Spread betting at FXCM

[montmorencyt2w]

That's all good unless you've not changed your bank account in the meantime. Ive had problems with that one in the past before

Unless you have changed it you mean? (You are talking about firms other than FXCM, I presume).

Well usually, there is no problem if you just add a small amount of funds with a new card, then withdraw the rest to the same card. The only problem I once had was that one firm (this was a binary bet outfit, rather than SB proper) needed my electricity meter number as proof of ID!
After I'd tried giving them every possible number I could see on the meter itself, it turned out it was a number in small type on the electricity bill that I'd never noticed before!

I eventually got my money though ...

 

[Jason Rogers]

Unless you have changed it you mean? (You are talking about firms other than FXCM, I presume).

Well usually, there is no problem if you just add a small amount of funds with a new card, then withdraw the rest to the same card. The only problem I once had was that one firm (this was a binary bet outfit, rather than SB proper) needed my electricity meter number as proof of ID!
After I'd tried giving them every possible number I could see on the meter itself, it turned out it was a number in small type on the electricity bill that I'd never noticed before!

I eventually got my money though ...

Hi Mike,

For the micro accounts we send the funds back by bank wire. But if you trade the spreadbet account or standard 10k account, we always send the funds back to the card you used to fund with.

I think what nunrgguy is talking about (correct me if I'm wrong ) is if the card number is changed due to cancelling the account or the card expiring. It happens sometimes. In those cases, our operations team can work with you to get the funds back since the old card is no longer valid.

Jason

 

[nunrgguy]

Unless you have changed it you mean? (You are talking about firms other than FXCM, I presume).

Well usually, there is no problem if you just add a small amount of funds with a new card, then withdraw the rest to the same card. The only problem I once had was that one firm (this was a binary bet outfit, rather than SB proper) needed my electricity meter number as proof of ID!
After I'd tried giving them every possible number I could see on the meter itself, it turned out it was a number in small type on the electricity bill that I'd never noticed before!

I eventually got my money though ...

Good job it wasn't the reading at the time the account was opened

 

[jonobrienuk]

Hi Jon,

Not sure I completely understand question 1. Are you wanting pre-made templates added to the charts which you can toggle between?

For question 2, we limit it to 20 pairs due to the amount of data being transmitted. From our experience, traders don't watch all 40+ currency pairs or products available. That much data being broadcast to all demos and live accounts can add up. So we limit the maximum number of currency pairs being displayed. If you find it crucial to have more than 20 currency pairs or products displayed in the quotes window at once (on a live account), you can ask the customer support team to remove the cap. It can be done.

-Jason

Hi Jason.

My question about chart templates does not matter now, I think I have found how to do it in marketscope it is just done differantly.

I notice now that the demo platform has several Indicies, oil, gold and silver on it's symbol list, I take it then that these are all tradeable items on a live account?

I am interested in FXCM and it's mainly down to how you have come across here on the forum, I emailed several spreadbet company helpdesks last week with a couple of questions and as of yet none (including FXCM.uk) have answered, this does not come across well, but atleast each one is as bad as the other.
Thank you for your input here.

Jon.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason.

My question about chart templates does not matter now, I think I have found how to do it in marketscope it is just done differantly.

I notice now that the demo platform has several Indicies, oil, gold and silver on it's symbol list, I take it then that these are all tradeable items on a live account?

I am interested in FXCM and it's mainly down to how you have come across here on the forum, I emailed several spreadbet company helpdesks last week with a couple of questions and as of yet none (including FXCM.uk) have answered, this does not come across well, but atleast each one is as bad as the other.
Thank you for your input here.

Jon.

Hi Jon,

The indices, oil, gold and silver are available on the rolling spot forex accounts, and I found out today that it should be available on the spread bet accounts shortly. I may have more information early next week on a definite date.

Did you send the email to [email protected] when contacting FXCM UK?

-Jason

 

[jonobrienuk]

Hi Jon,

The indices, oil, gold and silver are available on the rolling spot forex accounts, and I found out today that it should be available on the spread bet accounts shortly. I may have more information early next week on a definite date.

Did you send the email to [email protected] when contacting FXCM UK?

-Jason

Hi Jason.

Yes that is the email I sent it to.

