Which criminal can we use?

[SteveHopwood]

This thread is inspired by pipcruiser, who sent me this:

"As we all need the necessary evil (criminals), and as these are a very importnant part of an EA's LIVE realistic performance I think it would be a good idea to start a seperate thread on "Recommended LIVE criminals".(In the board index).

As hopefully more and more of us are going to trade live with the forums EA's in the future, it is crucial that we gather real and serious info, pros/cons on criminals, preferably ones which are used for LIVE trading."

So, to get the ball rolling:

My live account is with Cowboy IBFX Aussie, having migrated from Cowboy IBFX's USA branch when they went in for their stupid FIFO/NFA compliance stuff.

So, why were Cowboy IBFX so eager to go NFA compliant? Because their use of the term NFA suggests a federal government intervention and suggests some sort of legitimacy applies to their actions. A simple Google of NFA throws up the info that NFA is actually a federation of criminals. Members imply a reluctant compliance of regulations that they developed in the first place. All of this make it easier for Cowboy IBFX to take the opposite position to their 'valued clients' when this is the only way to get such clients' trades to market. On the face of it, this is not promising. Actually, it is simply not promising as I read what I have already written.

Why am I still trading with Cowboy IBFX Aussie? Here is why:

• They allow micro accounts - that is mine.
  I have not caught them stop hunting.
  I have not caught them sending spikes deliberately aimed at taking out my stops.
  In the distant past, they corrected mistakes that I did not realise they had made. Have they stopped making them or merely stopped correcting them? I would choose to go with the former on the grounds of their behaviour in the past, were it not for the NFA stuff. Instead, I remain deeply suspicious.

Everything I do with them happens within a few hours. Crucially, debit card deposits. No pissing around whatsoever.

So, a tentative plus vote for Cowboy IBFX Aussie. Not sure I would trust them with a £100,000 account, but that is a while off yet.



Note this folks. What follows is distilled from posts here. I have no way of knowing if posters represent a particular criminal.

I warn any poster who is in fact a representative of one particular criminal, that your ban from this forum will follow with lightening speed should it become obvious that you are either: 1) writing rubbish to enable recruitment to your company; 2) writing rubbish to trash a competitor. Remember this: I regard all b-rokers as criminals and hate you equally. Just because I need you does not mean I have to like you and I look forward to the day that sensible regulation stops you behaving as a legal criminal. Are you getting my drift here, criminals?

Strong recommendations
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4139#p4139 - Cowboy Go Markets
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4146#p4146 - AVA FX
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4158#p4158 - FXCM (UK)
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4163#p4163 - HotForex
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 5675#p5675 - smarttradefx
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 206#p10206 - Tradestation

Recommended, with reservations
This post - Cowboy IBFX Aussie
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4093#p4093 - a number of crims
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4098#p4098 - Cowboy Go Markets and related crims.
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4099#p4099 - FXOpen and Cowboy Go Markets
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4109#p4109 - FinFx
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4118#p4118 - Collective Fx
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4123#p4123 - there are a few listed, so you need to read the post.
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4140#p4140 - LiteForex, VantageFX, ThinkForex
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4190#p4190 - smarttraderFX
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4447#p4447 - Oanda. Note that they also receive a trashing. Good luck sorting this out.

Trashed
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4123#p4123 - TradeStation (because they bought Cowboy IBFX), Oanda
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4125#p4125 - MigBank
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4148#p4148 - Forex4you
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4158#p4158 - Forex.com (Gain Capital Ltd.)
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 4543#p4543 - Oanda. Another trashing. They sound like total dimwits to me. I suspect I have met more intelligent planks.
http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3 ... 229#p17229 - FXPRIMUS, Markets.com

[Pathumracled]

Howdy,

(1) FxCM-UK.
(2) Cowboy IBFX-Au
(3) Cowboy IBFX-Us
(4) Alpari-UK

(5) Oanda-FXTrade
(6) Oanda-Empty4 (needs Help)


I Agree Micro lots are essential, If one has $10K or less. So too Is Hedging if you know how to use. If one has100K, it is best to do back ground reading and find some none affiliated Crims to spread the funds across. If one Should decide to leave town then there should be some funds availableto continue the quest to profitability.

