Going offshore to escape the CFTC

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
5544

To my fellow ex-JForex clients, I have started to work with MQL5 and found the function “OnBookEvent” interesting.
Could it replace some of the Market Depth functionality we lost when JForex was no longer available to US citizens?
It’s too soon for me to say how useful it is yet, but it looks promising.

2018.09.27 19:19:05.194 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Type: BOOK_TYPE_BUY
2018.09.27 19:19:05.194 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Price: 1.16354
2018.09.27 19:19:05.194 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Volume: 10000000
2018.09.27 19:19:11.755 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Book event for: EURUSD
2018.09.27 19:19:11.755 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Type: BOOK_TYPE_SELL
2018.09.27 19:19:11.755 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Price: 1.16365
2018.09.27 19:19:11.755 test2 (EURUSD,H1) Volume: 20000000

The list on this thread shows several ECN brokers.
I am wondering if looking at an aggregate of their feeds would give some visibility into large orders before price moves.

Thanks all for maintaining this thread. It has been very helpful over the years.

5545

I don’t know, but I doubt it. I’d say I might be "the DOM Meister"
in some less than legendary way, having probably worked more
with extracting info from the JForex API DOM than just about
anyone else. It would appear to me that MT5 brokers only
optionally implement this feed…

So can you inform us 1) which broker’s feed you are using,
and 2) what is the “density” and “quality” of that feed accessible
programmatically? Looking at the Coinexx MT5 client platform,
it doesn’t seem like they implement the DOM at all… But I
haven’t delved into any MT5 code. There is the possibility,
though I haven’t looked into it, that the NJ4X API framework
has implemented MT5 callbacks concerning DOM information,
and I’ll actually ask that question of NJ4X…

But, for me, since I already have that from the JForex API
and a guaranteed 10 levels of DOM on both sides of the market
on every tick of the incoming feed, I don’t think that any
"free" feed can beat that… I could always be proven wrong,
so let us know what you’ve discovered.

How about coming up with a distribution of Price/Size which
is, say, 3 PIPs wide, and publishing a sample of the available
data? Believe me, this is a very difficult thing to do, so maybe
you can enlighten me and others on what the MT5 DOM
can offer?

[EDIT] as I’ve said elsewhere, just having “data” is only one
step in a multi-step analytic process to get “usable” information
from the DOM whose only purpose, to me, is predicting future
Price action…

[EDIT2] just to tip-toe just a little “into the weeds” there are two
fundamental ways of analyzing 1) using size analyzers at every
possible price level, or 2) using size analyzers sensitive to a "delta"
price distance from the current inside market. Hint: the second
alternative doesn’t yield anything useful… etc…

[EDIT3] DOM means “Depth of Market” or “the Book” if that is
confusing to some, since in Forex usually there is no access to
this information; all we see is the “inside market” which bears
no predictive information at all, “nada”, nothing…

hyperscalper

5546

In HyperScalper’s quote, above, the sentence I have highlighted is poorly worded.

GMT+3 is not a time. GMT+3 is a time-zone.

Apparently, Finpro means that midnight in the GMT+3 time-zone is recognized as “end of day” in the forex market.

And this is true for one-half of the year, specifically the northern hemisphere summer months.

There’s nothing bone-headed about it. Time-zones are complicated and confusing. Throw daylight saving time changeovers into the mix every 6 months, and you have a bloody mess.

5 pm New York time is recognized as “end of day” in the forex market, because it marks the lull in trading each day, when the Asian, European, UK, and North American forex markets are “closed”, and only the Pacific markets (New Zealand and Australia) are “open”. It is as close as our market comes to being “closed for the day” between Monday and Friday. Only on the weekend, from 5 pm Friday until 5 pm Sunday, is the market actually “closed”.

Finpro’s new “end of day” time – midnight GMT+3 – will match 5 pm New York time from early March until early November each year. But, between early November and early March, when Europe, the UK, and North America are all on standard time, the actual “end of day” at 5 pm New York time will be 1 am GMT+3 (not midnight GMT+3).

To say that a different way, during northern hemisphere winter, Finpro’s end-of-day time will correspond to 4 pm New York time.

A much more sensible change to the Finpro server time would be: GMT+2 with a shift to daylight saving time during northern hemisphere summer. This would mean, in effect, that Finpro server time would be GMT+2 from November until March, and GMT+3 from March until November. That way, throughout the year, Midnight on the Finpro servers would be 5 pm New York time.

We’ll have to watch what happens in a few weeks, when the world’s three largest forex markets go off of daylight saving time and return to standard time.

1 Like
5547

Yeah, this is not a big deal. An indicator can easily be written
which can draw vertical bars so that the rightmost "candle"
is given a GMT time, and each hour in the past is also
correctly labelled with its GMT time, despite the fact that the horizontal
chart axis may be offset by a few hours… It’s just best to use
GMT, in my opinion, to designate all times in Forex.

