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  • #3,581
  • May 1, 2013 5:15pm May 1, 2013 5:15pm
Quoting lstattoos
I've been using FXCM since I started and I'm happy with them overall. I trade micro ($0.10/pip) and I wish they would offer nano lots, especially with a $50 account minimum. My only other complaint is the spread, every now and then they have a major spike in it, the other day i went to so a EUR/USD trade and the spread was 7.5 but usually its between 2-3 on majors and around 4-5 on crosses. I opened a demo on Oanda because they offer nano lots but I really dont care for their trading platform. I'm really comfortable with MS 2.0 but i may grab...
Hi Lstattoos,

Welcome to the forum

The spreads on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) price feed are determined by what we receive from our liquidity providers. Banks will widen their spreads if the market is illiquid, such as right when the trading desk opens for the new week on Sunday, and during news announcements. Also, at 5pm New York time each weekday, the spreads can widen during rollover as banks refresh their servers for the new trading day. Keep in mind that some brokers stop quoting prices altogether at rollover time.

Since you mentioned that you were looking at the demo of a dealing desk broker, you might be interested to know that we offer a new dealing desk option with spreads that are 1 pip lower than on our No Dealing Desk forex execution model. Click here for a free demo of our new lower spreads.

http://imageshack.us/a/img834/6995/f...ddd2013mar.png


Jason
  • #3,582
  • May 2, 2013 5:00pm May 2, 2013 5:00pm
Quoting PeterE
exotic? attached is AUDUSD daily, what's shown is all FXCM gives {quote} {image}
Hi Peter,

I described the MT4 chart problem you've been having to one of our tech specialists. He checked the AUDReal01 server, and it had historical price data going back farther than what you could see on your charts. He suggested you try deleting the data stored in your history center, so that the information can be loaded anew from our server. Please go to Tools > History center. Then for the affected currency pairs highlight all of the price data and hit the Delete button as shown below.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/3...torycenter.png


When you reload the charts, they should show you more data. If these steps do not resolve your tech issue, please call our 24-hour live support team using one of our international toll-free numbers.

Jason
  • #3,583
  • May 6, 2013 11:21am May 6, 2013 11:21am
Hi Jason, My Marketscope 2.0 is misbehaving. It will not switch Layouts consistently. This is happening only on my desktop platform but not my VPS. Do I need to re download the program? Is there an easy way to save my layouts etc with a reinstall? Any thoughts? I have been making extensive use of the Back testing module. Perhaps this did something to the platform. Thanks, AG
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind.
  • #3,584
  • May 6, 2013 12:26pm May 6, 2013 12:26pm
Hello! I bought an Android Tablet and I'd like to create an account with FXCM. Since the Trading Station Web is more complete than the current Android app I was wondering if I could Customize all the charts on the computer (In the TS Web) and then open the account on the tablet and get all the stuff on the right spot.. I've tried to do that but once I open my demo account on the tablet, the Platform shows me the Default Layout.. Wouldn't that be possible to save the layout on the FXCM servers and whenever I login on the Web Trader, the layout would be the same every time?

By the way, if you create an Android/iOS application exacly the same as the Web/Desktop plattform that would be great to use in our tablets

Best regards!
  • #3,585
  • May 6, 2013 1:39pm May 6, 2013 1:39pm
Quoting AlbinaGrande
Hi Jason, My Marketscope 2.0 is misbehaving. It will not switch Layouts consistently. This is happening only on my desktop platform but not my VPS. Do I need to re download the program? Is there an easy way to save my layouts etc with a reinstall? Any thoughts? I have been making extensive use of the Back testing module. Perhaps this did something to the platform. Thanks, AG
Hi AG,

I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say the Trading Station charts "will not switch Layouts consistently". I assume this means that you have already saved your layouts. If not, here are instructions to save your chart layouts. Your saved chart layouts will be in this folder: "Crogram Files (x86)CandleworksFXTS2Layouts".

Copy the layouts from that folder and save them on your desktop. Then uninstall and reinstall Trading Station from our website to see if that resolves the tech issue you encountered. You can then copy your chart layouts from your desktop back to the "Crogram Files (x86)CandleworksFXTS2Layouts" folder. If your chart layouts still do not load properly, please call our 24-hour live support team using one of our international toll-free numbers, so we can troubleshoot the problem for you in real-time.

