ODL taken over by FXCM

Maybe they'll be able to combine the best bits?

Do you know the details of the deal? Was it a cash purchase or share?

Jack Hughes said:

Maybe they'll be able to combine the best bits?

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That's the goal. The most important improvement will be in terms of ODL clients having NDD execution for their forex transactions, and the goal is to have the FX Trading Station II rolled out to ODL clients in the coming months.

-Jason

Umbrella said:

Do you know the details of the deal? Was it a cash purchase or share?

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Will answer questions in as much detail as possible, but for this one, no financial information regarding the structure of the deal is being released by FXCM or ODL.

-Jason

Jason Rogers said:

Will answer questions in as much detail as possible, but for this one, no financial information regarding the structure of the deal is being released by FXCM or ODL.

-Jason

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Isn't that a bit odd? Don't the FSA have to know about this sort of thing, for example?

Not sure what the rest was worth, but the SB arm of ODL should have been thrown in for free.

Just look at London Capital Group's share price - it was offered below £1 yesterday! I don't remember their IPO price but it's pretty close to that.

Jason Rogers said:

The most important improvement will be in terms of ODL clients having NDD execution for their forex transactions

Click to expand...

Is that really an improvement? I can't see what's there to gain from a trader's point of view.

I think the bottom line is FXCM lost money in its EU expansion and they now want to take over ODL's EU client base. Fact. I was curious in the details of the deal, because there would have been some overlapping between FXCM and ODL client base. For example, if ODL claims it had 100K clients I wonder what portion held both FXCM and OLD accounts already. Frequently we hear in the press XYZ spread betting company has 100K clients and ABC has 50K clients, etc, but what's the real size of the 'pot'? Clive Cook once estimated it to be 250K back in 2007 I think. I just think the whole SB industry may be overvalued because of double or even triple count of clients.

Umbrella said:

I think the bottom line is FXCM lost money in its EU expansion and they now want to take over ODL's EU client base. Fact. I was curious in the details of the deal, because there would have been some overlapping between FXCM and ODL client base. For example, if ODL claims it had 100K clients I wonder what portion held both FXCM and OLD accounts already. Frequently we hear in the press XYZ spread betting company has 100K clients and ABC has 50K clients, etc, but what's the real size of the 'pot'? Clive Cook once estimated it to be 250K back in 2007 I think. I just think the whole SB industry may be overvalued because of double or even triple count of clients.

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Hi Umbrella,

FXCM has been in the process of expanding throughout Europe over the past couple of years opening offices in Paris, Milan, Athens, and most recently Berlin. With the acquisition of ODL, this expansion process will only get faster. FXCM's European offices will continue to expand as well.

-Jason

Umbrella said:

I was curious in the details of the deal, because there would have been some overlapping between FXCM and ODL client base. For example, if ODL claims it had 100K clients I wonder what portion held both FXCM and OLD accounts already. Frequently we hear in the press XYZ spread betting company has 100K clients and ABC has 50K clients, etc, but what's the real size of the 'pot'? Clive Cook once estimated it to be 250K back in 2007 I think. I just think the whole SB industry may be overvalued because of double or even triple count of clients.

Click to expand...

I've always been suspicious about quoted client numbers. The number of spreadbetters who open an account with one company and stay with it, actively trading, must be tiny. Most punters will try one then move onto others, lured by all the Free £100, or whatever, offers. I'd guess that a lot of them will give up after losing a bit of money. Whether there are 100k, 250k or half a million clients, what percentage of them are trading regularly and providing SB companies with income?

Jack Hughes said:

I've always been suspicious about quoted client numbers. The number of spreadbetters who open an account with one company and stay with it, actively trading, must be tiny. Most punters will try one then move onto others, lured by all the Free £100, or whatever, offers. I'd guess that a lot of them will give up after losing a bit of money. Whether there are 100k, 250k or half a million clients, what percentage of them are trading regularly and providing SB companies with income?

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I would love to know the number of actively traded accounts per SB provider, but I expect this is a closely guarded secret.

montmorencyt2w said:

I would love to know the number of actively traded accounts per SB provider, but I expect this is a closely guarded secret.

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I'd be surprised if some of the minor league SB outfits(not mentioning any names) have more than a few hundred active traders, and they're probably mostly the same people who use the bigger companies.

Jason Rogers said:

That's the goal. The most important improvement will be in terms of ODL clients having NDD execution for their forex transactions, and the goal is to have the FX Trading Station II rolled out to ODL clients in the coming months.

-Jason

Click to expand...

Jason

It is a good move for spreadbetters due to a much refined trading platform provided by FXCM.

In my previous conversations with FXCM , they informed me api and automation was available on fxcm spread betting.If this is true , it is a huge advantage.

