Is your ECN a true ECN

[gfxtrader]

Hello,

I have been trading your ECN for a week or so. Awhile ago I opened one short trade. But right after I opened my eur/uad short trade, fxopen platform got frozen and I cannot do anything. tried connecting/reconnet several times, but my account is frozen.

I went against me and I closed trade with minimal loss in another terminal. But in fxopen ECN platform shows connection but it's dead, says market closed!!

My ticket # still showing it's 583451. It seems the order is put on manual and I cannot do anyting about it. Whereas I hv been just watching price action for the last one week, I have never seen any disconnection!! so, is your ECN a true ECN!! ??

My account id :332419.

[gfxtrader]

OK, platform normal...

But my stoploss was at 1.4469 entry short at 1.4453 but I was taken out at 1.4485.

I'm sure something wrong with your server.

Pls. correct my trade ticket 583451. thank you. actually should return my entire loss.

thank you
account id : 332419

[FXOjafar]

Hi GFXTrader.

You were unfortunately affected by a short technical problem on the server. Your order has been corrected.

Yes, our ECN is a true ECN.

[gfxtrader]

Thank you

Order corrected, but upto stoploss. I would actually loose 6/7 pips not 20 pips., if u don't trust me, I can show/email logs on another MT4 broker. You should return the entire loss, as it would not be much of a loss if your server never had crashed.

Thanks for your quick service though.

akbar

[FXOjafar]

If you would like to ask for a better resolution, send your request to chiefdealer@fxopen.com for consideration. Please include order number and your desired result.

[gfxtrader]

Nah, I do not wish to go for such a trivial issue. May be a server down...and may not be their fault. Anyway, I shall keep my eye's open. If it happens again, I shall hv no other option but to take my business elsewhere. But as u say for once an unfortunate situation...that I believe you and take your word for it.

thanks for your quick and helpful hand.

really appreciate it...U are the man!!

akbar

[FXOjafar]

Nah, I do not wish to go for such a trivial issue. May be a server down...and may not be their fault. Anyway, I shall keep my eye's open. If it happens again, I shall hv no other option but to take my business elsewhere. But as u say for once an unfortunate situation...that I believe you and take your word for it.

thanks for your quick and helpful hand.

really appreciate it...U are the man!!

akbar

We are happy to help you

[SysInv]

[Posting my question here since I must have 10 posts before I can start a thread?!]

I need to sort this out once and for all, how the execution of limit orders work with ECN (at FX Open).

FX Open say they're a true ECN broker. This should mean that traders using FX Open can be liquidity providers by placing limit orders, which are lifted from other traders market orders.

However, I've been talking with 3 different brokers today (FX Open, FxPro and MB Trading). I presented the following scenario for all of them:

"When placing a limit order on the bid (to go long), and let's say I'm the only one at that level (hence I'm first in line) - does it get filled once someone places a short market order with enough lots, or must the best ask go down to this level before it's hit? It should be the former, but since "last trade" data is not available for forex and practice accounts use the latter, I'm a bit confused. Consider the scenario:
let's say the we have a bid at 1.0000 and ask at 1.0005, hence a 5 pip spread. I'm placing a long (buy) limit order at 1.0000. Now, for that order to be filled, can it be from someone placing a short (sell) order at the market price (bid at 1.0000) or must the ask price come down to the 1.0000 level before it gets filled? When trading stocks and futures then the short market order will fill my limit order (if big enough), but I got very strange results in the forex market...

The chat support on FX Open said that I can't get my long limit order placed on the bid lifted unless the ask price reach this level, hence someone placing a short market order can not lift my limit order. This would mean that FX Open is not a true ECN broker and just a STP?
I got the same reply from FxPro, that the best ask price must go down and hit my limit order.
From MB however, they confirmed that I would have my bid lifted by a short market order (if I was first in line and the trade was sufficient in size of course). This is how it should work with a true ECN.

Now, I simply thought the different brokers dealt with this in different ways, but after reading a post on the forum where a FX Open representative replied he says the opposite of what the support said today:

"For your knowledge, the most distinctive difference between ECN and STP is that traders (such as you are) are only price-takes on STP (that is, they can only buy the price they see but cannot introduce their own bid) while on ECN they are both price-givers and price-takers (that is they can both buy and enter their own orders into the spread and allow other traders to grab their orders).
This is the meaning of true ECN execution, and as I've pointed out, you can only do that on MT4 with us and not anyone else in the market."

In the thread they also had an example indicating that the bid could get lifted even if the ask price never hit this level, but as long as another trader placed a short market. This thread was dated 2010, but I can't believe the "conditions" changed regarding this since then?