Jason
  • #3,586
  • May 6, 2013 3:07pm May 6, 2013 3:07pm
Quoting edgarlemos
Hello! I bought an Android Tablet and I'd like to create an account with FXCM. Since the Trading Station Web is more complete than the current Android app I was wondering if I could Customize all the charts on the computer (In the TS Web) and then open the account on the tablet and get all the stuff on the right spot.. I've tried to do that but once I open my demo account on the tablet, the Platform shows me the Default Layout.. Wouldn't that be possible to save the layout on the FXCM servers and whenever I login on the Web Trader, the layout would...
Hi Edgar,

Trading Station Web saves your chart settings on your web browser. That means, if you log into the platform from another device, the settings won't be the same. I like your idea though about storing these settings server side, so you can access them from any machine. I've passed your suggestion onto our software developers.

Jason
  • #3,587
  • May 6, 2013 5:26pm May 6, 2013 5:26pm
Hi Jason!

Thank you very much for the haste answer. I'd also like to know if you plan, in the near future, to update your mobile platforms to fulfill such characteristics i've said above..
I'd also like to know if I can change my Leverange on a real account/create a different account with different leverages to something like 50:1. And the minimum deposit for a micro account.

Best regards
Edgar Lemos
  • #3,588
  • May 7, 2013 11:59am May 7, 2013 11:59am
Quoting edgarlemos
Hi Jason! Thank you very much for the haste answer. I'd also like to know if you plan, in the near future, to update your mobile platforms to fulfill such characteristics i've said above..
Hi Edgar,

I've passed your suggestions onto our software developers, and I'll post an update here if we are able to make these features available in a future release of Trading Station Mobile. Please keep the suggestions coming. Many of the improvements we make to our platforms are the result of trader feedback.

Quoting edgarlemos
And the minimum deposit for a micro account.
We've eliminated the distinction between micro and standard accounts, since all FXCM accounts now allow you to trade microlots. The minimum to open an FXCM account is $50.

Quoting edgarlemos
I'd also like to know if I can change my Leverange on a real account/create a different account with different leverages to something like 50:1.
I notice your forum profile says that you live in Portugal. Since you live outside the US, if you set up a trading account with us, by default your minimum margin requirement on trades will be 0.5% which will allow you a maximum leverage of 200:1 to magnify your gains and losses. If you prefer, you can easily change the margin settings on your account from 0.5% to 2.0% which would reduce your maximum leverage to 50:1. That said, it's more important to understand that while 200:1 is the maximum leverage available by default, it's not required or even suggested that you use all the leverage available to you. For example, you may have a car that lets you drive over 200 kph, but that does not mean you should ever drive at that top speed.

In trading it's the same way. You might have an account that lets you use up to 200:1 leverage, but our research shows that traders should look to use an effective leverage of 10-to-1 or less. This is where the concept of effective leverage comes in. For example, if I limit my total trade size to no more than 10 times the amount of money I have in my account, then I am using 10:1 leverage. A microlot has a value of 1k or 1000. In order to trade a microlot without exceeding 10:1 leverage, I would need $100 in my account for each 1k microlot that I trade. If I want to trade 5k, then I would need $500 in my account. If I wanted to trade 20k, then I would need $2000 in my account. Below are some more examples.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/953...to1leverag.png


Our analysts at DailyFX.com looked at trading data from thousands of live trading accounts and identified the common pitfalls that kept unsuccessful traders from being profitable. Being overleveraged was a common theme with losing traders. The table above is from the DailyFX report on leverage. You can read the complete report here.

Jason
  • #3,589
  • May 7, 2013 4:27pm May 7, 2013 4:27pm
I have a spread betting account with FXCM. I don't know if I'm missing something fundamental here as it's my first real money account, but I seem to be getting absolutely hammered on this 10pm GMT spread widening that happens every night.

I have just placed a pending buy order as shown in my pic. I placed the order above the pin bar as shown at about 10pm GMT - price has not yet been near there. I go away from my computer for 2 seconds, come back and the position has been opened 30-40 pips from my pending order price?! So straight away, I'm £14 down from just 0.07 lots?! Am I missing something?

