live acc trial .. in searching for a forex+cfd+gold broker

hi I will close the thread of fxsol.aus live acc testing http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=162557
since it already passed the trial run with good results.

I still need a backup cfd/forex trading acc due to monthly deposit limit of fxsol-aus, in this thread I will try several alternatives. requirements are:
1. ability to trade cfd is must, (forex by default can), ability to trade oil and gold is a plus
2. fund must be safe for no matter profit or loss or for long term holding, withdrawal should be smooth
3. allow credit card (cc) deposit and cancellation of deposit back to cc for free, because otherwise would incur a 2 way foreign exchange fee and 2 way wire transfer fee for me.
4. stable platform, flawless price execution, easy of use, no human intervention or purposely manipulation due to broker conflict of interest

there is a list of brokers that I have been trying to open live acc right now
a. interactive brokers:
they can trade index directly esp that they can trade hk/sg market which mbt-f not yet provide
risk: no cc deposit option, has to go foreigh exchange and wire 2 ways
min acc and min trade size is 10000$

b. fxcm-co.uk cfd: (ff prefered)
fund safety and cc deposit no problem, cfd seem to be operating in fxcm-uk.co branch
risk, min trade size is 40,000$, min acc 2500$, risk of overleverage /too many complaints for whatever reason

c. fxpro:
cc deposit should be okey, withdraw TPT is one week which is long, both free
risk: fund safety less, withdraw said to be okey if files provided right files otherwise problematic (tons of complaints)
min trade size is 10000$, min acc 500$

d. delta stock: (ff prefered)
cc deposit charge 2% fee, should be okey for small acc but not okey for big/ withdraw is free
risk: 2% of cc deposit fee cannot be profitably earned back?
min acc 100$, min position 1000$ which is good

e. else? (one idea I thought of is asking mom to open another acc at fxsol aus, so they can accept 2x more deposit per month?)

a. interactive brokers
app filed, IP auth ID and address for several days (faint)
waiting on 'go' to wire in the deposit

b. fxcm.co.uk
app filed, ID and address photo sent today
support say expect 5 day to open acc

c. fxpro
app filed, ID and address photo and signature (req for withdraw) uploaded today
support says should be able to cc instant deposit today, start trading T+1 day

d. delta stock
app filed, ID and address photo sent today
however due to 2% deposit cost... only useful for 100$ cc deposit and play/practice (2$ cost), not yet attractive for me for real trading

since #d is not cheap and #c has withdrawal concern,
I may prioritize testing on #b or #a depend on which ready 1st, but use a small acc to test #b as well.

[edit] read 26 forexpeacearmy feedbacks of delta stock, very good impression, maybe will try it also, so priority order is b/a/d/c

I did 1 trade and have closed 95% position with a trade in fxsol-aus and will exit remaining totally monday.
fxsol-aus req max 4 withdraw a month so why not do it before July.1st... so July I'm not limited.

acc application for the 4 new broker have all been filed,
I possibly will rest for 3 weeks and focus on work I guess most of acc will be approved by end of next week and I can handle deposit at no pressure.

//ps: I also notice that IG markets UK provides quite a lot CFD options, no min deposit... may try later; ODL don't provide hk cfd so skip..

for test with delta stock and fxpro,
I don't want to take any risk or effort try think of a trading, so possibly just do
a long aud/usd to earn interest
(where I short aud/usd in another no interest broker)
and close it after 2 weeks and req withdrawal.

delta stock will cost 2$ for deposit but worth a try.
fxpro withdrawal always have question so will not play big till 1st withdraw success.

if a major oppotunity show up in July, possibly will take 1 big hedged deal with fxcm-uk cfd to stress test it,
risk is not high however... then test the withdrawal.

interactivebrokers has req documents back and forth, possibly wait 1 week till they're done with acc opening,
not yet decided if to wire the money in it yet...

so summary is will try small money with delta stock and fxpro and withdrawal after 1 deal,
will try a big one with fxcm-uk cfd. (their min order is 40k usd size...) if fxcm hedge oil works I don't have to try anything else...
will have interactivebrokers acc open w/o deposit. try to finish these things in 1st 3 weeks of july... no rush.

I thought again that if I am really having bottle-neck with 10k cc deposit limit of fxsol.
possibly use a sub-creditcard for mom and open another acc with fxsol-aus is more convinient....
it's always easier to copy a proven / convinient one instead of explore uncertainty...

