read this over at donna’s forum:
looks like execution has been on the up n’ up, and the new server is balancing the load and improving conditions
i didn’t notice much issue on my end, but others seem happy from the change
Problem is the minimum deposit I believe.
Not to bud in, but what’s the problem? Too low? Too high?
It’s only $200 last I checked: https://pepperstone.com/trading-accounts/accounts-types.php
Oh, do you mean it’s such a low barrier to entry that too many small accounts might clog up the server? Yeah, I can see that might be a concern, but Pepper just launched a new server to load balance things and you can always request to be moved to the new box.
I donno, I’m mixed on the subject: On one hand, I recognize that fewer but larger clients means less load on the server, but on the other hand I like being able to test out a broker live with minimal risk. I like testing the waters and getting comfortable with a broker over time, letting them prove how good they are as issues arise and are addressed (as all brokers will have hic-up, it’s unavoidable with technology.) Pepper passed that test for me at least.
While I never really noticed much of a problem in the past with execution (though some were noticing issues when the old server was packed,) I can say that things have been smooth lately as I’m used to seeing.
I have two live accounts with Pepperstone - Standard and Razor - on which I run the same EA from the same VPS. Sometimes my Razor account (with the lower spreads) would miss a trade taken on my Standard account, with no error messages in the MT4 journal.
Pepperstone explains this is due to the spread differences between the accounts and the different price feed, with the high/low of candles allegedly being different.
Yet in my experience with other brokers, the tighter the spreads the more (not fewer) trades I would get with my EA. I have also compared the high/low of canldes on my two accounts and found them completely identical (kindly refer to the attached screenshot below).
Do you know if Pepperstone is using the Virtual Dealer Plugin? What are the other possible causes of this issue?
Attached is also a screenshot visualizing the particular trade I am referring to (my Standard account’s chart is on the left and my Razor account’s chart is on the right). As you can see, the high/low of canldes are completely identical on both accounts.
I too use both Razor and Standard, so maybe I can help.
The charts will look the same because they are from the same quote feed (Razor.) So your Standard account will have the same exact chart as Razor. The differences in spread is seen in the Market Watch window, that’s where the proper quote will be displayed. (You can see this now yourself by comparing the bid/ask on the chart vs the market watch window when the market opens today.) So visually/chart wise, you’re barking up the wrong tree. They will always appear the same even though Standard is different.
The Razor/Standard difference has affected my EAs before, but as you’d expect it to, with slightly different filled prices on Standard than my Razor.
The quote vs chart price also could through off tick sensitive EAs (such as tick scalpers and what not,) but that should only affect the Standard account, not Razor as you mentioned was your case.
VDP wouldn’t be the case. Pepper runs the agency model (DMA, ECN-like, etc…) VDP wouldn’t fit their business/clearing model.
One thing to consider: Pepper just launched a new server to load balance their existing Edge server. You could always request being moved to the new server to see if that helps. A lot of people have been mentioning how smooth the new server is, both execution and quote wise. Couldn’t hurt to try.
What EAs are you running? Anything commercial? Or stuff you wrote yourself? Just curious.
Thanks for your feedback. I’m running my own EA there.
The server of both of my accounts is edge03.pepperstone.com .
I do see the pricing differences in the market watch, with the Razor account offering even better pricing. That leaves me curious as to why the EA wouldn’t open a trade at these better prices while it would with the worse ones on the Standard account. A pal of mine has suggested that some strategies get more trades with higher spreads but my other low-spread accounts with other brokers (where the pricing is similar to that of Pepperstone Razor) get even more trades than my Pepperstone Standard account.
Pepperstone got back to me again. They’re saying the feed on the chart is that of Razor while on Standard my EA is taking prices from the market watch. Had the Standard market watch feed been displaying on the chart, I would be able to visually comrehend how different it is from the Razor feed. The different trading is a result of this difference. I can only conclude their Razor feed (despite nearly identical spreads) is losing to that of FinFX, Tallinex, Armada Markets, and ATCBrokers with all of which I get more trades than with Razor.
Yeah, like I mentioned, the charts will be the same.