You may just say I should place my orders after 10pm, but this is also happening on my Stop losses - I've had open trades stopped out 20 pips short of the set stop loss at this time in the evening. I trade the daily and some trades run for days, so how am I supposed to manage trades when every night there is this unpredictable and seemingly very big spread widening?

Thanks
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: audnzddaily.png Size: 50 KB
  • #3,590
  • Edited 8:45am May 8, 2013 8:31am | Edited 8:45am
Hello,

Can anyone at FXCM explain the constant unavailability of the FSXM server near the start of the U.S. markets? I can connect to any available box on the planet, there are no firewall issues related to the FXCM application (neither TS2 nor MT4) and I have near T1 fiber optic speeds to my ISP - so there is no connectivity issue on my end. My box is virus and malware free and I have no problems whatsoever in connecting to OTHER broker platforms instantly on-demand and in various locations on the planet (so this is not an internet IP routing or Subnet problem).

The problem is always with connecting to FXCM (either Demo Server or Production Server). The login is unreliable. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work. Most times it is EXTREMELY slow. It constantly throws a "Connection Attempt Timed Out" message.

Questions:

Does FXCM still use the Oracle Database for both its Demo and Production platforms for TS2 and/or MT4?
Does FXCM have an Oracle DBA working full-time in its IT department?
Has FXCM changed the Oracle "ORA" or "TNS" error message to not show the fact that there was a Database Connectivity problem?
What version of Oracle does FXCM use?

I ask these questions because, if you still use Oracle and you do not have an experienced Oracle DBA available, then you can easily get your company into trouble with connectivity issues - depending on the version of the database you use.

It would be nice to be able to use FXCM reliably, but that seems to be impossible. This connectivity issues has been in existence at FXCM for YEARS and no one seems to take it seriously enough to find a final resolution to the constant problems:

- Server Unavailable
- Extremely slow login
- Connection Attempt Timed Out during extremely slow login
- Connections constantly dropping after connecting to the server.
- Extremely slow platform refresh rates after connecting to the server.

Servers Constantly Unavailable:
http://i41.tinypic.com/24p07x0.jpg

Login Attempts Constantly Timing Out:
http://i40.tinypic.com/2dvtr3p.jpg

Extremely Slow Refresh Rates:
http://i41.tinypic.com/2zokjyq.jpg


Some of these connectivity and platform instability problems lead to other very serious issues:

- Market Orders to close positions leading to Pending Orders that hang until price reaches an unfavorable bid/ask level.
- The CONSTANT SLIPPAGE seen which places Buy Orders and Sell Orders away from actual market price where order was triggered by trader.
- Being completely blocked from accessing the position due to not being able to login to the platform.


I would appreciate a clear response response from FXCM on these connectivity issues and some idea as to when FXCM will finally deal with the matter straightforwardly.

Thank you.
  • #3,591
  • Edited 9:53am May 8, 2013 8:48am | Edited 9:53am
FSXM:

I have added three (3) pics ABOVE and two (2) more BELOW that further illustrates the constant problems.
  • #3,592
  • May 8, 2013 9:45am May 8, 2013 9:45am
More of the same platform and connection instability: 1044 hrs New York Time


http://i39.tinypic.com/vde3hx.jpg
  • #3,593
  • May 8, 2013 9:51am May 8, 2013 9:51am
Does anyone at FXCM have an answer for these connectivity problems? 1047hrs New York Time:

http://i44.tinypic.com/2v99qgy.jpg
  • #3,594
  • May 8, 2013 10:51am May 8, 2013 10:51am
Quoting pip_la
I have a spread betting account with FXCM. I don't know if I'm missing something fundamental here as it's my first real money account, but I seem to be getting absolutely hammered on this 10pm GMT spread widening that happens every night. I have just placed a pending buy order as shown in my pic. I placed the order above the pin bar as shown at about 10pm GMT - price has not yet been near there. I go away from my computer for 2 seconds, come back and the position has been opened 30-40 pips from my pending order price?! So straight away, I'm £14...
Hi Pip_la,

On FXCM's No Dealing Desk forex execution model, we simply pass on the best bid and ask prices we receive from our liquidity providers and add a fixed pip markup which acts as a commission. That means when the banks widen their spreads, our spreads will widen as well. The reason spreads can widen at 10pm British Summer Time (which is actually 9pm GMT) is because that marks the end of the 24 hour trading day at 5pm New York Time when trade rollover occurs.

