Discuss Dukascopy.com

[Triantus Shango]

Vladimir

I have just started testing JForex and am considering opening an account with Dukas. After reading your post, I am somewhat concerned and curious. You say you found a better way, more direct access... could you please tell us how you get direct access to the FX market?

 

[Triantus Shango]

now i don't understand this... i have been testing MT4 this past week and quite frankly i am not impressed. the order entry interface blows hard... you got to click too many buttons before your order is sent thereby wasting precious seconds when scalping. not to mention that when you have multiple orders open you can't close all of them with one click. instead you have to close each order one by one, again wasting more time...meanwhile the market is moving.

so i installed Dukascopy's JForex and can say this after testing it for a couple of days: it is way superior to MT4. more stable, more default indicators, and fast order entry interface. and it is written in Java, which means you are not stuck with an ugly windows box! and you can code EAs and indicators in Java, an awesome OO language as opposed to a C-look alike procedural language.

now, i just hope that the order execution on a live account is just as stellar as everything else.

could anyone share their experince with a live account? what's the average slippage during normal and very volatile market conditions?

 

[Roger11]

now i don't understand this... i have been testing MT4 this past week and quite frankly i am not impressed. the order entry interface blows hard... you got to click too many buttons before your order is sent thereby wasting precious seconds when scalping. not to mention that when you have multiple orders open you can't close all of them with one click. instead you have to close each order one by one, again wasting more time...meanwhile the market is moving.

so i installed Dukascopy's JForex and can say this after testing it for a couple of days: it is way superior to MT4. more stable, more default indicators, and fast order entry interface. and it is written in Java, which means you are not stuck with an ugly windows box! and you can code EAs and indicators in Java, an awesome OO language as opposed to a C-look alike procedural language.

now, i just hope that the order execution on a live account is just as stellar as everything else.

could anyone share their experince with a live account? what's the average slippage during normal and very volatile market conditions?

I've always done my charting on mt4. I used to trade on that platform but now I place trades through another platform. I still use my mt4 charts...I have no knowledge of java so I am at a loss.
If I could find another charting package as good as mt4, I would jump to it....just saying

 

[Triantus Shango]

JForex charting is as good as MT4 if not better. eSignal is great too but pricey. i heard NinjaTrader is not bad, although haven't used it yet. MB Trading has added now charting to their MBT Navigator Pro platform and it's basically the same as eSginal but free.

 

[michael_k]

I have just started testing JForex and am considering opening an account with Dukas.

I am a complete novice and also thinking about opening an account with Dukascopy Europe.

I checked their trading agreeement and their clause 3.2 in Client's obligation looks ... not good.

How common are clauses like this? (Client liability is not limited by the funds in his trading account). Does it bother you or are you OK with this?
In theory if everything goes wrong you may end up owing more money than you had in your initial deposit, right?

 

[LFX]

That is an interesting point you have made, michael_k

I've been considering which ECN or STP broker to open an account with and done research and due diligence for several years now and come to the conclusion that no one broker is perfect, nor our dream broker, they simply do not exist...yet, Dukascopy do appear to be one of the more honest ones. If a trader has 150k - 1mn plus then they are more likely to get a better deal where price/quotes are concerned with spread. No one is immune from risk though, no matter how much money they have.

I would not be overly concerned about poor quality of customer service in some cases or similar ones such as Dukascopy or Interactive Brokers. On one hand: it was a golden age only 10-15,25 years ago - or we look back on what once was - back then at the time we thought was not so good until we have what we have now automated customer service or none at all, and when we do have humans to speak to they are not very polite or just completely unhelpful at resolving the problems often they or their colleagues caused. I think every company no matter what size has a duty to provide good customer service at all levels, offer good information, advice on their services, products and be able to resolve issues speedily, but it is a distant and almost none existent thing these days, I cannot think of one company I deal with in the last decade that has good customer service experience when there is an issue, and getting them to even admit they caused it or that one exists in the first place is almost impossible, let alone getting them to resolve it. How can businesses be successful when they treat their customers this way, I do not know, maybe because we tolerate it or there is no alternative any longer.

