm.co.uk/compare-forex-platforms.jsp.

-Jason

 

[fibbinstarchi]

Yes incorrect compared to the real market, again, you stated we trade your market data so that matter is cleared up with me, I can no longer use your company. As far as sifting through charts to show you what you and I already know, you're lucky I'm even bothering to reply to you these many times, only reason I am is because I'm not trading today. Good luck with your sales, but you really need to sort your data out, you wouldn't want people to think you mislead punters into thinking you follow the market accurately.....as you don't.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Yes incorrect compared to the real market, again, you stated we trade your market data so that matter is cleared up with me, I can no longer use your company. As far as sifting through charts to show you what you and I already know, you're lucky I'm even bothering to reply to you these many times, only reason I am is because I'm not trading today. Good luck with your sales, but you really need to sort your data out, you wouldn't want people to think you mislead punters into thinking you follow the market accurately.....as you don't.

I would be happy to investigate or sort anything if you have something specific to be sorted out. I hope you can understand that coming on the thread and making claims without having any supporting information is kind of hard to take seriously. I can only address things as far as as much detail is provided. But I do my best to help anyone as much as possible as demonstrated with the discussions on this thread.

I wish you all the best with your trading.

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Holiday Trading Hours

This Thursday Nov. 25, 2010 is the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday. Below are important announcements regarding trading hours and rollover.

Forex
There are NO CHANGES to forex trading hours. Forex trading will continue without interruption until the normal close time of 4:00pm ET on Friday. Even though there are no changes to trading hours, please be aware that there may be less liquidity due to the holiday which could affect market volatility and spreads.


CFD's
Certain CFD products will have modified trading hours due to the holiday. Below is a table and all times are in ET (New York time).

Rollover

Due to bank holidays this week, there will be 4X rollover on Tuesday Nov. 23rd and 0 rollover on Wednesday Nov. 24th. You can find the monthly rollover calendar on DailyFX www.dailyfx.com/frollover.

Lastly, I will be out of the office starting tomorrow (Tuesday Nov 23rd). Any questions posted after today will be answered on Monday Nov. 29th.

Cheers!

-Jason

 

[Ross Spur]

Yes incorrect compared to the real market, again, you stated we trade your market data so that matter is cleared up with me, I can no longer use your company. As far as sifting through charts to show you what you and I already know, you're lucky I'm even bothering to reply to you these many times, only reason I am is because I'm not trading today. Good luck with your sales, but you really need to sort your data out, you wouldn't want people to think you mislead punters into thinking you follow the market accurately.....as you don't.

In the case of FX, what is the 'real market', though? If FXCM's quotes are derived from multiple sources, how do you know your data is correct?

 

[fibbinstarchi]

I know my data was correct because I have 6 brokers open including yours and 5 other brokers had the same data, yours was the only broker that deviated, so from that my conclusion was that yours was incorrect, and again, it's not the first time it has happened. Your the one who has more to lose and should look into this, open up 6 brokers including your own and compare data, rather than arguing the toss with me.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Holiday Trading Hours

 

[Jason Rogers]

FX Trading Station II Update: December 17, 2010

An FXTSII update is currently planned for December 17 (next Friday) after the trading close. FXCM traders should be receiving an email within the upcoming days regarding the new features. This post contains an overview of some of the new features being added to the FX Trading Station II. I will highlight upgrades to Marketscope tomorrow.


1. Pip Value and Margin Calculations in Order Window
Spreadbet traders used to trading in pounds per point should particularly like this one. The market order and entry order windows will display the pip value and margin requirement corresponding to the amount selected. This will let you know the amount of margin you will use when the trade is opened and how much each pip is worth based on the trade size selected. In the image below, I have selected a trade size of 50k EUR/GBP. The per pip tells me the pip value for this trade size will be equal to £5.00 per point and the Used Margin will be $250.

2. Usable Margin Column Color as % of Usable Margin
The Usable Margin column will change colors depending on how much margin you have remaining. This is meant to give you an idea of when you are in danger of receiving a margin call.

