OANDA Disconnects / Freezing

Hey everyone :slight_smile:

Been using OANDA for two weeks, really have enjoyed learning their FxTrade Java Platform inside out and making some nice profitable trades, however as of yesterday I have been encountering some very bad platfrom freezes / disconnects / and lockouts. :26:

The times of these were variable but also happening during three times during all of which are open position, which I could not stop with the platform function buttons. My internet connection is fine as I use several machines simultaneously and no other internet problems. I made two loses and one gain. I thought that OANDA were ok, up until yesterday, and I am now beginning to question the system. :36:

What is your experienced opinion? I am already looking into joining another Broker, the only fear I now have is that I thought with OANDA’s reputation they were one of the better Brokers? Please share your experience and I welcome your comments thank you. :slight_smile:

guys I wonder the problems I was experiencing yesterday Would this be friday nfp related?

It is best to determine these types of glitches with any system platforms by first checking with the trouble shooting pages for your system. I know very little about OANDA but since it is Java based I would want to make sure that I had the latest Jave updates for my machine. You did your homework first on OANDA and found them to be rated good so I am sure that their trading platform is top notch. If it wasn’t then I doubt they could ever get a favorable review. Good Luck…

Yeah, I use Oanda Java, and its prety sharp, but Im also trading micolots, WHich tend to go thru faster, so Im hearing.

As far as MT4, Ugggggggggggg, Talk about delays… BUT, i did find, that if you Use an EA ( Expert advisor/Robot ) you dont have the problems, same as Order Limits, as they seem to go right thru, without a hitch.

Manual MT4 Trading, really annoying… Let alone the fact that you cant preset TP/SL proir to dropping the ticket on the desk.

Although, My trading is 50% beter trading MT4 then Java, because I mainly use MT4 charts

Hey thanks for your feedback:) Java and system is running fine, no probs there and my internet connection is also working well. It seems everything my end is ok.

On Oanda’s forum there are several pages of posts concerning platfrom freezes / disconnects / and lockouts so it seems that it is not unusual and it is being reported as far back as a few years ago. There are links to these problems posted in Babypips. I know many people like to use them and lots do not have any problems but for me I am not feeling confident in using a system that isnt fully stable 100% of the time. :slight_smile:

I was reading in a few places that users were saying dont try and trade the friday nfp with Oanda, I didnt research or fully understand these comments so maybe this had something to do with it?

Amen to that! I have been using the FXCM Trading Station Demo for a few weeks now and use it on Windows operating systems and have had not experience any problems with it. I have not tried any other platforms so I can only comment on this one.

Thanks Streettim, I will research and look into FXCM demo, happy trading to you!

I’m going to implement a network sniffer to check the data packets into and out that way I can eleminate any possible connection problems with new broker platform/

I did lots of investigative work today and have found reports of Oanda disconnects back in 2006 some trader even saying that he had to change his IP to get backinto FXTrade. :26: Time to look at a real ECN broker not market maker brokers me thinks :slight_smile:

This would be the time to work out all the kinks, nothing worse then getting half way into something only to find out it was a waste of time!

I am not feeling confident in using a system that isnt fully stable 100% of the time.

Then you cant trade online. All brokers, everyone will have technical problems. It will happen on your end also. Count on it and be prepared for it.
I dont think Oanda is any worse then any of the other big brokers when it comes to this. I use Oanda, Fxcm and an offshore broker.
Oanda fxtrade is java based and runs in a browser window I have had issues with browser settings. You might want to find the stand alone FXtrade app.

Hey shr1k Thanks for your comments, I will try the stand alone FXtrade platform for at least a few weeks and see how that progresses. I will also try another broker alongside this platform and see which one is the better option.:slight_smile:

Thanks for your comments, I downloaded the MT4 today and thought about having a try with this Monday, as I have liked being with oanda upto until these glitches began…:16:

Gently suggest that with all trades, make sure you can set a stop loss at the same instant you create your trade, in order to ensure your account isn’t totally destroyed due to loss of connexion. Perhaps even a wide, just for emergencies trailing stop and take~profit as well. Ostensibly those are now on their server and independent of what happens to you ~ at least the stop loss is, which is perhaps most critical. In addition to that, stop losses don’t work when markets are closed, so it may be unwise to trade over the weekend, or the tail end of Friday.

Finally ~ beware of Oanda’s spread jumping to 20 or more pips, I’ve been several pips positive on a ten pip stop before and the trade went belly~up on me due to the spread suddenly overtaking my position… rare but it can happen. Oanda publishes data with respect to this on their site, check it out.

I too have noted some glitchy behaviour with Oanda’s MT4 feed, or maybe it’s my MT4, so finally I gave up on it and watch the Deltastock feed, while putting Oanda orders in via their java platform.

Honestly… I wonder if it’s really Oanda’s fault… I could see unscrupulous people possibly attempting to DDoS their servers momentarily, or other such nonsense in various attempts to influence things. Remember that ideas don’t have to be good, or effective to be attempted… What a broker must face with regard to such problems, has to be formidable; I’d hate to be in their shoes to try to mitigate stuff like that.

Thumbs up for that decision. There ARE brokers where order execution is not an issue. And those ARE typically the ecn’s.

A market maker is usually not interested in giving you too much of an advantage. Because they lose if you win and vice versa. Even if their business is proper, they have no inherent interest in giving you the best order execution what is possible. Because that would cost them a lot of money for expensive servers and connections. As retail spot fx is a growing market, they would have to increase their server/router park every few months and that is costly.

Even if the routers there are up to quality, the feed has to go through a lot of apps inside their servers. That slows down everything.

Thank you kindly for your comments, :45:very wise advice for setting STOP LOSS and TP upfront! I’ve downloaded the Fxtrade desktop app sh1rk mentioned and will give this a whirl Monday!

Thanks for your comments! problems were Friday afternoon Asia, but I did notice comments regarding nfp data and news releases so maybe this had something to do with this? I noticed on Oandas website that they were doing maintenance from 5pm-9pm ET so yeah it could all be tied in? :45:

Thanks for your comments! I can see a move to a ECN shortly due to the factors you’ve mentioned, I don’t mind to pay commision to a broker who is not possibly likely to trade against their customers.

My pleasure. What you pay in commission you save usually in spread, requotes and other “gimmicks”. What makes it a bargain at bottom line.

ECN brokers list | ECN/STP Forex brokers

Frankly, nice that Oanda allows weekend trading. Albeit I would do anything but that with spreads of 10 pips for a major and an invitation to stop hunting in a completely ill-liquid market. Oanda is for sure not the worst market maker. But, it is a market maker, which is also clearly to see with the comments (not all, but some):

OANDA | Oanda.com reviews and ratings by Forex Peace Army

I mean, no broker is really your friend. They are almost all on the other side of your trade. As long as you play with deposits below a 100k or so. But there ARE differences between ecn and market makers. Plus after the scandal of forex.com with their dealer plugin it should be common sense that “no dealing desk” means nothing. NOTHING! No, even worse. If somebody claims it’s a ndd and put it in a light like it would be anything close to ecn, that makes it even more likely it’s a bucket shop. These days you do not need a dealing desk to play some gimmicks. Computers do well!