Best Thread FXCM Discussion

[Jason Rogers]

Just looked at this video, so if a rogue tick is received surely it wouldn't make
any diference as there are other banks offering correct bid/offers against it.
Also the filter doesn't seem that complex if it can't pick up a 300 pip step
descrepancy?

Hi Daren,

I can understand how it may be easy to say this should be a simple process; however, with the potential for hundreds of prices quotes to be received every second, no system is 100% perfect. FXCM's system routinely handles over 310,000 trades per day and is very robust considering the 24/5 nature of the forex market and in the system both receiving an enormous amount of data and being able to process trades in return. So while the video is simplified with two data feeds to show how the order execution works on the back-end, the amount of processing going through the system every second is enormous. This doesn't mean a bad tick is no less important regardless of the rarity of the occurrence. What's important is how we respond to it to ensure it doesn't impact your account negatively.

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Yesterday I was browsing through FXCodeBase.com and noticed some custom indicators for the Marketscope charts you may find useful. So I picked out 5 of the ones I found most interesting and you can find them highlighted below. FXCodeBase has 600+ custom indicators for Marketscope on theri website, so if you need some thing specific, it's worth doing a search on the website. All of these indicators can be added to the Marketscope charts inside the FX Trading Station II platform. The download link for each indicator is listed below. If you need any help importing the indicator into Marketscope, check out the imageI posted here .

1. Display Trading History on Chart
The Marketscope chart will display current trade information and recent historical trade information directly onto the chart. However, the chart will not display all of your historical trading history. The solution is to use the trading history indicator. If you look at the screenshot below, I added the trading history indicator to the USOil chart and it displayed trading history from October 2010 through January 2011. Profitable trades are indicated by a green arrow, and losses are indicated by a red arrow. You can choose to have the trades connected from open to close by a line.

Download



2. Symbol Correlation
DailyFX releases a currency correlation report which shows how currency pairs move in relation to each other. Instead of waiting for the report to be released, you can use this indicator to quickly identify currency correlations between any currency pairs, and for any time period. In the example below, I have compared the GBP/JPY with the SPX500 which tracks the S&P500 stock index. This is an interesting correlation because the GBP/JPY and equities markets were highly correlated during height of the carry trade. The chart on the left shows the GBP/JPY & SPX500 correlation from 2008-2010, and you’ll notice the correlation was 0.895. A correlation of 1 indicates a strong positive correlation, meaning the two symbols move in tandem. In the next chart on the left, you’ll see the correlation has broken down to -0.207 from 2010 until 2011. A correlation of 0 indicates no apparent correlation, the movements are seemingly random to each other.

Download



3. Constant Range Bars
The constant range bar indicator allows you to create candlesticks based on a specific number of ticks. For example, you could create 100 tick candles. The candle will be based upon number of ticks rather than time. The below screenshot shows a constant range bar chart of 100 ticks on the left and a 5 minute candlestick chart on the right. Both charts cover the same time period. The difference is that the chart on the left creates a new candle after every 100 ticks, and the chart on the right create a new candle every 5 minutes. Notice also that the CRB chart has a blue number on the most recent candle. That number counts the number of ticks in the current candle. If have set the indicator to 100 ticks, then the candle will close once that blue number hits 100.

Download



4. Movers and Shakers
This indicator shows you which currency pairs or symbols have had the biggest percentage/pip movement for the specified time. For example, I just sit down at my computer and I want to know which symbols have had the biggest move over the past hour, day, week, or month. This indicator gives you that information. The below image is an example of what it looks like. I have sorted all of the information by percentage gain/loss for the day. On the left you have all of the symbols with a percentage gain for the day, and they are in order of largest percentage gain to smallest. On the right you have the symbols with a percentage loss for the day, and the symbols are organized by loss from smallest to largest. The indicator will only calculate the percentage gain/loss for the symbols displayed in the dealing rates window. From the screenshot, you’ll see that oil, gold and silver have the largest gains for today, up nearly 2%. The stock indices have the largest losses for the day at 1%+. And the currencies are in the middle.

Download


5. Gross P/L
The Gross P/L indicator will display the Gross P/L for all open positions in a window at the bottom of the chart. This way you can keep track of the profit/loss on all of your positions when viewing one specific chart. In the image below, I have 9 trades open on the demo. I can quickly tell that positions in 5 of the currency pairs traded are in a profit, and 4 of the currency pairs traded are in an overall loss.

Download

 

[Jason Rogers]

Automated Strategies on Marketscope

On Tuesday, I posted about 5 custom indicators available for Marketscope. The majority of the downloads on FXCodeBase are custom indicators, but the library of custom strategies is quickly increasing. Below are 3 strategies I found interesting. If you have ideas for strategies, please post the request directly to the FXCodeBase website!

1. Close at Time

This strategy is fairly straightforward. You indicate the ticket number to close and the time and date to close the trade, and the trade closes when the specified time is reached. For example, maybe you want to close a position on Friday at 8:25am ET before NFP is released or before triple rollover at 4:45pm ET on Wednesday. This strategy allows you to do that. Simply set the date and time. Below is a screenshot of the alert message that appears when the strategy executes. I set the strategy to close a CHF/JPY position, although the symbol in the alert window says EUR/USD. Don't panic. The symbol simply indicates the currency pair of the chart which you added the strategy to. The currency pair displayed on the chart has no impact on the ticket you selected in the strategy properties. The strategy simply needs to be set onto any existing chart with the appropriate ticket selected in the strategy options in order for it to execute.

