FXCM Ceases Rouble Trade

[volpunter]

really? You of course conveniently omit that FXCM charges $0.04 for each 1k in commission on only a very few select pairs, $0.06 on most others, per side.

So that even beginners like you get it the detailed walk-through: To make a round-trip you pay $8 for a 100k order (2* $4) plus $3 for a 3 pip spread, that works out to be a cumulative spread of 1.1 pips for EUR. In comparison at Interactive Brokers I also easily get a 0.3 pip spreads (often times 0.2, 0.1, or choice market [bid = offer] but lets assume a 0.3 pip spread as well. I pay $2.4 for each side per 100k traded , so $4.8 per 100k traded round trip plus 0.3 pip spread comes to 7.8 pips. FXCM is therefore 41% more expensive. That ONLY applies to a very few select major pairs. For all other pairs FXCM charges $0.06 which makes the trade 92% more expensive than IB's. This is pure spread and commission cost. One can argue with plenty of factual backup that the quality of execution/slippage/fills is qualitatively a lot higher at IB than FXCM.

And just to keep you honest, I highly suspect you even get a live-market fill at 0.3 pip spread in EUR, no matter what your demo or even the live screen tells you. The facts that FXCM as well as other sites put up speak volumes:

http://www.investing.com/brokers/compare-spreads-fxcm-live
http://www.fxcm.com/markets/markets/forex/forex-spreads/

So, please take those facts back to your mom and report your findings! And stay honest the next time. Cheers.

Wow. Haters gonna hate. I guess it's not ET without a self righteous ego ruining what could be a decent conversation.

 

[Sandybestdog]

really? You of course conveniently omit that FXCM charges $0.04 for each 1k in commission on only a very few select pairs, $0.06 on most others, per side.

So that even beginners like you get it the detailed walk-through: To make a round-trip you pay $8 for a 100k order (2* $4) plus $3 for a 3 pip spread, that works out to be a cumulative spread of 1.1 pips for EUR. In comparison at Interactive Brokers I also easily get a 0.3 pip spreads (often times 0.2, 0.1, or choice market [bid = offer] but lets assume a 0.3 pip spread as well. I pay $2.4 for each side per 100k traded , so $4.8 per 100k traded round trip plus 0.3 pip spread comes to 7.8 pips. FXCM is therefore 41% more expensive. That ONLY applies to a very few select major pairs. For all other pairs FXCM charges $0.06 which makes the trade 92% more expensive than IB's. This is pure spread and commission cost. One can argue with plenty of factual backup that the quality of execution/slippage/fills is qualitatively a lot higher at IB than FXCM.

And just to keep you honest, I highly suspect you even get a live-market fill at 0.3 pip spread in EUR, no matter what your demo or even the live screen tells you. The facts that FXCM as well as other sites put up speak volumes:

http://www.investing.com/brokers/compare-spreads-fxcm-live
http://www.fxcm.com/markets/markets/forex/forex-spreads/

So, please take those facts back to your mom and report your findings! And stay honest the next time. Cheers.

Wow you have serious issues. Were you not loved as a child and now you have to take it out on people as the keyboard commando of ET?

You obviously failed to read my original post where I stated they have .3 tick spreads AND an 8 cent commission. I never said FXCM is the cheapest, nor am I here to promote or defend them. If IB is working for you, then that's great. I'm a low stakes FX trader. It works fine for me. There have been times where I had a limit order right at the top of the market. I would look later and see it just touched my price. I assumed I didn't get filled but then I looked and I would. There's no requotes or games like that. Dude, it's not 2003 anymore.

