I'd recommend executing via buttontrader if trading through IB: http://www.buttontrader.com/index.asp?page=31 Obviously of little use if implementing an ATS with IB's API.
In relation to what? Best spreads? Anyone but FXCM. Depth of market? They all use the same liquidity providers so there is no edge there. Reputations? Look at their white label partners to get an idea of the providers and base your decision on the parent. Of the listing, I would lean toward Man and Fimat. Man would be a better fit for the individual, though, unless you are talking in the high sevens or eight figures, then I would look at Fimat. They have the better forex reputation. (But this is comparing a b+ student to an A student, know what I mean?)
too bad neither man or fimat have reviews on forexbastards. i looked at man last year and i think they did'nt have a c++ api. i could be wrong though. fimat looks promising though.
forexbastards is not the gospel. Granted, it helps, but look at the name it is bound to have more negative than positive. As to Man and Fimat not being there, well, they are professional firms, not some fly by night crap shops. What do you want to do? A trader trying to make a living? Or just a dilettante? You asked for a listed of fx guys with api extentions, there you are. You asked who I think is the best, there is my top 2. Do you want me to chew that meat for you first?
no i was hoping for someone else to chime in. i obviously wont put the time and effort into setting up a new account and interfacing the API with my system based on a single opinion. thanks for your help though, your suggestions gave me a good place to start looking. ill see if i can find some more review sites.
yes, most of the market makers will draw on the same banks for liquidity. but they don't all have equal access...this is a common misconception. on the institutional level, who you know and how big you are determines what kind of attention, liquidity and pricing you get from the banks. so some market makers will have an edge over others even if they had the same exact banking relationships. retail market makers shop around for wholesale pricing on liquidity...the market makers that represent large volume business to a bank will almost always get the better pricing and access to that bank's liquidity whereas the smaller shops won't get as great of a deal. in some cases the banks will just outright ignore the smaller guys especially when the market is moving fast and there is relatively limited liquidity (the banks would rather give the liquidity to their best customers in order to maintain the relationship and keep the order flow coming in the longer term).
i agree with cstfx, forexbastards.com is not gospel...in fact, my guess is there is something less than honorable going on with it. every firm rating is filtered by the administrator and there has been talk on forums that the administrator is using the site as a way to "motivate" listed firms to pay him off for more positive ratings. but with that said, you're probably better off pouring through the comments on ET and other well established forums (other than forexbastards) in order to get a more accurate representation of what firms offer for what you're looking for.
I have been reading forexrealm.com and goforex.net. Goforex is moderated but forexrealm is not meaning anyone can post anything. I tried to rate a couple of brokers on ForexBastards and the ones that were labelled as scam by felix but I had traded with and were good he wouldn't post. My feelings are he simply only allows negative postings for certain brokers which is ridiculous. Everyone should simply stop reading his site...and try looking at www.felixbastard.com ,haha.
You have to look at the name of the sight - it gives you an idea what the focus is. After all, the sight is not called "ForexGoodPeople"