Hello, I have been with FXCM for a long while, and I have been very happy with them (easy platform, great spreads, dependable excecution, always get my money). However, I need to have contingent OCO orders to trade as I do, and FXCM has made changes to their platform for US customers that has removed this capability. Therefore, I have given serious consideration to making a change. I have demo'd a number of bucket shop platforms. The one I like best is GFT. The spreads, while larger than FXCM are typically smaller than what I have seen at most others. OANDA is the only one that I have demo'd that is spread competitive to GTF, but I do not like the web-based trading platform idea at all. I have searched ET, but there has not been too much said about GTF, so I was hoping that some people here who are currently trading GTF or who have traded with GTF in the last year or so could share some of their experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly with me before I go ahead and fund an account. Thank you, ddaytrader
Never mind I just remembered I did demo 3 platforms back then and now I am not sure if it was GFT or Delta that sold my email addy's.
I haven't traded with GFT recently or in the last year so things may well have changed, it might be worth checking to make sure some of the issues I had are resolved and that the way market orders are processed and filled has been changed. This was my experience in 2006! As far as FXCM goes I've always thought they were crap but I'm surprised their orders are so limited, you would expect market leaders to set the pace but it looks like they've been left way behind the competition this tme.
Thanks Cable ... I hadn't seen that particular thread when I did my search. I am not a news trader, and I usually enter on stops and exit on limits (profits) or stops (losses) so very few market orders for me. That may be the reason I have been able to get along with FXCM (until now). In fact, my forex trading did not get consistently profitable until I stopped trying to trade the way you trade (you do it well, I do it terribly). I would think that the reversing of orders should be less of a problem now under the new NFA rules (I'll be opening with GFT in US, not UK). You seem to be happy with Oanda at the moment. I'd try a live account with them if they had a stand alone trading platform. I do not like web based trading platforms. Thank you for your help, ddaytrader
Hi ddaytrader, I didn't have information previously, but the plan is to release contingent OCO orders in early October.
Our goal is to release it as soon as possible; however, it takes time to develop, test and launch. I know this doesn't solve your immediate request, but as with our previous discsussions, I will try give information as it becomes available to let you know what we're doing. -Jason
GFT forex is real important for people who like lots of pairs. It has way more than IB, FXCM, forex.com, etc. If you are a day trader and your goal is to day trade the hell out of EUR/USD (or any other major) then there is no point in choosing GFT. GFT is certainly not a champion of ultra low spreads but I don't think they are worse than FXCM in that regard.
The main thing to me is contingent OCO orders. FXCM micro beats anyone's spread, hands-down. But, from what I have seen of GTF's demo (and I know demo may not reflect reality) GTF does well with EJ, which is my main pair. FXCM trade station prior to the recent "no stops no limits" debacle was fine. Well, my GTF account has been approved. Now I need to decide if I am actually going to fund it.
For what its worth, I have been at gft a year. I trade a standard account. I have also traded with tradestation which uses Gain, I can tell you Gain is horrible. I still use tradestation for charting though. I am not a fan of GFT'S charts. But their customer service is great I never had any downtime system wise, no broken trades or requotes. The spreads are not as low as Oanda but the spreads are good. I am in the US eastern time. So most of the time I trade anywhere from 3am till about 330pm the spread is 3 and sometimes 2. The spread turns to 4 about 4-5pm for a few hours, but most of the day 3. During the london and us session it wont go above 3 but goes to 2 here and there. On news they do not widen the spreads either so thats good. I use there software, its ok not the best but it has a feature I like which is a D.O.M, which is good for me since its what I am familiar with( I am a former futures trader) So in all I think they are pretty good to trade with, plus never had one of those weird errant spikes either.