ATC Brokers review: Regulations, Platforms, Trading Instruments and Broker Ratings.

I have been a forex trader for over 12 years. I decided to go with ATC Brokers in 2016 after MB trading closed its services for NZ customers. Having seen the wild west of FX brokers in the yesteryears, I had done days of research and testing back then. (Scalping, no dealing desk, fair commissions, separation of client funds, etc.) and scored all the key brokers, before opening 3 accounts with ATC.
I am happy to say that, as I tried to find my trading niche, I have done all types of trading with ATC(scalping, Live EAs and swing trading). I have had no problems with execution and customer service is prompt, professional and clear. My only peeve is that there is no-use penalty if your account stays dormant for over 3 months. I don't think this should be the case as they still make interest out of my accounts. You can get around this by ensuring you make at least one trade within that period. Good, hassle-free broker and they have been trust-worthy for many years.

Before I begin, I will state the fact that I've been trading the forex market for more than 12 years. Before opening a live account with ATC Brokers, I downloaded their MT4 demo to make note of the Market Watch time used on their MT4 platform. One of the most important points to look for with ANY forex broker is to be sure that their Market Watch time matches the New York close. In other words, the DAY candle should end and a new candle begin at precisely 5 PM New York time. Why is this so important? Find a broker that uses the correct Market Watch time (NY time). Then find a broker that does not, and open a demo account from each broker. Open a chart of a currency pair on each platform using the H4 and Daily timeframes. Compare the candle formations between the two and you will see a significant difference, even if the Market Watch time differs by only one hour. Obviously, the reason for the different candle formations is because each candle closed and opened at a different time. This is a problem with ANY timeframe above 1 hour. This problem is compounded with the MT5 platform due to more timeframes being available (H2, H8, H16, etc.). I'm not going in depth into how this affects other currency markets such as Currency Futures, but you better believe how important this matter is to the markets! Can you imagine stock brokers using something other than New York time to validate their charts ??? This matter is just as important with forex brokers!

Over the years, I've kept myself informed of the various lawsuits against forex brokers via great websites like FPA. One of the most deceptive practices has been for brokers to use a Market Watch time that does not match New York time. I will give you a real-world example: A candle on a chart using an incorrect Market Watch time shows a beautiful Shooting Star formation at the close of a 4-hour candle after an extended bull run of that currency. A Shooting Star, used with other indicators, can signal a REVERSAL of a bull market. A trader places a SHORT trade based on that chart, but the market moves higher and the trader's stop loss is hit. Why did it move higher? Because on a chart that was CORRECTLY using New York time, the candle formation was actually a BULLISH Engulfing (not a Shooting Star). Therefore, the price continued moving higher instead of reversing. Trading with a forex broker with an incorrect Market Watch time is a recipe' for failure.

Some traders reading this review may think “this situation of having an incorrect Market Watch time doesn’t affect me since I trade the lower time frames.”  A lot of trading strategies will often be dependent upon what is currently happening in a higher time frame.  For instance, trading decisions made on a 15-minute or 30-minute chart could be dependent upon what is happening on the current 4-hour or Daily chart. 

Below is a detailed article by professional trader, Nial Fuller, of the United Kingdom. I don't want to make this a review of Nial Fuller or his website, but he does do a great job of explaining in more depth why using New York time is so important for any serious forex trader. I find it ironic that ATC Brokers will ignore a UK-based professional trader on this matter (and others!). All the while, coupling themselves as an Introducing Broker with a parent company that uses the wrong Market Watch time. This situation is not just an opinion of a few traders. Pick up any in-depth book by professional forex traders worldwide and they will most likely cover this aspect of selecting a broker. It has been covered in ALL forex books I've read over the last 12 years.

https://www.learntotradethemarket.com/meta-trader-demo-account-sign-up-new-york-close-charts

This problem with ATC Brokers using the wrong Market Watch time began on November 7 when Daylight Savings Time ended. ATC Brokers uses the same Market Watch time year-round. This in-turn causes the incorrect painting of candles as noted above for several months during the year between November and March. I could easily put together a list of legitimate brokers that make adjustment to their Market Watch time in November and March to correct this issue. But unfortunately, I cannot use most of the brokers on that list because I'm a US citizen! Don't be naïve'. You better believe that the parent broker used by ATC Brokers is very much aware of this problem! And what is ATC Broker's response when confronted with this issue? Tough. We're not changing it.