I really hope the support have got this all wrong, as I intend to open a PAMM account and MB Trading doesn't offer this. However I need the true ECN for my trading style... (at the same time I lost some trust if the support don't know how this works, as it pretty basic knowledge).

Furthermore, is the ECN accounts at FX Open still traded in 0.5 pip increments?

[FXOjafar]

Hi Sysinv. I think the supporter you talked to recently misunderstood in giving you a market maker description of execution.

FXOpen is indeed a true ECN. ECN price quotes were initially in 0.5 pips increments in the early days of our ECN. Since we added more sources of liquidity, ECN quotes are in 0.1 pip increments (0.00001).

[SysInv]

RebateFX.com, I opened an ECN account to try this. However I'm not convinced - if I place a limit order in between the spread, it does not show up in the order book. A true ECN should show the order here, as I'm now providing liquidity.

Furthermore, with the limit order in between the spread I can see both the bid and ask bouncing around above and below my level, indicating orders are filled on these levels. However my trade is still no opened, until the Ask hits the limit order (for a long limit). How do you explain this if FX Open is a true ECN? I tried with it more than one trade, both during volatile and non-volatile periods...

[FXOjafar]

RebateFX.com, I opened an ECN account to try this. However I'm not convinced - if I place a limit order in between the spread, it does not show up in the order book. A true ECN should show the order here, as I'm now providing liquidity.

Furthermore, with the limit order in between the spread I can see both the bid and ask bouncing around above and below my level, indicating orders are filled on these levels. However my trade is still no opened, until the Ask hits the limit order (for a long limit). How do you explain this if FX Open is a true ECN? I tried with it more than one trade, both during volatile and non-volatile periods...

Was your order 1.00 standard lots or more? If less, the order would need to be aggregated and go through on an STP basis and would not appear on the order book.

[SysInv]

It was less than 1 standard lot. So you mean that unless I trade a full lot it's traded like a STP? So my limit orders can not be opened by a market order? Even if most trades will be larger than a full lot, it will often happen that they're less than this... if the trade is i.e 1.2 lots, would this be ok or must it be in steps of full lots? In the level 2 data trades are often in 0.5 standard lots, so why is the limit 1 lot with FX Open?

[MisterAudio]

It was less than 1 standard lot. So you mean that unless I trade a full lot it's traded like a STP? So my limit orders can not be opened by a market order? Even if most trades will be larger than a full lot, it will often happen that they're less than this... if the trade is i.e 1.2 lots, would this be ok or must it be in steps of full lots? In the level 2 data trades are often in 0.5 standard lots, so why is the limit 1 lot with FX Open?

I would also like to know the answer to this. Also, I would like to add a question to this list. Is it easier to get a 1 lot position filled or would it be easier to get a 0.1 lot position filled? I am curious because it would have a direct impact when trading during fast moving/volatile markets.

Thank you for the explanations!!

[FXOjafar]

It was less than 1 standard lot. So you mean that unless I trade a full lot it's traded like a STP? So my limit orders can not be opened by a market order? Even if most trades will be larger than a full lot, it will often happen that they're less than this... if the trade is i.e 1.2 lots, would this be ok or must it be in steps of full lots? In the level 2 data trades are often in 0.5 standard lots, so why is the limit 1 lot with FX Open?

1.2 lots would be acceptable to go directly via ECN execution as it is more than 1.00 lots. The one lot limit is not with FXOpen, it is with the liquidity providers.

I would also like to know the answer to this. Also, I would like to add a question to this list. Is it easier to get a 1 lot position filled or would it be easier to get a 0.1 lot position filled? I am curious because it would have a direct impact when trading during fast moving/volatile markets.

Thank you for the explanations!!

You shouldn't notice a difference between the two execution methods. The slight delay in an STP basis trade as it is aggregated should be unnoticeable.

[MisterAudio]

1.2 lots would be acceptable to go directly via ECN execution as it is more than 1.00 lots. The one lot limit is not with FXOpen, it is with the liquidity providers.



You shouldn't notice a difference between the two execution methods. The slight delay in an STP basis trade as it is aggregated should be unnoticeable.

Huh.... Well, I am glad to know that! I always thought it would be faster and easier to get a very small position filled, and that as my orders increased in size (0.1 lot vs say a 2 lot order) it is actually a bit easier and faster to get a fill.

I would also surmise from this information that a round numbered lot size would get filled easier than any other (1 lot vs 1.37 lot for example).

I am sure this information will help me out in the future. Thank you RebateFX!