I have quoted your post but hopefully the reply is relevant to a few other people who have asked questions. I do believe FXCM offers Currenex through prop fx - they dont charge brokerage but believe they widen the spread. I do clear through a prime broker and I would say the spread is usually 1 pip euro and yen and 2 on cable. Of course you can stick bids and offers in so you receive the spread if you choose. The prices you see will depend on which prime broker you choose. The reason I said anyone using FXCM is insane is for several reasons. I have known a lot of people have accounts with them (including myself a few years ago) and we all agreed they adopted very sharp practices. Other reasons include the fact I do not know anyone who was succesful with them who was not put on manual execution, the spreads are wide and their credit rating is not high enough for me to risk my capital. I hope this clears up any confusion.
Well, I think the input has been beneficial for myself personally. I have looked into currenex and better understand why it would be a better alternative for many traders. For myself, at this particular time regarding my trading size and style, the FXCM platform seems to work exceptionally well. Lon Eagle, I don't think in the years that I have had my FXCM account that I have ever been put on manual. What actually occurs when this happens? How would one recognize that he is on manual as oppossed to the regular platform performance? Again, thanks for any input. L
Do you really think, that these are the spreads at Currenex ??? http://www.propfx.com/spreads.html Nobody would pay for Currenex, if this would be, what you get there. Joerg
Right, and just to elaborate further...when Lon Eagle mentions sharp practices...I would think he's refering to common bucket shop practices such as price shading, price spiking, stop running, platform freezing around news releases, and of course..as he mentioned...the posibility of being put on manual execution. Considering all of these issues along with the fact that their spreads are not competitive, I just don't think it makes sense for anyone to trade with them.
I don't believe I have experienced the practices you mention at FXCM. Proving or disproving price shading would be an arduous task considering the nature of the FX market. Price spiking occurs within the natural environment of the FX market. I have never had a problem with FXCM spiking my position. I am aware of what appears to be an isolated incident surrounding I believe an NFP release some time ago, but nothing concrete and exclusive to FXCM other than that isolated incident. Likewise, stop running would occur in the natural environment of the FX market, but again, I have never experienced FXCM exclusively taking out my stop when the broader market has said otherwise. FXCM's platform is ideal for the type of trades that I put on, and I should say that other traders, though, requiring constant access may have valid issues relative to their trading needs. For instance, I have experienced being disconnected from the server, but for me, it is a minor annoyance. Of course for a short term trader entering and exiting at market it could mean disaster. The issue of being put on manual I suspect revolves around entering and exiting at market in quick/scalping fashion. I think it is safe to say that FXCM's platform is not suitable for this and that it is a type of trading that they, at least to me, appear as if they do not desire to support. Anyways, I think I have satisfied my curiousity as to why some may consider me "insane" for trading with FXCM. L
I also have an account at fxcm an agree with you from what I seen so far, but I have to ask since I am a daytrader and I do get in and out fast: How often have you noticed that you were disconnected from the server, and how long does it take torecconect usually? Does it ever happen during economic releases, cause that would be bad for my trading stile.
The only times that I have lost connection to the server is about within 5 minutes to rollover when I am due to pay interest. When I go to close my postition at market, a pop up comments something like "connection with server has been lost". It actually connects quite quickly...as quick as it is to log into your trading station as this is how you actually re-connect. One time in particular stands out. I was connected with 4 computers to my account, anticipating this was going to happen as it had a few times in the past. With each computer as I tried to exit at market the pop up occured. After the fifth time on my first re-connection I got my postion closed. Really, for my trading style it amounts to an annoyance and it has happened enough times that I don't think it is a coincidence. For day traders needing to enter and exit quickly at market, I'm not sure there would be this problem except, by my experience, perhaps around rollover. I say this because with the exception of rollover, my connection is never a problem. I honestly can't make a good comment on this type of a problem during economic releases, as I am either already in and have my limits/stops already set, or not trading the release. Overall, I find the platform very dependable, but I have gathered that FXCM is not "scalper friendly". L
You may not have ran in to these issues (I'm glad) but I've seen enough complaints from various people to convice me that they do exist. Price shading is not the easiest thing to prove, but, intuitively it's not that hard to spot. If the market immediately moves against you every time you place a trade...provable or not it's pretty clear as to what's going on. FXCM and other bucketshops manipulating data feed (falling grosly out of line with with the feeds of reuters, bloomberg, esignal, etc) for the purpose of taking out their clients stops is something that has been discussed and complained about extensively. Again, I'm glad this hasn't happened to you but it seems clear that it has and does happen. I agree that, in general, swing traders like yourself would find these unscrupulous practices far less problematic. However, even if I was a Swing Trader I wouldn't deal with FXCM because I wouldn't want to be involved with any broker that engages in shady practices against any of their customers...whether they be scalpers, swing traders or any other type of trader. I know this is less of an issue to you than it would be to a short term trader but the spreads at FXCM are not competitive when compared to several respected fx brokers such as oanda, IB, hotspot, currenex, currency futures, etc. I guess I would just say that no matter what one's trading style may be, there are many better brokerage options out there.
Also, you might want to check FXCM quotes side by side with any "ECN" type firm. I have done a side by side with IB IDEAL PRO, and IB leads by about 5 seconds or so almost always (you need mkt to be moving to see this. Sideways action impossible to compare). I wouldn't want to be trading a mkt with lagging data. I just did this again before writing this post btw.