Spread betting at FXCM

Black Swan said:
Sorry to hear about that, I only ever trade with stops, the only time I wouldn't would be on v. short TFs - 3-5mins, when I'd manually stop it anyhow. I know folk reckon your throwing away 2-3 pips with G Stops but I disagree...
Click to expand...
Oh golly, I had stops all right, although not guaranteed ones, and they were nowhere near being run. My PL was negative overall but it was _nowhere_ approaching my total capital.

What actually happened was I had several trades open, pushing the margin somewhat, although apparently with plenty to spare. I then opened another trade on the futures version of an instrument I was already trading the rolling version of, since I intended keeping it open a longish time.

What I didn't notice (or remember if I had ever noticed) was that the Margin Factor was 50% bigger, so what with a biggish stop, it must have pushed me over the limit.

I realised almost straight away that that must be the case, and desperately tried to add funds to the account, but didn't make it. I might have been smarter to kill the trade (and lose the spread), but I stupidly didn't think of that, although it might still have been too late.

Totally my own fault for overtrading a small account, and totally my own fault for pushing the margin to the limit and not noticing the higher Margin Factor.

However, the platform could have helped if it indicated the actual margin in the trade interface, once you type in the details, and/or at least indicate the margin factor.

(Just to be clear for anyone casually finding this thread, what I am describing was on another vendors platform, not the one mentioned in this thread title).

Here's an active trader link, they require $25K or £25K...go figure...;)FXCM Active TraderI'm salivating at the prospect of 1 pip spread on cable and 0.8 on EURO/USD...:D


here's a link to their various accounts, if you're going to 'start over' IMHO you could not possibly do better...
Open a Forex Trading Account | FXCM Currency Trading Account
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links. Don't know about "start over" but I have various small accounts in various places, and had the idea of trying to build each of them up into something decent. It would probably be wiser (in hindsight) to pool the small accounts into one.

Well at least I made up for some of this morning's damage later on.
Suitably chastened...
(p.s. I will re-think guaranteed stops as well. Thanks for the thought.)
 
Jason Rogers said:
Hi Mike,

In the regular spread betting account, the minimum is £300. BUT, it's very important to keep in mind that trading a leveraged position in a £300 account doesn't give you a lot of room for error if the trade goes against you or if you want to open multiple positions.

Jason
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Thanks Jason. Well, if you see my posting just above, you will see that I have been taught a lesson already about that. It was more than a £300 account in that case, but not big enough for what I was trying to do with it. :-(
 
montmorencyt2w said:
Thanks Jason. Well, if you see my posting just above, you will see that I have been taught a lesson already about that. It was more than a £300 account in that case, but not big enough for what I was trying to do with it. :-(
Click to expand...

Exactly, you would have to be very careful. I hope things turn out better when you start again.
 
Jack Hughes said:
While I generally don't have a particularly high regard for SB companies:))!), in this case I can't see the problem. If you run out of margin it makes sense for all concerned to liquidate a position. If they allowed clients to go further and further into the red, there'd be far more complaints.
Click to expand...

Liquidate _a_ position, possibly, but they didn't need to liquidate _all_ of them, which is what they did. And NONE of the positions was anywhere near its stoploss, and my account was nowhere near being in the red. Yes, I had a negative P/L figure, but the account balance was something like 10 times this amount, if I remember correctly.

All they needed to do was to liquidate that last position which actually was the one pushing it over the edge, and probably all then would have been well.

Still, at the end of the day, it was my own fault and I accept that.
 
Black Swan said:
I'm salivating at the prospect of 1 pip spread on cable and 0.8 on EURO/USD...:D
Click to expand...

Bear in mind, they do charge commission. So after all, it may not be as attractive as it sounds. Here is why:

Spreads:
EUR / USD: 0.7 PIPS GBP / USD: 1.8 PIPS
USD / JPY: 1.2 PIPS USD / CHF: 1.8 PIPS

Commission: 10M / Month $5 per side or $3.5 per side for over 100M / Month

If you don't trade 100M per month,
For EUR/USD, the total cost for a round trip is 0.7 + 0.5 +0.5 = 1.7 pips.
For GBP/USD, the cost is 2.8 pips.
 
Black Swan said:
Here's an active trader link, they require $25K or £25K...go figure...;)FXCM Active TraderI'm salivating at the prospect of 1 pip spread on cable and 0.8 on EURO/USD...:D

here's a link to their various accounts, if you're going to 'start over' IMHO you could not possibly do better...
Open a Forex Trading Account | FXCM Currency Trading Account
Click to expand...


Black Swan,

Is your current FXCM account similar in nature to the offering by Prospreads? Both seem to be appealing to the more professional trader.

Did you compare them at all?

PM me to reply if you prefer.

Thanks.


Edit: Spreadbetting at FXCM:

-The tax advantages of spread-betting
-The speed/reliability of DMA with no re-quotes
-The confidence that FXCM has nothing to gain by your loss.

Even the minimum account size and average minimum betsize is not exactly daunting.

But nothing is perfect, so what have I missed?
What are the disadvantages?
 
