Tried to get them to answer some questions via the live chat facility: MBT Kaine: Hello, Welcome to MB Trading! How may I help you? MBT Kaine: Emily Deshawn Washington: i would like to know what ECNs your forex platform Deshawn Washington: gives connectivity to MBT Kaine: we do not disclose our banking partners Deshawn Washington: how can you advertise direct ECN access Deshawn Washington: and then not say which ECN that access is to Deshawn Washington: how do we know it's not a dealing desk then MBT Kaine: It is proprietary ??? Would Interactive Brokers say something like this about giving access to, say, BATS to trade stocks? FX retail sounds like a fraud to me.
Somewhere buried in this thread is a snapshot of their DOM book when it glitched and showed all of the banks and networks (instead of the anonymous "TDFX"). Listed were most of the major players you see at all the ECNs (BofA, Deutsche, etc). Spreads, liquidity, and executions are largely equivalent to IB.
The issue is not so much whether I'm able to cross the spread, but whether I can avoid paying the spread. With dealing desks, I can't, until the bid catches up (in the case of a short, and vice versa for a long.) Particularly in the more exotic pairs. If they advertise ECN, but then give no incentives like rebates or what have you, then what is the point.
MB is a white-label of TDFX. MB would not like to reveal that it's simply a WL-agreement. "Proprietary" sounds cool, eh?
Yes, with ECNs (MBT, IB, etc) you can be filled inside the spread. Tell me one other FX ECN, retail or institutional, that offers liquidity rebates. I'll be waiting..
Well, in FX, there aren't any. So we're clear -- if I post an order on MB and offer out on one of those bank platforms, I can catch other guy's retail order passively? Where do they make money? Their own spread extraction games + commission?
It's not just MBT, it's more why can't these people give me real answers. I hate secrecy, particularly when it comes to the fact that I have to rely on these people to handle my money. Had it been the same answer from any other broker, I would have complained also. I will probably try MBT's account.
TraderKGB said that MBT's ECN has spreads comparable to IB. I'd be interested if anyone can offer a closer comparison as I've completely neglected looking at MBT as a potential partner. My experience is that noone beats IB.