FXCM Review Scores

almost useless withdrawal methods.... specially for non-us people.

They should have let this broker go out of business. Thanks Leucadia for bailing out the worst broker in the US.

I would trade coconuts rather than trade with this broker.

Horrible spreads, undesirable trading conditions.

No Thanks!

dazrobson posted:
Hi Jason,

i have been through the live chat a few times - to try find answer to this - and got no-where -
i am in a group that has people from all over the world on quite a number of different brokers - all using MT4 -
what is very noticeable right now is the massive price difference that I am seeing on my FXCM account - yet no other broker is showing this at all !
massive 2-300 pip candles - yet all other brokers have 60-70 pips,

what is your take on this ? most traders in our group are very experienced and suggest you guys are now dealing in house and chasing stops - to recover .....
two examples this week alone on one pair !
28-01-2015 - EURAUD 1900 GMT - 199 pip candle - not present on any other broker !
27-01-2015 - EURAUD 1330 GMT - 136 pip candle - not present on any other broker !

i have stopped trading live on my FXCM account until someone answers my question! or we see you in the news that the regulators have jumped on you !

can you explain this ? you seem to be the online face for FXCM ..

@dazrobson

Thanks for your questions. Let me begin by saying that if you had any live trades that were stopped out by the spikes you mentioned, I encourage you to file a trade inquiry so the Trade Services Team can investigate what happened: https://bit.ly/1lQlJ7Z

If there was an error in our execution, we will make the appropriate correction to your account. That said, I would like to address your general concerns about our execution. If there were any doubts before, it should be pretty clear now that FXCM does not benefit when clients lose on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution. 😄

On the NDD model, we offset each of your orders one-for-one with the best prices from competing liquidity providers. That means we don't profit from your losses or lose from your profits. Instead, we make money from your trading volume, so we want you to be profitable. We don't hunt stops, because we have nothing to gain from you losing on a trade. Furthermore, we will continue to offer our clients NDD execution.

Hi Jason,

i have been through the live chat a few times - to try find answer to this - and got no-where -
i am in a group that has people from all over the world on quite a number of different brokers - all using MT4 -
what is very noticeable right now is the massive price difference that I am seeing on my FXCM account - yet no other broker is showing this at all !
massive 2-300 pip candles - yet all other brokers have 60-70 pips,

what is your take on this ? most traders in our group are very experienced and suggest you guys are now dealing in house and chasing stops - to recover .....
two examples this week alone on one pair !
28-01-2015 - EURAUD 1900 GMT - 199 pip candle - not present on any other broker !
27-01-2015 - EURAUD 1330 GMT - 136 pip candle - not present on any other broker !

i have stopped trading live on my FXCM account until someone answers my question! or we see you in the news that the regulators have jumped on you !

can you explain this ? you seem to be the online face for FXCM ..

The $300M loan provided by Jefferies Group (a unit of Leucadia) allows FXCM to meet our regulatory capital requirements worldwide and continue normal operations. That means trading, deposits and withdrawals continue as before.

To reiterate, trading on FXCM's systems continue in the normal course of business. It is important to stress that FXCM is not insolvent, has not filed for any form of bankruptcy, and is in compliance with all regulatory capital requirements in the jurisdictions in which it operates.

Seems you have done worse than Lehman to get wiped out without having proper risk control on the EURCHF. Your financial strength got wiped & now you have a 300M loan with a 10% coupon. Seems like the company is now up for sale although I cant see anyone who would want it with its current balance sheet.

I must say the ASIC rules with having client funds fully segregated is the best option after FXCM's close shave with insolvency

Irishmist posted:
Regardless what you give me in terms of a discount comes the new year I am moving my accounts somewhere else as a matter of principal. I only had praise for FXCM until you pulled this stunt of an account that turns over 5 to 10m a month is equal to an account that turns over 50k.

As mentioned in my previous post, FXCM's new pricing has lowered overall transaction costs for retail and Active Trader accounts alike: https://www.myfxbook.com/forex-broker-spreads

It's only that the additional savings from these changes were not as much for Active Trader as they were for retail accounts, since the pricing on Active Trader accounts was already lower to begin with. It seems you've already made your mind about this, but should that change, please let me know and I'll be happy to arrange a follow up for you with our Active Trader department to see if they can save you even more.

