ECN Broker specifics

[MythosKid]

Hey guys,

I would really appreciate the community's help.........
I'm looking to deposit 100-200k with an ECN but I'm having trouble finding out the exact terms for each broker I've contacted. It seems that the representatives I come across just love to get all cloak and dagger on me regarding commissions, minimum deposit, leverage/margins etc etc. There is no specific information on their websites and everything seems to be "negotiable". I'm a trader by nature but I'm not a corporate negotiator + I've only traded with standard retail brokers up until now. I feel ready to step up a level and trade via an ECN but these guys stonewalling is irritating me.
So I hope to find some useful answers/suggestions/specifics about the following brokers (my research has given me a choice of 7)

Dukascopy
MB Trading
FXDD
ODL
BFG
ADM
Currenex

Any of you guys (and gals) know what these brokers offer in terms of commissions, minimum deposit and margin requirements? I'm hoping that some of you are clients so your info will be the most reliable. Also, does anyone know which ECN brokers mark up their spreads?

 

[gc1]

Any particular reason why you have left Interactive brokers off your list ?

When it comes to negotiable commissions they are usually looking for high volumes to offer good deals, e.g. a yard a month ($1,000,000,000) which is way beyond most individual trader's likely volumes.

Margins likely to be 2.5% - 3.3%. You've also got to look at the spread of the offered prices as well as commission rates. No point in saving a few $ on one and paying back much more on the other.

 

[MythosKid]

No particular reason, no. I've only recently looked into this but have not come across Interactive Brokers. Thanks for the suggestion though.
So there are no firm commission charges? i.e. I will only know what my commission charges were at month end - depending on how much size I've traded?

Any particular reason why you have left Interactive brokers off your list ?

When it comes to negotiable commissions they are usually looking for high volumes to offer good deals, e.g. a yard a month ($1,000,000,000) which is way beyond most individual trader's likely volumes.

Margins likely to be 2.5% - 3.3%. You've also got to look at the spread of the offered prices as well as commission rates. No point in saving a few $ on one and paying back much more on the other.

 

[gc1]

So there are no firm commission charges? i.e. I will only know what my commission charges were at month end - depending on how much size I've traded?

There should be an advertised rate, typically $18 to $25 per million $ traded and to get better than that they would want to see really decent volume - and that's where negotiation would come in. I've heard that super high volume customers can get as little as $5 per million $ traded. But that would require much more volume than any of us are ever likely to achieve.

 

[GammaJammer]

Or your other option is to go for a margin account for high net worth individuals at a larger, reputable bank (the Barclays, Citi, Deutsche, UBSs of the world) - then your costs should be all in and reflected in the spread rather than paying comission AND crossing the spread. The only real tangible advantage in ecn trading is the ability to be a price maker yourself, and the smart banks are already looking at that space (at least for the institutional sized players) so I'd also say talk to one or two of the banks if you got that sort of money to invest.

 

[disi]

As far as I remember CMS forex also has MT4 and STP offer