I will also open 2 futures acc for hedge purpose...

anyway... test brokers slowly,,,,, wait for a good trading oppotunity to show up in 1 month.

What about Saxo bank? You can trade almost everything there, funds are insured and I think it's possible to deposit with a credit card.

thanks Xaron, I wasn't aware.

eventually I think I will trade intbrker for cfd/commodity/stock future coz it has access into hk and sg market where there are specific types of future short tool only available in hk/sg for my home stock. it can also trade futures.

right now I am not ready yet... so see if any small deposit/small position/free cc deposits is possible for me to trade live & learn at lower cost.
... fxsol-aus is good but there's a limit to max 10k cc deposit/month.
I want a clone of that to allow another 10k deposit, either mum open another acc at fxsol-aus or if fxcm-uk cfd works similarly should be okey..

I checked out saxo seems good, maybe spend some time next week / now no support is online now.

1. fxpro finished acc opening, mt4 live can login now, I can see dow future, oil, etc
cc is ready for deposit and will show up in acc in 1hr after deposit and can trade
my own language support emphasis that will need my signature if need withdrawal.
so I sent him the signature file immediately, will not deposit .... till they confirm sig is okey & will not hinder withdrawal.

2. delta stock replied positive on acc opening
ask for a signature on ID scanned
I sent to support immediately

3. interactivebrokers turned me down a 5th time saying address proof is not okey.
so I sent them 3 more doc of address proof, faint...

4. fxcm-uk no response yet.

0. probably will exit fxsol-aus position and req cancellation back to cc by end of June.

haven't checked saxo yet.

ps: I saw in fxpro sp500 mini end of june future is higher than sp500... can we trade this gap?

after a few clarificiation (email response almost immediately)
I provided a contract with my signature and some 3rd party credentials.

support accepted that as signature proof
and warrant no question will be asked on withdrawal/cancellation (this is their famous problem many complained)

pretty pleased with that... will probably deposit 500$ today and req cancellation by 10th of july.

of coz trade long aud/usd for earning interest only.

[edit] well I read withdrawal notes carefully and found they need cc scans for withdrawal...
so I offered to provide cc scan right now... so that by time of withdraw they have no excuse to delay...

now withdrawl should be no questions asked...

they req scan with CVV2 exposed. hopefully my cc bank prevents unautherized cc usage of 3rd party.

sorry I made a mistake...

the 3.1$ display today was due to weekend and July.4 holiday.

support told me that average roll-over interest is even for every day and 365 days a week... just monday will charge for holiday so it is high today.

I checked my report it is true.
for wendesday - friday it is 0.76$ each day for 8400$ position...

so annualized interest should be 0.76*365/8400=3.3% a year...

support affirm this. sounds like a more than terric interest rate to get from...

what annoyed me is seems support is not clear how the rates are...

after I explain my understanding he tentatively accept... I will try demo to verify this anyway.

for dow mini future it's like this

1 lot=5*8400$=40,000$, commission is 15$/40k or 3pip per round trip
margin req is 1000$ or 40x leverage.

min position size=0.1 lot or 4000$, commission is 1.5$
or 3$ commission for 8400$ position

margin req is 100$ or 40x leverage for 4000$/0.5dow, or 200$ for 8400$/1.0dow.
min acc is 500$ then trade 4k dow position with 1k$ acc risk is about 4:1

spread is 2pip... so total buy/sell cost is 2pip spread+3pip commission or 5pip
fxsol-aus is 6pip buy/sell

regarding swap rate, long dow rate is -0.79pip per day,
or 0.0079%*8400$ per day, that is about 0.66$ per day which is competitve tie with fxsol-aus.

problem with fxpro right now is they don't offer dow index cfd, can only trade Sep. dow future? ...........8600 doesn't carry much meaning for me.

anyway it's a good start regarding spread/commission/rollover and position/acc/leverage.

may try put in 1k to trade live test starting next week.
(at competitive cost,,, the speed of withdraw exec and clarity of tech support / fund safety seems lower than fxsol-aus so... 2nd source)

requested cc deposit cancellation back to 2 cc for fxsol-aus, accepted w/o a question asked.

deltastock need a lawyer or offical to affirm my signature, haven't figure out a way to do it.

fxcm-uk/cfd affirm that application received last friday... then kept silent till now (they claim 5-7day TPT to open acc anyway [see edit2])
I actually liked their platform and funding safety much... just min position is 40k$ which is bit big.

intbrker seems to check email less than once every day, no update.

oh, fun part of fxpro (and possibly delta) is I can buy 10 shares of Citi for 30$ position size and 3$ margin... commission is 0.1% and spread is 1% but anyhow it is very fun and maybe smallest money required to play with(asif?) real stock.

fxpro have dow future but no dow index cfd or hk index cfd... sounds like fxsol is still by far the best to trade smoothly and safely with.