 

[volpunter]

With all due respect you are an idiot. You basically trade at the same spreads (spread and commission - all in) than 4-5 years ago. The only reason why you would not trade with LMAX or other much more competitive brokers is that you cannot afford their minimum account funding levels (which are actually low enough for anyone serious about this business). There is zero other reason why you would pay 40-90% higher execution related costs plus hop into bed with one of the brokers that enjoyed in the past one of the industry's worst reputations. (Look up the myriad of lawsuits and customer complaints with regulators). Seriously, can I ask what keeps you away from trading via a reputable broker that not only has a more ethical track record but is way less expensive? Funding requirements or you get confused with more complex workstations than a buy and sell button? I am honestly curious. For the life of it I love to understand what keeps the penny punters with FXCM.

Wow you have serious issues. Were you not loved as a child and now you have to take it out on people as the keyboard commando of ET?

You obviously failed to read my original post where I stated they have .3 tick spreads AND an 8 cent commission. I never said FXCM is the cheapest, nor am I here to promote or defend them. If IB is working for you, then that's great. I'm a low stakes FX trader. It works fine for me. There have been times where I had a limit order right at the top of the market. I would look later and see it just touched my price. I assumed I didn't get filled but then I looked and I would. There's no requotes or games like that. Dude, it's not 2003 anymore.

 

[fx_investor]

maybe not this time but you did FOR YEARS.

* You manipulated your own price feeds for years, spiked prices to run stops because you knew where your clients had their stops sit and blatantly moved your price feeds to have those taken out.

* I have evidence that you even manipulated different price feeds for different clients, for example, one client witnesses an up spike which takes out his protective stop while you yanked the price down for another client who had his stop sitting down there.

* You built in massive slippage to kill any client who wanted to trade right after news releases and was stupid enough to submit market orders. (of course spreads are wider and liquidity lower right after market impacting events, but what your firm did was rape people by letting "prices slip" by maybe 10 times as much as comparable ECN spreads and liquidity would warrant).

* You delayed price execution in order to benefit from knowledge gleaned between order arrival and order fill.

* You rejected orders sometimes entirely if they went against your books or did not suit.

=> All that in the name of TRADING AGAINST YOUR CLIENTS. While there is no evidence that you have entirely ceased in doing so (I take your word for it because I actually do not care, never traded with your firm, never will). But this should be a reminder for all those who consider doing business with you. I mean, you won't entrust your kids to a previous child molester who claims he has come clean now right? Or entrust money to a previous con artist? What your firm has done was not only unethical but illegal and you used every available loophole to get by, including a huge legal team to fend off the uncountable lawsuits coming your way. Just a reminder of your not-so-distant past track record of serving your clients!!! And let's not go down the road of saying that such activities were "industry practice". No they were not, because prudent brokers like Interactive Brokers have offered a pure ECN access with tight spreads, minimal slippage, and DEFINITELY no price quote rigging FOR YEARS. What your firm did was taking FIDUCIARY DUTY to a new level.

VOLPUNTER is absolutely correct about FXCM previous past. Maybe they are very good at hiding this in the UK.

You only have to look at evidence placed on the NFA / CFTC site to see how many fines they have received. They used to run plugins on platform to cheat clients, delayed quotes, requotes, major slippages, etc etc.

They are buying up other brokers to gain a monopoly.

I have opened an account with LMAX for my investment. I have roughly £430,000 placed there. I will never leave this sort of money with FXCM.

 

[hopper]

this is bullshit. Unless you had margin deficiencies (and no broker should go below 5:1 leverage in fx pairs) no broker should legally be allowed to close your positions without your consent. Simple as that. Those guys are in business and business sometimes means low risk, sometimes elevated risk. Ethical and customer respecting business decisions should entail to give sufficient prior notice that margin levels will be adjusted. A broker cant just close out a position and later on argue that they changed margin levels without notice. And I do not think this is the case here either.

So either you overslept the margin adjustment announcement and/or did not have sufficient funds in your account to justify your trading position.

