Anybody have this happen with FXCM?!

[Trader/God]

Quote from cooldude:

Your 'broker' (especially large brokers) knows better than any ordinary trader the 'liquidity' of the market at that precise moment. He has the 'ace'.
Besides the ace, your 'broker' has all the necessary tools to manipulate your trades besides knowing everything about you:
-acount value,
-position size,
-trading 'habits'
-...
How much do you know about your 'broker' and his 'business practices'?
That doesn't mean that a trader should "put his tail between his legs" and simply leave.
He should make as much noise as possible. He should cause as much damage as possible to any unfair and crooked 'broker'.
Revenge is not only a privilege reserved for Gods.

The idea that a firm with literally 10’s of thousands of accounts would do that is kind of absurd. Even assuming a small % are trading at anyone time, to have someone follow those accounts, to learn my habits or even notice if I have 10 lots in the market is silly. Not that it would be impossible, it just wouldn’t be profitable. The man power involved would be inconceivable. If I thought it was an automated process I probably wouldn’t play. I also don’t think it would be worth anyone’s time to go to war with their broker, why not just open with another broker or, even better, use an ECN. I'm a trader not a consumer rights activist.

Trader/God

 

[jimrockford]

Quote from Trader/God:

The idea that a firm with literally 10’s of thousands of accounts would do that is kind of absurd. Even assuming a small % are trading at anyone time, to have someone follow those accounts, to learn my habits or even notice if I have 10 lots in the market is silly. Not that it would be impossible, it just wouldn’t be profitable. The man power involved would be inconceivable. If I thought it was an automated process I probably wouldn’t play. I also don’t think it would be worth anyone’s time to go to war with their broker, why not just open with another broker or, even better, use an ECN. I'm a trader not a consumer rights activist.

Trader/God

Nothing is absurd about what cooldude said. The type of cheating and manipulation he wrote about is done easily through computer algorithms. It doesn't require any appreciable manpower, in comparison to the enormous profits generated for brokers.

Traders need to cooperate to help protect each other's interests from brokers. The more we can do to punish the crooked brokers, and to reward the honest ones, then the more incentive there will be for honest brokers to serve our needs, and in the end, that benefits us all as traders.

 

[FanOfFridays]

Quote from Trader/God:

The idea that a firm with literally 10’s of thousands of accounts would do that is kind of absurd. Even assuming a small % are trading at anyone time, to have someone follow those accounts, to learn my habits or even notice if I have 10 lots in the market is silly. Not that it would be impossible, it just wouldn’t be profitable. The man power involved would be inconceivable. If I thought it was an automated process I probably wouldn’t play. I also don’t think it would be worth anyone’s time to go to war with their broker, why not just open with another broker or, even better, use an ECN. I'm a trader not a consumer rights activist.

Trader/God

Hi T/G

Could you give us your thoughts on the following two questions?

1) Do you think that forex brokers who are providing quotes to their clients sometimes take the opposite side of their client's trades?

2) If the answer is yes, do you think it has ever transpired that a broker who was providing quotes to his client took the other side of his client's trade and then either manipulated the quotes he was providing or used other information visible to him re: the client's position (like stops or total equity) in order to produce a result that benefited the broker?

Thanks, Nik

 

[jimrockford]

Trader/God,

Are you a broker? Do you work for a broker?

 

[phoenix555]

And the one of the biggest conspiracy theorists must be the NFA. I mean, take a look at this - the NFA must certainly have a lot of ridiculous and unbelievable stories to tell...

And i agree with jimrockford about punishing the errant brokers.

 

[mmarten2005]

No trade before big news, just be flat.

 

[Pipstar]

I have always wondered how many FXCM representatives roam this forum pretending to be traders answering queries, offering possible solutions to problems. or justifiying the poor business practices of that particular broker.

I have a feeling Trader/God is well placed to answer this question