If I understand him correctly, ADK was suggesting that you trade the currency markets via futures instead of spot/cash FX. As someone who's also lost money to "strange" behavior while trading spot, I would echo this advice. Check out the CME contracts here: http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/
Good luck man I have found the edge in FX leaves you quicker than you think in most cases. 90% of anyone I am guessing who has ever traded FX knows exactly the pain you felt today. It is a lesson. Shame on you if it fools you two times.
What I have found out the hard way with Oanda (and I think it is the same with other forex brokers - even ECNs) is that a stop loss in forex is not the same, procedurally, as a stop loss in stocks. In stocks, a stop order tells the broker "when a trade is crossed at [x] price, then execute a market order." For forex, a stop order means (assuming you are protecting a short position by setting a long stop) "when the ask price hits [x], then execute my order at the ask." Alpari probably blew out the spread seconds before the jobs report, and the ask price hit your stop. If you want free data, Dukascopy has tick data you can go over for that day. News trading is really crazy.
Hi HFT_Board, You asked for opinions/advice, so I hope you won't take offense by my post. There is no malicious intent on my part. You shouldn't be surprised that you were stopped out, since your stop was relatively tight for NFP. Instead of blaming your broker, you should be more critical of your own approach to trading. The vast majority of traders would be better off sitting on the sidelines during NFP, since it's a highly specialized skill to be able to trade it effectively. The fact that you were surprised to realize that the spread on USD/JPY could widen to 8.7 pips with a retail broker like Alpari during NFP tells me that you lack the expertise necessary to trade NFP effectively. Again, my words may sound harsh, but I'm only offering my opinions/advice, since you asked. No hard feelings. BB