It seems the norm in the automated electronic world we find ourselves living in. A commodity that costs companies a lot of money, paying $15k - $25k per year for customer support staff to (have to first be trained) answer phones and emails, so they limit or remove them completely or outsource them if they can. Multi-billion dollar companies do this and it makes sense for small companies to do as well. Often at the sacrifice of quality.

I am doing my best to avoid any market makers, even if they offer ECN and STP as a separate account type. I only want brokers that offer the best and are not occupied with other things, and there is a risk they could use their market maker section to offset losses with their fixed spread STP accounts, if they make a loss that is. Something that may prove to be less profitable at a later date and cause the company to go down. With regulated brokers that do offer this it should not be a concern though?

Anyone that has experience with Dukascopy Europe, please tell us how they are for you. Thank you. I am interested in opening an account with them in the near future.

I am a complete novice and also thinking about opening an account with Dukascopy Europe.

I checked their trading agreeement and their clause 3.2 in Client's obligation looks ... not good.

How common are clauses like this? (Client liability is not limited by the funds in his trading account). Does it bother you or are you OK with this?
In theory if everything goes wrong you may end up owing more money than you had in your initial deposit, right?

 

[Joa]

Trouble with Dukascopy

Click here to read or submit reviews and ratings for Dukascopy.com >>

otherwise use this thread ("Post Reply" button below) to start a LIVE discussion and get responses from our FPA members.

What Members here are not aware of is the following fact:

Dukascopy is NOT an STP - Contrary to their statements and advertising

You trade with them intensely and around the clock and you will discover this sooner or later yourself.

Market orders are a given by the term in itself - except that Dukascopy ALTERS ALL MARKET ORDERS to LIMIT ORDERS for their own benefit. Maybe you ought to visit their Geneva facility and watch their computer batteries routing orders. Even better yet, ask them a few questions of how they process clients orders.....

Market Order means: I get the price that is valid at the moment of placing the order, no restrictions from me, no conditions from my side whatsoever. I get the price the Markets give me - PERIOD, be that a little higher or lower off the price that appeared on screen. When I see ONE price or my EA has sent orders triggered by a certain price or level, it's done AT MARKET Price. The trigger might have been at 1.3100 EURUSD, by the time it reaches the market, that price might be a few ticks higher or lower, STILL IT REMAINS A MARKET PRICE and I must accept what the market does. So the theory goes, right?
NOT SO WITH DUKASCOPY: My order may have reached them at 1.3100 - now they alter this on the fly and make it a limit order to skim a few extra points off my order (in addition to their commission!!!). Now this Dukascopy order is sent to the market as a LIMIT ORDER, based on MY Market order that entered THEIR system at 1.3100. They do this 99.9% of the time with success because of the depth of the market. It's a different matter off European hours when volume is thin and prices often move a little erratic. If the price - now changed from market to limit - does not hit that level again, there is no fill!!!!!!!!!!!! There can't be a fill at all, because it was a LIMIT order by Dukascopy, while I entered a MARKET order. Now you're there standing in the rain, no umbrella and barefooted and you either have no position or you were not filled on closing your position.

This makes Dukascopy a market maker - they indirectly take the counter position to you. They still claim to be an ECN/STP of which the former might be true, the latter is patently FALSE as a statement. A company acting this way is attempting... well... don't want to say it right now. But I am absolutely certain that there are many members who have such strange situations seen and experienced without knowing what the reason might be. It explains executions far off the prices, it explains "cancelled" orders, it explain no-fill-market-orders......
Good luck to anyone trading volumes of substance at Dukascopy......

 

[HyperScalper]

What Members here are not aware of is the following fact:

Dukascopy is NOT an STP - Contrary to their statements and advertising

You trade with them intensely and around the clock and you will discover this sooner or later yourself.

... snip snip ...

This makes Dukascopy a market maker - they indirectly take the counter position to you. They still claim to be an ECN/STP of which the former might be true, the latter is patently FALSE as a statement. A company acting this way is attempting... well... don't want to say it right now. But I am absolutely certain that there are many members who have such strange situations seen and experienced without knowing what the reason might be. It explains executions far off the prices, it explains "cancelled" orders, it explain no-fill-market-orders......
Good luck to anyone trading volumes of substance at Dukascopy......

