Welcome comments on CMC

[LION63]

Most of the comments above are accurate and you will find that CMC have a policy to stick it to their successful customers whenever possible. I regret to say that those that have not experienced it with them are not making any money (this is not personal or intended to be a slight).

They have a policy of monitoring accounts (Spreadbetting) and treating them 'Specially'. Tight stop/limit orders are not accepted. Re-quotes are the norm unless the price has moved against you. Stop/limit orders tend not to be filled. It is like negotiating a mine field and at times can be very frustrating. Contrary to popular belief, CMC do not have to see you making thousands before treating you in this manner neither do your trades have to be very large; you just have to be making regular profits. Last week I tried to open a position in ICI @ £25pp and I was offered a new spread of 10 points; my sides were aching so badly I had to leave my desk for 10 minutes.

Until we all realise and accept that this is a serious business and treat it as such, we are in big trouble. In other words why do we do business with a company that continues to put the knife in?

 

[TRADERguy]

Hayek,



From the post above it is clear that spreadbet clients (for UK residents) are treated differently than CMC forex customers. I trade for a living and use CMC. I have had the account for a couple of years and have been actively trading it as my primary trading account for several months. I do several round turns a day every day that the market is open. I have gotten slippage on a market entry once on a NFP number and I got a requote on a market entry once on a CPI release. Other than that I have had no problems other than their charts sucked until they fixed the problem a couple of weeks back. China should be no problem because I believe their Asian office and servers are in Hong Kong.



Cheers,



TRADERguy



P.S. I stopped using all types of orders other than market orders so I can't comment on how they fill stops, etc. When I send a market order it is executed in a small fraction of a second at the price that I clicked on.

 

[LION63]

Traderguy,

Fortunately, when trading Forex through their Spreadbetting arm (Deal4Free) they seem to act in the way that you have described - stop and limit orders filled once their quotes hit the level(s) etc. Index trades are not too bad either, it is the sharedealing side that leaves a lot to be desired.

I have never checked the different sides of their business to see how their spreads compare but maybe you can shed some light on it. Examples of the forex spreads are -

Dollar/Yen 3 points
Euro/Dollar 3 points
Pound/Yen 8 points
Pound/Dollar 3 points

Many thanks.

 

[TRADERguy]

Traderguy,

Fortunately, when trading Forex through their Spreadbetting arm (Deal4Free) they seem to act in the way that you have described - stop and limit orders filled once their quotes hit the level(s) etc. Index trades are not too bad either, it is the sharedealing side that leaves a lot to be desired.

I have never checked the different sides of their business to see how their spreads compare but maybe you can shed some light on it. Examples of the forex spreads are -

Dollar/Yen 3 points
Euro/Dollar 3 points
Pound/Yen 8 points
Pound/Dollar 3 points

Many thanks.

Same spreads at least on those four pairs.

 

[Buk]

yep, can echo TRADERguy's comments above....I've also used them regularly for quite some time & have had no probs whatsoever (with either platform)

as I trade nothing but currencies, I can't comment on the other playground, but FX is (& always has been) fine.........

 

[LION63]

I agree, the requotes do not matter too much with the share trades unless one is looking to exit very quickly.

 

[Racer]

unless one is looking to exit very quickly.

and then watch out, it is exactly the time you really 'need' to do the trade then you can't... yes, very nice, if you trade with deal 4 as much as we can get you for

 

[LION63]

Sometimes it seems that there is someone at the other end just waiting to stick it to you. When you phone to complain they come up with the line - "That is our price." I know how I would like to respond.

 

[Racer]

Forget customer service with d4 lots... you won't get any... no not a bit.. they don't believe in it!

 

[Hayek]

Hayek,



From the post above it is clear that spreadbet clients (for UK residents) are treated differently than CMC forex customers. I trade for a living and use CMC. I have had the account for a couple of years and have been actively trading it as my primary trading account for several months. I do several round turns a day every day that the market is open. I have gotten slippage on a market entry once on a NFP number and I got a requote on a market entry once on a CPI release. Other than that I have had no problems other than their charts sucked until they fixed the problem a couple of weeks back. China should be no problem because I believe their Asian office and servers are in Hong Kong.



Cheers,



TRADERguy



P.S. I stopped using all types of orders other than market orders so I can't comment on how they fill stops, etc. When I send a market order it is executed in a small fraction of a second at the price that I clicked on.

Hi, TRADERguy.

Here is my impression after demo CMC's platform serveral day.

1. No one-click nor two-click to make a trading. I have to open order window first, select buy or sell, select order type, choose volumn, then designate a price if I want to place limit or stop order. It may be difficult to trade in a fast market.

2. Once a stop or limit order is placed in the 'pending order blotter', I can't change it, for example, change the stop level from 1.2750 to 1.2790. I have to cancel the 1.2750 stop order first and initiate a new 1.2790 stop order.

3. Demo's News is at least 10 minutes delaying, I guess the Live's News also live.

4. Demo's 'Position Keeping', the counting of total P/L and the counting of your present free equity are trash. I never get a correct calculation. I chatted with CMC's sales rep, he admitted demo's 'Position Keeping' program had problems.

