Best Thread FXCM Discussion

[Jason Rogers]

May Day Bank Holiday (UK)

Hi Everyone,

UK100 will be closed for trading from 07:00 to 20:00 GMT on Monday, May 7th for the bank holiday. All other CFDs, and all currency pairs will have normal trading hours.

Times below are GMT (EDT +4 hours).

Have a great weekend!

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Trade with Friends

Hi Everyone,

We've had a lot of traders ask for a way to easily share trades on Twitter and Facebook. FXCM's Programming Services team has created a free app now available in the app store called Trade with Friends. The app will give you the option to automatically share your trades on Facebook and Twitter to discuss with friends or other traders. Below is a screenshot of what the post will look like on Facebook and Twitter:

Here's a quick guide on how to setup the app to share your trades.


Step 1. Installation and Login

a. Click here to install Trade with Friends from FXCMapps.com. When you land on the page, click the Purchase button at the top right. The app is free, but you still need to click on "purchase" to go through the quick app store process to access the download file. The installation works like other programs you have probably installed on your computer where you double click on the .exe file and go through the installation window that appears.

b. After completing the installation, double-click on the Trade with Friends icon on your desktop and enter your account login details. You will need an FXCM account login. If you don't have one yet, you can click here to register a free practice account. If you look in the screenshot below, you will see what the Trade With Friends icon looks like on the left, and the actual program on the right once it has opened.​

Step 2. Connecting to Facebook and Twitter

At the top left of the Trade with Friends app, click on “Login” and select Twitter. After selecting Twitter, an authorization box will appear for you to login to twitter. FXCM is not able to see your twitter password when you give authorization. The below screenshot shows buttons to click on and what will appear.

The same steps are used to authorize Facebook, but you would click on Login > Facebook instead.​

Please note: While FXCM keeps all of your trading information private, FXCMs privacy policy may not fully apply to clients exposing their own information publicly. Trade With Friends app allows you to broadcast your trading details. Users of this app make their own judgment about how much information and to whom they wish to share it with. Lack of proper privacy controls can share information to unwanted individuals and/or parties.

Please feel free to reply with any questions about setting up the app, and I would appreciate any feedback you have about the app.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

CFD Trading Hours for Memorial Day Holiday

Hi Everyone,

Monday, May 28th is Memorial Day in the US. As usual, the forex trading hours will be unaffected. Below are the holiday trading hours for CFDs.

Times are in GMT

Have a great weekend!

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason,
could you please explain why FXCM places a restriction on traders of its CFD products that limits how close they can place their protective stop to the current price, that is the minimum stop distance referred on this page?

CFD Product Details

Hi Murray,

That's a good question. There's a minimum distance for stop loss and limit orders on CFD products since FXCM makes the market for CFDs and has to manage the risk. The typical spread and liquidity of the given CFD product will determine how close the minimum stop distance can be. You will most likely find this to be the case for any broker making the market.

For products where FXCM does not make the market, such as on our No Dealing Desk forex execution, there is no minimum stop loss or limit order distance. Since every forex order with FXCM is individually offset one for one with a liquidity provider, there is no risk for us to manage. That means you can place your stop and limit orders as close as you want.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Margins changing this weekend

Hi Everyone,

This weekend margin requirements on several currency pairs will be reduced. This is to account for the weakening of the Euro and other currencies relative to the US dollar. Basically, if you have a US-dollar denominated account, you will now have to put less money in dollars as margin for your open trades.

Below are updated minimum margin requirements for FXCM LLC (US) accounts and FXCM LTD (UK).

Minimum Margin Requirements for FXCM LLC (US)

Click here for the expanded table


Minimum Margin Requirements for FXCM LTD (UK)

Click here for the expanded table​

Note that the margin requirements for FXCM Australia and FXCM Canada are unchanged.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

you are managing the risk to FXCM by aiming to limit the profit potential for your traders.

Hi Murray,

To clarify, there's no limit to the amount of profit you can make on a trade. The limit is on how close to the current market price you can set the stop and limit order to the current market price. But you are welcome to trade whichever products you want even if based on the execution.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason,
I do understand how it works. Your answer as to why there are those restrictions ie. "to manage the risk" to FXCM is a little vague. That's why I assume you are somehow trying to minmise the profits of your traders. You are free to correct me on this of course.

There are times when I would like to run a trailing stop quite close to the current price, and that is when there is a fast move in my favour, typically occurring at the end of a long move. I seek to get as much out of the move before the inevitable pull back. However, taking oil as an example, the restriction does not allow me to move the stop to within 10 ticks of the current price, which incidentally is double the amount of the spread. I therefore have to accept this "loss" or close the trade manually on a mental stop, which is likely to incurr slippage due to my reaction time.

Its not a biggie, and I've been kicking FXCM's butt regardless of it, but I was curious as to why the restriction was there when it isn't part of your forex platform. Your general comment earlier answered this.

