OANDA cheating ?!

[TradingWise]

Quote from Lon Eagle:

Would appreciate answers from people who have traded on the Oanda live platform for a while and who make good money.

Can you hit them in any size you like up to an amount of say ten million per trade.

What is the widest quote you have seen on euro/dollar in the most volatile times eg the second the non farm payrolls are are published?

Has anyone ever been put on manual execution?

How quickly do they confirm trades when it is busy/volatile? What happens if you say hit a bid at 1.2150 but you have missed it by the time their computer receives the trade - are you shown the next bid or just dropped?

Many thanks.

Not that I make much money (yet), but anyway:

You can view the spreads for the last week here. The spikes are pretty high, but the average (red dots) is lower.

Concerning execution, you are filled at the new quote from the server. Except if you had bounds in place, in which case your order will be cancelled if the quote is no longer available.

 

[toby400]

Quote from dally25:

I'm trading with Oanda since 2003. Here's what i like about them:

- I get my account funded 24-48 hours after sending my wire. It happened once to get my account funded in less than 12 hours!!

- They have a web-based trading platform that i can open on any PC. I don't have to instal any software in my PC.

- I can see history of my trades on my charts.

- Very narrow spread compared to other companies.

Seems you funded your account several times. Does this mean you are not yet a profitable trader?

 

[virgin]

Misha7 :


1) Why are you talking about the "Interbank" (aka Inter-bank, or as some genius put it on another forum "Innerbank" )?? Is Oanda a bank? No.
2) The Interbank spread is not "1 pip". It varies, can 1 or 2 or more depending on market conditions. But you see that don't matter 'cause Oanda is not a freaking bank. Get it? I can bet you anything that Oanda gets on average 1.5 -2 point spread from whoever their liquidity provider is (Deutsche, JPChase, UBS, whatever).
3) EVEN if you assume that you get 1 pip and quote 1.5 (i.e. quarter point on each side) how the f*** are you going to make 0.5 pips?
4) Last time I checked Oanda had no minimum. Try calling Deutsche and selling them yr $1 position as a 'hedge'.

This can go on, but it's getting boring. Anyway, no broker will hedge individual trades unless it's a substantial client (e.g. 10 mil and up). There is just no physical way to do it with rapidly moving prices, hundreds of trades per minute and miniscule volumes for every trade. What they may hedge is the net position of the dealing desk. But considering the amateurs that work on most of these dealing desks (e.g. FXCM, CMS) I doubt that they ever do even that.




1) Oanda is not a bank but a market
maker, right !
2) The AVERAGE interbank spread on the EUR/USD is a little bit above 1 pip (you
have apparently never been in the
forex dealing desk of a bank)
3) If they can not match the orders
internally, market making, they take
the other side of the trade and since
95 % of traders lose, they risk is
limited again and if their net exposure is getting too high, they hedge
in the interbank market(all their spreads on the currency pairs are higher than the interbank spreads) so
they also making money on hedging
their exposure)
4) Off course they don't hedge each
trade done by customers immediately and certainly not your 1$
trade...:0))))


And there is off course no physical way of doing this, that's why it is all
automated at Oanda, never heard
of computer algorythmes ?
Oanda has no dealing desks !

First get your facts straight , before you start talking
GET IT NOW ?

 

[misha7]

Quote from virgin:

3) If they can not match the orders
internally, market making, they take
the other side of the trade and since
95 % of traders lose, they risk is
limited again and if their net exposure is getting too high, they hedge
in the interbank market(all their spreads on the currency pairs are higher than the interbank spreads) so
they also making money on hedging
their exposure)
4) Off course they don't hedge each
trade done by customers immediately and certainly not your 1$
trade...:0))))


And there is off course no physical way of doing this, that's why it is all
automated at Oanda, never heard
of computer algorythmes ?
Oanda has no dealing desks !

First get your facts straight , before you start talking
GET IT NOW ? [/B]

No, I've never heard of "algorythmes"....) (maybe algorithms?)

OK, you've just agreed with everything I wrote and provided a rather messy description of the standard mode of operation of any dealing desk. How does that prove that Oanda "does not have to trade against customers"??? This was, let me remind you, the sole purpose of your original post.

I am not saying that Oanda manipulates quotes or that I have any reason to doubt their ethics but can't you see that the LOWER the spread you are offering, the HIGHER the need to bucket trades?

 

[LoosenUp]

I am also interested in knowing what kind of size of account they can take. If one opens a 100k account and make 40% per annum, would that be a problem for them? especially if it is true that they are bucket shops and do not hedge their positions? How about a $1 mil account, is that too big for them? Can they be expected to quote 1-1.5 pips on these accounts?

Quote from Lon Eagle:

Would appreciate answers from people who have traded on the Oanda live platform for a while and who make good money.

Can you hit them in any size you like up to an amount of say ten million per trade.

What is the widest quote you have seen on euro/dollar in the most volatile times eg the second the non farm payrolls are are published?

Has anyone ever been put on manual execution?

How quickly do they confirm trades when it is busy/volatile? What happens if you say hit a bid at 1.2150 but you have missed it by the time their computer recieves the trade - are you shown the next bid or just dropped?

Many thanks.

 

[ElectricSavant]

Good point. Oanda must hedge their positions and be telling the truth. I believe their computer consolidates their exposure into the correct size to be able to block out hedges incrementally.

Oanda is growing without advertising at a slow and steady pace. Their capital requirements must be managed to match their growth. They seem to be building at a slow and steady pace, becoming a strong, dominant market maker.

I have no affiliation with them and have my complaints too, but they still are the best game in town. If they are "cheating" its not blatantly...

Michael B.

Quote from LoosenUp:

I am also interested in knowing what kind of size of account they can take. If one opens a 100k account and make 40% per annum, would that be a problem for them? especially if it is true that they are bucket shops and do not hedge their positions? How about a $1 mil account, is that too big for them? Can they be expected to quote 1-1.5 pips on these accounts?

 

[Lon Eagle]

What are yuor complaints about them?

 

[ElectricSavant]

Rank order complaints:

• Variable spread.
• Antiquated Charts.
• Slow to upgrade enhancements on platform and charts. For example, still no audible alerts yet.
• No dealing desk and anybody in Customer Service that knows about trading.

Michael B.

Quote from Lon Eagle:

What are yuor complaints about them?

 

[Lon Eagle]

Thanks.

Slowness would be an issue as I trade when markets are at their most volatile.

The free add ons though are not an issue as I pay for 2 news services and a chart package seperately.

 

[late apex]

Quote from Lon Eagle:

Thanks.

Slowness would be an issue as I trade when markets are at their most volatile.

The free add ons though are not an issue as I pay for 2 news services and a chart package seperately.

Oh, not that kind of slowness. I think ES was referring to the company's pace of new features implementation, such as trailing stops, etc.

When it comes to volatile, fast-moving markets, Oanda's platform usually remains both stable and tradeable, in my limited experience with them. As long as one's strategy is compatible with the widened spreads, e.g., no scalping for a few pips. Those spreads can be expected to widen, in a predictable, known way, from at least a few minutes before to at least a few minutes (or longer) after a potentially market-moving news event.