On the negative side is the spreads on metatrader4 on euro usd are a little higher compared to Alpari and interactive.Will FXCM reduce spreads on euro usd on MT4?

If you have already got MT4 , why not offer spreadbetting on MT4?.I could trade all my EAS on spreadbetting, the extra spread may be offset by tax advantages.


O D T

oildaytrader said:

Jason

It is a good move for spreadbetters due to a much refined trading platform provided by FXCM.

In my previous conversations with FXCM , they informed me api and automation was available on fxcm spread betting.If this is true , it is a huge advantage.

On the negative side is the spreads on metatrader4 on euro usd are a little higher compared to Alpari and interactive.Will FXCM reduce spreads on euro usd on MT4?

If you have already got MT4 , why not offer spreadbetting on MT4?.I could trade all my EAS on spreadbetting, the extra spread may be offset by tax advantages.


O D T

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Hi O D T

Point taken regarding MT4! We've had quite a few requests on the FXCM spreadbetting thread, but no discussion as of yet on whether it will be provided on MT4. I mentioned in my previous reply to your other post that the Strategy Trader platform is going to be an alternative to MT4...and it should be compatible with spreadbet accounts right off the bat. I'm double checking with the Strategy Trader team on this.

The spread for EURUSD will average around 2.3 pips getting as low as 1 pip. I know cost is always on everyone's mind. Quality of execution, re-quotes, and resources available should also be taken into account to determine the true cost of trading.

-Jason

-Jason

Strategy Runner is OK, but what we really need is SB with Ninja Trader! Any way of hooking up the free Direct version?

Important information for ODL clients using MT4. MT4 accounts are being upgraded from dealing desk to no dealing desk execution this weekend. Please be aware of the following important changes:

New Oil and Gold Contract Sizes:
Prior to the upgrade, one contract of UKOIL (Oil) or USOIL (WTI) is equal to 1,000 barrels of oil or $10 per point. Additionally, one contract of XAU/USD (GLD) is equal to 100 ounces of gold or $100 per point. After the upgrade, one contract of UKOIL (Oil) or USOIL (WTI) is equal to 100 barrels of oil or $1 per point. Additionally, one contract of XAU/USD (GLD) is equal to 1 ounce of gold or $1 per point.

Please note: The trade size for oil and gold positions that are migrated to ODL Powered by FXCM will reflect the new contract sizes as outlined above. This is done to account for the differences between ODL contract sizes and FXCM contract sizes and will ensure that your net exposure and P/L will not change when the positions are migrated over. For example, a 1.0 USOIL (WTI) or UKOIL (Oil) trade that migrates to ODL Powered by FXCM will appear as a 10.0 USOIL (WTI) or UKOIL (Oil) trade. Additionally, a 1.0 XAU/USD (GLD) trade that migrates to ODL Powered by FXCM will appear as a 100.0 XAU/USD (GLD) trade.

Example:

In order to compensate for this, open positions on these products will be multiplied x10. Your overall position stays the same, the sizing methodology simply changes to give you greater flexibility with position size.


Margin Call Policy Changing: In contrast to your current policy—where the largest losing trades are closed first—after the upgrade, if usable margin drops below zero, an order will trigger to close all open positions automatically. With this policy, you will never owe a debit balance as a result of forex and CFD trading. All accounts will be covered under FXCM's no debit balance policy.


New Trading Hours: Forex and CFD trading hours will change slightly. Forex trading will start fifteen minutes later on Sunday (22:15 BST) and will close one hour earlier on Friday (21:00 BST). CFD trading hours will vary by market. Please consult the CFD Product Guide for detailed CFD trading hours.


New Margin Requirements:
In many cases, you will have access to lower* margin requirements after the update. For example, trading 0.1 lot, the margin requirement for EUR/USD is £50, GBP/USD is £50 and USD/JPY is £40. Additionally, 1 contract of the SPX500 (SP) is £75, the UK100 (UK100) is £60 and USOIL (WTI) is £125.

Hello.

As you are speaking about ODL I was wondering if somebody can help me with
the ODL metatrader 4 demo account.

I have opened a demo account with ODL last week trough metatrader 4
which I have downloaded from metaquotes website.
The data feed is working and everything seems to work except the
"new order" button which is disabled therefore I can't enter any orders on demo
Is this normal on a demo account or is some kind of error due to latest changes?!


Thanks.

For ODL spreadbet clients...

We will be hosting special webinars on Thursday at 12 noon and 8pm London time (7am and 3pm NYC) for all Spread Bet clients. Topics covered will include Stake vs. lots, NDD, No Debit Balance, DailyFX+, Mobile, Calling the Trading Desk, and lots of Q&A time. To attend, you just need to go to http://forex.na6.acrobat.com/odlfxcm at the appropriate time.

Platform looks good, but the spreads need to be narrower to tempt us. And the minimum stop distance needs reducing.