Since the tick rate and such should be identical between Razor and Standard, and Razor should (in theory) allow more price sensitive EAs to pick up on trades, then the next step might be working with Pepperstone to figure out if there’s something else that might be buggering things up (it can happen, account settings get mangled, etc…)
That, or maybe request that the Razor account be changed to the other Edge server and then compare the differences again (switch back if you’re already on the new one.)
There was a poster at ForexFactory that even got their account moved to the institutional server to test out a latency issue and Pepper was able to fix things up for him before moving him back to the regular retail server. All it took was working with Pepper’s trade support desk and talking out the problem. I have a contact over at Pepper that manages such issues and I can pass his email over to you if you’d like. He helped me a few times in the past and it saves you from butting heads with a front line rep… let me know. (Same guy who helped the dude from FF and did the institutional server switch.)
Sure, kindly PM me with his email address. I will keep things intact in the meantime to see how it goes for a couple more weeks. If the issue persists, I’ll be in touch with your rep.
In theory the spread markup for Standard accounts should paint the same charts just shifted down by half a pip… however, with faster moving markets, volatile markets, poor net connections resulting in fewer ticks read and packets dropped, etc… the charts might get a bit off at times when you’re looking at a 1M chart. In the bigger picture, it should all work out the same, but some EAs that are very price sensitive or tick sensitive can experience different results for sure.
Actually, this might not be your problem, but if you’re using a VPS some platform setups might cause missing ticks (and thus missing signals):
Even Windows Server 2k3 vs 2k8 vs 2k12 directly impacts the total amount of ticks received (not that the broker sends less, just the networking stack and such on the OS level has proven to drop more packets by mistake and discard them since ticks are time sensitive.) Look here:
in any case, the new 2012 platform does indeed receive more ticks vs the older generation. This is just the natural evolution of virtualization technology. You will find the most ticks with 2008 and 2012 rather than 2003. 2008 and 2012 are virtually identical in tick count. 2003 less so, can sometimes miss up to 20%.
From: CNS VPS service
So while the tick rate and count on a bar-by-bar basis might appear the same (since they are updated after the fact) the terminal might not get them as they happen if you’re running on an older OS in an older VM setup, so thus the trade doesn’t get triggered.
I’m not convinced this is your problem, since that should affect other brokers as well running on the same platform, but I’m trying to illustrate that issues like this can be caused by a multitude of things that you wouldn’t expect at first glance.
I am running both Pepperstone Razor and Pepperstone Standard from the same VPS. Further, I run my MT4 platforms with other brokers from that same VPS too. Hence, if it was a VPS issue, all of my accounts would be affected, not just Pepperstone Razor.
Yes, like I said, I didn’t think it was the problem, I was just illustrating the point that sometimes things we never thought were related could be the issue. So it’s best to work it out with the broker if they can shed some other light on the issue. Technology is iffy that way.
Would you mind sharing what VPS you are using? I know some brokers offer free VPS hosting with a forex account but I prefer getting something
If it helps, I use CNS’s VPS solution and I’m very happy with them. I think Pepper recommends Beeks since they are fiber connected with Edge but my ping from CNS to the Edge server is 1ms so I’m happy even if they aren’t “On Net” with Edge. (CNS is On Net with the old server though, if anyone still uses it.)
perks up
I just noticed this from a post on ForexFactory’s broker section by mmaker about brokers offering CTrader:
It also shows up on Sprotware’s site.
Then I went to Pepper’s site to confirm and saw this off their main page here: http://pepperstone.com/
But no CTrader page yet in the platform section.
Either way, looks like we will see CTrader added soon at Pepper! 
I’m quite excited about this. ^-^
Got an email from Pepper last night. The new web trader by appears to be live.
https://pepperstone.com/trading-platforms/webtrader.php
I tried it out and it’s a vast improvement over the previous web trader. The new version is rather slick actually…
Quite pleased with this. 
Hi everyone.
Would just like to ask if Pepperstone is the #1 Australian broker for traders who prefer NY-close charts?
Also, Pepperstone > AxiTrader?
Thanks
Anybody can help me with my question above?