the 3 pips are just an illusion, as soon as you enter into a trade, ACM "individual prices" you, i.e. moves the spread at least 2 pips against you compared to pretty much any external reference feed or even better, another ACM acct holding no position in the same pair! just to be clear, this is not the same as 'shading', which is done at dealer's book level depending on whether the dealer is overall long or short and needs to hedge, this is done at individual client/pair level, independent of the dealer's overall position. i've checked with a couple of mates who also have ACM accts, its pretty clear... reality is 5 pips min... think it'd be worth complaining to the Swiss ACI / Swiss Ombudsman / Fed dpt of Finance... 'individual pricing' is just as blatantly unethical as printing charts, running individual stops etc, this practice needs to be denounced and banned and brokers who entertain it shld be referred to the local regulators for breach of 'fair dealing' practices... not sure ACM will like to be put in the spotlight / get audited by the local authorities / watchdog for 'unfair dealing' type practices... anybody??
I can see that on CHF, GBP and CAD, but is that really the case on EUR/USD or USD/JPY? It doesn't seem likely, even the bucket shops can give 3 on those. Trader/God
you cld be right trader/god, however that wldn't make it less of a rip-off / wldn't make me any happier being "individually priced" on all other majors to be honest... i still think the practice shld be discouraged, and that "fair dealing" obligations shld be imposed by local reg. / self-reg. authorities upon any registered OTC dealer, FX or not... to me, doesn't sound like too much to ask...
Threads about dishonest forex brokers have been going on for years now . I really think that ECN's are the way to go in forex. You have no dealer intervention and trade anonymously, spreads are usually tighter...of course, these silly features like a leverage of 100,200 or even 400:1 , protection against negative account balance, guaranteed stops etc. will not be offered by ECN's because they cannot and never could be guaranteed anyway. If they really existed, the CME and CBOT would probably have to close down, because why would anyone continue to trade futures with all the risk associated ? A spread of 5 pips in the majors is absolutely ridicoulus, you shouldn't pay more than 2 pips, imho. Regards, Marsupilami
hi marsupilami - totally agree, and there r ways to get 100x on ECNs as well for those of us who need it, and i also use 2 ECNs in complement to a number of single broker-dealer platforms, each of which having its pros & cons.... however that doesn't stop me from pushing for an ever 'cleaner' retail spot fx mktplace... i think its in everybody's interest (traders first, but not only)... even in the long term where the most liquid pairs will essentially be exchange-traded, there shld be room for the 3 models concurrently (exchange, ecn, single B/D), just my view ;-)
Hi 2cents, which ECNs do you use ? Hotspot and IB ? Appart from them, I don' know any other that serve private traders. Of course, there are Currenex or FXAll, but you need some serious dough in order to trade through them. Then there is also CoesFX, but there have been complaints to the NFTA about them. Don't know wether Currenex via FXCM or Forex Capital is an alternative. One may have the features of an ECN but not the tight spreads, I guess. Someone has previously asked about info on http://www.lcforex.com/ here, I'd be interested in any info about them as well. Pls also take a look at: http://www.lcforex.com/Downloads/CFX_Currenex.pdf Regards, Marsupilami
currently using hotspotfxi & fxcmpro/currenex, soon to access currenex via rbs tho'. complaints about coesfx? i haven't checked but from what i have read so far they seem to have a rather good rep., but... other ecn-type players: other than fxall, fxconnect/globallink/statestreet, there is lavafx, how about interbankfx (haven't researched)? also check posts from late apex, he's got a good list. cheers,
interesting, i like the UK for the regulatory environment (barings aside...)... ask them who their prime broker is (probably RBS). if i were u i'd prefer they charge me commissions than letting them factor it into the spread: 1) its cheaper, 2) i don't need an additional piece of code, however fast, getting in the way of my executions/fills. cheers,