Gosh. I trade very intensely with Dukascopy in the most precise trading conditions possible. In fact, I Bid and Offer on the ECN using my own software with hundreds of orders per day. I have never observed any "unfair" behavior. Sure, sometimes executions are subject to volatile market conditions but, for the most part, ordinary retail traders can consider Dukascopy as "rock solid".

Now, with regard to ECN fills inside the market, or "playing Market Maker" by BIDDING or OFFERING, this is not something which ordinary traders do very often. I do it constantly because I have my own Automated software running within their JForex platform to do this quickly and easily.

Even "micro lot" order sizes can get Price Improvement. However, unless you are trading at least 1 Standard lot size ($100k) in EURUSD, for example, it is unclear precisely how the fills are determined. But US residents can trade with Dukascopy through an agreement with FXDD US, for ONLY $250 account deposit. FXDD, so far as I know, is merely a "pass through" directly to Dukascopy live systems, and takes only a Very Small markup in commission.

I'm trading a $30k account, and use only EURUSD. My cost, regardless of Lot Size, is precisely 50 times the value of the Euro, so about 0.65 PIPS round trip. Whether I do hundreds of individual trades or just one trade, I still see precisely the same commission of 0.65 pips.

I would say that there is NO broker offering an ECN which is able to match the solidity, reliabiity, speed and precision plus other "intangible" features of Dukascopy.

US Residents may think the Swiss Forex Marketplace is not available. WRONG. Just contact FXDD US and you can establish an account Live using the JForex Dukascopy platform for only $250. Try to match that anywhere, and you will find you cannot.

So, obviously, I am an enthusiastic Dukascopy client, but am using FXDD US as the brokerage (front end). The JForex platform passes directly through to Dukascopy, and so as far as I am concerned, FXDD really just acts as a front brokerage to satisfy US brokerage restrictions.

I do extremely precise "hyper scalping" on a daily basis using Dukascopy systems, and my own software add-ons, and would recommend it to anyone, whether their style is scalping, swinging or some other strategy in Forex. I an unable to detect ANY unfair fills and the precision with which I trade would clearly reveal that, if it were going on..... Get your Dukascopy account today, through FXDD US and experience a real "premium" "swiss" level of service

HyperScalper

 

[HyperScalper]

NOT SO WITH DUKASCOPY: My order may have reached them at 1.3100 - now they alter this on the fly and make it a limit order to skim a few extra points off my order (in addition to their commission!!!). Now this Dukascopy order is sent to the market as a LIMIT ORDER, based on MY Market order that entered THEIR system at 1.3100.

It's quite possible that what you are describing is part of their system of "slippage control" which is designed to HELP traders. A "market" type order is submitted with a "maximum slippage" associated with it. (You need to be aware of what the slippage setting is, either set by their JForex platform, or by your own modules submitting the order.) My understanding is that if this "maximum slippage" is exceeded, then the desired behavior is that your order is either cancelled or would become a limit order (I am not actually sure which happens, since I never use market orders anyway). But I think what you're complaining about can be eliminated by ensuring you set the "maximum slippage" to be HUGE so that it will never be a factor, and your Market order will always execute. That's my guess as to what is going on. Again, this is to protect the trader against getting a price which deviates too much from an "expected" price, even for a Market type of order. HyperScalper

 

[pipdreaming]

It's quite possible that what you are describing is part of their system of "slippage control" which is designed to HELP traders. A "market" type order is submitted with a "maximum slippage" associated with it. (You need to be aware of what the slippage setting is, either set by their JForex platform, or by your own modules submitting the order.) My understanding is that if this "maximum slippage" is exceeded, then the desired behavior is that your order is either cancelled or would become a limit order (I am not actually sure which happens, since I never use market orders anyway). But I think what you're complaining about can be eliminated by ensuring you set the "maximum slippage" to be HUGE so that it will never be a factor, and your Market order will always execute. That's my guess as to what is going on. <img src=http://50.22.104.143/~forum/images/vbet/flags/clear.gif style=visibility:hidden>Again, this is to protect the trader against getting a price which deviates too much from an "expected" price, even for a Market type of order. HyperScalper

Isn't it dangerous to set the slippage so wide? If there is a spike or a random news event you can catch a very far away price and get in the market with a big loss already...