Hello, everybody. I began trading one year ago and am now looking for the comments from unbiased participants on this forum. A year ago, after a fair amount of investigation and due diligence, I opened my first live account…with FXCM! The primary attraction to this broker was that they SUPPOSEDLY quoted and allowed trading direct with the interbank system, that they were not a market maker. I was more than happy to pay the commission for this model. Welcome to the world of FX!!! According to recent news reports, I was duped. My account ($3300) was transferred to Bain Capital/Forex.com. They are an unabashed market maker with trading desk. I believe that this model creates a conflict of interest and results in the possibility (say no more!) of unfavorable dealer strategies that I now believe I experienced during the last year, such as stop hunting. Can anyone recommend a broker that provides quotes and a non-dealing desk model?
You and tens of thousands of other people.
The regulators’ comments about FXCM were rather “choice” (again 
).
You’re putting it mildly and tactfully compared with what I usually say about FXCM … :8:
Interactive Brokers (very good on all fronts apart from customer service over technical matters, which is very variable and one has to be persistent with them. If you can tolerate that, I recommend them completely). They’re honest, and all my account statements have been 100% reliable and accurate for years. Their commissions are [I][U]low[/U][/I]. Other people to whom I’ve recommended them have been pleased and said so. 
I believe Interactive Brokers suspended their spot Forex offerings in September, 2016 (unless you have $10 million in capital). They do offer futures, but I don’t recall what (if any) the requirements were.
Do you live in the US? Yes, they did - and I’d forgotten about that, whe I posted above, because I had switched from forex to futures a year earlier, so it didn’t affect me. Apologies! :8:
I believe $10k (certainly not $10M!). (Possibly $25k under the US daytrading “pattern” rules, if you do that kind of trading.)
Good luck with the “unbiased” part.
Eighty-four percent* of the U.S. retail forex market is now handled by “retail market-makers”.
Gain Capital (Forex.com) now has a 58%* market-share, and Oanda has a 26%* share.
These two brokers are forex-only.
TD Ameritrade (10%* share) and Interactive Brokers (6%* share) are the only other brokers still standing.
Thank you, World Forex Police! You’ve almost achieved your goal of destroying this entire retail business.
TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers are primarily stock-brokers, and only incidentally forex brokers.
- Edit / correction:
According to data released by the CFTC in early April, market shares are as follows:
Gain Capital 53.5%, Oanda 29.1%, TD Ameritrade 10.7 %, and Interactive Brokers 6.6%.
There are a number of FXCM-haters on this forum. Their criticism of FXCM is shrill and incessant. I don’t share their outrage at the periodic regulatory problems faced by FXCM.
My first forex account was opened with FXCM in 2005. In all my excursions into the world of offshore brokers and offshore trading, I have kept my FXCM account active. In all those years, throughout all the regulatory controversies faced by FXCM, I never had a problem with order-placement, order-execution, margins, platform functionality, or customer service. I never experienced inordinate slippage or re-quotes. I never believed that FXCM was trading against me.
I’m not afraid of “retail market-makers”, probably because I started out with one (FXCM) and I’ve been successful with them. In 2005, there were only “retail market-makers”. I keep putting that phrase in quotes, because “retail market-maker” is exactly how Gain (Forex.com) refers to themselves. They are very up-front about their order-handling protocol.
My FXCM account is now history, having been sold (along with all the other FXCM accounts) to Gain, and formally transferred to Gain just this past weekend. So now, I have a Forex.com account with Gain, which I have not yet traded. I’m not sure what I will do with my Forex.com account, but the fact that it resides with a “retail market-maker” doesn’t scare me.
As far as I know, Dennis (Dennis3450) and I are the only members of this forum who have actually replied to the FXCM-haters. What we’ve both said is basically this: “Rant on about FXCM, if you must. But, they’ve never screwed me.”
.
Yep - I forgot to mention that part. I don’t actually recall if they closed up their spot Forex operations completely or just in the U.S.
Thought I’d mention that I also made an inquiry to TD Ameritrade and was informed that they require $500k in capital to open a spot Forex account.