The argument put forth by SCAM brokers in the past went something like "We are located in a different time zone and, therefore, we use a time that does not match New York time." Absolutely ABSURD !! Can you imagine Charles Schwab using California local time for their charts instead of NY time because Schwab's headquarters is located in California ??? It's a ridiculous argument and they know it. It's been pointed out in suits against forex brokers during the past as a very unscrupulous practice. And where are most of the so-called "government regulatory agencies" on this issue? Crickets. Complete silence. Correcting this matter of wrong Market Watch time is a simple adjustment to their MT4 server when the market is closed during the weekend. Ask any IT tech that has worked for a forex brokerage firm.

Are you a serious trader with aspirations of being successful long-term in the forex market? Then stay away from ATC Brokers. And if you're already a client of ATC Brokers, sound off by calling to let them know that you are aware of this on-going problem that they refuse to correct!

I really like ATC Brokers. They react quickly and I've never had problems withdrawing money although it takes a couple of days. The spreads are tight and commissions competitive. Spreads only widen late in the evening GMT. I have a good account manager who has been there for years. I wish they would open an office outside the EU to avoid the stupid ESMA ruling. Only thing that's a bit of a nuisance is the charging for inactive accounts which is not specific to them but annoying anyway. Other than that, an excellent Broker

Excellent in trading deposits withdraw good spread support EA overall it’s excellent

Nov 25, 2017 - 5 Stars I was ATC brokers client and I will say they are the best in the market. I opened with them demo account then real account it’s the same what I got on demo as profit same as real account because I am using forex EA it’s working smoothunitefly and I doubled my account then I withdraw all the aUAEmount it reach my account with in 2 to 3 days without any delay or questions . Who think to open real ecn account with 5000 $ and accept 8$/lot commission go with ATC .

Aug 6, 2011 - 5 Stars i trade with ARC brokers for more than 1 year and really they are the best trading orders execution withdraw excellent

DO NOT. I REPEAT DO NOT JOIN THIS BROKER!!! YES. AS A U.S RESIDENT, OUR OPTIONS ARE LIMITED AS TO WHO WE CAN USE A BROKER FIRM, BUT IF YOUR
INTENT IS TO USE THIS BROKER THINKING YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE MONEY IN THE LONG RUN, YOU ARE IN FOR A RUDE AWAKENING!!! THIS BROKER DOES NOT
WANT YOU TO WIN!!! WHEN YOU WIN THEY LOOSE. WHEN YOU LOOSE THEY WIN. NOW THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT ALTHOUGH THEY ARE A DEALER DESK, THEY DO NOT
HAVE CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH THEIR CLIENTS, THAT IS A TOTAL LIE. THEY WANT YOU TO LOOSE ALL YOUR MONEY. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT
SIDE OF THE TRADE. THEY WILL FREEZE YOUR ACCOUNT WHERE YOU WOULD THINK IT WAS YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION ONLY WHEN YOU LOOK AT OTHER MT4 PLATFORM
FROM OTHER FX BROKERS AND REALIZE THAT THEIR PLATFORM SEEMS TO BE WORKING FINE, BUT OANDA/ATC IS DOWN. WHY? BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO
PLACE MORE TRADES TO MAKE MORE MONEY AS THEY SEE YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE. HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE THE WRONG SIDE, THEY WON'T FREEZE YOUR ACCOUNT.
THEY WILL ALLOW YOU TO PLACE MORE BETS BECAUSE YOU ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE.
FOREX IS HARD AS IT IS, BUT MY ADVICE TO ANYONE LOOKING TO USE OANDA OR ATC AS A BROKER, HOLD ON TO YOUR MONEY.
PLEASE. HERE IS THE TACTIC THEY WILL USE. IF THEY SEE THAT YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE, THEY WILL LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU CAN
BET ON A TRADE. BUT WHEN YOU ARE THE WRONG SIDE, THEY WILL ALLOW YOU TO USE MORE TO BET. I'M TELLING YOU. STAY AWAY FROM OANDA/ATC.
THEY DON'T HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART. THEY ARE AGAINST YOU!!! THEY WANT YOU TO LOOSE. THAT IS HOW THEY MAKE MONEY.

