having received the following e.mail today from my broker, FXCM, I thought I should share its contents here, to see if Jason (Rogers) or others would like to comment…I am delighted, needless to say!
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FXCM is taking the next steps to evolve our famous No Dealing Desk forex execution. We’re introducing an exciting NEW forex-pricing model with raw spreads1 and low commissions that significantly reduces trading costs for our most popular currency pairs when compared with previous typical spreads. FXCM will now provide raw spreads, which means no markups1 on the prices from our liquidity providers. FXCM is now primarily compensated by transparent low commissions per lot.
To ensure you have sufficient time to manage positions and learn about the new pricing model the account(s) listed above are scheduled to upgrade automatically to the new pricing model under FXCM’s No Dealing Desk Offering after trading closes Friday, 24 October 20142.
Please visit the Forex Pricing Upgrade Center and view the Rate Card to learn more.
THE NEXT EVOLUTION IN NO DEALING DESK:
Lower Spreads plus Commission3
Past Model: Spread New Model:
Spread New Model: Standard Commission/1K Order *
I was messing around today with usd/cad its around a .6 spread then u have 4 cents charge to cover, took me a bit to figure it out. so thats 10 cent cover per trade per mini lot, but the spread gets tighter than .6 some.
Sorry for not replying to this thread sooner. Yes, our new pricing is available to FXCM UK clients. You can see these live rates now on the FXCM UK website.
As I mentioned to PipMeHappy in a post in the Broker Aid Station, we’ve received lots of feedback from traders excited to switch over to our new pricing, but the transition is being done region by region 1) to ensure we follow regulatory requirements for due notice to traders which vary by regulator and 2) to ensure an orderly transition within our own system so as not to negatively impact our traders.
FXCM UK clients with non-spread betting accounts will have these accounts upgraded to our new pricing after trading closes on Friday, October 24th. Spread betting accounts will also benefit from FXCM’s new pricing, and our clients with spread betting accounts will be receiving more details on this in the near future.
When FXCM acquired Lucid Markets in the summer of 2012, we stated in the public presentation that Lucid won’t be making markets for retail clients on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution, and that’s still the case today: FXCM to Acquire Lucid Markets (NYSE:FXCM)
While Lucid makes markets for our institutional clients (FXCMPro.com), all the orders placed by our retail clients on NDD execution are offset one-for-one with independent third-party liquidity providers.
FXCM does not profit from the losses of our clients on our NDD model. Instead, we make our money from their trading volume. In the past, we did this by adding fixed pip markups to the spread, but on our new pricing model those markups have been replaced with transparent low commissions.
I apologize for the confusion. The new account minimum is £2000, but existing FXCM clients will be grandfathered in even if they have a lower account balance.
Where did you see a reference to £25? I’ll ask our web developers to get that corrected.
In fact, the only deposit or withdrawal method that has a fee is bank wire transfer. However, that’s only necessary if you’re looking to deposit more than £20,000 in a single month in which case you would mostly likely still qualify for free bank wires through our Active Trader program.
If you’re looking to deposit less than £20,000 then my recommendation would be to deposit and withdraw funds using your debit card. It’s free and deposits appear instantly in your trading account. When you make a withdrawal, that’s also free, and the funds are sent back to your bank account that’s linked to your debit card.
Quick update for traders in the UK and Ireland: Spread betting accounts can now benefit from FXCM’s new pricing. Note that as part of the special tax-free status of this account type for UK and Ireland residents, we can’t charge a separate commission on your spread betting trades. Therefore, instead of a commission, we include an equivalent markup in the spread. However, your total transaction costs (spread with markup) are still comparable to those of non-spread betting account (spread plus commission).
Based on our earlier correspondence, you’re currently trading on non-spread betting account. That means you’re trading on raw FX spreads and pay a separate commission. The transaction cost on an FXCM spread betting account would be the same, except that the commission would be replaced with an equivalent markup to the spread. That’s because regulations don’t allow commissions to be charged on spread betting accounts.
With FXCM both spread betting and non-spread betting accounts can trade forex, metals, stock indices and energy products. (unless you live in the US like me, in which case you can only trade forex)