5. Can't get a trading report. I guess the demo platform doen't provide such feature. However, when I check the report feature, I only find options to browse 'Daily Report' or 'Monthly Report', then what shall I do if I need a report more than one month?

6. 'Response Speed' is slow, normally around 1,500 ms, sometimes can be 4,000 ms. CMC's sales rep told me the demo server is in UK.

7. In my chat with CMC's sales rep, he told me since my nationality is not UK, I can't open account in CMC UK. He let me to open account in CMC Australia. I asked if I can open account in CMC US, he said no and it was CMC's policy so that I had to choose CMC Australia. I think it is because I am living in Asia-Pacific region. However, I know nothing about Australia's forex spot trading regulations and its regulator, I only know CFTC/NFA and FSA. I suppose CMC Australia will not obey FSA's regulation.

 

[TRADERguy]

Hi, TRADERguy.

Here is my impression after demo CMC's platform serveral day.

1. No one-click nor two-click to make a trading. I have to open order window first, select buy or sell, select order type, choose volumn, then designate a price if I want to place limit or stop order. It may be difficult to trade in a fast market.

2. Once a stop or limit order is placed in the 'pending order blotter', I can't change it, for example, change the stop level from 1.2750 to 1.2790. I have to cancel the 1.2750 stop order first and initiate a new 1.2790 stop order.

3. Demo's News is at least 10 minutes delaying, I guess the Live's News also live.

4. Demo's 'Position Keeping', the counting of total P/L and the counting of your present free equity are trash. I never get a correct calculation. I chatted with CMC's sales rep, he admitted demo's 'Position Keeping' program had problems.

5. Can't get a trading report. I guess the demo platform doen't provide such feature. However, when I check the report feature, I only find options to browse 'Daily Report' or 'Monthly Report', then what shall I do if I need a report more than one month?

6. 'Response Speed' is slow, normally around 1,500 ms, sometimes can be 4,000 ms. CMC's sales rep told me the demo server is in UK.

7. In my chat with CMC's sales rep, he told me since my nationality is not UK, I can't open account in CMC UK. He let me to open account in CMC Australia. I asked if I can open account in CMC US, he said no and it was CMC's policy so that I had to choose CMC Australia. I think it is because I am living in Asia-Pacific region. However, I know nothing about Australia's forex spot trading regulations and its regulator, I only know CFTC/NFA and FSA. I suppose CMC Australia will not obey FSA's regulation.

1. “No one-click nor two-click to make a trading. I have to open order window first, select buy or sell, select order type, choose volumn, then designate a price if I want to place limit or stop order. It may be difficult to trade in a fast market.”



I set up my order window as soon as I exit a trade so that I’m ready to go with one click.


2. “Once a stop or limit order is placed in the 'pending order blotter', I can't change it, for example, change the stop level from 1.2750 to 1.2790. I have to cancel the 1.2750 stop order first and initiate a new 1.2790 stop order.”



I think you’re correct.


3. “Demo's News is at least 10 minutes delaying, I guess the Live's News also live.”



Live news is live.

4. “Demo's 'Position Keeping', the counting of total P/L and the counting of your present free equity are trash. I never get a correct calculation. I chatted with CMC's sales rep, he admitted demo's 'Position Keeping' program had problems.”



The P&L in the live platform is real time and correct.

5. “Can't get a trading report. I guess the demo platform doesn’t provide such feature. However, when I check the report feature, I only find options to browse 'Daily Report' or 'Monthly Report', then what shall I do if I need a report more than one month?”



I can instantly get a report of my trading activity since I opened the account or for any period, from any time on any day to any time on any day.

6. “'Response Speed' is slow, normally around 1,500 ms, sometimes can be 4,000 ms. CMC's sales rep told me the demo server is in UK.”



My response time is usually 94ms From both Illinois and North Carolina using a cable internet connection but occasionally it can spike briefly to 380-407ms.

7. “In my chat with CMC's sales rep, he told me since my nationality is not UK, I can't open account in CMC UK. He let me to open account in CMC Australia. I asked if I can open account in CMC US, he said no and it was CMC's policy so that I had to choose CMC Australia. I think it is because I am living in Asia-Pacific region. However, I know nothing about Australia's forex spot trading regulations and its regulator, I only know CFTC/NFA and FSA. I suppose CMC Australia will not obey FSA's regulation.”



Not sure on this one, I always assumed that if a company was regulated by more than one agency that they had conform to the regulations of all the agencies. You could call one of the agencies and find out. You could also call CMC in New York and see if they will let you open an account with them.



Cheers,



TRADERguy

 

[LION63]

Hayek,

That just about sums them up, I would suggest that you send them a copy of your post and tell them to log on and view this thread. That is what complacency does to businesses and they have got quite a few customers now, this has led to them sticking it to their clients without thinking of the consequences. The live platforms are only slightly better than what you have mentioned and it tends to go down more frequently than a prostitute's knickers.