My 2 Pips.
Bless! >;<

[peterke]

Hi, As I live in Aust I have a preference for Aust based brokers for a couple of reasons - primarily compliance requirements and separation of client funds. They also have a fairly competitive mindset regarding spreads and client business models which is absent from US based brokers.

I use Cowboy Go Markets and apart form recent problems with setting up a new liquidity provider are very good. Allow trading down to 0.01 lot and generally have tight fills. Spreads blew out for awhile but are improving again.

I have just set up a live account with Synergyfx . The reason for this is that I want to get rebates which I haven't with Cowboy Go Markets. If you are trading even a few lots a week the rebates will be a nice addition. They are allow 0.01 placement.


Other brokers that I run demo accounts with and appear ok are vantagefx and Bully Pepperstone. Again Aust based with good spreads and STP.

Vantage and Synergy offer good deals on VPS also which has some appeal.


rgds

Peter

[RockyJ]

I have a couple Live accounts at FXOpen..

One is a micro which I have used for about 9 months now and I have never experienced much if any difficulties with it..

I was hesitant to go with them at first, there is a good bit of negative talk around the net about them , but I looked into what I could and I actually believe there is a whole lot of baseless attacks directed their way from people I think work for competitor brokers..

One thing I like about them is the ease that you can move money around between different accounts, micro , standard, ECN.. All online and happens within a few hours...

I was with Cowboy Go Markets and liked them a lot but they did seem to suffer from a few tech related problems frequently and they kicked me to the curb with the new U.S. regs... FXOpen never said squat to me...?? humm...

I have also traded with MBTrading and liked them but in some ways they are a pain in the butt.. But they will let you fund an account by personal check which I LIKE A LOT.

When I get Gday EA running smoothly I will move it to the live micro at FXOpen and see how it fairs there..

[faze]

I am in the US and have been trading a micro account with FinFX for several months. Zero complaints so far.

[mstandifer]

So, why were Cowboy IBFX so eager to go NFA compliant? Because their use of the term NFA suggests a federal government intervention and suggests some sort of legitimacy applies to their actions.

Not exactly, although I agree with the sentiment.

All FX brokers that choose to serve US residents as clients are required to be NFA compliant by the Frank/Dodd act. While regulating FX was only a small part of the Frank/Dodd act, the supposed intent was to provide the same level of client protection afforded to commodities and futures traders. Unfortunately, they went far wide by implementing all manner of ridiculous and ineffectual limiations (50:1 leverage, FIFO, no hedging to name a few). In short, it's a Federal Government requirement to be NFA compliant if you are going to serve US resident clients.

A simple Google of NFA throws up the info that NFA is actually a federation of criminals.

Agreed.

Members imply a reluctant compliance of regulations that they developed in the first place. All of this make it easier for Cowboy IBFX to take the opposite position to their 'valued clients' when this is the only way to get such clients' trades to market.

It's not that it makes it easier to take the other side of their client's trades...they must take the other side of their client's trades unless said criminal offers ECN. There must be a counter party for non-ECN trades and that's the only way to do it...unfortunately.

I'm not defending the NFA. Far from it. I despise the inept fools that took it upon themselves to create nonsensical legislation that only makes it harder for smaller traders to remain in the market competitively. I only present this information because I've made a study of it (as one of the poor sap US residents caught in it) so I might understand it and still manage to avoid it's pitfalls.

I trade with Cowboy IBFX US (because I'm US restricted) but am still pleased with their performance as you are with their Aussie branch.

FYI. Last month Cowboy IBFX was acquired by TradeStation and is now TradeStation Forex. The Cowboy IBFX branding will still exist and they will continue to operate as Cowboy IBFX but TradeStation is now the counterparty and holds all Cowboy IBFX client accounts.

So, a tentative plus vote for Cowboy IBFX Aussie. Not sure I would trust them with a £100,000 account, but that is a while off yet.

Same for Cowboy IBFX US.

[Dewey McG]

I am with CollectiveFX, which is a true STP broker. No filters and you are getting a true feed without any smoothing. The spreads are tighter. There is no commision but you pay a monthly charge from $147 to as much as $995 depending on how many lots you are using. This will keep many people out, but if you are making enough trades this works out cheaper than ECN brokers charging a commission.

