FXCM, Oanda and forex.com, Which is best?

The company I hear the most positive feedback about is Oanda

Read more: 301 Moved Permanently

I’m Canadian and I would like to start forex but if I want to use Oanda I need 5 million net assets or I need a 200k income for 2 years. Wow I won’t be able to start forex soon lol.

Canadian need to sign a Accredited Investor before we can start :31:

I think fxcm is the best

The saga continues…

I have been experiencing numerous issues with FXCM and the “Mirror Platform”. I have remained silent for the most part. But, staying silent is not doing a service for my fellow forum readers.

I currently use FXDD and FXCM. My move to FXDD was prompted when I discovered FXCM was not executing my orders correctly. I trade the Asian, London, and NY Sessions. I contacted FXCM on Monday. I spoke with Gayla McGinnis. For over an hour I explained to her my issue during the NY Open. I could not make any trades during this time (opportunity cost). She didn’t understand why I was upset and told me they were going to run an audit.

Here is a portion of the audit from FXCM. This is just one example:

"Ticket 49285449
EURJPY 10k Buy

Limit entry created 6/12/12 08:59 at price of 99.483, price changed to 99.551 at 08:59:45. Entry order deleted at 09:06:32. Price was reached on Ask chart at 09:06:46 after order was deleted.

Your screenshots did indicate that your were looking at bid charts, instead of ask charts.

No adjustments warranted in this case as the limit prices were not reached.
As with all financial products, forex quotes include a “bid” and “ask” price - the difference between the quotes is the spread."

OK. Now I have attached both the Bid and Ask Prices for the EUR/JPY @ 6/12/12. You will see the FXCM Internal Audit is false. Both Bid and Ask prices were achieved with ease. According to the audit, I canceled my order at 09:06:46. As you can see from the screen shots, this was impossible as my order was executed at this time.

I complained because I placed a LONG order at 09:03 for 99.487 while the pair was increasing in value for a small scalp or break out (see charts). I sent Gayla the screen shot. The audit does not show this, but the screen shot did. My order did not execute for approximately 15 minutes later after the pair has started to trade down.

In short, FXCM did not execute my trade until it became a losing trade close to 15 minutes after I placed my order. As a result, I was stuck in a losing trade for 48 hours. In that time period, I was unable to use this margin to execute other profitable trades, costing me income.



I received an email from Gayla stating she would be out of the office until next week. Meanwhile, my problems persists so I called customer service.

I called during the London Session the next day, but I was denied access to a broker. Saud, my Customer Service Representative, could not confirm my identity. When I tried to rectify a non-executing order, I was not able to reach my broker. I asked a Manager to call me back.

15 minutes later I receive a call from Charles Graves. Charles was able to verify my identity within 20 seconds. Meanwhile, my order falls into the abyss. Charles told me he would “take care” of the trade. As you can see, no one has taken care of anything with regards to my account.

I spent over an hour on the phone with Charles explaining my issues for a total of 4+ hours on the phone with FXCM personnel this week. I explained that my time is being used to deal with issues, thus I cannot trade and make income. We agreed that he would talk to the FXCM people and they would contact me only when they have discussed a resolution to my issues .

So today I get a call from Technical Support at FXCM asking me what’s the problem…

Now I have sent an email to David Joseph at FXCM asking if he could please oversee Charles, Gayla, Saud, etc…

To be continued…

I found the following video on youtube entitled, “How FXCM scams its clients”:

How FXCM Scams its Clients - YouTube

Hi pipswoody,

I would like to apologize for any frustration you have experienced as a result of your trade inquiry. Our goal is to make sure that every trade audit is investigated fully to ensure the execution was correct. If there is an error due to a technical issue, we will gladly make an adjustment.

I can’t publicly discuss account inquiries due to FXCM’s privacy policy; however, I wanted to post a message based on the information you posted to the forum. I can’t make out the detail on the chart very clearly, but I can tell that you posted a 15 minute chart of EUR/JPY when the times described are a matter of 14 seconds apart.

Entry order deleted at 09:06:32. Price was reached on Ask chart at 09:06:46 after order was deleted.

Looking at a 15 minute chart is not going to display enough information to give an objective viewpoint when discussing a 12 second difference. I took a screenshot of a tick chart for the time period you referenced, and added lines for the price and times. The green dotted line is located at the price 99.551. The horizontal black line on the left is located at 5:06:32 ET (9:06:32 GMT) and the second black line on the right is located at 5:06:46 ET (9:06:46 GMT). And finally the red line is the ask price and the blue line is the bid price.

I will let David know that you have emailed him so he can get back in touch with you as soon as possible. I am primarily in the office from 8am to around 5:30pm ET every day, but you are welcome to reach out to me at any time if you ever encounter problems or need to give us feedback since I provide feedback to our entire management team on a weekly basis.

Jason

Thanks, Jason. I received an email from David. He understands my issues and has elevated my requests for assistance. Please have your management team contact me. Customer service is not a strong point at FXCM. Customers should not have to vent on forums or to an attorney to be heard by their broker.

Thanks for posting that chart. I think you have the wrong time. Your chart states 5:00 AM. This took place around 9:03 AM. I was on the phone with Gayla as I watched the price rise from around 99.375, through my 99.487 order entry, to around 99.579. I was told my problem would be addressed. She left town. Literally.

The chart clearly shows other positions closing above my LONG entry point. Then my entry is executed at 15 minutes later after the market has turned. Thus, I am automatically entered into a losing trade versus a winning trade.

