A stop on a CHF/JPY short position at 117.378 was run through and not executed at all. (I received a message saying that it could not be executed). Right now the price is above 131.00 (over 1350 pips past the stop). Loss is 4.7 times the intended risk.
A GBP/CHF long position closed with over 2000 pips in slippage. Loss was 7 times the intended risk.
A USD/CHF long position closed with over 1300 pips in slippage. The stop was 157 pips positive in the trade. The initial risk was 164 pips. The loss was 967 pips (5.9 times greater than the initial intended risk).
Three trades that collectively should have put on less than 3% initial risk to my account lost me 40%.
Result? Account is 40% down today.
What to do now…??
I might also mention I had a buy order for CHF/JPY at 121.99 that was not filled. It still shows up in my platform as an open order with an entry time that keeps updating to the current time and a status of “Pending In Process”. Not sure if I should delete it or what.
[QUOTE=“Arbitrager on Acid;677239”]Today’s mayhem in my FXCM account: A stop on a CHF/JPY short position at 117.378 was run through and not executed at all. (I received a message saying that it could not be executed). Right now the price is above 131.00 (over 1350 pips past the stop). Loss is 4.7 times the intended risk. A GBP/CHF long position closed with over 2000 pips in slippage. Loss was 7 times the intended risk. A USD/CHF long position closed with over 1300 pips in slippage. The stop was 157 pips positive in the trade. The initial risk was 164 pips. The loss was 967 pips (5.9 times greater than the initial intended risk). Three trades that collectively should have put on less than 3% initial risk to my account lost me 40%. Result? Account is 40% down today. What to do now…?? I might also mention I had a buy order for CHF/JPY at 121.99 that was not filled. It still shows up in my platform as an open order with an entry time that keeps updating to the current time and a status of “Pending In Process”. Not sure if I should delete it or what.[/QUOTE]
Ouch… I can assure you there are many traders in the exact same situation if that helps at all. FXCM will probably end up taking large losses themselves as they have a policy that you will not be held liable for losses greater then your account.
There were undoubtedly a lot of clients holding full margined longs at 1.2010 that sustained 100% +++ drawdowns where FXCM had to cover the losses that exceeded the clients capital. Today’s move could very well bankrupt a few small under funded brokers, especially non-us brokers offering 1:100 to 1:500 leverage. It may provide fodder for the CFTC to lower the max leverage US retailer can take to be even less then it is now.
After a chat with FXCM support I closed the unfilled order and submitted an audit. I am simply managing the CHF/JPY position that was left open with a new stop. (As long as it is moving in the direction of my trade and it has been,
i should just let it ride).
If I factor in the possibility of slippage of this magnitude each time I trade, I will not even be using leverage at all. The cumulative leverage of these three trades was three to one (each one was one to one on the account). Rather than risking 1% on a trade, you would need to risk 17 basis points if you assume slippage of 1000 pips.
Fortunately I was on the other side of the trade. I took 1200 + pips from USD/CHF. On the other side of the equation… what happened to the traders who where on the right side of the trade? Did their take profits get nailed? Did the market go straight through their tp’s? If It did, and the brokers are required to refund the accounts that didn’t get stopped out correctly, will the broker take the profit exceeding the winning trades take profit? I have seen big moves in the currency, but never a move this monumental and this fast. My buddy was on the wrong side like you guys, lost 1400 pips. Hope you guys are able to work something out with your broker. Let me know if you guys find anything…
Hi,
As everyone knows SNB was very kind to all those who trusted the 1.20 floor for eur/chf.
I have a question about being stopped out.I basically lost more than 900 pips as the SL was
not triggered. My broker is alpari.
Now, I have appealed this shocking slippage.I have read some knowledgeable people here
mentioning that the price just jumps over the SL during high volatility.
My questions is this.I had two orders with the same stop loss (at the same price) before the massive fall.
However one got triggered a little lower than my stop loss while the other just ran and basically almost
wiped my entire equity off.
I plan to appeal based on the fact that one order was stopped out and the other not which makes no sense to me.
Could you please enlighten me with your knowledge on this.All your help is greatly appreciated.
You would have to think so. A trader trading GBP/CHF with no leverage whatsoever would have still lost 14% of his account value in slippage if filled as I was. 11% on USD/CHF. 11% on CHF/JPY. (36% if trading all three as I did with 3 to 1 leverage)
Someone leveraged 10 to 1 in any one or some assemblage of all would be wiped.
We may possibly hear about some hedge fund that pulled billions on this today.
I am not the least bit phased by it. Shix happens. I live on to trade another day.
Same happened to me. stop was run through and not executed. I cancelled s/l manually. However all 4 positions were still closed in 15 minutes causing 1600*4 pips damage.
Good luck, I lost all for my FXCM account for the GBPCHF long position.
FXCM ignored my stop loss set and closed my EURUSD position.
There’re some good companies like ib, cmc, ig, still operated well, so there’s no excuse for FXCM.
Won’t use it anymore
If you have questions about the execution of a particular trade on your account, I encourage you to file a trade inquiry using the appropriate form below for your account type:
[ul]
[li]FXCM AU audit form – bit.ly/1sBMcqS
[/li][li]FXCM UK audit form – bit.ly/1lQlJ7Z
[/li][li]FXCM US audit form – bit.ly/1bPwxzZ
[/li][/ul]
Where possible, please include the Amount Disputed, the Trade Size (AKA Amount/Volume), the Trade Open and Close Prices, whether it was a Buy or Sell position (Long/Short), the Currency Pair/Symbol, and the Time in question. The more details you can provide, the sooner the Trade Services Team will be able to get back to you with a resolution. That said, please allow additional time for your case to be reviewed. The Swiss National Bank shocked the markets today by abandoning their 1.20 floor on EUR/CHF: Swiss Franc Skyrockets as SNB Announce End of Currency Floor
This one is going under today and there will certainly be more. Even if you came out of today unscathed you want to make sure your deposit is in a safe place.
My guess is dealers knowing they could trade at new levels, filled losing and profit taking orders at their trigger level by trading with the client and let all other orders slip in order to prevent losses to the dealer. If that had been an entry or a stop, it would have been run through without execution.
“[I]‘Due to unprecedented volatility in EUR/CHF pair after the Swiss National Bank announcement this morning, clients experienced significant losses,’ FXCM said in a statement dated Jan. 15. That ‘generated negative equity balances owed to FXCM of approximately $225 million.’
FXCM’s shares dropped 15 percent yesterday to $12.63, the lowest in almost two years. That reduced its market capitalization to $595.6 million. Spokeswoman Jaclyn Klein didn’t immediately respond to phone calls to her mobile and office phones.[/I]"
Hi,Have you considered suing the broker through a body like fca or financial
ombudsman?I was also caught out loosing over 900 pips.The problem I have
is both the buy orders I had placed had the stop loss at the same price and
only 1 was trigerred while the other just ran all the way down basically
wiping almost my entire equity.
Having written to them ,the only explanation they could muster was
orders are held in a queue and since the other stop loss order was lower down
it was not executed.
Do you think it is a vaild point?
