Ok so I "transformed" my FXCM micro account into FXCM mini account and I thought FXCM would allow me to withdraw my funds through ACH or normal wire. It turns out they require that I fax a signed form each and every time I want a wire transfer (and no ACH). Is this FXCM being a bunch of aholes or industry standard? TD Ameritrade&OptionsXpress both offer ACH and Wire with no faxed forms needed. Is there a major non prime forex broker that allows ACH/Wire without stupid faxing?
IB... but if you are trading mini-lots I don't know how good the spreads are going to be on IDEAL. Some can be pretty wide because there is much less liquidity than IDEALPRO. If you stick to the majors you will have some slippage but no worse than FXCM. Unless you want to get severely screwed at some point in the future, I would not trade much money at FXCM. I have had some bad experiences with them recently, i.e. spikes, bad data, etc., and I'm only using them for a micro-lot account currently just as a practice account. Oh, and FXCM's customer service makes IB look good by comparison!
I think you can trade as low as 1000 units at their retail branch, but you will get raped on fees since the have a $3 minimum fee per ticket. IB is not much better for very small trades, they charge $2.50 minimum per ticket too.
ok, thanks. I'm looking for a micro-lot account that I can use to test some automated trading strategies. I noticed that HotSpot works with the software I use. The $3 fee is a problem though, especially for 1000 units. That makes roulette's vig look cheap. Also, I can't stand the hedging "feature" FXCM forces on you. If I wanted to hedge I would just close my position. I don't understand why they force that option but I noticed that HotSpot only has hedging for UK customers so that is good.
If by chance you use Ninjatrader, you could give MB Trading a try. Commissions are high in comparison, but they don't have a minimum ticket fee, even for 1000 units. I use them to feed my charts with realtime and backfill data. Their quotes are good and it works reliable. Couldn't tell about execution quality tho, i never placed a trade with them.
you can turn that hedging bullshit off when you log into the back office. myfxcm.com I believe. that was the first thing I did when I opened my account there. When I was employed in FX, when we saw a client start hedging, as a rule of thumb thats when we stopped.
You can contact me at marproserv@yahoo.com for more information. fxcm - Stay away from them! 20 years trading & 6 doing FOREX. OVER $1MM of my own money trading and several more under management for years and the only margin call ever experienced is with FXCM - FXCM has moved away from customer service and into the SCAM business. Theyâve been given the license in successfully fighting CFTC complaints by arguing that the CFTC has no jurisdiction over the FX SPOT market. This being done they now make their money by adding outrageous chop to the swap rates (both sides) and marketing to the general public knowing full well that 9 out 10 accounts will be gone in 90 days. They have no scruples and I am filing a law suit. Even if youâre bound by the arbitration agreement â you still have options. You can contact me at marproserv@yahoo.com for more information. Stay away from them!
But enough orders get executed with IB at better than the limit price to make their commissions a moot point. For example, I traded some AUD today and got 0.4 pips better on the buy. The sell was at the limit price. And the commission . . . 0.2 pips each way. So effectively the trade was commission free.