Irishmist posted:
Your financials are not looking all that great as you have been losing business & market share due to the many factors.

I'm not sure where you got that impression. The past year saw FXCM acquire the accounts from two other forex brokers. Furthermore, the latest publicly available monthly metrics show that FXCM had all-time record institutional trading volume in November 2014, and retail trading volume over the same period was second only to the record volume of the previous month: https://ir.fxcm.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=886920

Irishmist posted:
You are not bigger than Lehman & they where listed & went bust

Interesting point, however, Lehman held large positions in subprime mortgages which led to their downfall. FXCM does nothing of the kind. Furthermore, our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution model means that unlike dealing desk forex brokers, FXCM doesn't take the market risk on the other side of client trades. That means we don't profit from client losses, or lose from client profits. Instead, we make our money from client trading volume, and I already mentioned our latest volume stats above.

altagracia posted:
I contacted twice by telephone, never answered my call.

But they responded to my email.

@altagracia I'm glad you receive a response to your email, but I want to make sure you have access to the correct phone number for your location, so you can reach FXCM's live customer support which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your forum profile doesn't mention your country of residence, but if you send me a private message with that info, I can confirm the corrrect phone number for you to use.

KZerind posted:
was difficult to adapt to their platform.

@KZerind I assume you're referring to the Trading Station platform. It's worth noting, however, that FXCM offers multiple platforms, so if you prefer, you can trade your FXCM account using MT4, NinjaTrader, Mirror Trader or ZuluTrade among other platforms: https://bit.ly/1oFhcXq

I contacted twice by telephone, never answered my call.

But they responded to my email.

jasonrogers posted:

Irishmist posted:
Cause with your active trader account you shafted me in the deal when you introduced your new pricing at $12 per 100k on all your accounts. You guys are charging twice the amount of any other STP broker like LMAX Exchange or IC Markiets

@Irishmist

While FXCM's new pricing lowered transaction costs for standard accounts holders, Active Trader accounts also benefited though perhaps not by as much, since the pricing on these accounts was already lower to begin with: https://www.myfxbook.com/forex-broker-spreads

Spreads are important, but they are just one factor out of many to consider when choosing a broker along with quality of trade execution, 24-hour customer support, trading platforms offered, charting, educational resources and safety of funds. It's no secret that the brokerage industry has been in the midst of a price war for the past few years. That combined with lower trading volumes over the past couple of years have caused many brokers to struggle. In recent times, we have seen brokers that have gone bankrupt in Europe, the US and Australia: https://bit.ly/1H78Iz3

How can you know whether the broker you choose is a safe place to keep your money? Are they profitable, or are they barely staying afloat? Unfortunately, the vast majority of forex brokers are privately-held companies, so it's hard to know the state of their finances. That's why all traders need to ask brokers the following questions regarding their financial stability.

1. What are your revenues?
2. How profitable is your firm?
3. Do you have a top-tier third-party accounting firm auditing your financials?

The live spread table here on Myfxbook shows that when you factor in both spreads and commissions together, FXCM's new pricing is competitive even with smaller brokers, while still providing the added benefits of trading with of global firm regulated on four continents and publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: FXCM). Your forum profile mentions that you live in the UK, so it's worth noting that we also offer spread betting accounts and our registration with the FCA gives you the added protection of local regulation and FSPS insurance of up to 50k GBP for your account: https://bit.ly/1AmsvKE

Since you are an Active Trader, we may be able to get you a further discount on your commissions. To explore this option with an Active Trader specialist, please email [email protected] and mention my name referencing this discussion.

You go on about a listed company, safety of funds blah bla blah. The point is A respectable company honors its agreements. You simply do not make an agreement & once I deposit a large amount of funds you decide to change the structure of the agreed pricing. If you decided to change your business model then you should have left your negotiated agreements as is & applied your new business model only to your standard accounts.

As for spread betting. I have been trading FX for the past 30 years. I don't know what gave the idea that I am a mug who has no system, no strategy & no investment plan to gamble on binary options HIGH or LOW within specific period of time. If I wanted to gamble I would do that at William Hill or Ladbrokes with much better odds

Regardless what you give me in terms of a discount comes the new year I am moving my accounts somewhere else as a matter of principal. I only had praise for FXCM until you pulled this stunt of an account that turns over 5 to 10m a month is equal to an account that turns over 50k.

