Thread: Lets end this once and for all... looking for a true ECN

Now I talked to a buddy of mine that produced some interesting points. He was actually quite surprised when I said I had been looking at hotspotfx. The only time that he ever used hotspotfx was worked for a hedge fund and was trading a $1,000,000 account. He told me that hotspotfx and currenex brokers on these tiny accounts (less than 50k) would likely not be my best option. Such accounts are created for much larger traders and trading 10-20-30k positions would see me having problems getting filled. Essentially he said they are market makers at the level though they seem to be ECN. I found the following thread in elitetrader.com which summarizes the different kinds of ECN.


Http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showth...=6pagenumber=1

Tips for trading in ECN Currenex,Hotspotfxi according to my perception

The difficulty to scalp on hotspotfxi Is Simply liquidity.

The problem on Currenex besides liquidity is that the so-called whitelabel.

Actually there are 2 tiers of FXPB ( FX prime broker ) using currenex:

tier 1: big title leading banks that are on the listing of currenex PB

Customers should have decent fund or credit line with them to handle the company directly with such big name.

PB will not take any position against clients but only cost commision each Round trading.



Tier 2: whitelabel partners shown on currenex.com

within this group there are 2 business models

a. pure tier 2 PB

which means there are just a sub-broker (broker ) to serve smaller clients that aren't approved by tier 1 PB
SO, same as tier 1, will not take any position against clients but only charge commision each Round trading.

B. whitelabel version

being MARKET MAKER on the platform, they use currenex's platform(technologies ) to create an inhouse market while the spreads may be same or disagree with the one on currenex's most important platform, or so the dealer could direct pass clients' order/position into currenex's most important platform or keep them in the inside house market as per this makret maker's discretion.
SO, scalping / arbitraging could hurt this type of benefit.

CONCLUSION

to relish scalping arbitraging, IMHO the best way is use Tier 1 or Tier 2 a.






The information my friend gave me at the ending was go with Oanda. He has made lots of money with them and hasn't had any issues and he's also an introduction agent for dukascopy that says a lot. Once my account develops considerably, then should look at other choices. More research needed haha

Originally Posted by ;

just a note....Divisafx has minimum open 2.500 $ and contains currenex viking, currenex classic, Mt4 and MT4 via net....

Viking currenex was what I was talking about in my original article through FXDD. Same problem I suspect.

Originally Posted by ;

Hi A-game. I utilize Alpari UK. I know there's a thread here in the moment telling a horror story about them on their classic account (market maker), but that I shall pass on my experience using them on their ECN side. I originally opened an account on their currenex ECN platform with #40,000 to test them out...

Hi,
I am currently on a classic account with Alapari using MT4 and I am extremely satisfied with their services.
I am also testing both currenex based ace account types: the Java established no-charts version along with also the desktop version.
I have a question, which kind of charting platform(s) do you use together with this currenex account?

Thanks,

1. Are you curious to exchange with a different platform than MT4? Because nothing will be authentic ECN or STP with it, because theres always a dealing desk in the broker
2. What do you use to draw? wire-transfer? Nearly all of brokers offer this but there'll be fees/delays. Or do you utilize e-wallets such as moneybookers?
3. Are you a scalper? Do you need lowest spread potential and high leverage?
4. Are you an american citizen? Many brokers stopped accept US taxpayers all together because of regulations
5. Do you exchange on extended time frames? A swap-free account may be interesting for you

Originally Posted by ;

1. Are you curious to trade with another platform than MT4? Because nothing will be true ECN or STP with it, since theres always a dealing desk at the broker

That is not accurate for many MT4 brokers. At FXOpen AU, we have only ECN accounts with MT4. MT4 is merely a frontend for us with orders being executed by our proprietary MT4-ECN bridge. There's not any dealing desk in between you and the market.

You'll be able to see a more detailed explanation at http://www.fxopen.com.au/ECNForexTrading.aspx

Regrettably,
Many people have little confidence in Russian brokers.
What do you really think the reason is?

Originally Posted by ;

That isn't true for many MT4 brokers. In FXOpen AU, we have only ECN accounts with MT4. MT4 is just a frontend for individuals with all orders being executed by our proprietary MT4-ECN bridge. There is no dealing desk in between you and the market. You can view a more detailed explanation at http://www.fxopen.com.au/ECNForexTrading.aspx

Originally Posted by ;

Regrettably, Most people have very little confidence in Russian brokers. What do you think the reason is?

No thought. We aren't a Russian broker if that's what you were implying? We are 100% Australian.

Mt4 has capabilities that are complete now to be a pure ECN. To think otherwise is naive although comprehensible.

Even Metaquotes has introduced variants of MT4 that don't operate with the digital dealer plugin. About 2-3 yrs ago, it was true you needed to hybrid the MT4 platform to make it go straight to the market. But now its not the case.

I'd actually consider ICMarkets and ExcelMarkets to be ECN. As of the moment, they both possess characteristics that support them, nevertheless, anyone care to take a peek at them?

However probably my biggest confusion is the reason these brokers list average and minimum spreads. Couldn't technically the spread be as low as in ICM's instance, be damaging to -0.3 pips? What I do not know is that for some ECNs such as AFBFX, the minimum spread is something like 0.4 pips, which seems strange that they may have a minimum. Also, negative spreads do not happen often, even rarely, so why does ICM list their cTrader platform of spreads to -0.3? I mean, couldn't it be lower to? So why don't you?

.
Technically speaking the spread could be some positive or negative number. However, the market is so efficient that they do not survive long.
Additionally we need to see that the spread is just a gap between 2 prices the bid and the ask. We don't cover it. If we would like to buy
we cover the ask if we would like to market we get the bid. So, the so called ECN probably contain a few dozen Bid and ask prices for all sort of
amount put from the many participants. I would not be possible to know all of the gaps between them.

A ECN broker's platform would find ask prices equal to bid prices after in a while (zero spread) or even ask below bids and quote
adverse spread.... But how long you think that last They get hit and most probably we never get it. But someone did.

I presume when a Broker calls for a minimal Spread, they'd be pocketing the difference if they find zero spreads. Should they write it
in their arrangement with their clients, it makes it legal.

J