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

I’m not so sure about it being standard procedure (as I had no issues with another broker that’s split stocks and FX) but I’ll take your word for that. However there must be provisions in place for when one cannot withdrawal to the same source. At any rate my issue was resolved with them after speaking with a support supervisor and getting a statement notarized.

This hassle along with slow execution times and random reboots of their MT4 platform is enough for me to move on.

Edit:
I’ve said a lot of bad things about OANDA so I figured I’d express some of what I liked about them. They do have good spreads a majority of the time and the amount of different funding options are nice as well. Their website has some interesting tools and fxUnity is great for those just starting with basket trading.

If they could tone down their policy some and fix their MT4 platform issues I’d consider using them again.

Hi 21club,

I’m sorry to hear this. As FXCM’s Online Ambassador to BabyPips, I am responsible for answering questions about FXCM’s service on this forum. If you know someone who is unhappy with our service, please direct them to me. They can post a question in the Broker Aid Station or email me at <[email protected]>. I would like to offer my assistance to them. Also, we are always looking for ways to improve our service and would appreciate their feedback.

Jason

in my opinion, I have been with FXCM for few years and found them good at some level. Their customer service is good compared to other brokers, but trading on their platform is horrible. Sometimes you get a very wide spread reaches 10 pips or could be worse than that… I remember when the crush happen in 2008, rollover fees were so scary and spreads OMG!! since then I started thinking to move to another honest broker. FXCM is tricky they know how to cheat you on their MT4 and believe it or not, they prices are sometimes different by 2 pips from the real market. They also have high slippage and sometimes their servers are down for no reason… I rate them 2.5/5

On the other hand, I have been with Forex.com Gain Capital and guess what!! no complain so far… spreads are amazing, re-quotes barely seen, no weird spikes, no spreads widening even during news, customer service is good, and minimum deposit is very good compared to other brokers…

for me I see that Forex.com is away much better than FXCM… and honestly, it is somehow insulting to compare between both with my respect.

Regards,

Steve

I just got burned by OANDA. From what I see, their prices for the most part reflect real world prices. However, if they see an opportunity to take out a lot of stop loses they will do it, even though the real world prices didn’t hit those prices and had quote some distance to go. This use to not be their policy, but time’s change. Perhaps OANDA’s business is going down hill and they need to do this to stay afloat.

BTW, I’m new to this forum, and really just joined more because I feel that folks need to know about this. Here’s a chat with OANDA:

General Info
Chat start time Feb 7, 2014 9:11:59 AM EST
Chat end time Feb 7, 2014 9:48:53 AM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:36:53
Operator Sherrie

Chat Transcript

info: You are now chatting with ‘Sherrie’
Sherrie: Hello. How may I assist you?
Michael: Hello. I’m looking at the stop loss that was hit with my USD/JPY Trade. And when I compared it with the charting system that I used, it looks like it should not have hit. Also, I compared other brookers and their prices didn’t breach my stop loss.
Sherrie: Okay do you use the fxTrade or MT4 platform?
Michael: Yes.
Sherrie: Which one
Sherrie: For your security, before I can continue I will have to ask you your security question.
Michael: I have MT4 which I used for alerts but not for trading, and I trade using the java fxtrade platform.
Sherrie: Thank you
Sherrie: One moment please while I investigate
Sherrie: On MT4 at the candle at 8:30 should have reached a low of 101.357
Sherrie: Your stop loss is set at 101.401
Sherrie: The bid price has dipped below your Stop loss price
Michael: Yes, I know. However no other dealer that I can find or quote went as low as Oanda’s. Does Oanda make the market swing lower to pick up stop losses? Or does Oanda’s prices reflect what the market prices are?
Sherrie: We provide our price based on what our liquidity provider provide us
Sherrie: During volatile times, such as this morning
Michael: BTW, Tradingview.com and Forexfactory.com is what brought my attendtion to this.
Sherrie: There could be spread widening
Sherrie: We don’t stop hunt, as we don’t trade against our client, taking client out will not benefit us in any way
Michael: Well, can you reverse the stop loss action? Or should I just post my charts, this chat, and the pricing data on various web sites and let your the market judge along with drawing my account and seeking another dealer. I’ve read that Oanda is reasonable about this, but your comments do not seem reasonable. I thought Oanda’s prices represented market prices.
Sherrie: It’s a valid pricing, thus we can’t reverse the stop loss action.
Sherrie: As you maybe already aware, forex market is not centralized, there’s not One price as in the stock market.
Sherrie: Prices among brokers should be around the same ball park, however, there’s no guarantee that all brokers should have the same the price.
Sherrie: It’s well possible that one broker’s price a bit lower or higher than other brokers.
Michael: Ok. Well then Oanda “valid” price was the lowest of any dealer that I can find. Perhaps I need to find a dealer who’s prices don’t swing as wide as Oanda’s. Anyhow, I’ll take this to the Forum boards and see if I am out of line or of Oanda just burned my trade and a lot of others.
Sherrie: I’m sorry that how you feel about this pricing, however, you may do just what you described if that’s what you wish.
Michael: Yep. And the market will decide if Oanda get’s to continue the practice of lowering their quotes in order to hunt stop loses.
Sherrie: We don’t stop hunt, we are fully regulated, any such practice will have severe repercussions on us.
Michael: Thanks for reminding me of that. I’ll file a complaint while I am at it.
Michael: Check out and you will see why I am not really to happy with Oanda.
Sherrie: Again like I’ve explained, we don’t guarantee that our pricing will be identical with other brokers. It’s unfortunate that you’ve been stopped out, however, this is a valid pricing
Michael: Ok. Well I see that you have dug in your heals and I am sure Oanda is doing this with it’s other customers and this is why other dealers are in business. I’ll file my complaints and post my charts showing pricing along with this chat. I’m sorry we couldn’t work this out

