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MetaTrader Micro-Lots go STP

Jim — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:42:35 +0000

Thanks to yesterday's disappointing Non-farm Payroll numbers the greenback fell and my troublesome sell limit order at European broker ActivTrades finally got filled. Consequently my new Interbank MetaTrader 4 micro-lot account with them is now fully funded, and open for business. As you can imagine, I have had one or two long discussions with ActivTrades over the last couple of days. During the course of those they pointed out to me that enough of their liquidity providers are now willing to quote and fill a 1K trade that it had now proved possible for them to introduce micro-lots on their "Straight Through Processing" (STP for short) MetaTrader Interbank accounts. When I enquired what "enough" meant in this context, the number three was mentioned. Unlike their Standard account, there is no "averaging algorithm" inserted by ActivTrades between you and the banks on their Interbank account. Instead they just add a bit to the spreads they are quoted, since they have to earn a crust somehow just like the rest of us.

Activ Averaging Allegedly Protects Your Stops

Jim — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:41:04 +0000

I've had a live account with London based broker ActivTrades for quite a while now. It's one of their "Standard" MetaTrader 4 accounts. I opened it because it offers micro-lots and lots of exotic currency crosses, along with a wide range of non-forex instruments, including stock indices, gold, oil and other commodities too. That combination is a little hard to come by at other brokers. It is slightly old fashioned however, in that it still uses 4 decimal places and fixed spreads. 2 on the FTSE 100 and 3 on GBP/USD for example, most of the time at least.

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Smart Live Markets Marry MetaTrader and Spread Betting

Jim — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:20:28 +0000

A recent addition to the ranks of UK forex brokers has finally delivered something we've been waiting to see for a long time now here at the Trading Gurus. If you are a UK resident it is now possible to spread bet using MetaTrader 4 as your trading platform. You can now therefore use an MT4 expert advisor to automate your tax free forex trading, if you are so inclined.

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More on "ODL Powered by FXCM"

Jim — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:51:10 +0000

Following the formal announcement yesterday of FXCM's takeover of ODL I've been chatting to both companies about what to expect from the new larger group, which must now be vying for the position of largest retail forex broker on the planet. As we pointed out previously, the enlarged FXCM is still a long way from being the largest retail broker in the world per se, but the likes of Interactive Brokers deal in an awful lot more than just spot forex.

FXCM Acquire ODL Group

Jim — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:58:09 +0000

Last night The Daily Telegraph reported that British forex broker ODL Group Ltd. has "agreed on terms to be acquired" by FXCM Holdings LLC. It looks as though the new brand of the combined organization in Europe is going to be "ODL Powered by FXCM – Bigger, Better, Stronger"

FXCM Introduce Spread Betting on Indices, Metals and Oil

Jim — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:14:37 +0000

Recently FXCM UK started allowing users of their proprietary Trading Station II platform to trade contracts for difference (CFDs) in a range of non forex instruments. Maybe they should change their name to CFDFXCM? The now misleading name aside, this allowed UK customers of FXCM to start trading gold, silver, oil and a range of stock indices from around the world.

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Forex Dealers Coalition Website Launched

Jim — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:01:53 +0000

In response to the proposed legislation to reduce forex leverage to 10 to 1, beleaguered US brokers have banded together to form the Forex Dealers Coalition to fight a common enemy; the CFTC! The Coalition have just launched their website, which urges their readers to:

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Due Diligence in the City of London

Jim — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:57:23 +0000

You are probably aware by now that the latest regulatory changes proposed by the CFTC, and in particular the reduction of retail forex leverage to 10 to 1, have caused a lot of consternation in the forex industry, to say the least! I anticipate that one side effect of the new rule will be that even more money will very soon be winging it's way from the United States over the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. If you are, or hope soon to be, a profitable forex trader then you really do need to start considering whether to send your hard earned moolah in this direction too.

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Alpari Launch MetaTrader Pro STP Account in the UK

Jim — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Here at the Trading Gurus we are constantly monitoring the quotes from a wide range of brokers. Yesterday alarm bells started ringing to tell us that the spreads on one of our MetaTrader 4 demo accounts at Alpari UK had suddenly reduced to previously unheard of levels. Spreads as low as 0.4 pips on GBP/USD for example, and once (briefly!) even zero on EUR/USD.

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Dukascopy Beta Testing MetaTrader 4 ECN Accounts

Jim — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:50:56 +0000

Last week Swiss forex broker Dukascopy announced that they are reducing the minimum lot size for their ECN retail accounts. According to the news section of their website:

Dukascopy (Suisse) SA announces the reduction of minimal lot size. Starting from 8th of January 2010, traders can use mini lots from 0.001 equal to 1000 units of a primary currency amount.

Last November Dukascopy reduced their minimum deposit requirement to $5,000, but at that time this was in a potentially lethal combination with a minimum lot size of 0.1. Note that as far as Dukascopy are concerned a lot is $1 million dollars, so a lot size of 0.1 corresponds to what most other forex brokers would call a full lot (i.e. $100,000). The new minimum lot size therefore corresponds to what most other brokers call a micro-lot of $1000. This now makes opening a Dukascopy account far more attractive to the average retail forex trader, who will no longer have to risk blowing their entire account with a single bad trade! If you're used to MetaTrader then you're used to experimenting on a demo account, and if you'd like to check out Dukascopy they helpfully provide 14 day trials of their JForex ECN platform which you can apply for here.

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