NOW THE 3 DAY MARGIN RULE. THIS IS ANOTHER WAY THEY MAKE MONEY. THE BIG BOYS WHO TRADE THE FX MARKET ARE IN COLLABORATION
WITH OTHER BROKERS THAT USE THE BULLS*** 3 DAY MARGIN RULE IN MY OPINION. THIS IS NOT A FACT, BUT JUST MY OPINION. SO THE BIG BOYS WHO TRADE FX WILL STALL THE MARKET
REALIZING THAT PEOPLE ARE ABOUT TO HIT MARGIN CALL DUE TO THE THREE DAY RULE SO THEY WILL KEEP THE MARKET FROM MOVING IN YOUR DIRECTION UNTIL AFTER
3:45PM EST. i'VE SEEN IT TOO MANY TIMES. SO FOR US IN HE U.S, OUR OPTION IS VERY LIMITED. MY ADVISE IS TO FIND ANOTHER BROKER OUTSIDE THE U.S.
AND LEAVE THIS BUCKETSHOP BROKERS LIKE OANDA/ATC ALONE. BUT MANY WILL NOT LISTEN UNTIL THEY'VE BEEN BURNED. I'M SPREADING THE WORD SO THAT OTHERS
WON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE i MADE. OANDA/ATC IS A CROOKED BROKER. THEY DON'T HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART. THEY WANT YOU TO LOOSE YOUR MONEY.
THEY WILL FREEZE YOUR ACCOUNTS CONSTANTLY WHEN THEY SEE YOU ARE WINNING. WHEN YOU ARE THE WRONG SIDE, THEY WILL NOT FREEZE YOUR ACCOUNT. THEY WILL
ALLOW YOU TO PLACE AS MANY BETS AS YOU COULD. I TOO LIKE THE LAST GUY FROM LONDON WHO SUBMITTED REVIEW LOST MONEY GIVEN WRONG INFORMATION FROM THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE REP AT ONE TIME, STAY AWAY. DO NOT SAY I DIDN'T WANT YOU!!! THIS BROKER DOES NOT HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART. THEY DON'T WANT THEIR CLIENTS TO SUCCEED. THEY WANT YOU TO LOOSE, BECAUSE THAT IS HOW THEY WIN. I TOO HAVE WITHDREW ALL MY MONEY. I WOULD RATHER GO WITH A BROKER FROM OUT SIDE THE U.S THAN A COOKED BUCKET SHOP BROKER LIKE OANDA/ATC. NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU THEIVES GET ANOTHER DIME FROM ME! NEVER! NO GOOD POS

Started off fine, I registered as a professional client which didn't take too long to get approved however I started to run into problems soon after, firstly their customer support told me incorrect information about their trading product and as a result I lost -£1,000 on the trade, I contacted them and they said they wouldn't be able to compensate but was "sorry" for the misinformation (their support told me an incorrect date for a swap calculation). They then subsequently closed my account down. A complete waste of time setting an account up with them, I was trading 2,000,000 USD in volume every week with them, I can't imagine how their treat normal retail traders.

Screenshot evidence: http://prntscr.com/nl9mnv
They cost me -£1,000 by telling me incorrect information, after I withdraw my funds they closed my account down. Hilarious. I emailed them after saying I didn't want my account closed and what the minimum amount I needed to keep it active, no reply.

Best ever since I trade fx (more than 10).. One of the best platforms, plenty of willingness to serve/assist the client and professionalism in general, as it suppose to be with a USA Compny.

I wanted to see how good this broker was. I am based in US. I tried to sign up for an account and they email me saying that I will be signing up with Oanda. I am sorry but an Introducing Broker is not a real broker. It is just an agent or affiliate that sends you to another real broker and collects a fee but delegates the work of the floor operation and trade execution to another broker. So getting a review of ATC is meaningless because you are actually trading with a different broker and you might as well get a review from the real broker depositing your money in, NOT ATC.

Also, ATC was fined by the NFA for taking the opposite side of the customers' trades and profiting from their customers losses. The NFA stated ATC was failing to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade by failing to inform ATC’s customers that they would automatically offset their trades with opposing trades placed by Manoukian who was a principal of ATC and associated person of ATC.

