It says: “It may be part of FXCM’s holding company, but will clients feel the same safety as they do with the regulated group? Let us know what you think in the comments” (there are many comments in the post).
Regarding your first question, FXCM Markets is not subject to the regulatory oversight that governs other FXCM entities, which includes but is not limited to, Commodity Futures and Trading Commission, National Futures Association, Financial Conduct Authority, and Australia Securities and Investment Commission. That means you would not benefit from the same access to these regulators that you would have as a client of one of FXCM’s regulated entities worldwide.
FXCM UK (FXCM.co.uk) accounts are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for up to GBP 50,000 per client, and Friedberg Direct (FXCM.ca) are protected by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund for up to CAD 1,000,000 per client. Markets accounts do not benefit from similar protections.
Based on your priorities, FXCM UK might me the best fit for you, since it offers hedging, FSCS protection and up to 200:1 leverage to magnify your gains and losses.
In the end only you can decide and choosing the right broker is important. Since you sound like you are seeking regulation in your broker by certain regulators you should stick to brokers who fulfill your criteria and not look at others. Have your checklist of what is important to you and then go out and find it.
FYI: FXCM was fined $6 million a few years ago (Jason, please do not explain to me why as we have been down that road; I am just stating a fact). You can run an online search and find out why and if that matters to you. Regulation does not guarantee safety, MF Global and PFG Best are to prime examples out of the US. My point is that criminals don’t care about the law. Having said that there are plenty of credible brokers out there and you should find one you feel comfortable with and build a relationship over time.
Trust is something you need to build over time so you really will never know until you try. I think TheLastBear raised some really good points. In the end you need to select a broker which meets your criteria and then you have to slowly build your relationship with them.
While I appreciate that you already know this, I will still respond for the benefit of Beijin and others reading this thread. :57:
The settlement mentioned above was for positive slippage that was not passed on prior to 2010. FXCM reimbursed current and former clients who were affected in full. Furthermore, the changes we made in 2010 mean that FXCM is now one of the only firms in the industry to pass on positive slippage on all order types including market and limit orders.
It’s important to note that to this day, some brokers may still not provide positive slippage to their clients, while others may provide positive slippage on some order types, but don’t provide it on other order types. Some brokers may re-quote their clients when the price moves in their clients’ favor but fail to re-quote when the price moves against them. By contrast, there are no re-quotes at FXCM, and our clients receive the full benefits of any positive slippage that’s available.
Below are the data from a total of 43,128,901 trades executed through FXCM over a six month period from August 2013 to January 2014. In those 6 months alone, FXCM clients benefited from over $15 million in positive slippage.
[ul]
[li]73% of all orders had no slippage.
[/li][li]15% of all orders received positive slippage.
[/li][li]12% of all orders received negative slippage.
[/li][li]Over 60% of all limit and limit entry orders received positive slippage.
[/li][li]53.32% of all stop and stop entry orders received negative slippage.
[/li][/ul]
Notice how positive slippage is more common with limit orders, while negative slippage is more common with stop orders. That’s due to the momentum of price movement when such order types are triggered. It’s worth noting that the Market Range feature on our Trading Station platform and the Enhanced* Maximum Deviation feature on our MT4 platform allow FXCM clients to limit the amount of negative slippage they receive, while still enjoying the full benefits of any positive slippage that’s available.
[I]* On the MT4 platforms of some other brokers, the Max Dev feature is unavailable, or if it is available, then it will limit both your negative slippage and your positive slippage equally. By contrast, FXCM enhanced how Max Dev works on our MT4 platform allowing you to limit your negative slippage while still enjoying the full benefits of any positive slippage.[/I]