dude, if really u r just starting on the FX mkt, do yrself a favour and just go for, say, IB or Oanda... and read Trader/God's post, there r no conspiracies, only in people's minds...
dude (no disrespect intended, i just had a few beers...) honestly this practice is 'disappearing', just focus on yr trading and u'll do fine...
wow, THAT's a LOT OF MONEY!!!!! having said that, i don't necessarily recommend... if you don't have a 'mentor' or equivalent, its a long way anyway, but clearly its doable (being profitable i mean...)
Lon Eagle mate, the last person i wld want to disagree with... plus i am no defender of FXCM proper... however... u'll agree with me that there r no stops on the interbank mkt other than perhaps triggering a MKT order, that on Aug 2004 NFP, GBPUSD was in total free fall for perhaps 2-3 minutes going down 100+ pips and i KNOW i wld never have been filled even partially by Currenex (an ECN...), perhaps partially by HotSpotFXi (a better ECN in my view, when it comes to matching algorithms / performance), but i didn't have them at the time... my ACM spread went to 150 pips! and then froze, forex.com was quoting but not taking (my) orders, same on EURUSD pair... lets bygones be bygones shall we ;-)
As I said I was not trading with FXCM so it made no difference to me. But the figures were awful and as you recall the euro dollar gapped 150 pips higher straight away (not down as you suggest). I agree that no one can complain if they had buy stops above the price that got filled with huge slippage. But the point is FXCM took the euro dollar lower first for a second or two with the sole intention of triggering all the sell stops on their downside. This put an awful lot of people short who otherwise would have been square. I have no problem with your comments though - it is a discussion board after all!
correct that eur & gbp shot up, not down, on that day of 2004 ;-) and that i shldn't drink & post that being said, you know what i think about trying to 'straddle' the news and what brokers can may will do to discourage it (ie trigger all adverse orders & their associated stops within a 20 pips or more perimeter)... and i do find that legitimate, if the sense that, as FXCMFXCM puts it, the sugar-coated fixed-spreads etc terms are only there for people who are learning to trade, not for people, senior traders or not, who are just trying to take advantage of those sugar-coated terms at the broker's expense... not saying that i never try to, but at the same time, lets not complain if & when we get caught.... and if it has to happen on an Aug 2004 NFP figure, well then, so be it.... its for those kinds of reasons that i don't use SYSTEM stops / limits...
I'm trading with an ECN FX broker now ... very profitable and very happy. Just busting the FXCM lackies b@lls as he is obviously being deceptive on many levels.
good stuff! ECN or CME/Eurex eFX futures are probably the best way to go. A number of people on this thread r using Currenex, HotspotFXi and other ECNS. Which one r u using if i may ask?
I am a representative of FXCM. Non-Farm Payrolls cause abnormal volatility in the FX market. Anyone trading FX over the past few years are certainly aware of this. The aim of a market maker as the counter party to clientsâ trades is to make liquid markets even during the most illiquid conditions. This includes conditions when the ârest of the marketâ is not making prices. Interbank participants often grey out pricing and return to making prices only after the volatility has subsided. During these few moments itâs quite common for prices to ebb before flowing. The alternative to this would be to simply grey out pricing whereby clients cannot get in or out of trades. That is the difficulty in making executable prices in real time when FXCMâs counter-parties themselves have paused prices. Its FXCMâs aim to provide the best pricing available during these events and stand behind its execution. To suggest that the firmsâ actions or interests were misaligned with those of our clients however is false. FXCMâs interests are never against those of its traders; in fact the reverse is true. As a market maker FXCM profits from the bid/ask spread difference, and as such our business model is built on long-term relationships with our traders. NFP can cause abnormal trading conditions, and August 6th was in many ways a "perfect storm" of these conditions. Trader are always welcome to contact FXCM regarding specific trades and FXCM stands behind its execution, always. Ultimately, NFP execution can be tough, and as such, Iâd recommend that retail traders avoid trading the event. However, as I've suggested in previous posts, PropFX is an alternative for professionals and those wanting to trade during fast-moving markets without concern for requotes and the like.
There is an alternative... currency futures. Win or lose, you know you're getting a fair shake. M P.S. Now waiting to hear the FXCMFXCM propaganda against currency futures...