See Attachment: close_at_time.zip


2. Breakout Strategy

This strategy uses the breakout indicator to place trades (so you will also need to download the breakout strategy for marketscope if you do not have it). The breakout strategy measures the trading range from 17:00pm ET through 23:00pm ET. It then looks to trade breakouts beyond this range for the remainder of the trading day. The trading hours can be modified in the strategy options. Below is an image of what it looks like. The green lines define the range from the Asian session and the red shaded area marks that period of time. The image also contains white alert signals where the strategy has bought or sold. Note: This strategy requires you to have the breakout indicator in Marketscope in order for it to work. The breakout indicator is attached to this post as breakout.zip.

See Attachment: Breakout_Strategy.zip (and indicator breakout.zip)


3. Moving-average Based Stop Order

This strategy creates a stop loss order at the specified moving average line. As the moving average line changes with each closing candle, so too will your stop loss order. If you look at the example below, you'll see I have two short positions in USD/CAD and there's a 50 period simple moving average on the chart. The stop loss order is automatically created at the 50 period moving average line.

See Attachment: mvastop4.zip

 

[Jason Rogers]

CNBC Money In Motion Currency Trading

CNBC's Money in Motion Currency Trading tv show sponsored by FXCM premieres tomorrow, March 11 at 5:30pm ET. It was originally scheduled to launch on Feb. 25th, but it was delayed 2 weeks. Here are the show times:

United States
Premieres Friday, March 11th 5:30p ET

Europe
Premieres Friday, March 11th 23:30 CET

Asia
Premieres Saturday, March 12th 0630 SIN/HK

Australia
Premieres Saturday, March 12th 0930 AEDT​

 

[BumBumBum]

How long does it usually takes to open and account with them?

 

[Jason Rogers]

How long does it usually takes to open and account with them?

The application can be submitted online and it takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. Once the application is received, it will be processed within 1-2 business days. During this time, you can submit the funds for your account along with any supporting documentation. Once the application is complete and your funds are received, you can start trading. We have an FAQ on the new account process located here.

 

[saintalan]

Anybody else got this and understand it received this morning from FXCM UK?

Thanks

Alan

FXCM LTD (“FXCM”) has amended its Terms of Business (“Terms”). Please click here to review the sections of the Terms which have been amended. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these changes as you will be bound by the amended Terms unless you expressly reject the amended Terms by providing written notice [email protected] and close out your account before March 31, 2011

 

[Truth Seeker]

Yes and the terms don't look as if it's in our interest either.

 

[saintalan]

Yes and the terms don't look as if it's in our interest either.

So they can put our money in countries where we have no right to any security should they go broke! Don't think I'll be there for long.

Is this to become standard with other brokers?

 

[tar]

So they can put our money in countries where we have no right to any security should they go broke! Don't think I'll be there for long.

Is this to become standard with other brokers?

This is not new they made this particular adjustment "holding client money outside the EEA" b4 a year or more but there was an option to opt-out , dont know about now if it is possible to opt out from this one , should ask Jason , anyway IG and caspitalspreads made this "client money" adjustment as well .

 

[tar]

So they can put our money in countries where we have no right to any security should they go broke! Don't think I'll be there for long.

Is this to become standard with other brokers?

BTW if Fxcm broke the fscs should compensate even if your money is outside the EEA , the question is if the bank where your money is held broke would the fscs compensate if this bank is outside the EEA ?

 

[tar]

Cityindex has the same rule as well , but seems CMC dont have it , i am not sure ...

 

[Truth Seeker]

I'm not going to panic, I'm going to see what the FXCM guy on here says about the new rules next week.

 

[Steve.Newton]

BTW if Fxcm broke the fscs should compensate even if your money is outside the EEA , the question is if the bank where your money is held broke would the fscs compensate if this bank is outside the EEA ?

Hi All,

Client money is ringfenced and can't be used for Operational reasons, if they go to the wall then that money will still be there in the ring fenced accounts and returned to clients. If the bank goes to the wall then FSCS may kick in as its sitting in an account with them (not sure about where the bank has to be based, look back at the Iceland).

Not having client money segregation obviously allows them to aid cashflow and use that money to increase profits for shareholders. Would FSCS cover none bank failures? I fear not!

I really do like FXCM but as I plan to increase the money held with them then this is a huge concern.

My main issue with FXCM in their handling of this, they have chosen not to be clear and open about what they are doing and instead throw it out on some amended T's & C's, which I suspect won't be fully understood be most clients.

I await FXCM's response and if I don't like what I hear or they hide behind T's & C's then I shall take my money from my account, post warnings to everyone and run as quick as I can to the competition which would be a shame.

Steve.

 

[tar]

"clients money will be held separate from Fxcm's money ... "

 

[tar]

http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/eligibility-rules/

http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/eligibility-rules/compensation-limits/

 

[Steve.Newton]

http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/eligibility-rules/

http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/eligibility-rules/compensation-limits/

Thanks, so as I am a retail customer it is held under 'client money' rules. Its just the question of FSCS cover for overseas banks they may have.

 

[tar]

Thanks, so as I am a retail customer it is held under 'client money' rules. Its just the question of FSCS cover for overseas banks they may have.

Dont know if the fscs will cover if the bank broke but Fxcm is Nyse listed , so when they say outside the EEA it could mean the united states and it gives them "the right to" only , doesnt mean they will do it , anyway u will find the exact same term with IG , Capitalspreads , Cityindex ... , should ask Jason if we can opt out from this term .

 

[Truth Seeker]

Where's Jason then.

 

[tar]

Where's Jason then.

@ FF forums

Hi Jeff,

Accounts with FXCM UK are segregated in accordance with FSA client money rules. The FSA is the UK regulatory body which regulates FXCM UK. In the unlikely event of default, client funds held in segregated accounts are protected, and cannot be used to benefit other creditors. All of these details can be found in the terms of business when opening the account.

-Jason