 

[Hayek]

Hayek,

That just about sums them up, I would suggest that you send them a copy of your post and tell them to log on and view this thread. That is what complacency does to businesses and they have got quite a few customers now, this has led to them sticking it to their clients without thinking of the consequences. The live platforms are only slightly better than what you have mentioned and it tends to go down more frequently than a prostitute's knickers.

Hi, LION63.

You just mentioned a crucial issue, I forget to ask if CMC's server always goes down around economic # release. Although I don't straddle it, I'd like to trade after the # release. Among those undesirable problems such as server down, rejecting order for no reason, purposely quoting away from interbank quote-price in order to hunt stops, hostile slippage (slip you more than should be) or hostile re-quotes (re-re-quotes, re-re-re-quotes until you give up to make that trade) or hostile widening spreads (much larger than interbank widened spreads), manual execution (hold you until trend begins to go against you), server down is the most unacceptable. That is why I decide to close my account at CMS and look for another dealer. At least I need a stable server. From your words I feel no optimism about CMC's server. Any other their live clients can give me an advice on this issue? Thank you.

 

[TRADERguy]

Hi, LION63.

You just mentioned a crucial issue, I forget to ask if CMC's server always goes down around economic # release. Although I don't straddle it, I'd like to trade after the # release. Among those undesirable problems such as server down, rejecting order for no reason, purposely quoting away from interbank quote-price in order to hunt stops, hostile slippage (slip you more than should be) or hostile re-quotes (re-re-quotes, re-re-re-quotes until you give up to make that trade) or hostile widening spreads (much larger than interbank widened spreads), manual execution (hold you until trend begins to go against you), server down is the most unacceptable. That is why I decide to close my account at CMS and look for another dealer. At least I need a stable server. From your words I feel no optimism about CMC's server. Any other their live clients can give me an advice on this issue? Thank you.

There was about a 3 second delay a couple of times on NFP releases. Other than that their servers have not only been working all the time but there have been no slowdowns. I've never had their server fail but they have backup a backup server in Asia/UK just in case. As I've stated before I have had one requote and one instance of slippage on a market entry on a NFP release. Other than that I've had no problems.

 

[LION63]

Hayek,

Their server does not go down before, during or after results; it just goes down on a regular basis and that is bad enough. When you add to that the fact that you get too many re quotes, you are in deep water my friend. One other thing which ie equally important is the fact that the more successful you are, the less likely you are to be able to place stop or limit orders close to the strike/current price. I have debated this with friends and CMC so often in the past that I am not willing to debate it again (for those that disbelieve this, I hope that you never have the misfortune of encountering such problems).

You can open an account with them and you can make money but you have to be aware of the obstacles.

 

[TRADERguy]

Hayek,

Their server does not go down before, during or after results; it just goes down on a regular basis and that is bad enough. When you add to that the fact that you get too many re quotes, you are in deep water my friend. One other thing which ie equally important is the fact that the more successful you are, the less likely you are to be able to place stop or limit orders close to the strike/current price. I have debated this with friends and CMC so often in the past that I am not willing to debate it again (for those that disbelieve this, I hope that you never have the misfortune of encountering such problems).

You can open an account with them and you can make money but you have to be aware of the obstacles.

???? What server do you use? I have a CMC forex account and use the UK server and it's never gone down. I guess it could go down while I sleep during the Asian session but I look at the platform all day long during the European and NY sessions and it's never had a problem. Now the charts are another story; they were complete crap until a few weeks ago when they fixed that part of the platform.


Cheers,

TRADERguy

 

[LION63]

TraderGuy,

Let me clarify things by saying that I trade through the spread betting arm of CMC, that may or may not mean that we use different servers. Nevertheless, what tends to happen is that everything freezes and after a few minutes, one might decide to log off or even reboot one's computer, sometimes, that is it and when you phone their helpdesk they respond by saying that they are aware of the fault and it will be back online as soon as possible.

I am not sure if the charts were discussed on this thread or not but I remember reading about that last week; unfortunately, it was only fixed for the forex and maybe the cfd arms of the business. Those of us using that part of the company have to put up with sub standard charts.

It is very easy for people to forget that the brokers and trading houses are running people businesses, once a dissatisfied customer leaves, it is very unlikely to get him/her back.

All the best.

 

[devtrader]

I've been using Cmc for nearly a year now and the only time i got slippage was with shares, personally I wouldn't use them to deal in shares but for forex and major indicies I think they're grand. And remember you get free real time charts !!

 

[LION63]

Devtrader,

You are right that the slippage is worse with shares but it does occur withe the indices as well and to a much lesser extent with the forex.

What I would like to know though is that if you do not use them for shares who do you use and how do they compare to Deal4Free? For example, their spread on LloydsTSB is 0.25p; GlaxoSmithkline 1p; AstraZeneca 1p etc. (please note that this is subject to that being the prevailing spread in the market at the time).

 

[TRADERguy]

For the record, I got my second requote ever from CMC on Friday. I clicked to buy the EUR/USD on the GDP release and after a couple of seconds delay they asked if I wanted to buy it at $1.2762.