Introducing Brokers should have a separate section and should not be considered real brokers and should not be given ratings. It is very misleading. Why the F*** would I want to trade with Oanda if I was signing up with ATC. Wasted my time.

ALSO, ATC lost 1.6 million dollar case against former client George Bos. George Bos's power of attornyer(not affiliated with ATC) traded his 500k account with ATC(really FXCM) and he ended up wipping the account down to 25k with his horrible trading. It wasn't even ATC's fault. And ATC STILL LOST THE CASE and ended up filing bankrupty to protect themselves. Then they ended up settiling the case by paying George Bos. You have to be very incompetent to lose a case when you didnt even do anything wrong hahaha. I do not trust ATC at all. you have all been warned

I have been trading for 12 years, and writing my own EA's for about 3 years. This is important for all to know - ATC is probably about the BEST option for selecting a broker, and I did a lot of research, and have been testing in both a live and demo account with this firm for a couple of months. Dave Manoukian and Alex Hajinyan are my two primary POCs, both of which have been incredible to get to know, and bounce various ideas off of them, and learn their platform. It is few and far between to find a REAL BROKER ONLY firm that does not take the side of shady broker/dealer firms (which is always a conflict of interest), and today will be my first day doing real trading on my live account, both manually and with a set of EA's I have built. The most important things to look for when trading with any broker is 1) They are not a DD also, 2) If you qualify as an ECN, that they have an ECN program, especially as a US citizen, as ECN certified clients can bypass the stupid CFTC FIFO and no hedging rules/regs, and 3) That you remember there are many liquidity pools out there, and order execution can take some time, but not too much time, and also look carefully at your entry rates and what the bid/ask are at that exact time. I actually take a screenshot automatically every time I take a trade, and a timer also times the precise amount of time it takes to enter and exit a trade, what the bid/ask/spread is, and then I compare that against several other firms at that exact time. What is cool about ATC is if you actually encounter a real issue on a live account (not that is matters much if its a demo account but errors should still be reported), ATC are super honorable and will actually look into it, verify your errors,and either reimburse for the trade or figure out what the difference is and apply it to your account - I have yet to encounter a live account trading error, again, today will be my first day actually trading on a live account with ATC, not testing with a live account to optimize my EA's, so it will be an interesting day, evening, rest of the week. To close this review, I strongly recommend this firm if you are a serious trader looking to make real money that can actually be withdrawn. And remember, the broker only firms serve as a conduit between the liquidity pools and the traders, so if something goes wrong, even though it should be the thieving liquidity pools or BROKER?DEALER firms paying you for errors or intentional delaying of entrance or closing of trades, or opening the spread super big right after you take a trade, among other little tricks they pull, the broker bears the burden to take care of its client and then take it up with the liquidity pool afterward. As unfortunate as it sounds, most firms will scam your money, then suddenly your account drains to nothing, and you try and do a withdraw request with whatever your balance is remaining, and then they just disappear. I have lost tens of millions from the mom and pop donut shop smaller liquidity pools - I try and work with BROKER ONLY firms who are in with the Prime of Primes, but it is inevitable your trades will often times not get taken by the PoP banks, who the PoP's will relinquish who they are, but ask to get the name of the shady thieving smaller pools - not so much! Why do you think they don't want you knowing who they are? And I am not talking about the Broker, rather the liquidity pools. ATC gets 10 stars from me, and I will come back at the end of this week and let everyone know how the actual live trading goes, if there are any errors I catch, if so what happened with complete transparency. ATC deserves to have a good name as I feel thus far, and anyone bad mouthing a firm like ATC being a broker only firm, usually has no clue how to trade, loses their money, then blames it on the firm. We all win and lose, the key is to develop a good strategy, not be greedy, have patience, and watch your screens like a hawk who never sleeps during the trading week. Hope this helps everyone to realize ATC is a real deal firm, with amazing representatives, and I fully trust in ATC as of current, and hope that continues to build into a long lasting relationship. Rally on!! :)

ATC Brokers after detection of profitable trader rejected to open the real account. This broker is just waste of time they love just unprofitable traders.