FTS Toolkit - Spread Marker - A visual tool for monitoring spread while trading

I have been trying to find a broker with low spread during news release but can't seem to get one.

Hi Bemdoo,

There's a reason why spreads tend to widen during major news releases. It's because these events have the potential to move market prices dramatically in a matter of seconds. Even the largest banks in the world widen spreads to manage their risk in such market conditions. Brokers rely on banks for liquidity, so if you see a broker whose spreads remain fixed even when banks are widening theirs, then it's a sure sign that the broker is operating a dealing desk that is taking on the added market risk themselves.

Such a broker will have to compensate for this added risk in one of two ways, possibly both.

  1. If a client places an order that the broker would have to offset for a loss with banks, then the broker might requote the client instead.
  2. If the broker would rather not requote the client, they would have to take the loss themselves. If this is done too frequently in the hopes of winning business from other brokers, it will put the firm at financial risk.

Spreads are important, but there are other factors to consider when choosing a broker such as customer service, platforms, charts, education and research. Perhaps even more important than all of these factors is safety of funds. It's important to know that your money is safe with your broker. It's no secret that the brokerage industry has been in the midst of a price war for the past couple of years. That combined with lower trading volumes last year have caused many brokers to struggle. There was even a broker in Europe that went bankrupt after trying to entice clients with 0 pip spreads. Last year also saw the failure of a US broker that had previously touted their razor thin spreads. We've had other brokers have to pull out of the US after being unable to meet regulatory capital requirements.

If recent events have taught us anything, it's that the financial stability of your broker can have a far greater impact than even the spreads. Unfortunately, the vast majority of forex brokers are privately held companies, so it's hard to know the state of their finances. Are they profitable, or are they barely staying afloat? How can you know whether they are safe place to keep your money?

FXCM is a publicly-traded company (NYSE ticker: FXCM), so information regarding our financial data is readily available. This is one of the reasons why traders have entrusted us with $1.190 billion in client funds (as of the latest publicly available data).

Jason
 
At 13 pips (130 on 5 digits) spreads what requotes you want? Is not enough?

I mentioned in my previous post why spreads can widen during major news releases. It's important to note when reading forex prices that quote to 5 digits past the decimal point that the 5th decimal place is not a full pip, but only one-tenth of a pip. Our Trading Station platform can change the way the 5th digit is displayed, so it's easier to read. For example, instead of see the price displayed at 1.12345, you can see the price displayed at 1.1234[5] instead. To do this go to "System > Options > General Trading > Fractional Pip Format" as shown below.

lyce.png


No place to argue here, but I guarantee that even with that wide spreads you requote orders.

FXCM does not requote. We don't need to because on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution, we simply pass on the best prices we receive from our 10+ liquidity providers onto our clients and add a fixed pip markup to the transaction which acts as a commission.
 
Last edited:
I mentioned in my previous post why spreads can widen during major news releases. It's important to note when reading forex prices that quote to 5 digits past the decimal point that the 5th decimal place is not a full pip, but only one-tenth of a pip. Our Trading Station platform can change the way the 5th digit is displayed, so it's easier to read. For example, instead of see the price displayed at 1.12345, you can see the price displayed at 1.1234[5] instead. To do this go to "System > Options > General Trading > Fractional Pip Format" as shown below.

0g5u.png




FXCM does not requote. We don't need to because on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution, we simply pass on the best prices we receive from our 10+ liquidity providers onto our clients and add a fixed pip markup to the transaction which acts as a commission.

I don't use other platform than MT4.
If you know so much about brokerage activity, why don't you open a thread here on FPA to teach us how to choose a broker for scalping, or day trading.
What to look for when we try to find a good broker, what server time is better GMT or Pacific Time, how we can find that a broker is scam and fraudulent before we open an account, and so on. It will be more helpful and "Scam Alerts Folder" will be empty .

From 1 year my broker is Hot Forex, and I'm satisfied till now.
 
And to end with your advertising of FXCM here I just want to add that you can open orders but you can't close them manually. It's prohibited :)
FIFO = First In First Out. Meaning first opened order must be close before closing second opened order.
What if I have hundreds of orders opened in different days and I want to close just orders opened today and let the others to run for next 2 months?
You consider this a good business model?
A few times I've got off quotes or invalid price errors.
It's only a demo account opened 2 days ago. What to expect from a live account ?

Prohiibited FXCM.png
 
And to end with your advertising of FXCM here I just want to add that you can open orders but you can't close them manually. It's prohibited :)
FIFO = First In First Out. Meaning first opened order must be close before closing second opened order.
What if I have hundreds of orders opened in different days and I want to close just orders opened today and let the others to run for next 2 months?
You consider this a good business model?
A few times I've got off quotes or invalid price errors.
It's only a demo account opened 2 days ago. What to expect from a live account ?

View attachment 10267

FIFO is actually a CFTC regulation and applies to all forex brokers in the US. While CFTC regulations require US residents to open their accounts through US brokers, non-US residents can open their accounts through FXCM's entities regulated in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia where FIFO regulations do not apply.
 
I tested all source code links and eventually I replaced all of them because I saw downloading issue in Firefox.

Now I've tested new links and all worked fine for me in Firefox and Chrome as well.

Peter
 
Pls am a newbies on this, pls need more clarifications expecialy on tactical squred

Do you use MT4 for trading?
Did you succeed in downloading the code?
Did you copy it into the right folder?
In which step can I help you further?
 
Hi,Peter O. Can you to change EA-type to indie-type that EA don't take place at upper right corner because it is valuable place for other EA?
 
Back
Top