Also you should not bad mouth other brokers as you certainly have a long history with the CFTC & the FCA with huge amounts of fines for pulling that many tricks in your client accounts the only problem is you did get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Your financials are not looking all that great as you have been losing business & market share due to the many factors. (You are not bigger than Lehman & they where listed & went bust)

What matters is the regulations you are trading under & the client accounts being segregated at a prime bank. As long as it is a UK broker operating under the FCA rules that should be enough security for any funds deposited.

was difficult to adapt to their platform.

Irishmist posted:
Cause with your active trader account you shafted me in the deal when you introduced your new pricing at $12 per 100k on all your accounts. You guys are charging twice the amount of any other STP broker like LMAX Exchange or IC Markiets

@Irishmist

While FXCM's new pricing lowered transaction costs for standard accounts holders, Active Trader accounts also benefited though perhaps not by as much, since the pricing on these accounts was already lower to begin with: https://www.myfxbook.com/forex-broker-spreads

Spreads are important, but they are just one factor out of many to consider when choosing a broker along with quality of trade execution, 24-hour customer support, trading platforms offered, charting, educational resources and safety of funds. It's no secret that the brokerage industry has been in the midst of a price war for the past few years. That combined with lower trading volumes over the past couple of years have caused many brokers to struggle. In recent times, we have seen brokers that have gone bankrupt in Europe, the US and Australia: https://bit.ly/1H78Iz3

How can you know whether the broker you choose is a safe place to keep your money? Are they profitable, or are they barely staying afloat? Unfortunately, the vast majority of forex brokers are privately-held companies, so it's hard to know the state of their finances. That's why all traders need to ask brokers the following questions regarding their financial stability.

1. What are your revenues?
2. How profitable is your firm?
3. Do you have a top-tier third-party accounting firm auditing your financials?

The live spread table here on Myfxbook shows that when you factor in both spreads and commissions together, FXCM's new pricing is competitive even with smaller brokers, while still providing the added benefits of trading with of global firm regulated on four continents and publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: FXCM). Your forum profile mentions that you live in the UK, so it's worth noting that we also offer spread betting accounts and our registration with the FCA gives you the added protection of local regulation and FSPS insurance of up to 50k GBP for your account: https://bit.ly/1AmsvKE

Since you are an Active Trader, we may be able to get you a further discount on your commissions. To explore this option with an Active Trader specialist, please email [email protected] and mention my name referencing this discussion.

jasonrogers posted:

Fox123 posted:
I have account at FXCM but I do not recommend, better find another broker.

@Fox123 is there any particular reason you say that?

Cause with your active trader account you shafted me in the deal when you introduced your new pricing at $12 per 100k on all your accounts. You guys are charging twice the amount of any other STP broker like LMAX Exchange or IC Markiets

Fox123 posted:
I have account at FXCM but I do not recommend, better find another broker.

@Fox123 is there any particular reason you say that?

I have account at FXCM but I do not recommend, better find another broker.

ggjr61 posted:
Execllent customer service. Too many requotes - but that is mostly likely due to ECN model. Taking MT4 platform offline on Sundays is a little bit of a headache. But I think this is the best broker in the market.

I see a lot of mixed reviews here for FXCM. I don't know about how they were like before today. However, I feel they are the best by far that I have used and the lowest spreads I've ever seen. They recently started a new fee schedule but it's negligible overall and still way cheap either way you slice it against other brokers. Also, the simplest and most straightforward forex-only platform in my opinion. Customer Service is Excellent!

This broker has helped me to earn money with my strategy.

The broker has good customer service (fast response), fairly good deposit methods, but is horrible for withdrawals. If you don't live on US or have big bucks (10,000 or more), it is very expensive to withdraw.

The only two methods are credit card (limited amount), and wire transfer (expensive!)

Also, I had a problem with them. I placed two orders on different pairs, at some point the trades were closed... not with stop, not with take profits... they couldn't tell me why they were closed (they were closed on profit), and when I talked to them about the problem, the decided unilaterally to 'reopen the trades' just at the same price they were closed. I didn't asked that, I only asked why they were closed.

Finally I closed the trades again with a little less profit, and I tryied to withdraw my funds (only 116 usd)... with the surprise that I can only withdraw 50 usd using my CC (the same I used to fund my account), the rest I must use wire transfer (with 35USD fee or more)