Can you let us know as soon as possible when the indicies etc. will be available on the spreadbet account, this is something that would make a lot of difference to many people.

Jon.

 

[Jason Rogers]

Hi Jason.

Yes that is the email I sent it to.

Can you let us know as soon as possible when the indicies etc. will be available on the spreadbet account, this is something that would make a lot of difference to many people.

Jon.

Yes, I will make a post on this thread as soon as the announcement is made.

 

[carlos b]

Vaco (formerly Elefteros)
Legendary Member

carlos, forex is not traded at £1, £2, £3 a pip etc.

it is traded in lots and the value of each lot is determined by your account currency and the price your chosen pair is trading at. this site heps calculate. http://www.earnforex.com/pip-value-calculator

so on cable each micro lot 0.01 lots is worth approx 6.4 pence, so a mini lot 64p and a 1 lot is £6.4 per pip.

nothing is going missing this is just how fx is traded.


hi valco ..i understand what you are saying,and that the calcs are the true market price etc and relevant to lot sizes for most brokers......however lets say that i go to IGndex or CS (dealing desk and all) and whack on a simple trade of say £5 per pip on GU (thats how i basically execute trades with CS for instance). With a spread of 3 pips in normal circumstances, if the pair moves 4 pips in my direction and i close the position, i have paid the spread and made one pip profit whch equates to £5 tax free in my account..to be honest in that simplistic scenario the profit loss per pip is signifcant on fxcm's model if i'm understanding it correctly.

shame cause the more i see the platform the more i like it..

cheers
cb

 

[Vaco]

so just trade 2 lots instead. I really do not see where the problem is.

 

[nunrgguy]

I see indices and oil are now on the platform - will any historical data be added? At present there's nothing on the charts apart from today?

Cheers

 

[Jack Hughes]

I see indices and oil are now on the platform - will any historical data be added? At present there's nothing on the charts apart from today?

Cheers

Do you mean spreadbet indices have been added, or CFDs?

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Hi Mike,

For the micro accounts we send the funds back by bank wire. But if you trade the spreadbet account or standard 10k account, we always send the funds back to the card you used to fund with.

And you have to fund the micro account with an international bank transfer don't you?
That's how it seemed to be when I was looking at this. None of the firms I bank with allow international transfers online, so I would have had to go to the branch to set up what would almost certainly be an expensive transaction to fund an account that was never going to be all that big, and then getting the money out eventually would also involve an expensive transaction. This didn't make sense to me, so I lost interest I'm afraid.

As I assumed the same was true of the SB account, I didn't take that any further either. Seems a curious difference. Still, now I know better, I will reconsider for the future.

 

[Black Swan]

And you have to fund the micro account with an international bank transfer don't you?
That's how it seemed to be when I was looking at this. None of the firms I bank with allow international transfers online, so I would have had to go to the branch to set up what would almost certainly be an expensive transaction to fund an account that was never going to be all that big, and then getting the money out eventually would also involve an expensive transaction. This didn't make sense to me, so I lost interest I'm afraid.

As I assumed the same was true of the SB account, I didn't take that any further either. Seems a curious difference. Still, now I know better, I will reconsider for the future.

IMHO and no disrespect intended here, your next few months objective should be to become proficient, consistent and profitable and if/once you have the confidence go 'active-trader' with fxcm. Why not continue SBetting, and get to grips with a demo active trader account whilst getting used to meta trader? By summer you might be flying...

BTW been meaning to suggest this for a while, you know I'm hard core technicals and that specific part of my edge appears to work on just about any pair across any TF (with a slight tweak). If you want me to pm you with the skeleton of the confluence of indicators I look to enter my 9 pairs and my exit rules I'll do it. Not for idle curiosity though Mike, you'd get it on the understanding that you'd be committed and use it...

PM me this evening if you want to chat, gotta go, (2 alerts activated ) let's know where you're currently at etc...

 

[montmorencyt2w]

IMHO and no disrespect intended here, your next few months objective should be to become proficient, consistent and profitable

Not doing too badly for the moment, thanks, except when I accidently close the wrong position(s), like I did about 10 minutes ago. Ouch.An unforgivable lapse of concentration at the wrong moment (and I can't even blame distractions like T2W in this case, as I didn't have it up, so to speak).

and if/once you have the confidence go 'active-trader' with fxcm. Why not continue SBetting, and get to grips with a demo active trader account whilst getting used to meta trader? By summer you might be flying...