Since the New York trading session has just ended, and it's still a couple of hours before the start of the Tokyo session, this is a relatively quiet time in terms of trading volume. Unlike stock exchanges, the forex market trades 24 hours a day, so banks make the most of this downtime to refresh their servers for the new trading day and apply rollover interest. (In fact, I mentioned that 5pm New York Time is when trade rollover occurs in my post last week.) Some banks stop quoting prices altogether while other widen their spreads which is then reflected in our prices.

In regards to how you can manage your own trades, if you are a short term trade who uses tight stops, you might want to consider trading before or after 5pm New York time, but not during trade rollover.

Jason
  • #3,595
  • May 8, 2013 11:28am May 8, 2013 11:28am
Quoting M1 Diverge
Hello, Can anyone at FXCM explain the constant unavailability of the FSXM server near the start of the U.S. markets? I can connect to any available box on the planet, there are no firewall issues related to the FXCM application (neither TS2 nor MT4) and I have near T1 fiber optic speeds to my ISP - so there is no connectivity issue on my end. My box is virus and malware free and I have no problems whatsoever in connecting to OTHER broker platforms instantly on-demand and in various locations on the planet (so this is not an internet IP routing or...
Quoting M1 Diverge
FSXM: I have added three (3) pics ABOVE and two (2) more BELOW that further illustrates the constant problems.
Quoting M1 Diverge
More of the same platform and connection instability: 1044 hrs New York Time {image} {image}
Quoting M1 Diverge
Does anyone at FXCM have an answer for these connectivity problems? 1047hrs New York Time: {image}
Hi M1 Diverge,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having difficulty connecting. I checked with our tech support, and our other clients are currently trading without any issues. We haven't had any tech issues on our end that could be causing this, but we are happy to work with you one-on-one to investigate what's causing you these problems and get you connected as soon as possible. Please call us using one of our international toll-free numbers. Our 24-hour live support team will be able to troubleshoot this issue for you and can even transfer you to the trading desk should you need to place trades or modify any orders over the phone.

Jason
  • #3,596
  • Edited 1:17pm May 8, 2013 12:59pm | Edited 1:17pm
Quoting Jason Rogers
...We haven't had any tech issues on our end that could be causing this,...
I appreciate the one-on-one help. However, if you google "FXCM server problems" or words to that effect, you will see that I'm not the only one having these persistent problems.

I do, however, routinely see this kind of general reply whenever there is a problem on the FXCM side of the equation. If I have no problem connecting to other broker back-ends and there are no network and/or local firewall issues on my end (which there are none), then I should have no problems with FXCM. And, that's my point. Not necessarily to avoid the one-on-one offer for helping me troubleshoot me end (I worked in tech, so I'm sure my end is clean and fast), but to get some straight answers from FXCM in this thread about why these server connectivity problems seem to persist on the FXCM platforms?

Here's another great example. Using the MT4 Demo Account (but I often times see this on the Live MT4 account as well):

http://i44.tinypic.com/6h6ejd.jpg

What does this cryptic message mean? It came up three (3) times when attempting to close an order using MT4. The order remains open, price moves beyond my intended exist point and I have difficulty trying to continue justifying the use of such an application for real world trading. Can you please explain this message, as well as all the other error messages shown above?

I've already confirmed that your tech support team had a problem with the TS2 Demo Servers. So, there was indeed a problem there. This last pick, however, comes off the MT4 server.