Volpunter,
Sandy is telling the truth. My short Ruble position (USD/RUB) too was closed by FXCM WITHOUT MY CONSENT and it was NOT because of margin levels. I cannot imagine how this could be deemed legal in any court of law. I have lost over 10K because of their action. They sent the following email to me on Dec 16 at 11:41 AM
"
Dear Trader
Please be advised that most Western Banks have stopped pricing USD/RUB. As such, FXCM can no longer offer this instrument to our clients and will begin closing any existing client trades in USD/RUB effective at Noon NY time today, December 16, 2014
"
This was preceded by a call on my answering machine at 11:35am (with the same message) and my position was closed 27 minutes later at 12:02pm. I have filed a trade audit and will try to resolve this directly with them. Do you know what my options are if the situation is not resolved in my favor? Is the next step to file a complaint with the regulatory body (NFA) that regulated FX Brokers?

Thanks.
Hopper

 

[volpunter]

27minutes? And that you deem ethical and customer friendly? First of all it is absolutely inaccurate that most "Western Banks" stopped making markets in usdrub, not at any time no matter how high the volatility was, actually. Even some smaller brokers such as IB or Lmax continued quoting, liquidity might have been thinner and probably was but nonetheless one could still trade.

A broker becomes a joke when each time things get hot he is pulling out and when a client gets the impression that the only business the broker is in is to rip off clients. A broker gets richly compensated in commission and spread NOT ONLY TO PROVIDE MARKET ACCESS during low vol times but also in higher vol times. Whats the point to use a broker if your position could be closed at any time at the discretion of the broker?

I stand by my opinion that this is one of the most unethical retail brokers out there. I am well aware that there are much shadier rats out there that headquarter in Cyprus, Russia, Nigera, or what have you. But among the larger international pure retail brokers FXCM is one of the worst, imho.

Volpunter,
Sandy is telling the truth. My short Ruble position (USD/RUB) too was closed by FXCM WITHOUT MY CONSENT and it was NOT because of margin levels. I cannot imagine how this could be deemed legal in any court of law. I have lost over 10K because of their action. They sent the following email to me on Dec 16 at 11:41 AM
"
Dear Trader
Please be advised that most Western Banks have stopped pricing USD/RUB. As such, FXCM can no longer offer this instrument to our clients and will begin closing any existing client trades in USD/RUB effective at Noon NY time today, December 16, 2014
"
This was preceded by a call on my answering machine at 11:35am (with the same message) and my position was closed 27 minutes later at 12:02pm. I have filed a trade audit and will try to resolve this directly with them. Do you know what my options are if the situation is not resolved in my favor? Is the next step to file a complaint with the regulatory body (NFA) that regulated FX Brokers?

Thanks.
Hopper

 

[doggyfx]

It is a pure liquidity shutdown.Russian regulator increased loan rate to 17%, banks eat sh@t now with that crazy numbers
Btw still scalp strengthened but still weak ruble with Hotforex..calm down and jump here

 

[lubba]

been read the whole thread, conclusion seem final, .
my only remain cautious is Hopper seem got serious damage here, "My short Ruble position (USD/RUB) too was closed by FXCM WITHOUT MY CONSENT and it was NOT because of margin levels. I cannot imagine how this could be deemed legal in any court of law. I have lost over 10K because of their action"
is there any new update regarding this matter, letter of complaint , did they refund your loss or not ?
has been checking several online forum, same issue happen, trade closed! while i've got an email from several brokers, practically said, they suspend ruble trade, but closing entry trade are still available.

recent changes in monetary policy imposed by Russian Central Bank and current economic uncertainty affected the USDRUB trading. Due to the decreased liquidity and the thin market the instrument was switched to “Close only”

 

[hopper]

been read the whole thread, conclusion seem final, .
my only remain cautious is Hopper seem got serious damage here, "My short Ruble position (USD/RUB) too was closed by FXCM WITHOUT MY CONSENT and it was NOT because of margin levels. I cannot imagine how this could be deemed legal in any court of law. I have lost over 10K because of their action"
is there any new update regarding this matter, letter of complaint , did they refund your loss or not ?
has been checking several online forum, same issue happen, trade closed! while i've got an email from several brokers, practically said, they suspend ruble trade, but closing entry trade are still available.