The only concern I have is that they are in Belize. They moved from the US to avoid the new rules. They say they will be moving to Europe soon, and they have a better reputation than most.

[AnotherBrian]

This is an absoltuey great thread. At least I can trust the source of the comments since it is both new and I recongnise some of the names.

Here's my deal;

I use Interactive B-rokers, they don't do Empty4 though.

I had an account with MF Global, through their Canadian office who were members in the Canadian Invetsor Protection Fund (CIPF). When they went tits up I didn't have to worry, the CIPF covered me 100% up to a million bucks, I got my full $7K back in the form of a cheque with the help of the courts and KPMG.

I opened a mini account with Oanda a while back, found out they don't allow MagicNumbers and they write a reference number in the comment field. Never thought to check the demo account, I mean why would a broker do something stupid like like?? Live and learn boys and girls. They suck because of that, money is being withdrawn.

After MF Gobal

So now I needed a new broker....

Rather than reading reviews, I first started looking for a broker that actually had what I wanted, a little tougher here in Canada. I want a broker to be CIPF registered. I found the http://www.friedbergdirect.com/ only by asking FXCM if they had a Candian office. When I was using MF Global, they used Boston Technologies for Empty4 as do FXCM. So I think I'll be OK with FXCM, I'm going trough the Canadian broker, Friedberg Direct. Account opening is in progress.

I opened an account with PFGBest a while back, funding is in progress.

I called Cowboy IBFX to ask them a bunch of questions and fill out my "broker research sheet" and they said, since TradeStation aquired them, they don't accept Canadians. Now I hate TradeStation even more than I did 6 months ago.

In the end this is how I want my accounts to be setup:

Interactive B_rokers - trade ETF's (index) longer term and some futures (Asia)

FXCM - 0.01 lot size - EA's that have proven to be profitable and bug free on demo are promoted to this account on a low risk setting, trading Live. One reason for this is I notice demo services puke quite often, all kinds of errors and order time outs at normal times of the day. If this account makes $$ I transfer to an account with larger lot sizes. They also offer to reimburse for VPS, account minimum has to be met. I use my home PC right now with cable modem and low downtime - Pentium 4 humming along running 4 Empty4's at a time, each with between 3 and 10 charts open.

PFGBest - lot size 0.1 - use for EA's that have graduated and proven themselves to be bug free and profitable. They have a Canadian office but I elected to use the US office and also trade futures. I'll probably change this to the Canadian office and ditch the option to trade futures. Still pondering this.

[pipcruiser]

Thanks Steve for starting the thread.

So where does one go to shop for a new broker? A broker which you can trust, dosent f*kc you up and are strongly regulated? A broker which offer Empty4 for EAs. A broker which are honest and simply runs a straight out decent businesss. A broker which you can trust a 5/6 figure deposit.

To be honest I dont know, and hence the request to start this thread.

I have been with MIGBANK a few years and are fed up with them.
www.migbank.com

The only reason I have been using them, is bcs it is a bank, based in Swiss and I somehow feel more safe having my money there as of now, also based on the fact that they are a bank.

Their spreads are high and sometimes they seems to manipulate EA performance etc. Their customer "service" is lousy, I requested a sub account more than 2 weeks ago, havent heard nothing yet...

As of now I have these guys on my radar, London Capital Group. They seem serious, UK regulated, offer Empty4, low spreads etc...http://www.londoncapitalgroup.com/metat ... _home.html

But there might be otter better ideas here in this great forum?

Any input is highly appreciated.

Thanks and Happy Christmas to all,

Best

PC

[Breakaway]

I have been taking some time lately to look for a broker and man was that a job and a half i cant tell you how many times I almost threw up from a strange sensation which is similar to something like sea sickness. Anyway I eventually narrowed it down to these three:

• Cowboy Go Markets
• Cowboy IBFX (Aus)
• Oanda

After playing around with Oanda I came across a couple of small tings I did not really like that much which left me with the other two and this forum has helped me made up my mind. I will be going with Cowboy IBFX (Aus)

P.S. Steve - I would just like to thank you for the awesome contribution you are making to the mere mortals here on planet earth.