Thanks.
  • #3,597
  • May 8, 2013 3:24pm May 8, 2013 3:24pm
Quoting M1 Diverge
{quote} I appreciate the one-on-one help. However, if you google "FXCM server problems" or words to that effect, you will see that I'm not the only one having these persistent problems. I do, however, routinely see this kind of general reply whenever there is a problem on the FXCM side of the equation. If I have no problem connecting to other broker back-ends and there are no network and/or local firewall issues on my end (which there are none), then I should have no problems with FXCM. And, that's my point. Not necessarily to avoid the one-on-one...
Hi M1 Diverge,

If there was a tech issue on our end that prevented our clients from connecting, then we would post information about this on the FXCM Platform Update Center. Our other clients are connecting to our platforms without issue today, but I want to help you determine why you have been having this difficulty connecting with us. Please email me at [email protected] with your account details and the best time and phone number to reach you, so we can troubleshoot this for you.

Jason
  • #3,598
  • May 8, 2013 11:45pm May 8, 2013 11:45pm
Quoting Jason Rogers
{quote} Hi M1 Diverge, If there was a tech issue on our end that prevented our clients from connecting, then we would post information about this on the FXCM Platform Update Center. Our other clients are connecting to our platforms without issue today, but I want to help you determine why you have been having this difficulty connecting with us. Please email me at [email protected] with your account details and the best time and phone number to reach you, so we can troubleshoot this for you. Jason
Hello Jason,

I have already contacted FXCM as indicated in my last post. FXCM tech support told me that they did have a problem with the demo servers today and were working to resolve the issues. There were other posts on other forums indicating the same and there have been numerous posts on other forums (as well as this one) with the same connectivity issues that I have posted here.

In this thread, I'm trying to get someone at FXCM to answer the above questions: When will FXCM do something about these persistent connectivity issues? That's the true purpose of my post in this thread. I appreciate the desire to want to help in a one-off fashion, but my questions are authenticated by the numerous posts on the internet about the same things - connectivity issues with FXCM servers (as outlined above).

Understanding just a small bit about Client/Server technology would tell the initiated that the images I posted here, containing the error messages received either when attempting to connect or shortly after being connected, are not Client Side technical issues - these are all mostly Server Side problems and demonstrative of a database that is not accepting connections, unable to query a table properly, unable to authenticate a user/account properly, returning an incorrect SQL query, or in the case of Oracle, has some kind of ORA or TNS issue(s). There is also the outside (remote) possibility that the network pipe leading into the 'demo' system(s) reached capacity - but again, that is a remote idea.

I'm trying to get down to the reasons behind the continuous connectivity issues that FXCM has. Again, a simple google of this matter with FXCM will demonstrate that I'm not the only trader having connectivity issues with FXCM. Again, I had no problems connecting to other trading platforms (also in New York) and there is no firewall restriction blocking or limiting throughput on either terminal.exe or FXTSpp.exe. Both have bi-directional access to the net - so they can both receive and send data.

I just think it is time for this discussion to be had publicly. This is a very old and long overdue conversation and it really does need to be mapped out, so everyone involved can benefit from the discussion. We live in an era of sufficient technological progress such that maintaining solid client/server connections across an IP network should be very probable with an absolute minimum in disruptive downtime. Waking up in the morning at 4:30am to do my job, only to find out that I can connect to the rest of the entire world, but just not FXCM, is problematic to say the least.

There were connectivity problems with FXCM today, there have been connectivity problems with FXCM in the recent past and there have been connectivity problems in the aggregate history of FXCM. I'm just trying to get these kinds of issues behind me once and for all. I'd really appreciate some straight talk about this issue and I'm 99% certain that there are many other FXCM traders out there who want this issue finally resolved as well.

Thanks for your help.
  • #3,599
  • May 9, 2013 10:13am May 9, 2013 10:13am
Hi Jason.. Would you like to tell me the average spread of major pairs during news release in NDD and DD? Biggest spread too maybe? thanks for your help.

poorpluto
  • #3,600
  • May 9, 2013 12:22pm May 9, 2013 12:22pm
Quoting poorpluto
Hi Jason.. Would you like to tell me the average spread of major pairs during news release in NDD and DD? Biggest spread too maybe? thanks for your help. poorpluto
I can't speak for the dealing desk as I have never used it, but I've traded with FXCM's non-dealing desk for over a year and usually the spread is around 2.6-4 on EURUSD, GBPUSD, NZDUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, USDCAD and USDCHF (the only pairs I trade).

All of this is based on personal experience of course, so it's not a definite answer but at least it's independent and unbiased.
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