The London session is at 08:00 GMT, unless we are in
British Summer Time, when it is actually 07:00 GMT and
that’s not so much an issue, except for that period in the
U.S. for example when our Daylight Time temporarily
is out of synch with British “Summer” Time…

Since I am absolutely not “a candle guy” then it is nearly
irrelevant for me… It’s just confusing when you are trying
to find a point on a chart, and match it up with a given
time, nothing much more than that…

[EDIT] but if they screw around with latency to the broker
servers, and degrade performance by relocating the data
center 3 hours toward Russia, then that will piss me off
since I work from Amsterdam !

hyperscalper

5548

Well, you can use Midnight Ouagadougou Time for your end-of-day, if you insist.

But, I’ll continue to use Midnight at Castle Dracula in Transylvania as my end-of-day.

Transylvania has the good sense to stay in sync with all of Europe and the UK, every day of the year. And except for two weeks in the spring, and one week in the fall, Transylvania is in sync with North America year-round, as well.

For the geographically challenged, Transylvania is in eastern Europe in the GMT+2 time-zone, and Midnight at Castle Dracula just happens to coincide with 5 pm New York time.

This is vital information that you can only get on the Babypips site :rofl:

5549

Actual screenshot of what I actually use !!!
Great mindz think alike !? lol :slight_smile:

Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou649×598 22.1 KB

hyperscalper

5550

You almost gave a good occasion to “get you” by asking: which Dracula Castle do you mean? :slight_smile:

As it became a good tourist attracation, more castle`s try to clame they are the real Dracula Castle.

However, I do not ask which one you meant as they are all in the same time zone so in the case of your example it really doesn´t make a difference :slight_smile:

I like how you shaked up a bit the already interesting time zone discussion.

5551

I thought you guys should know today, though this is slightly related and not, I know that some of theses exchanges were listed on here

The FBI/SEC/CFTC all seized the domain for 1broker and sued it for security and future violation and wire fraud. They’re out to send a message to crypto, and 1broker offered forex on there. Then later evolvemarkets instituted a georestriction for us customers, so did whalepool, and simplefx.

IT’s getting EXTREMELY hard for us to use leverage on crypto or to do options.

I’m looking into the loopholes for foreign entity corporation etc, and secondary residency. I know its cost prohibitive, but I’m willing to do it. Do you know if Frank Dodd applies to citizenship or residency or both. Would residency be enough?

5552

damn https://www.coindesk.com/sec-cftc-charge-bitcoin-futures-firm-1broker-with-securities-law-violations/

5553

I notice the georestriction at Evolve.Markets when using an IP address from the U.S. …this is getting depressing…

A VPN or server outside the U.S. avoids this, but it is an
ominous sign…

hyperscalper

5554

ESMA RESTRICTIONS ON RETAIL FOREX

I’m just posting this for our information.

[EDIT] ESMA's Leverage Restrictions on Retail Forex Will Have Ripple Effects
as additional perspective.

[EDIT2] Escape From Cyprus: Brokers Flee Unstable European Regulatory Regime

Apologies if this is duplication of information…

hyperscalper

5555

1broker-domain-seizure
1broker-domain-seizure815×669 130 KB

no comment…

[EDIT] As many know, the FBI seized backpage DOT com alleging
s*x trafficking and other illegal activities. Here is an article on
what happens when the FBI seizes a domain… I AM JUST
OFFERING INTERESTING BACKGROUND INFO ON THE
DOMAN SEIZURE PROCESS, NOT MAKING ANY COMMENT.

[EDITfbi] Information on 1Broker.com Seizure — FBI

[EDITundercover] https://bitcoinist.com/1broker-com-domain-seized-by-the-fbi/
TIP: click to expose the comments below that article

[EDIT] “sister site” 1Fox also in jeopardy: https://cryptoinsider.com/1broker-trading-site-seizure-by-fbi-likely-to-affect-sister-site-1fox/

hyperscalper

5556

COINBASE TO OFFER MANY MORE CRYPTO TYPES

Video by CNBC with Coinbase CEO

hyperscalper

5557

COINEXX RECENT FAVORABLE OVERVIEW AND REVIEW

[EDIT] more reviews, with which I agree, and which I assume
are genuine, nearly all positive: Coinexx Forex Broker, Coinexx Review, Coinexx Information

hyperscalper

5558

The CFTC wording in the 1broker case is troubling.

"The problem with Defendants’ business is that they are illegally offering offexchange,
retail commodity transactions to U.S. customers without being registered with
Plaintiff Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”), and they are failing to
implement adequate anti-money laundering and related supervisory procedures that such
registration entails. "

Federal judges have ruled that cryptocurrencies are commodities.
Is the CFTC setting a precedent with this case?

5559

Evolve Markets
Evolve Markets451×526 37.1 KB

Despite the wording “at this time” in the notification above, it appears that Evolve Markets no longer meets our qualifications, and should be removed from our List. I will attend to that chore today or tomorrow.