Green = Usable Margin > 30%
Orange = Usable Margin 10-30%
Red = Usable Margin < 10%

3. Time In Force
Fill or Kill (FOK) will be available for At Best orders, and IOC (Immediate or Cancel) and FOK will also available for Market Range orders. The time in force option can be selected by clicking on the Advanced button. These new options will help you better manage your order execution, and I will see about getting some examples written up.

4. Filter in Symbol Subscription List
The new filter field allows you to easily search for currency pairs in the symbol subscription list. For example, in the image below I have filtered the list by “aud”. This finds all of the currency pairs containing the Australian Dollar. This makes finding currency pairs much easier to add or remove rather than having to go through the entire list.

New Marketscope features will be highlighted tomorrow.

 

[Global World]

Just a quick word of caution re: re-quotes. Brokers (or bookies to be 100% honest) will always maintain their right not to execute an order on big price movements. This may seem theoretical and indeed correct in spirit, but I've seen in the past with FXCM, personal orders of mine not being filled because of this. And by "big price movements" don't think about 200pis in a second...think more along the lines of 50pips up in one second, 50pips down the next, 20pips up the next. This is the bread and butter of smaller traders and if you can't access those moments...Myabe it was a coincidence this happened to me at FXCM, but here...hope this helps

 

[Jason Rogers]

Just a quick word of caution re: re-quotes. Brokers (or bookies to be 100% honest) will always maintain their right not to execute an order on big price movements. This may seem theoretical and indeed correct in spirit, but I've seen in the past with FXCM, personal orders of mine not being filled because of this. And by "big price movements" don't think about 200pis in a second...think more along the lines of 50pips up in one second, 50pips down the next, 20pips up the next. This is the bread and butter of smaller traders and if you can't access those moments...Myabe it was a coincidence this happened to me at FXCM, but here...hope this helps

Hi Global World,

When your broker is acting as the market maker, then it can be common to receive a re-quote during volatile market conditions when trading in the direction the market is moving. The broker may blame this on internet connection latency, but the latency comes from the dealing desk not having enough time to offset the trade which results in a quick loss for the brokers dealing desk.

For example, if news comes out better than expected and the market starts moving up, chances are the market is moving 3, 5, 10 etc. pips at a time rather than pip by pip. And this is also occurring very rapidly. By the time the brokers dealing desk has received your order to buy (going with the market move) the market may have already closed the quoted 1,2,3... pip spread and your trade is in a profit. The broker is then left with the option of accepting your trade for an immediate loss or sending you a re-quote for the "correct market price". When push comes to shove, the brokers dealing desk has to protect themselves from this type of situation. On the flip side...How many times have you ever received a re-quote in your favor for a better price? I would be surprised if ever. And how many times have you ever received a re-quote when you're trading against the market move? Chances are you'll have no problem getting into the trade when you're fading the market move because as the market moves against you the loss on your trade increases resulting in the brokers dealing desk generating a larger profit. So yes, you should use caution if your broker is acting as the market maker.

FXCM's NDD forex execution has no re-quotes because your order is offset immediately and one-for-one with the banks quoting on the platform. This video shows how our NDD forex order execution works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkeqcfvojHA

I would also urge general caution when trading during news events in general. There are no re-quotes when trading with FXCM, but you still need to be aware of the risks associated with trading news events as slippage may occur. I can understand the appeal of trading news since the market can make large moves in a short period of time. I myself traded news events for the same reason when I began trading in the forex market 7 years ago. The problem with trading news events is 1) liquidity may decrease (banks may decrease the amount they're willing to buy/sell at each price due to increased risk) and 2) the market becomes one-sided....everyone's trying to do the same thing at the same time. This is why the market is moving 3,5,10 pips per tick. So please be cautious when trading during news events and periods of high volatility.

-Jason

 

[Ross Spur]

Gosh, my heart bleeds for spread bet companies, trying to scrape a few honest pennies out of those nasty clients.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Marketscope Upgrade

As mentioned yesterday, there is An FXTSII update is currently planned for December 17 (next Friday) after the trading close. Below are a list of the improvements being made to the Marketscope charts.


1. Trend Lines by Angle
New line option has been added whereby you can create a trend line based upon a specific angle. See in the image below, the trend line is a 45 degree angle from the horizontal line. The angle degree information will appear as you’re drawing the line.