My first live account was also with FXCM (opened this past December, so it was only open for a little over a month). I didn’t have any complaints, although clearly my experience was a tiny sample size. Like you, I moved to GAIN.
I don’t disbelieve that FXCM was involved in one or two below-the-belt dealings, but I think the vast majority of those who complain are just searching for an object of blame for their failures that doesn’t include themselves.
Clint, you’re not bothered by NFA’s stated reason for barring FXCM, “…numerous abusive and deceptive execution activites…,” stating they were a non-trading desk broker when they were really making the market for at least some trades?
Also, the option of market maker brokers to become the counter party to your trade, all the while maintaining their power to move the price as they wish, doesn’t cause you any concern?
Finally, if Gain and Oanda are really that dominant, then do all of these others Forex Brokers Guide - BabyPips.com really add up to only 15% of the market?
Are there any US-based brokers offering ECN, straight through processing or non dealing desk?
Yes, I am bothered. FXCM screwed up, and they deserved to pay a heavy price for playing fast-and-loose with the STP (straight-through-processing) order-handling protocol that they so vigorously advertised. Should that heavy price amount to ejection from the U.S. financial market? I don’t think so.
This is merely my opinion – take it or leave it: I think the CFTC and their sock-puppet the NFA saw an opportunity to further one of their own agendas by taking the extreme action of banning FXCM forever from the U.S. financial market. I’ve written often about that agenda. I’m not going to rehash that argument here.
FXCM should have been sanctioned, not banned. In my opinion.
Let’s say that I don’t lose sleep over it. If a retail market-maker has [I]the ability to abuse me,[/I] but (so far as I know) [I]never has abused me,[/I] then I’m content.
In my previous post, I described my successful relationship with market-maker brokers over many years of trading. I hope you understood my explanation, because I explained it to the best of my ability. I don’t know how to make it any clearer.
Gain and Oanda dominate [I]the U.S. market.[/I]
Babypips serves a [I]worldwide readership.[/I] When the list you linked to was drawn up, it offered a limited sampling of brokers from various countries, primarily countries where significant numbers of Babypips members reside. The list is badly out of date, so double-check anything you read there.
Worldwide, there are HUNDREDS OF RETAIL FOREX BROKERS – far more than the limited sampling of brokers offered up in the Babypips list you linked to.
Gain + Oanda = 84% of the U.S. market.
But, Gain + Oanda = a much smaller percentage of the worldwide market.
The largest retail forex broker in the world is in Japan, not in the U.S.
If you are a U.S. resident, then understand that almost all of the brokers in the world – including almost all of the brokers on that Babypips list – are off-limits to you. They won’t deal with you.
In choosing a broker, you have very few choices, and your choices all fall into two categories:
(1) U.S.-regulated brokers (Gain, Oanda, TDA, and IB), or
(2) a tiny handful of OFFSHORE BROKERS who are insulated from the U.S. regulators.
That’s it. – That’s what your Nanny Government has done to this business.
Possibly TD Ameritrade or Interactive Brokers, although I have never studied either of them, and can’t comment on their order-execution protocols. If you want specific information on either, or both, of these brokers, you’ll have to do your own due diligence.
.
So as a new “refugee” from FXCM, I now have a live account with Forex.com, but I haven’t yet worked up the guts to trade, even in demo. Anyone here have some experience trading through Forex.com, long enough to know their platform and how to use it, able to share your opinion of working with them? Thanks…
For what it’s worth, I removed my funds from Forex.com Just can’t be comfortable and confident with the market maker model. It’s probably legit on nearly all trades but, based on my understanding, the opportunities to abuse is real, simple and very hard to prove. Of all the dealers working for a broker like Forex.com, all of whom are paid to make money for their broker, it’s just beyond my faith to believe that none of them ever go stop hunting or allow slippage. I’d rather pay a commission and be as certain as possible (thought I was with FXCM!!!) that the game is always transparent and legit.
So where do you go for this?
Looks like we have IB and?
How about offshore?
- Variety
- Way better trading conditions