I have been Oanda sg for 3-4 yrs. So far, I have had instances where their wide spreads during news releases took out my stop, but I just count that as an infrequent occurrence. Just yesterday (22 Feb, at 0930 GMT or 5.30pm S’pore time, there was a news release affecting GBP. I was in a long GBPJPY trade and my stop was about 70 pips away from the price. I monitor alpari uk, fxcm and oanda prices. To my aghast, oanda’s spread widened so much that my stop at 170.018 was taken out, where as lowest on alpari uk was 170.11, and fxcm was 170.076. I checked oanda price on their mt4 ios platform and showed that the lowest was 170.006, therefore taking out my stop. This is definitely not a once off occurrence. I emailed them to voice my displeasure but I know they will not do anything about it. Thus I will no longer trade actively with Oanda for their unfairly wide spreads during news releases, and search for another broker. I am moving to the UK soon and am thinking of FXCM UK or Forex.com.

For me i prefer to invest with FXCM. they have good support and trusted

GCI trading is good, so far with me. It’s only my own lack of skill issue, nothing with their service affected me.
do you all have any experience with gci like the negative ones? pls do advice me as well. many thanks!

OANDA yesterday had a outrage during Fed Yellen testimonial. It was down an hr before causing many people to be unable to close position. My own shorts ran from positive to negative as I was unable to close as the platform frozed from 10pm(GMT+8) onwards. Their explanation: ISP problem, your losses u pay. Great service great reliability indeed. They have been pretty good until they had thios fiasco which make me review their credibility and integrity. Total shrinking from responsibility,

Sorry for your loss buddy. I experienced that outage too, considering other brokers now in case such incidents occur again.

IMO, fxcm is good broker…
but Oanda is the best!

Hi Amrbsk,

I’m glad you like FXCM. We are always looking to improve our service. Was there any particular reason you preferred that other broker?

thight spread,
fast execution,
no requote,
little minimum deposit…

One must remember brokers receive their quotes from huge central banks that control the market. News releases allow these institutions to manipulate price as seen to their advantage.
For a smart trader, one of two things must be done: close your trade until after such release or eliminate using a stop loss for these time periods. As a rule, price will gravitate back near prior to these releases.
Tim

Not ever traded with any of these 3 and only heard about Oanda, so perhaps that’s the best out of these 3 at least but i won’t say it is best overall.

There are no requotes with FXCM. We offer fast execution, and as you can see from this live table, our spreads are very competive. Furthermore, with our new Mini Account, you can start trading with as little as $50.

Below are the latest financial data from the CFTC which show that more funds are on deposit with FXCM than any other retail forex broker in the US.

While I am only a noobie still and only trade with one broker, after reading this thread I will probably stay with this broker for a few reasons…

Their charting platform is easy to use, their spreads seem fair to me and they are the ONLY broker to have a representative present on this and other forums, as far as I know, and that broker is FXCM. Any orders I’ve placed have executed instantly, I’ve received various phone calls and emails offering assistance should I require any, and all together, I like them a lot. Maybe I am unaware of some things due to not having a live account yet but once I feel I am ready to open one, it will be with FXCM. Respect to Jason for taking the time to answer people’s queries and offer help and advice on here as I’m sure being an FXCM employee must mean you have a busy day most days.

Oanda I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole as they seem to manipulate their prices too much around news events and their customer service doesn’t seem as friendly.
Don’t forget I’m only a noobie so take this post with a pinch of salt as I lack the experience of others but in my honest opinion and from first impressions, FXCM are good. I can’t say the best because i dont know that but they are good.

Thanks for the feedback, Majorero :57:

In regards to making the most out of your demo trading to prepare for trading live, you may find this earlier discussion useful: 301 Moved Permanently

Why has FXCM not allow the use of Expert Advisor on their metatrader mini account?

Konnichiwa, Dojisan! :slight_smile:

It’s common to find Expert Advisors that trade in and out of the market quickly. For this reason, such strategies are best suited to the No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution that FXCM provides for Standard Accounts.

On the NDD model, FXCM offsets each of your orders one-for-one with the best prices from competing liquidity providers. That means we don’t profit from your losses, or lose from your profits. Instead, we profit from your trading volume, which makes the NDD model ideal for Expert Advisors.

Is a micro account NDD with FXCM too?