2. Channels
Two channel options (equidistant and regression) will be added to the marketscope charts. This will help you more easily create parallel and identical lines to identify channels.

• Equidistant

• Regression

3. Fast Open for Certain Time Interval
You can now choose the interval or date range displayed for the time period selected. For example, when you select a daily candlestick chart, you can also choose whether the chart loads 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or 3 years worth of daily candles. Below is an image showing where to find it:

4. New Indicators

• Moving Averages:

SMMA(Smoothed Moving Average)
VIDYA(Chande’s Variable Index Dynamic Average)
WMA(Wilders Moving Average)​

• Bill Williams:

AC(Acceleration/Deceleration)
Alligator
AO(Awesome Oscillator)
Gator Oscillator​

• Volume Indicators:

AD(Accumulation/Distribution)
CHO(Chaikin Oscillator)
CMF(Chaikin Money Flow)
OBV(On Balance Volume)​

• Oscillators:

CMO(Chande Momentum oscillator)​

• Miscellaneous

The indicator “Show time to end” which displays the time remaining to the closing of the current candle.​

5. New Strategies and Signals

• Divergence on MACD Signals
• Bill Williams Fractal-Alligator System
• Classic MACD sample
• Margin alert signal

 

[Blaiserboy]

The new draw tools look to be excellent addition...!

 

[Vaco]

Jason,

When placing limit orders how do make it so that they are automatically good till end of day rather then good till cancelled.

Thanks

VAco

 

[Jason Rogers]

The new draw tools look to be excellent addition...!

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Jason Rogers]

Jason,

When placing limit orders how do make it so that they are automatically good till end of day rather then good till cancelled.

Thanks

VAco

The only orders in the FX Trading Station with the option to choose between GTC and end of day expiration are entry orders. This option is found in the options window by going to the top left of the FX Trading Station and choosing System > Options > General Trading > Entry Orders Time in Force Enabled. You can then select GTC or End of Day for expiration. End of day is considered as 22:00 GMT.

The regular stops and limits available for individual tickets will always be GTC. There's no option to have these expire. So you could use the entry order as the limit order to close the position but you will also need to disable hedging. Otherwise you will have two positions open rather than having the entry order act as the limit to offset the trade.

BTW, the time in force option for entry order is being added into the order window with this weekends update. This will save time from having to goto the options menu to select between GTC and End of Day:

-Jason

 

[DCSD]

Hello Jason,

Are there any plans to update the iPhone app? I have been using it quite a lot, and although i can get by, there are a lot of bugs that need ironing out.

e.g.
on the positions screen,the P/L calcualtion is wrong for some currency pairs and sometimes you need to refresh a few times for it to display any figures

i tried to edit an entry order, and a key pad popped up to let me change the value, but i couldnt confirm the change becasue the keypad covers the button and i cant continue unless i end the app!

on the qutoes screen, if i display multiple pairs, it eventually kicks me out of the app


These are just some of the things i have noticed

Cheers

David

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hello Jason,

Are there any plans to update the iPhone app? I have been using it quite a lot, and although i can get by, there are a lot of bugs that need ironing out.
......

Hi David,

We always appreciate your feedback! I know that other traders have mentioned the same, and our development team is working on an updated version to work out these things. I don't have a timeframe at the moment for when we can expect a new release, but I will give this feedback to the developers and ask if there is any update I can share on a possible timeframe.

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hello Everyone,

I will be away from the forum from Dec 22, 2010 until Jan 3, 2011. Any questions will be answered on Jan 4, 2010. As a reminder, please take note of the changes to FXCM's trading and support hours which are attached to this post.

From myself and everyone at FXCM, have a happy holiday and a prosperous new year!!

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

The FX Trading Station II platform update I mentioned on December 8, 2010 was delayed due to the need to run more testing on the new features. That platform update is now going to take place this weekend, January 7, 2011. There will be no need to uninstall and reinstall the platform. When you login over the weekend, there will be a notification that there is a new update to install. The platform will go through an auto-install updating the existing FXTSII on your computer. Once that is complete, you will be able to login and use the updated platform.

A list of the new features being added can be found in these two posts: FXTSII Trading Features and Marketscope Features .