Does anyone have problems using the FX Trading Station II because you use an Apple Mac computer, are restricted from downloading the platform onto your computer or maybe the FXTS is blocked due to a personal or corporate firewall?
Hi Everyone,
An end of the week update for things happening at FXCM and what to look for next week:
[B]FXCM UK[/B] will be adding new CFD’s this weekend for Brent Crude Oil (UK OIL), the Swiss stock index (SUI30) and the Swedish stock index (SWE30). Disclaimer: CFD’s are not available for US residents. I may also have more details next week on a new currency pair being added.
[B]FXCM US[/B]. Monday and Tuesday is the FXCM currency trading expo in Las Vegas. We look forward to meeting those of you that attend, and I will be there as well. I will also be live tweeting from many of the workshops using the hashtag #FXCMexpo. Please feel free to stop by and say hello.
I will be out of the office until next Wednesday due to the expo, so any posts after today will be answered next Wednesday.
Cheers,
Jason
Hello Everyone,
I will be away on vacation from May 27 through June 6. Any new posts will be answered on June 7th.
If you need immediate help, please contact FXCM client services directly FXCM
BTW, trading hours will continue as normal this weekend. The Memorial Day holiday in the US and other public holidays around the world on Monday will not affect the trading hours. Trading closes on Friday at 4:00pm EDT and opens on Sunday at 5:15pm EDT.
Until then, happy trading, and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!
Jason
Quick Update:
[B]Mobile Trading Station II:[/B] A new version of the Mobile Trading Station II was released today for iPhone and Windows Mobile. The new version will allow you to trade CFD products (if available on your account). The Blackberry and Android versions will be updated by the end of this week.
[B]US Oil:[/B] Please be aware that the USOil CFD contract expires on Friday (June 18th). Any open positions in USOil will be closed at expiration.
[B]FXCM Expo:[/B] The presentations from the FXCM Currency Trading Expo are now available for download. You can find them on the FXCM Expo webpage.
Cheers,
Jason
[B]US July 4 Holiday Trading Hours:[/B]
For forex…The US July 4 holiday will not impact forex trading hours this weekend. Forex trading will close on Friday at 4:00pm EDT and open on Sunday at 5:15pm EDT. However, the holiday may impact overall trading volume and market volatility, especially considering Friday is NFP.
Hi, Jason — Happy Fourth of July.
I want to ask about FXCM’s current thinking on the pending CFTC regs, and also for an update on the Forex Dealers Coalition:
[ul]
[li]Does FXCM have any expectation regarding when the new CFTC regulations might be issued?
[/li]
[li]Does FXCM anticipate that leverage restrictions will be part of the new regs?
[/li]
[li]Is FXCM still actively encouraging U.S. clients to move their trading to the U.K.?
[/li]
[li]Are there other offshore locations which a U.S. client should consider? What about FXCM-Australia, Hong Kong or Dubai?
[/li]
[li]Is the FXDC still functioning? Is there any news from that organization?
[/li][/ul]
Didn’t mean to turn this post into a questionnaire. Thanks, in advance, for your reply.
Clint
Hi Clint,
And a Happy (belated) 4th of July to you as well :)!
We really don’t know when we can expect the CFTC to issue their decision on the new regulations. With the previous NFA rules reducing leverage to 100:1, I believe they were proposed 9-12 months in advance of actually going through, so trying to pick a definitive timeframe for either organization to make a decision is pretty hard.
We’re not actively encouraging traders to move to other entities, such as FXCM UK, but the option is still there. By this point, many of the traders that need more leverage, hedging, or non-FIFO order management have already moved over.
FXCM UK, FXCM Australia, and FXCM Asia (Hong Kong) are still available for everyone to open with. One note about Hong Kong, regulations by the SFC actually require an initial margin requirement of 5% (20:1 leverage) with maintenance margin at 3% and liquidation at 1%. So US based traders looking for higher leverage wouldn’t want to go with FXCM Asia.
The FXDC is still functioning, but I haven’t heard of any recent action. We are keeping a very close eye on any new developments, and you can bet we’ll be sharing info. as soon as anything happens.
-Jason
Hey, Jason
Thanks for the update.
For the FXCM clients…your feedback on this would be appreciated!
We’re developing a way to communicate important notifications to clients in real-time for events such as holiday hours, changes in rollover, platform updates, expirations for oil contracts, stock index adjustments for dividends, etc. In short, the feed includes anything that could have an impact on your trading which you would like to receive notifications about in real time, rather than having us put together an email and blast everyone. To give you an example, the feed is located here FXCM Update (FXCMUpdate) on Twitter and is still in its infancy.
What other types of updates would you like to see in the feed (other than what I have listed) and where would you like to see it placed for you to keep track of it? I’ve heard that the next update to FX Trading Station II will have a window allowing you to add RSS feeds, and an idea is to include the FXCM Update twitter feed as a default in the RSS window. Thoughts?
[B]Trading Alert:[/B] Please be aware that the ECB bank stress test results are coming out at 12pm ET today. This could cause an increase in market volatility.
[B]Next Week:[/B] Here is the schedule for next week’s live trading events for DailyFX:
Mon (Jul 25th, 10:00 EST) – FX Fundamental Forecast with John Kicklighter
Wed (Jul 28th, 8:30 EST) – US Durable Goods (JUN) with John Rivera
Wed (Jul 28th, 17:00 EST) – RBNZ Rate Decision with Ilya Spivak
Friday (Jul 30th, 8:30 EST) – US GDP (2Q A) with David Song
For anyone using the MT4 platform, FXCM has released a new automated trading platform called Strategy Trader. Strategy Trader is currently in beta release and available through FXCM UK. If you have any questions about it, please let me know.
