Like many of you, I've been watching the latest developments in Cyprus. I'm glad to read forum posts from traders saying they have been able to withdraw funds from their trading accounts in Cyprus so far. One concern is that the new bailout terms might end up hurting traders even more than what was originally proposed. The new terms state that while bank accounts with balances below 100k EUR will now remain intact, accounts with balances above 100k Euros including corporate accounts could face a "haircut" of around 30% instead of the 10% that was originally proposed. That's a big hit for any business to take: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/b...-is-blow-to-business.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 The transparency of a broker's finances, particularly how much excess capital they have on hand, is important to know in events like this to see if they can sustain the type of hit they could take as the result of a bank levy and continue normal business operations. FXCM is a publicly traded company on the NYSE and our financial information is listed on our website. As of September 30, 2012, FXCM had $230 million in our own net cash available: http://www.fxcm.com/about/financials-performance/ We have spoken at length about financial transparency needed within the forex industry so that traders can have a better idea of how much capital their broker has on hand, debt outlook, etc so traders can be better informed about the broker they are trading with. It would do a great deal to put traders at ease if companies would publish exactly how much exposure they have. How much money do they have in the affected Cyprus banks and how much is with banks outside? Do they have enough money to keep their business running even with a 30% hit to their funds in Cyprus? Another concern we are hearing from traders is the possibility of capital controls which could restrict how much money you can withdraw especially for money leaving the country. This may be the second major topic of the crisis: http://blogs.wsj.com/eurocrisis/2013/03/25/cyprus-bailout-qa/
Below are the CFD trading hours for Easter. Forex trading hours are as normal. All times above are in GMT.
An new update has been released for the Trading Station Mobile platform for smartphones and tablets. New users will automatically download the latest version. Existing users can install the update at the Google Play Store for Android devices or the Apple App Store for iPad and iPhone. Go to Settings > About on the platform to confirm you have the latest version of Trading Station Mobile (Version 1.6.032913). New Features Faster Login Procedure Option to Store Multiple Usernames New Account Menu MyFXCM Button for Deposits and Withdrawals Economic Calendar Notifications Economic Calendar Filter Collapsible Daily Rows in Economic Calendar DFX News Notifier Indicator Real Time News feed for German and French Trading History Arrows Ability to Save Chart Templates Ability to Customize Pip Format and History Size Ability to Display Calendar Event Description Ability to Run Combined Account Statements Ability to Resize Subchart (Oscillator Indicator) Window New Chart Menu Layout New Pivot Points Indicator Account bar fields are now selectable Additions to Chart View Settings AutoScale Button for Charts Ruler for Price/Candles/Pips Crosshair on chart for Open, High, Low, Close
Hi Everyone, We've recently received reports of traders with other brokers being prohibited from using certain trading strategies like BTN Lightning. Apparently these brokers have gone as far as to freeze the accounts of their clients suspected of using these strategies and even removed past profits from client accounts. Strategies that involve scalping or trading during news can present challenges for brokers in managing their risk if they operate a dealing desk or if they use STP/NDD but have only one liquidity provider. A sudden influx of buying or selling by many clients all at once can create great difficulty for such a broker, especially during illiquid market events. Not managing this risk effectively can result in the broker taking losses when their clients are profitable. Since these brokers are taking the market risk on the other side of their clients' trades, a profit for the client can mean a loss for the broker. In the end, the broker's interest in remaining in business will often be a deciding factor in how they operate. At FXCM, we welcome all trading strategies on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution (scalp, trade the news, use any EA). On our NDD model, we offset client orders with 10+ liquidity providers which include some of the largest banks in the world. We make our money from client trading volume, not client losses. If you have a profitable strategy that is no longer welcome at your current broker, I encourage you to try FXCM's No Dealing Desk forex execution for yourself. You've heard FXCM speak at length over the past year about the importance of taking caution in choosing a broker especially in light of recent events with MF Global, PFG, Worldspreads, and Cyprus. You need to make sure you know who you're trading with. Jason
Below are the holiday trading hours for CFDs in May. Forex trading hours are as normal. All times above are in GMT.
Heads up! At 5pm New York time today, there will be quintuple rollover on JPY pairs due to the Golden Week holidays. That means you will earn or pay 5 days worth of rollover interest for any JPY trades that are still open at the stroke of 5pm. You can use the DailyFX Rollover Calendar to keep up to date on when holidays will affect the rollover schedule.
Hi Wallace, CFDs are now available for trading in Canada through Friedberg Direct (www.fxcm.ca) Jason
Below are the CFD trading hours for the Memorial Day holiday in the US on Monday, May 27th. Forex will continue trading 24 hours a day as normal. Times above are in GMT I will be out of the office on Monday, May 27th for Memorial Day but will respond to any questions you post, when I return on Tuesday. FXCM's live customer service will be open as usual on Monday. You can call us using one of our international toll-free numbers. Jason
There have been articles written about a new build of MT4 that may cause problems for Tradency (Mirror Trader) and ZuluTrade connections. While I can't speak for other brokers, both Tradency and ZuluTrade connect to FXCM's back office directly using our API. Often times whenever another website or service provider wants to offer an additional service to FXCM clients, we're happy to work with them by offering our API which is free to use. This offers a much more reliable direct connection without interruption in services that could result from going through a third party connection. FXCM clients using ZuluTrade and Tradency have not been impacted during this entire period.
I am using aaafx and have not seen any problems there as well. well i think Metaquotes are spreading only rumors