From my charts, it appears as though the FXCM Mirror Platform has malfunctioned. The charts clearly show the entry execution problem. Are you stating that I need a special chart to get the real rates?

Try Forex Club. I just signed up with them with a 10K account and I received a bonus. The process only took a few minutes. At FXCM, the process took 3 business days and I incurred a number of problems during the sign up. I should have known better when FXCM assigned me a rep. to guide me through the application process.

I remember contacting FXCM on a Friday to sign up. I spoke with Shalom. He told me trading was closed for the weekend and it would take 3 business days to sign up. FXCM’s servers are down for the weekends. The application forms were not working at the time either.

Hi pipswoody,

You’ll notice from my post that I listed the times in both Eastern Time (NYC) and GMT:

5:06:32 ET (9:06:32 GMT) and the second black line on the right is located at 5:06:46 ET (9:06:46 GMT)

I added this distinction in my post since my chart is in ET and the time on FXCM’s reports which you reference are in GMT. I did this to clear confusion about why my chart time would differ from the time in your post, but my apologies for not explaining more explicitly that 5:00am ET is the same as 9:00am GMT. The chart matches exactly the times and prices described in your post. Do you see why an order for 99.551 would not have been executed if it was deleted at 9:06:32 GMT (05:06:32 ET)?

Jason

Jason,

I will explain again for you. I was watching the chart live. I placed at order at 9:03 AM at 99.487, not 9:06. I watched as the GREEN Candle rose on the 15 minute chart through my order execution position. I watch the body of the candle CLOSED above my position. Then I watched the next period RED Candle OPEN above my position. I watched the RED Candle drop and my trade was executed at 09:06:32 AM 6/12/12. Let me repeat:

THE ORDER WAS EXECUTED AT 09:06:32 AM. FXCM SAYS MY ORDER WAS DELETED AT 9:06:32 AM. THE FXCM AUDIT IS A FARCE. IF YOU READ MY ACCOUNT STATEMENT YOU WILL SEE I CLOSED THE ORDER TWO DAYS LATER. IF YOU READ THE CHART I POSTED, YOU WILL SEE THE ENTRY:

LONG (OPEN)
OPEN: 99.487
CLOSE: 99.745
P/L: 25.8

This leaves one of two possible outcomes:

  1. The FXCM platform cannot recognize all OPEN and CLOSED entries.
  2. The FXCM charting software is not always accurate.

I have additional screen shots that show the FXCM platform was not beta tested properly. I can open that can of worms also if you like.

Rather than take responsibility, FXCM chooses not to resolve my issue. Jason you can try to discredit me on this public forum, but the screen shots and my account statement do not lie. You can “run an audit”, but history is not on your side.

I think Oanda is better, cauz Oanda has a faster execution when we want to place a trade

Great Avatar pic, Jimmy.

I haven’t used Oanda, but I will give them a look. I started with FXCM because the GUI looked good. When I used FXCM, I found the order execution varies between instantly and about 15 minutes. In this volatile market, its’ mandatory you have a platform that executes instantly.

I’ve only used FXCM so far so this is the only 1 I can comment on. The trading platform is very easy to learn but now that I’ve been on it for a few months & continue to learn, I’d like a little more customization than it offers. Everything has gone smoothly & I haven’t had any major issues. I like that I can place my stop & limit @ the same time as my order. Order execution has always been instantaneous. Never any delay. The spreads seem pretty consistent & ok. I’ve talked to the same guy in CS multiple times & YES, (just like all the other brokers) they want your $$$ & NO they aren’t the friendliest people ever (they are in NY after all) but no major issues & he has been very helpful/knowledgeable. I was told by FXCM that they are NOT a dealing desk broker so I’m not sure where other folk’s info is coming from. Either he lied or they changed recently or people are getting incorrect info. That’s it. Hope this helps b/c finding the right broker is a difficult challenge. After all, it is our hard earned $$$

FXCM is large however I would go with an ECN that is reputable. FXCM has been around for awhile, so there are negative comments. I can’t say how good they are now.

In my opinion oanda is best cause there are many trader here

I have had an OANDA account for the last 8 months and not only are their withdrawals very slow they’re also at this point in time refusing to process the withdrawal request for the rest of my deposited funds.

To elaborate, with OANDA if you deposit with a particular source account you MUST withdrawal with the same account. If the depositing account was closed after you funded you’ll need to contact your bank for a document stating the account is closed (read, OANDA doesn’t trust you). All’s good and well until you’re bank refuses to cooperate due to their “policy”. I’m now to the point of looking for a lawyer to get the funds out of my account.

Also, I had countless issues with their MT4 client while I was using my account, constant slips, MT4 client crashes 2-3 times a day.

I’d avoid OANDA until they get their business in order.

That does not sound like a problem with Oanda but more a problem with your bank. All brokers will only send money back to the account that deposited it for security reasons. There a lot of identity theft out here so thats to cover them and you. Your bank on the other hand should give you something to verify the account is closed to you.

Sorry to hear about Odana. I had always heard them to be the best, second to MB Trading. FXCM is large, but I’ve heard bad things about customer service.

I’ll agree, there are two problems here, the one with my bank and the other with OANDA. When you sign up for an account I verified my identity using forms, SSN, etc. Why is this now not an option when I try to withdrawal? That is the problem, I can verify my identity all day and they will not allow it.

Another issue is that I even told the OANDA representative that they could send a check to the address listed when I opened my account and verified my identity and they still refused.

Depositing and withdrawing from the same source is standard procedure in retail FX. However, taking a long time (how long?) to withdraw is bad. A bank wire takes about a week. If you have a card, that should take less.