Best Regards,
Mr Murray Cod

Hi Murray,

Sorry about the previous post being vague. It is done for hedging reasons. The chances of two orders of the same size for the same product arriving at the same time to hedge each other is very infrequent. Therefore, in order for the trading desk to have an opportunity to hedge positions to reduce FXCM’s risk, there needs to be a stop/limit distance restriction. This is not necessary on forex trades, because on our No Dealing Desk execution model means each forex trade from clients is immediately offset with one of our liquidity providers. That is why you can set stops and limits as close as you want when trading currencies with us.

I appreciate your comment on the trailing stop, and I will certainly pass this feedback to the trading desk. Congrats on your trading success!

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

I see , thank you for taking the time to elaborate on that.

My pleasure, Murray

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Everyone,

As a reminder, the Greek elections are being held Sunday, and there's a possibility it could cause immense volatility. Please factor this possibility into your trading going into the weekend with any positions you have open.

For more info about the elections, you can read this DailyFX article: CAUTION: Greek Elections Could Spur Immense Volatility, Euro Outlook Unclear | DailyFX

Have a great weekend!

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

FXCM Currency Trading Expo in Las Vegas: November 2-4, 2012



FXCM will be hosting another currency trading expo in Las Vegas at the Rio on November 2-4, 2012. You can click here for a schedule of all the workshops. Over 30 workshops are currently schedule, and we anticipate adding more in the weeks ahead.

I was there at last year’s expo, and it was great getting to meet many of you. For those who didn’t attend last year, you can click here for videos from last year’s expo. Let me know if you have any questions.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

A couple notices for trading this week....

There are no changes to forex trading hours or customer service hours on Wednesday for the U.S. 4th of July holiday.

The second thing you should be aware of are changes to the rollover schedule due to this week's holiday. Today, July 2nd, there is 2x rollover for all currency pairs, and tomorrow, July 3rd, there is 0x rollover for all currency pairs.

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

FXCM Expo, E*TRADE Premier Sponsor

FXCM will be hosting another currency trading expo in Las Vegas at the Rio on November 2-4, 2012. You can click here for a schedule of all the workshops. Over 30 workshops are currently schedule, and we anticipate adding more in the weeks ahead.

I was there at last year’s expo, and it was great getting to meet many of you. For those who didn’t attend last year, you can click here for videos from last year’s expo. Let me know if you have any questions.

Jason

Hi Everyone,

I have an update on the FXCM Expo to be held in Las Vegas from Friday, November 2nd to Sunday, November 4th. E*TRADE has signed on as the premier sponsor and will be conducting workshops on Stocks, Options and Futures trading.

You can click here for the latest schedule of events. I will keep you posted as new workshops are added to the lineup.

Hope to see you in November!

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

FXCM has Ninja Trader

Hi Everyone,

For those of you who've asked me about it in the past, I wanted to let you know that we've officially opened beta testing for Ninja Trader. You can sign up by visiting this webpage and clicking on the Ninja Trader section. A form will appear for you to request entry into the beta.

Jason

 

[Vaco]

On the windows phone platform i dont seem to be able to close open positions, Is there something i'm missing here or is this a known issue that you are working on.

 

[iamnev]

Re: FXCM has Ninja Trader

Hi Everyone,

For those of you who've asked me about it in the past, I wanted to let you know that we've officially opened beta testing for Ninja Trader. You can sign up by visiting this webpage and clicking on the Ninja Trader section. A form will appear for you to request entry into the beta.

Jason

Hi jason, I clicked the link, though I cannot see the Ninja link ... where abouts on the page is it ?

 

[Jason Rogers]

Re: FXCM has Ninja Trader

Hi jason, I clicked the link, though I cannot see the Ninja link ... where abouts on the page is it ?

Hi Nev,

When you click the link, it should take you to the webpage shown below. Ninja Trader will be on the right.

If you still have difficulty accessing that page, let me know.

Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

On the windows phone platform i dont seem to be able to close open positions, Is there something i'm missing here or is this a known issue that you are working on.

Hi Vaco,

Make sure you are on the Positions window. You can select that from the main menu screen as shown below on the left.

You should be able to see an option to Close Positions from the Positions window as shown above on the right.

If you have an FXCM US account like me and have to close trades in compliance with US FIFO regulations, then make sure the drop down menu on the top right is set to Summary. If your account is with FXCM UK, you can try changing the drop down menu from Summary to Open Positions, and then close trades.

If you still have difficulty, please contact FXCM anytime 24 hours a day. One of our reps will be happy to walk you through it.

Jason

 

[R.Charnock]

Re: FXCM has Ninja Trader

Hi Nev,

When you click the link, it should take you to the webpage shown below. Ninja Trader will be on the right.

If you still have difficulty accessing that page, let me know.

Jason

It takes you to that page initially, but then it redirects.:?:

 

[goodtyneguy]

Daily Candle/Bar Closing Time

Hi Jason,

Can you let me know:

1) At what time does the daily candlesticks close on your charts?

2) Is Sunday's price data shown in a separate candlestick or is it included in Monday's candlestick? Another way of asking, is the FX week represented by five or six candlesticks?

3) Are the answers to 1) and 2) the same for all your products?

Thanks

 

[robbert]

Jason Rogers,

I though you are also offering zulutrade as an automated platform, correct?

why aren't you showing it as well?