A platform update for the FX Trading Station II is tentatively planned for later this month and I should have more details on the added features the week before the update goes through. Will share more details once I have them available.
-Jason
[B]US Labor Day Holiday & Trading Hours[/B]
Monday September 6th is the US Labor Day holiday. [B]Forex trading hours will remain the same despite the holiday[/B], opening at the regular time of 5:15pm ET on Sunday.
For traders with FXCM UK and FXCM Australia, trading hours for some CFD* products will be modified due to the holiday. Here’s the list of CFD products affected along with the corresponding change in trading hours:
• [B]US 30, SPX 500 and NAS 100 (US indices)[/B] will close at 11:30 AM EST and re-open at 6 PM EST.
• [B]US Oil[/B] will close at 1:15 PM EST and re-open at 6 PM EST.
• [B]UK Oil[/B] will close at 1:30 PM EST and re-open at 8 PM EST.
*CFD trading not available for US residents
[B][U]Reminders for this weekend:[/U][/B]
[B]1. US residents with FXCM UK: [/B] Please be aware accounts are being repatriated this weekend. This means leverage will be reduced to a maximum of 50:1 for major pairs and hedging will be disabled in accordance with CFTC rules. If you have any questions this weekend or after trading opens on Sunday, please do not hesitate to contact client services.
[B]2. Automated Trading Contest: [/B]The automated trading contest for Strategy Trader begins this weekend and lasts until December 3rd.
FXCM
Hi Jason,
I had an account in odl. Later fxcm bought odl and now I have an account in ODL-FXCM.
I asked representative who is working in ODL-FXCM if they can open FSS-forex system selector account(tradency platform) last week.
She said she had asked her general manager and they can open FSS-forex system selector account(tradency platform) so this monday I deposited more than USD 15000 in my account to open it. But later they could not open it because only normal FXCM customers can have it (not odl-fxcm customers)
Later I contacted and with fxcm-uk and I am opening normal FXCM account with fxcm-uk I applied to withdraw my money from odl-fxcm two days ago because I will deposit it to my account in normal FXCM
But FXCM REPS asked me to send bank statement to withdraw my money. I sent them my banking statement that I deposited it but they sent me mail that they did not get it.
I asked odl-fxcm to help me and they said to me that they also sent it. When I talk with customer reps with chat they say they don’t have document but they wait for it.
I do not know why do they ask documents to WİTHDRAW money and I DO NOT KNOW WHY THEY SAY THEY DID NOT TAKE DOCS EVEN THOUGH I SENT?
Some agents said that I have to have activity in my account in my account after my last deposit. Is it true? İf it it is true how many activity they mean.
I asked agent he said a few acivty only. What is the reason for activity when ı ask withdraw?
Do you have any limit for customers to withdraw money?
Do you ask for any more docs etc if they ask to withdraw more than usd10.000?
Why odl-fxcm customers can’T open FSS-forex system selector account(tradency platform) EVEN THOUGH NORMAL FXCM CUSTOMERS CAN OPEN?
What are your detailed procedures of withdrawing money?
I am waiting your answers.
Sincerely yours
Hi Libraman,
Thanks for your post.
You can withdraw any amount at any time. If you sent funds to the account and didn’t trade it, the operations team may only be able to send funds back to the account the funds came from. This would be done to protect against money laundering and fraud. However, this wouldn’t restrict you from receiving your funds back, and you can request any amount you want. The withdrawal request should be submitted through www.myfxcm.com.
I’m not sure about the particular circumstances involved with your account, but I can take a look into it to help if you email me at <[email protected]> .
-Jason
After 1 week I managed to withdraw money from odl-fxcm.
Tomorrow I will open account normal fxcm to use platforms I want.
I traded hundreds of times in the past but ı did not trade after my last deposit but they were thinking I did not trade at all.
Because of official procedures and some hq workers did not check everything I lost time and had difficulties.
Fxcm is a secure and good company but sometimes it is slow and if this may make customers unhappy for a period.
Jason, Thanks for your interest and help.
Hello, Jason
I want to congratulate FXCM for a seamless and trouble-free “repatriation” of U.S. accounts from the U.K., back to the U.S, this past weekend. I hope things went just as smoothly for you in Australia and Hong Kong.
With the exception of the new rules and regulations inflicted on us by the CFTC, the FXCM Trading Station platform and MarketScope charts opened flawlessly on Sunday, as if nothing had happened over the weekend.
I know that this repatriation was made necessary by the CFTC’s onerous new rules; and I know that FXCM is not the only broker whose business model is being adversely affected by CFTC over-regulation.
Personally, I have growing contempt for the heavy-handed, KGB-style actions of the CFTC. And perhaps my view of them is shared by FXCM; however, I fully understand that it wouldn’t be prudent for FXCM to say so publicly.
I could live with the CFTC’s restrictive new rules, if I thought that they were finished screwing up retail forex in this country. Unfortunately, I think they have a larger agenda, and I expect more tampering with U.S. brokers and their clients in the future.
For that reason, I — and many other traders I know — are looking at alternatives to CFTC-regulated forex brokers.
FXCM has the best platform and the best charting package available anywhere, in my opinion. And I have always been completely satisfied with FXCM’s handling of my orders, my trades and my money. Of all the brokers I’m familiar with, FXCM would be my top pick — if it weren’t for your crappy regulator, the CFTC.
Hey Clint,
Thanks for your post. I appreciate the feedback and completely understand why you’re upset with the changes in regulations. No hard feelings from our side, and we’re happy everything went through as smoothly as possible with the transition. The new regulations certainly didn’t make our lives any easier (trying to be as diplomatic as possible here 
), but we’re hopeful that things won’t be changing too drastically going forward.
-Jason