Last edited:
montmorencyt2w said:
Black Swan,

Is your current FXCM account similar in nature to the offering by Prospreads? Both seem to be appealing to the more professional trader.

Did you compare them at all?

PM me to reply if you prefer.

Thanks.


Edit: Spreadbetting at FXCM:

-The tax advantages of spread-betting
-The speed/reliability of DMA with no re-quotes
-The confidence that FXCM has nothing to gain by your loss.

Even the minimum account size and average minimum betsize is not exactly daunting.

But nothing is perfect, so what have I missed?
What are the disadvantages?
Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

not sure re. the comparisons with pro spreads, I did a lot of research before adding FXCM, never used anyone else other than IG. Next stage in my development is to learn Meta trader. Although FXCM marketscope platform is pretty cool, learning meta trader (on FXCM or Alpari) is v.important going forward IMHO.

I'm happy atm with IG and FXCM for SB and am doing OK putting toe in water with DMA, in your position (starting afresh) I'd deffo go with FXCM, I'm sure Jason would be happy with a review ;) Keep us posted. :)
 
Black Swan said:
Hi Mike,

not sure re. the comparisons with pro spreads, I did a lot of research before adding FXCM, never used anyone else other than IG. Next stage in my development is to learn Meta trader. Although FXCM marketscope platform is pretty cool, learning meta trader (on FXCM or Alpari) is v.important going forward IMHO.

I'm happy atm with IG and FXCM for SB and am doing OK putting toe in water with DMA, in your position (starting afresh) I'd deffo go with FXCM, I'm sure Jason would be happy with a review ;) Keep us posted. :)
Click to expand...

Happy to hear the feedback :) And cross your fingers for spread betting on MT4. We've had requests for it, and it's being considered. Though I couldn't put a time frame even if you asked me to guess.
 
Jason Rogers said:
Happy to hear the feedback :) And cross your fingers for spread betting on MT4. We've had requests for it, and it's being considered. Though I couldn't put a time frame even if you asked me to guess.
Click to expand...

I am looking for brokers for use with esignal. Can you tell me if FXCM provide esignal connectivity for its spread betting platforms and if not would this be something that you might also consider for the future?
 
Redrex said:
I am looking for brokers for use with esignal. Can you tell me if FXCM provide esignal connectivity for its spread betting platforms and if not would this be something that you might also consider for the future?
Click to expand...

Hi Redrex,

There is an integration between eSignal and FXCM's platform. Here is where to find the details eSignal MAP: FXCM . Their link for FXCM goes to the US website, but you can goto the FXCM UK website for spread betting.

Jason
 
Hi Jason.
Can you tell me when FXCM SB are going to offer indicies gold oil etc as with the CFD's, I noted that you said a while back that it was very near.Would also be a massive incentive to me if you were operating through MetaTrader as I am very used to this platform and prefer it over any other that I have used.

Thanks.
Jon
 
Hi Jason.

Any update on the FXCM MT4 powered by BT being used for spreadbetting as yet?

Peter.
 
jonobrienuk said:
Hi Jason.
Can you tell me when FXCM SB are going to offer indicies gold oil etc as with the CFD's, I noted that you said a while back that it was very near.Would also be a massive incentive to me if you were operating through MetaTrader as I am very used to this platform and prefer it over any other that I have used.

Thanks.
Jon
Click to expand...

Hi Jon,

We are taking steps to add CFD's to the spreadbet accounts, but it will not occur before the end of November.

For MT4 spreadbet account, this will probably take more time than even adding CFD's onto the current spread bet accounts.

Sorry to disappoint...

Jason
 
Jason Rogers said:
Hi Jon,

We are taking steps to add CFD's to the spreadbet accounts, but it will not occur before the end of November.

For MT4 spreadbet account, this will probably take more time than even adding CFD's onto the current spread bet accounts.

Sorry to disappoint...

Jason
Click to expand...

Hi Jason.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm looking to open a spread betting account in the new year, so not in to much of a hurry. I mainly trade forex anyway but would love to diversify in other markets.
Thanks
Jon
 
Jason Rogers said:
Hi Jon,

We are taking steps to add CFD's to the spreadbet accounts, but it will not occur before the end of November.

For MT4 spreadbet account, this will probably take more time than even adding CFD's onto the current spread bet accounts.

Sorry to disappoint...

Jason
Click to expand...

But aren't CFDs a completely different thing to spread bets?
 
alex2006 said:
Bear in mind, they do charge commission. So after all, it may not be as attractive as it sounds. Here is why:

Spreads:
EUR / USD: 0.7 PIPS GBP / USD: 1.8 PIPS
USD / JPY: 1.2 PIPS USD / CHF: 1.8 PIPS

Commission: 10M / Month $5 per side or $3.5 per side for over 100M / Month

If you don't trade 100M per month,
For EUR/USD, the total cost for a round trip is 0.7 + 0.5 +0.5 = 1.7 pips.
For GBP/USD, the cost is 2.8 pips.
Click to expand...

Jason, I cannot tell you how helpful you have been by being so open & informative about your firm. Im a bit confused with the above, however, as I didn't see any response from you on the subject.

How do FXCM get away with charging commission on spread bets?
 
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