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[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.

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by TRADE

mick, did you lose money today?

Fortunately not, more luck than judgment

No, I'm annoyed because they come out with all the usual garbage and expect people to swallow it. When the platform went down today (again!) I phoned them and their answer was no-one else has reported a problem, and this while I'm reading the Oanda forum packed with people complaining about how they got disconnected. It happens every single month, and every month it's the same rubbish excuses.

I'd respect them more if they just said look, we don't want you trading NFP because we risk losing too much money, at least that's honest. Instead they come out with all this transparency and fairness junk, and the Traders Bill of Right, give me a break......

[static]

I thought Oanda was your broker Mick (and that you liked them)? Guess it doesn't pay to assume. I usually don't trade NFP but I forgot which day it was (!!!) this month and kept my orders open. Thankfully I trade longer term with wide enough stops that it wasn't an issue, but I can see how the variable spread thing could kill some people.

BTW whats the deal with this cesc guy dragging up all these old threads with one line responses. Anyone know him from somewhere or is he just really talkative?

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by static

I thought Oanda was your broker Mick

They are, them and CMC, they've just pee'd me off big time today

Yeah who is that clown, seems like he's trying to get his post count up, he could have done it in one thread

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by vladv

What is a "bucket shop"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_shop

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by 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?

I've heard some reasonable things about IBFX but I don't have any experience of trading with them, sorry. Unfortuantely you never find out what a broker is like until you trade with them and make some money!

[static]

Yeah that was the conclusion I came to, something like 60+ posts overnight. I just don't know why though, having a high post count doesn't really help you at all here.

I'll admit when I saw the Traders Bill of Rights I though it was a little corny, but since they offer variable lot sizes and I am pretty undercaptilized it offered me higher resolution money managment. On the whole I have been pretty happy, though it would be nice to have a realtime stream or at least a calendar of when they expect spreads to widen.

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by static

Yeah that was the conclusion I came to, something like 60+ posts overnight. I just don't know why though, having a high post count doesn't really help you at all here.

I'll admit when I saw the Traders Bill of Rights I though it was a little corny, but since they offer variable lot sizes and I am pretty undercaptilized it offered me higher resolution money managment. On the whole I have been pretty happy, though it would be nice to have a realtime stream or at least a calendar of when they expect spreads to widen.

No you're right, for mini's it's great, even if someone had just $100 they could still use sensible money management.

It's just me, I hate companies who take people for fools and give them any old excuse when they complain, it's even worse when you know they're smiling at you while trying to pick your wallet at the same time!



The poster guy, maybe he wants to PM someone, isn't there a minimum number of posts for that?