1 Like
5560

Perhaps, just as we’ve gradually phased brokers in, we could just
put a warning that the broker is being “phased out” and that we’re watching these evolving regulatory conditions…

After all, what’s important is that we’ve identified that the brokers
cannot be seen as “soliciting” U.S. persons; but that there is no
legal prohibition to establishing an account which has not been
publicly “solicited” ?.. just a thought… This is particularly true
for brokers which are not intrusive about nationality otherwise…

Here in the U.S. with the fall of the “net neutrality” regulations
to the Republicans, most of us use VPN’s (without advertising,
I’m using NordVPN… but many others) and so an IP geolocation
serves as a “not soliciting U.S. persons” announcement to the world,
and to the would be regulators…
while we can certainly seek out the broker through increasingly
common methods such as VPN or usage of a VPS or dedicated
systems geolocated elsewhere…

I’m just saying that might be a better approach to this situation,
than list removal… which recognizes what we’ve already discussed
regarding public “solicitation” of U.S. persons…?

[EDIT] I’d suggest that we should take “at this time” … literally in
the case of Evolve.Markets as they may respond with a jurisdiction
or other alteration in business model, so we should give them some
time to do so…

[EDIT-hosts-file] Just FYI, if you make hostfile changes for
Evolve.Market for IP address 62.210.104.100 evolve.markets
…then you do NOT see the geolocation warning !! I don’t know
know enough about network routing to have an explanation…
This is from a U.S. IP address: (with the hosts file entry)

localhosts-evolve-markets-from-us
localhosts-evolve-markets-from-us1296×744 57.5 KB

hyperscalper

5561

REACTION TO SEIZURE OF 1BROKER

Twitter-1broker-overreach
Twitter-1broker-overreach720×495 117 KB

…as seen on a Twitter search… I don’t log into Twitter
myself, but do use public search… I agree with
the sentiments that this represents “overreach” and
that we as a group should strongly oppose this
trend…

[EDIT] just adding information on how 1broker’s charges
were trumped up… again, from a Twitter user…

FBI-undercover-1broker

hyperscalper

5562

LOCALHOSTS WORKAROUNDS WHICH MAY ALLOW
ACCESS IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES RE: 1BROKER

…just posting this as a public service… I don’t know
whether it works in all cases or not… but this avoids
access to the various DNS services which, in turn,
avoids some redirection, etc…

FBI-1broker-localhosts-workaround
FBI-1broker-localhosts-workaround1028×632 78.9 KB

[…incorrect info removed…]

[MAJOR-EDIT] I removed incorrect information. Indeed, if
you are able to follow the instructions, then you can access
1broker.com from a U.S. IP address. HOWEVER… in the
case of Windows you will face a couple of minor hurdles
in changing your hosts file… Firstly, here’s a screenshot of
access to 1broker.com using the hosts modification, and then
I will explain the minor hurdles you need to jump through…

fbi-1broker-using-hosts-file
fbi-1broker-using-hosts-file1304×762 298 KB

[EDIT-technical-hurdles]
I just want to explain what’s happening here. You want to
edit your “hosts” file. First of all, it has no “file extension”
so you won’t be able to use Windows notepad to edit it, as
it is fairly dumb as concerns needing a file extension. My
recommendation: get Notepad++ from this site.
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
It is a safe, open source editor which is better in all respects
than simple Windows notepad…

Another issue is that “hosts” is considered a “system file”,
and so Windows appropriately “cloaks” this file from the
naive user. You want to change your Windows Files and
Folders view to NOT hide any system files, and also to show
all “file extensions” of all files…

Then even knowing this, you may try to navigate using
Windows Explorer to the specific location of your “hosts”
file… but find that it seems NOT to be there !! It is there,
of course, but being “hidden” from you…

The specific path to the “hosts” file, which you should open
in Notepad++ (but firstly, run Notepad++ “as administrator”)
by entering the full path:
“\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts”

That will open the file. Then follow the instructions shown
above to enter this entry on a single new line. I use a
TAB to separate the two:
“104.25.96.11 1broker.com”
that space between the two should be a TAB character,
I think… but spaces may also work.
Then you need to SAVE the file, and the system could complain
that it can’t do that since privileges may be required. Notepad++
can “reboot” itself into privileged mode, but you’ll just need
to try that…

Once you have the “hosts” file changed… Whew !!! Then
you can ping 1broker.com and you will get a ping response
from a Windows Command Prompt. More importantly, if
you enter http://1broker.com into a web browser like Firefox,
you will get through to the image above, which I posted,
EVEN from a U.S. originating IP address…

Sorry this seems complex but, hey, you learned a little bit
about the local hosts file on your Windows system; and of
course the same technique would work on Linux, etc…

[EDIT] unless you make this change in your “hosts” file,
you will be unable to use a browser. If you enter
http://104.25.96.11
in the absence of making a change to the hosts file,
then you will get a malformed http request related error,
and CloudFlare will popup a page which will completely
confuse you… You must make the change in your local
hosts file, and then it should work !.. Geez ! lol :slight_smile:

[EDIT-final] Please don’t mess up your local hosts file…
Get some help if you have any doubts…

[EDIT-one-more] Here are some entries you may wish
to make in your hosts files, as I did:
104.25.96.11 1broker.com
62.210.104.100 evolve.markets
185.67.45.77 coinexx.com
64.91.238.205 finprotrading.com
104.25.96.11 1fox.com
112.196.28.196 turnkeyforex.com

hyperscalper

5563

im afraid every broker on our list will be target sooner or later.