I think there is something wrong..do you think so??

As i am running two MT 4 platforms i have noticed something odd.
First one is Alpari MT4 and second is IBFX MT4.
I also have Hotspot FX and MBT Navigator for data comparation.

There is significant difference regarding H4 EUR/USD candles between Alpari and IBFX charts.
I will not go in any other explanation because there are pictures which will tell more than i could.

ALPARI EUR/USD H4


IBFX EUR/USD H4


I have checked same H4 chart on DailyFX and on HotspotFX.
Guess what..They are same(few pip difference) as IBFX chart..
So that leaves the question...
Is Alpari messing whit prices?

I have seen difference of few pips among FX brokers but that difference which we can see between Alpari and IBFX IS NOT few pips difference.
For me this is B.I.G.for Alpari.
What do you peeps think??
Regards,
VTK

Are their servers in the same timezone ? I believe all MT4 charts are displayed in server (not local) timezone. You could try comparing 1 hour charts and see if the differences are smaller.

From what i can see, these price charts both show exactly the same prices. The only difference is that they are printing different times for the beginning and end of each bar, which makes them look different.

You're an hour out on one of the charts, eg one's howing 11am-3pm while the other shows 12 -4

foredog said:

You're an hour out on one of the charts, eg one's howing 11am-3pm while the other shows 12 -4

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Probably cos they open at different times on a sunday night!?

alpari is HORRENDOUS! in terms of platform freezing up. Its been frozen for the last 10 minutes. This happens most days.
ODL MT4 is much more reliable.

VTK,

convert the two charts to 1-hours, then you will see its the time-shift thats causing the apparent anomoly.

JTrader said:

alpari is HORRENDOUS! in terms of platform freezing up. Its been frozen for the last 10 minutes. This happens most days.
ODL MT4 is much more reliable.

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Speaking of ODL, I was short EURUSD today and had a stop loss set at 1.2800. At 20:16 GMT price rose to 1.2798 and I was for some reason stopped out. Is there a legitimate explanation for this? This is a demo account, so no real money was lost, but if this happened with a live account I would be looking to put someone's head on a platter. I have e-mailed the ODL rep who set my account up asking for an explanation and will get back with his response.

johnnyonspot said:

Speaking of ODL, I was short EURUSD today and had a stop loss set at 1.2800. At 20:16 GMT price rose to 1.2798 and I was for some reason stopped out. Is there a legitimate explanation for this? This is a demo account, so no real money was lost, but if this happened with a live account I would be looking to put someone's head on a platter. I have e-mailed the ODL rep who set my account up asking for an explanation and will get back with his response.

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Don't forget you have to add the spread on to the price... and since 1.2798 is only 2 ticks short of 1.2800 this would probably explain why you were stopped.

UKtradergirl said:

Don't forget you have to add the spread on to the price... and since 1.2798 is only 2 ticks short of 1.2800 this would probably explain why you were stopped.

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Excuse my ignorance, but why does the spread matter? I am unfamiliar with the vagaries of how this works, but why does the spread matter at all once you've entered the position? Seems to me that the price level should be the price level should be the price level, and setting the stop should be in reference to the price level. I am sure you are correct, but I'm just saying, you know? Seems like a nice way for the broker to take your money. Is there anyway in MT4 to make it so the price actually has to meet the actual stop loss you set before stopping you out, in order to avoid the requirement of adding 2 pips to your stop to accommodate for this?

Let me ask another question. Say I had been long, and set a stop at 1.2800, and price went down to 1.2802. Would I also be stopped out on this?

i haven't used ODL, so i don't know if this is possible, but you may find it helpful to change the rate displayed on your chart. often the default rate displayed on the chart is the average rate between the bid and ask prices.

so when you say the pair was trading at 1.2798, it was probably trading at a bid of 1.2796 and ask 1.2800 since your stop was an order bidding 1.2800 it was triggered. (although 4 pip is not a great spread for EUR/USD) so in your situation where you were short a pair, the price level you are concerned about is the asking price, since you need to buy it back to cover your position. many platforms will let you set the displayed price on a chart, so once you are short a position you could set it to display asking price. that may help you a bit. (or conversely, display bid price once you are long a pair)

if this happened to you right before that drop off the cliff towards the end of the day on friday i understand your frustration. it would have been very easy to catch at least 150 pip of that 250 pip fall.

really, you just need to remember that there isn't one price level. with EUR/USD theres a 1-5 or so pip difference between the asking price and the bid price at any given time.

Yes, it was right before it fell, so it is a bit frustrating, though not nearly as much as it would have been had it been a live account. So I guess the demo account has served its purpose in at least one small measure by teaching me this particular lesson.

johnnyonspot said:

Yes, it was right before it fell, so it is a bit frustrating, though not nearly as much as it would have been had it been a live account. So I guess the demo account has served its purpose in at least one small measure by teaching me this particular lesson.

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They will take out your stop if the price is 2 pips below, because of the spread. If they were to wait until the market reached this price, it would add an extra 2 pips to the stop anyway- because the price sold at would be different to the market because of the spread.

To try and make it clear:
the price quoted is say 88-94. A 4 point spread.

You are long on this trade. Your stop is at 80.
Price moves down.


Two scenarios:
1. Your stop is taken out. The long trade is sold at the lower end of the spread at 80, even though the market didn't reach this price (market was probably at 82), the quotes did reach this price so you were stopped.
2. If you wanted your stop to be taken when the market reaches 80 this would happen:
Price moves down some more.
Price gets to 80.
Prices quoted are now 78-82.
You are stopped at the sell price of 78.
You get upset because you wanted to stop at 80.

So, either, you add the two pips yourself to the stop to account for the spread.
Or you just accept that you will be stopped out slightly earlier than expected.


Do you see the problem?

Hope this has helped and helps you in your future trading.

trendie said:

VTK,

convert the two charts to 1-hours, then you will see its the time-shift thats causing the apparent anomoly.

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Sorry for late reply...
Yo,Trendie...you are right about converting those charts to H1..they get pretty much the same then..
But for me problem is still there...
It is truth that there is 1 hour difference between Alpari server and IBFX server.
But i am not sure that difference of 1 hour could make candles look SO different.
I have measured difference between highest high and lowest low that we can see on those pictures.There is about ten pip difference which is not so much.

But the problem is that mine MACD readings were not same on IBFX and Alpari.As i was trading Alpari account i did not get such strong bullish readings as it were on IBFX MT4 account.So i was not on the bullish train because Alpari was printing different candles than other brokers(FXCM@DalyFX,Hotspot,IBFX)
Lucky me,i am trading demo account so missing a 300+ pip move is not so bad as it would be if i traded live account.
I wont claim here anything but this is strange to me.As i have said problem is not in pip difference but in readings of price action which have lead me to take "stand a side" position.It is like having GPS which is guiding you in wrong direction..What is the point of having this damn broken device??
Regards,
VTK

johnnyonspot said:

Yes, it was right before it fell, so it is a bit frustrating, though not nearly as much as it would have been had it been a live account. So I guess the demo account has served its purpose in at least one small measure by teaching me this particular lesson.

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Dude I trade with Alpari too. Also remember that the spread is always deducted when the pair is bought - so that is the stop-loss/exit when short or the entry when long.

johnnyonspot said:

... Seems like a nice way for the broker to take your money...

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Ahh, I see you figured out how forex works.

Peter