I filed and Audit Complaint with FXCM but it did not do any good. Their reply was simply regurgitating of the same bull crap.

"We understand your disappointment with respect to the matter you brought to our attention. Please be advised that FXCM takes these matters very seriously.

Ticket number: XXXXXXXX
Trade: USD/RUB (Short 50,000)
Trade closed by RUB discontinuation: 69.190
Date of execution: 12/16/2014

As you probably know, the Russian economy has become increasingly unstable as the combination of economic sanctions from the US and the EU along with decreasing oil prices drove down the Ruble. This sudden increase in volatility has made the Russian government take extreme measures to strengthen the economy, such as the hiking of interest rates. Consequently, liquidity providers became more and more loath to offer competitive pricing on the Ruble.

Trading on the USD/RUB pair was closed out at noon EST on December 16th, and notifications were sent out to clients before the close regarding the imminent closure of trading. While the prices may have momentarily moved in the client’s favor, it is quite unlikely that the trades would be filled at those prices due to limited liquidity and pricing during that time. FXCM no longer offers USD/RUB trading and all open positions at the time stated above were liquidated at the best available price. It is quite possible that the Russian government may employ price controls to artificially keep the Ruble’s value, possibly rendering trading it illegal; therefore, FXCM removed Ruble from our list of currencies as a safety measure for our clients.

The account holder had noted in the description of the complaint that there are other FX brokers which are still offering trading on the pair. While some still are, there are plenty who have decided, just like FXCM, to discontinue trading. Also, keep in mind FXCM's execution model. Being an NDD broker, FXCM must rely on the liquidity in the market with which trades can be executed on. FXCM cannot be a market marker, and as there is such little liquidity in this pair, this was a decision made by FXCM. Below is a third party article referencing additional brokers and the actions partaken on their RUB offerings.

http://forexmagnates.com/extreme-russian-volatility-forces-brokers-limit-leverage-ruble-pairs-low-101/

The discontinuation of the RUB was extended to occur on the 16th due to a surprise interest rate hike by the Russian Central bank, which caused the currency to drop drastically. During this time, the account holder was contacted by their representative in order to relay this information. This call was made around 12/16/2014 11:37 AM est.

Please note that while FXCM closed and realized the P/L of this position, the account holder had chosen to be in this exposure. The insufficient liquidity which was present in the RUB in order to continue trading made the appropriate course of action to close the trades. If a product can no longer be offered with sufficient execution opportunities for account holders, it is in the benefit of the account holder to close the exposure. and stop trading in that pair.

The discontinuation of a currency pair such as the USD/RUB is within the right of FXCM's terms of business. Under FXCM's 'Risk Disclosure Statement' in section 5 titled 'Suspension or restriction of trading and pricing relationships'. It is very important to stress that the reality behind the risks on the RUB pair is not conducive to an efficient trading environment for the account holder. Please refer to the FXCM's terms of business here: http://docs.fxcorporate.com/ta_llc_en.pdf

The liquidation of this RUB position was within the correct procedure partaken to discontinue the RUB trading. Please understand that this action by FXCM was made in order to increase the trading circumstances of this pair. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this matter.

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any further questions regarding this matter please feel free to contact FXCM’s Compliance Department at compliance@fxcm.com.
"

Does anybody think that pursuing this matter via a lawyer will yield any positive results?

Thanks.
Hopper

 

[lubba]

Hi Hopper,
at last sentence
"The liquidation of this RUB position was within the correct procedure partaken to discontinue the RUB trading. Please understand that this action by FXCM was made in order to increase the trading circumstances of this pair. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this matter."
literally said : " you cant do nonthing about it, and we;re truly sorry and our deepest sympathy for your loss"

Does anybody think that pursuing this matter via a lawyer will yield any positive results?

and I believe they're currently being busy, latest SNB event cause them to have 225$ milllion loss.
but it's always good to given a try. why dont you contact their representative, see what they advice, we had one their representative as ET forum member.