BTW been meaning to suggest this for a while, you know I'm hard core technicals and that specific part of my edge appears to work on just about any pair across any TF (with a slight tweak). If you want me to pm you with the skeleton of the confluence of indicators I look to enter my 9 pairs and my exit rules I'll do it. Not for idle curiosity though Mike, you'd get it on the understanding that you'd be committed and use it...

Sincere thanks for the offer, but I have moved and am moving more and more away from technicals, and am happy enough with my own methods for the time being. Always learning and looking to learn of course.


I would like to pick your brains more about FXCM though:

With your SB account there, are you happily funding it (when necessary!) from a debit card, and getting refunds the same way? Are there any additional charges or limitations put on this (e.g. only so many withdrawals per month)?


Last I knew, you were still only considering going to Active Trader.
Do I take it that you have now started using it?
How do you like it in practice?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Jack Hughes]

Hmm. Some indices, oil and gold seem to have appeared on the demo platform, but they don't work yet!

 

[Jason Rogers]

And you have to fund the micro account with an international bank transfer don't you?
That's how it seemed to be when I was looking at this. None of the firms I bank with allow international transfers online, so I would have had to go to the branch to set up what would almost certainly be an expensive transaction to fund an account that was never going to be all that big, and then getting the money out eventually would also involve an expensive transaction. This didn't make sense to me, so I lost interest I'm afraid.

As I assumed the same was true of the SB account, I didn't take that any further either. Seems a curious difference. Still, now I know better, I will reconsider for the future.

Hi Mike,

The micro account can be funded by debit card, credit card, or bank wire.

For the spreadbet accounts, you can deposit by credit/debit card, bank wire, and paper cheque. Instructions found here http://www.fxcm.co.uk/depositing-funds.jsp .

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Vaco (formerly Elefteros)
Legendary Member

carlos, forex is not traded at £1, £2, £3 a pip etc.

it is traded in lots and the value of each lot is determined by your account currency and the price your chosen pair is trading at. this site heps calculate. http://www.earnforex.com/pip-value-calculator

so on cable each micro lot 0.01 lots is worth approx 6.4 pence, so a mini lot 64p and a 1 lot is £6.4 per pip.

nothing is going missing this is just how fx is traded.


hi valco ..i understand what you are saying,and that the calcs are the true market price etc and relevant to lot sizes for most brokers......however lets say that i go to IGndex or CS (dealing desk and all) and whack on a simple trade of say £5 per pip on GU (thats how i basically execute trades with CS for instance). With a spread of 3 pips in normal circumstances, if the pair moves 4 pips in my direction and i close the position, i have paid the spread and made one pip profit whch equates to £5 tax free in my account..to be honest in that simplistic scenario the profit loss per pip is signifcant on fxcm's model if i'm understanding it correctly.

shame cause the more i see the platform the more i like it..

cheers
cb

Hi cb,

To add... an example with GBP/USD. Each pip is worth £0.64 when trading 10k. To get it nearer to £5 you would need to trade an 80k position making each pip worth £5.12.

The spread cost is also proportional to the amount traded. If trading a 10k position and assuming a 3 pip spread on GBP/USD, your spread cost is £1.92 and pip value £0.64. If trading a 80k position with a 3 pip spread on GBP/USD, the spread cost is £15.36 and pip value is £5.12.

-Jason

 

[chilltrader]

Wish FXCM had something like Oanda, which simply allows you to input the lotsize in the deal ticket- while showing you, dynamically, how many GBP/pip it equates to.

Extremely handy feature!

 

[Jason Rogers]

I see indices and oil are now on the platform - will any historical data be added? At present there's nothing on the charts apart from today?

Cheers

Initial information I received says that indices, oil, silver and gold will be live for trading on Feb 21st. Will double check on my side to confirm.

-Jason

 

[Jason Rogers]

Initial information I received says that indices, oil, silver and gold will be live for trading on Feb 21st. Will double check on my side to confirm.

-Jason

Ok, it's confirmed. The indices, oil, silver, and gold CFD's will be available for trading on the spread bet accounts starting Feb 21.