Broker Horror Stories??

Discussion in 'Forex Brokers' started by bigmrfrank, Jan 1, 2006.

  1. mahras2

    mahras2

    I trade a FX spot account through a dealer. The dealer did have some trouble with data but they are generally helpful in redeeming me cash if something breakdown (a data problem etc). Still I do exercise caution: I dont set stop and targets, my API has a database of the current open orders and stops and targets present which is not sent to the dealer's platform. When the price hits any one of those levels the API instantly reacts and closes out the trades.

    I trust em, but not that much ;).
     
    #11     Jan 2, 2006
  2. I recommend Interactive Brokers.
     
    #12     Jan 2, 2006
  3. As I've posted previously:

    You can always count on the conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork whenever something happens with their trading platform. I can almost see the rabble frothing at the mouth while they breathlessly type in that, “omg, the fxcm zionists are manipulating the 1.9 trillion dollar international currency during the most volatile news release of the year for their own profit. And now we have proof!” Most market makers, FXCM included, discourage you from trading during news releases because it is a good way to get wiped out. If you insist on it you should be using their professional platform. Trading news on a retail platform is silly they just are not fast enough. Use an ECN.

    Of course the conspiracy theory gang has no explanation for why any market maker would take a directional risk when they make money on the spread anyway. If for some reason a market maker “moved” the market to 10 pips below where it is actually trading wouldn’t that execute all the stops, limits, and entry orders at that level? So if you were so sure that this was a consistent phenomenon you would probably be able to use that to profit consistently. That would probably be a better use of your time than blaming your broker for poor trading. Of course, none of these drooling at the mouth shills is doing that or much else besides posting idiotic conspiracy theories.

    If you don’t trust your broker you should take your funds out immediately and find a place you do trust. A poor carpenter always blames his tools, there are dozen brokers out there, if you don’t like the one you’re with then switch, but know in advance it won't change your P/L.

    Trader/God
     
    #13     Jan 3, 2006
  4. james_r

    james_r

    Thanks,

    I couldn't get on with their platform, probably installed the wrong one :)

    Will have to seek some help about that.
     
    #14     Jan 3, 2006
  5. People thinking about trading need to understand that many of the people who post on EliteTrader are actually employees of brokers, who are only pretending to be customers. They pretend to be customers, for the purpose of deceiving and recruiting new meat, so that brokers can steal money from the new meat.

    The simple fact is that your choice of broker is critical to your success or failure as a trader. If you don't have an honest broker, then you have lost the battle before it even starts. If you find an honest broker, then at least, maybe, maybe, you will have a chance.

    Dishonest brokers take the other side of customer trades, because it is an established fact that the vast majority of all customers are losers, so that brokers can almost always profit by taking the other side of customer trades. This puts such brokers in a position where they can profit even more, by helping make sure that their customers lose more than they would in a fair market, and so, those brokers use a variety of dirty tricks which cause customers to lose a lot more, without their even realizing it. Every penny the customers lose means extra profit for the dishonest broker, so the dishonest brokers steal from customers as quickly as they think they can get away with it.

    Many dishonest brokers will often spike their quotes against you, so as to trigger your stop orders, even though the market has not reached your stops. This allows the broker to buy your position for far less than it is actually worth, thereby making big profits for the broker, and big losses for you. The dishonest broker does not manipulate the currency market; he manipulates only the quotes he gives YOU, and he manipulates YOU. When a dishonest broker spikes quotes, so as to run stops, they will often make sure that customer limit orders, which should be filled at very favorable prices, by the spiked quotes, will not be filled, and this is yet another ripoff. This makes sure that while the broker profits from spiking its quotes, you, the customer, cannot profit from the spiked quotes.

    Dishonest brokers would like you to believe that all brokers are the same, and that if you lose, it is your own fault. This is a lie. Dishonest brokers, like many other victimizers, would like to shift blame away from themselves, and onto their victims.

    No good reason exists for doing business with a dishonest broker, because there are honest ones. Ignore the difference, and you will almost certainly be a loser.

    These are not conspiracy theories. You can easily verify the overwhelming problem of criminal FX brokers, by doing a little research on the website of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, at www.cftc.gov. Here is a warning from the CFTC:

    You can either listen to Trader/God, who dismisses the problem of broker fraud as a "conspiracy theory", or you can listen to the CFTC's law enforcement experts, who have a website recording the proven details of an endless of number of fraud schemes perpetrated by crooked FX brokers.
     
    #15     Jan 3, 2006
  6. Forex dealers (aka bucket shops) who take the other side of your trade have an inherent conflict of interest. There is no question there. But the issue of honesty or dishonesty isn't a black and white one. It is more of a continuum of honesty rather than a black and white state of honest or dishonest broker behavior. It is true that companies with an inherent conflict of interest will virtually always use one means or another to increase their profit margin at the expense of the customer. For the forex dealer, the profit motive is weighed against the bad publicity from getting caught acting in an unscrupulous manner. But the extent to which they exploit these capabilities varies dealer to dealer. I think even newbie FX traders have the resources available to search out reviews of the various brokers they would like to do business with. It becomes very obvious after reading many of the comments by customers on message boards which dealers are crooks and which dealers are on the up and up. However, I agree that newbie fx traders in most cases lack the sophistication necessary to detect when they are in fact getting the shaft.

    The other part of the picture is that the performance of a mechanical trading strategy varies greatly based on which broker is executing the order. I have several strategies that work much better on certain brokers than on others. In that respect I'm glad there are retail forex dealers, even those with a single MM model, because some of my strategies work better on those brokers than on brokers using the ECN model for reasons that I have not yet been able to fully comprehend. The key is total cost to execute a trade, which includes the spread, slippage, commissions, and anything else that may affect where an order is filled.
     
    #16     Jan 4, 2006
  7. alekx

    alekx

    Anybody else have problems with <b>FXTrader.net</b>?

    I can't get my money out of them, all emails are ignored.

    Anybody else traded with them?
     
    #17     Jan 5, 2006
  8. katesdp

    katesdp

    How much?
     
    #18     Jan 5, 2006
  9. alekx

    alekx



    Just over $32 K
     
    #19     Jan 6, 2006
  10. traderob

    traderob

    #20     Jan 6, 2006