Adrienne » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:44 pm wrote:
Yesterday I was on practice and a friend on live with Ag & Au, at 10.20 pm Australia time it spiked up. Can the Forex site crash at these times when everyone wants to sell? We couldn't sell! Also 1 minute prior to this spike my Ag open position was closed by someone else, this I had been sitting on all day, then I couldn't sell my Ag either. What the hell is going on please help I am having trouble getting to chat to anyone thanks
A spike can occur for varied reasons in the market. Many brokers will brag about their execution with Cowboy IBFX giving a statistic of 99.83 percent. I can not remember in a long time trading a US broker of reputation that I have not been able to get an order filled. In the past when I traded some non-US brokers I had noticed a lot of rejections and even with Cowboy IBFX years ago. Now a days however I do not notice this and Cowboy IBFX seems to live up to their statistics.
However in general if the market is moving rapidly during a news announcement you may not be able to get an order filled at your price because of a widening spread and a moving target in price. There is a deviation setting under the options menu in Empty4 to try to handle this situation. FXCM has the best explanation of this option setting.
Maximum Deviation NOT Enabled:
If maximum deviation is not enabled, the order will be treated as a fill or kill order. The order
will attempt to fill at the price clicked on. If that price is no longer available, then the entire
order is rejected. If you trade during non-farm payrolls or other big news events, you know that
prices can change very quickly.
Enabling the maximum deviation box may reduce the rejection rate for market orders. Entering
a maximum deviation of 2 pips (entered as 20 since the last digit is a fractional pip), would allow
a possible deviation of 2 pips from the price clicked on. The order will attempt to fill at the best
price within the set deviation. If the order cannot be filled entirely at the best price in the set
deviation, the order will be cancelled.
It is best to give your self some flexibility in rapid market situations by setting this option. It will still try to get your price but will than within the window you set try to fill at a different price.
That being said all of the brokers I trade with have deep multi-bank liquidity, are regulated and are completely automated Oanda, FXCM, and Cowboy IBFX in the US. FXCM and Oanda being the largest retail brokers in the world. While it is possible to get a price rejected I have not had that happen in a long time. Of course it is always good to set a stop so that you can get out immediately if price moves against you.
The only way you should have a position closed is if your free margin percentage drops below 100 percent. Now this may vary between brokers and how they close it might too so you should read their policy or talk to them but generally around this percentage they will close down the largest position so that you will not be able to own them money. They will not necessarily close all of your positions. They just want to up your margin again to a safe level. So it is wise to watch what you are using. This is for your protection as much as theirs. You will have to talk to the broker for a more specific answer. I do not have enough info to know for sure what happened in your situation. I would expect it to be something like that. The broker you trade with does actually make a difference. Jemook would be able to address this all much better than me. Global Prime Forex having a great reputation among the traders here.
Cheers,
Doug
