Oanda just another bucket shop

[MickMason]

Another NFP day and yet another farce at Oanda!

Looks like Oanda have finally realized, after falling profits, that playing it fair and transparent just doesn't pay the bills.

They started out with the best of intentions, it's just a shame they couldn't keep it up. First they widen spreads, then they widen spreads even more, now NFP traders have to contend with a 30 pip spread at times like NFP and 20 pip spreads across other data!

Despite the wide spread traders still made money so their final resort has been to take the trading platform off line during NFP, a typical bucket shop practice.

Congratulations Oanda, you're now a fully fledged bucket shop, the only difference is that now you have wider spreads than your competitors, good move!

[stockbroker]

Originally Posted by MickMason

Another NFP day and yet another farce at Oanda!

Looks like Oanda have finally realized, after falling profits, that playing it fair and transparent just doesn't pay the bills.

They started out with the best of intentions, it's just a shame they couldn't keep it up. First they widen spreads, then they widen spreads even more, now NFP traders have to contend with a 30 pip spread at times like NFP and 20 pip spreads across other data!

Despite the wide spread traders still made money so their final resort has been to take the trading platform off line during NFP, a typical bucket shop practice.

Congratulations Oanda, you're now a fully fledged bucket shop, the only difference is that now you have wider spreads than your competitors, good move!

Any serious trader who trades NFP knows not to use Oanda, and plus, their charting wouldn't ever keep up with the demand of NFP. No ticks. Just dont NFP Oanda.

Other than that, no minimums and tiny spreads, what more can you ask for?

[vladv]

What is a "bucket shop"?

[forex-101]

I agree Oanda joined the bucket shop list with FXCM, being on top of it. I am thinking of switching to an MT4 broker either IBFX or UGMFX. Any comments about which one do you think is better?

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by stockbroker

Any serious trader who trades NFP knows not to use Oanda, and plus, their charting wouldn't ever keep up with the demand of NFP. No ticks. Just dont NFP Oanda.

Other than that, no minimums and tiny spreads, what more can you ask for?

Well you could ask for all that plus the ability to trade data without some ridiculous spread, through a reasonably honest marketmaker!

The thing is it dosn't matter whether you trade NFP or not, wide spreads affect stops and limts as well.

As it seems Oanda have turned into just another run-of-the-mill bucket shop then they'll soon be performing all the other bucket-shop tricks probably, like not filling limit orders, hunting stops, freezing prices (they're already doing that) etc etc

And what's all this pipette crap about? It's just a disguise for getting an extra pip profit out of your trade, half in half out, it's underhand.

Give me an upfront marketmaker with fixed spreads, a dealing desk, and who requotes but keeps his platform running, rather than some underhand bucketshop who promise the earth and deliver nothing.

[TRADE]

I also trade with oanda, and have also noticed these things,

however since I am a longer term trader, and position myself in advance to any news announcements, it doesnt really affect me a great deal, however this sort of practice mentioned is not acceptable. I can imagine how this can really destroy a short term trader, even if they do call the direction correctly the widening of spread will take them out alone.

I only have one piece of advice and that is expect this from any retail forex broker, dont trust any of them, take this sort of behaviour as standard practice, account for it and work around it as best you can, even if it means adjusting or developing your trading plan/strategy for it. This is unfortunately another reality of the market, whether it should be or not, the facts dictate that it is.

so given these concerns and realities, which broker can a professional forex trader take his business to????

[TRADE]

mick, did you lose money today?

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by TRADE

so given these concerns and realities, which broker can a professional forex trader take his business to????

I'm sure there are others but I only have experience of CMC. I traded right through NFP today, got requoted twice, cancelled one pending order, and made some money. Their platform never missed a beat.