Loss $1000USD when I deposit in Tradestation

I got email from Tradestation:

'Our Cashiering Department has looked into your wire that was received on 02/08/2011 and they advised that they credited your account with what was received at our bank account with J.P. Morgan. They advised that there is nothing that can be done because they credited your account all of the money that they received. We apologize for any inconvenience, but they advised that you can consider converting the funds at your bank next time before wiring in if you feel that you can get a better rate. '

It's confirm JP Morgan give me poor rate, and Tradestation can't do anything.

Then I have to accept it? Loss $1000USD!
 
Don't feel so bad. State pension funds here in the U.S. have just launched investigations/litigation against banks that handled their foreign currency transactions. Seems that for years, many of the banks routinely booked the exchange at the most unfavorable rate of the day regardless of when the actual transaction took place. At least that is what the states are claiming.
 
There are many places to convert one currency to another and it's the competition between these participants that can help you get a good deal. Before wiring that amount of money, I'd check on the fees involved and more importantly what exchange rate I would get. If not a firm exchange rate at the very least an indication. If after getting the exchange rate quote you want to go ahead with the conversion, fine, at least you know what you are getting into.

Check with Banks, FX firms and broker dealers to see what kind of deals they can offer plus the logistics involved. (For a one-time transfer you may not want to open another account). I haven't used Interactive Brokers for this service but they charge "1 basis point(1) *Trade Value(2)"

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=commission&p=fx

Of course the main question would be what exchange rate could the OP get through IB, I bet a lot better than the OP actually got through JP Morgan. Anybody have a good experience for actually currency conversion (as opposed to trading round trip back to the base currency)?

One way that looks appealing to me for getting better exchange rates on conversions is to use the CME's foreign currency futures contracts that have a final settlement procedure of physical delivery of the currency. See

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/e-micros/e-micro-australian-dollar_contract_specifications.html

Advantages of using futures in this way would be
1) perhaps getting a better exchange rate
2) Being able to place limit orders (converting through most channels is similar to market orders)

Disadvantages would be
1) have to wait until final settlement (just once per month)
2) can't exchange odd lots (i.e. CME's E-micro AUD/USD Futures is for 10,000 AUD and the big contract is for 100,000 AUD
3) Only available on a few currencies for the e-micro contracts (USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, CHF, JPY).

I'd love to hear from anyone that's used IB's currency conversion or CME's currency futures to convert from one currency to another.
 
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I'd love to hear from anyone that's used IB's currency conversion or CME's currency futures to convert from one currency to another. [/B]
More...

I'm new to IB but find their currency conversion option great. If transferring over 25kUSD - if I got this right - you just place the order on their Fx Trader and get the same rate as if trading forex. There's a flat fee of 2.5usd. Way better rates than when changing from within my HSBC HK account.

Main problem is when wiring money to IB account : if it's USD their bank is in the US, if HKD in HK, if EUR in Germany etc... Wished they had a multi currency account in HK to avoid transfer and intermediary bank fees.

To the OP : you definetely need to find other options than transferring AUD to USD facing blind exchange rates. Companies like oanda.com or xe.com might fit your needs as well.
 
J.P. Morgan Chase advised that the conversion rate for my wires that were received on 02/08/2011 was 0.98602.

Other banks was 1.0146 on 02/08/2011.

I couldn't do anything to claim our loss?
 
Well just think of it as your 1st trade. You learned how to do it better next time.

Quote from qichxi:

J.P. Morgan Chase advised that the conversion rate for my wires that were received on 02/08/2011 was 0.98602.

Other banks was 1.0146 on 02/08/2011.

I couldn't do anything to claim our loss?
More...
 
One month before going to the US last summer, I came to my retail bank in France to order some $( paper dollars to bring in the US ). She gave me the order and I notice a rate of 1.17( EUR to USD ). I hadn't watched the EURUSD rate in a while and thought" Wow, Euro is cheap now".

I came back home and checked : 1.28... I called immediately and canceled the order, I wasn't really happy to say the least... She doesn't speak much to me since...LOL. I think it was just a typo for 1.27 but I am not sure. I still have the receipt. True.

:mad:
 
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