[edit1] fxcm-uk do have hk index cfd and dow index cfd in demo... so they're okey... still has to tell through live exp.
[edit2] "the rep" here contacts to look into acc open TPT issue which is a good sign anway.

Aa***, Texas USA

Rating:Investigation Pending
Date of Post:2009-02-04
Review:On 1/28/08 requested withdrawal via credit card. That request was declined. On 1/30/08 had the following chat with fxpro in which they suggested I resubmit the withdrawal request via bank wire:


RE: how is your withdraw with fxpro going?
2009/6/30 Tue 2:45am
From "Aa*****MD" <sa****[email protected]>


To ''BillYe'" <billye***@yahoo.com.cn>


Eventually, I got it out $2000 at a time. It was a long drawn out process, but eventually I got my money back.


Aa*******M.D.
29*******ive
Har****50
USA

well it was received by email Friday,

and they did not notice it until I remind them Monday EOD...


billye: this is a followup to confirm if my application materials for cfd acc has been received
L**: I do not show that we received your email; which personal email address of yours did you send it from?
L***: I am unable to locate your able, Billye. Is it possible that you can send it again?
billye: I sent it again 1 min ago
L***: Okay, I will check.
L***: I still am not showing receipt. How big are the files you sent? Sometimes that makes the difference.
billye: 300KB or so
billye: can I upload to a web and send you the link now?
L***: You can just send us the link by email.
billye: ok
L***: Let me know when you have, and I will check for it.
billye: sent
L***: I still do not see it. I actually just realized you have a Yahoo account, and Yahoo can actually be slow to deliver emails.
billye: can you access link above?
Lauren: I cannot accept the documents over this chat; we can just keep checking to make sure that your email is received.
billye: I can fax it actually
Lauren: Yes, that would be great.
billye: ps: fxsol agents never have problem receiving yahoo mail
billye: they receive my withdrawal mail as I type in the chat
billye: how do I know if fax is received?
billye: oh
L***: If you can fax them now, I can confirm receipt.
L***: If not, you can call or come onto chat at anytime, and we will gladly look up your documents for you.
L***: Have you faxed your documents already, Billye?
L***: Actually, we received your email!
L***: We just received all of them.
billye: oh
billye: good
billye: sorry I just faxed it
billye: haha
L***: Well, we definitely will have it, then.
billye: faxed at 4051, hoho
billye: so I will wait 2 days and check the next step ^_^
billye: thanks a lot
billye: so did you receive the mail only today?
billye: just to check the reliability of this mail connection ha... coz friday I also sent but maybe it's after UK work time lo
L***: We received it on Friday, too.
billye: ok good I see
billye: thanks, then I just wait la
L***: You're welcome, Billye.

adding on that they support hk index cfd (hkg33) and dow index cfd (us30)... this is true!

also warrant that fxcm(uk) cfd is not a market maker
but will hedge future contacts to enable users trade on forex platform... they do not profit or loss by concept from cfd trader's loss or profit.

seems this guy is always adding something good when I have some negatives... not bad

fxpro - acc fully certified for deposit, trade and withdrawal
can cc deposit and start trade after 1hr

interactivebrokers - after sending 20 certificates for address proof
they finally approved my acc today, TPT from deposit receive to trade is 1 day

deltastock - they still need a official (gov?) notary to certify my signature, which is hard
I offer to provide company's employee status certificate with my signature and company stamp, see if they are okey

fxcm-uk - application material confirm received by EOD yesterday, no other update

they finally processed my application, got 2 problem

1st is my register address is No.345, xxx street
my bank statement is building3, No. 345, xxx street

so they send me back a mail say my reg address and bank statement does not match....
it takes me 30min to talk to 4 support and figured out what is the problem.... bank statement have a additional building3...

and they ask me to send a form to change my address to building3, No.345, xxx street...

did

2nd is one support told me that CFD is offer to UK resident only...
I was not informed of this so I asked to double check,

after checking 2 other support, finally 1 support say it is not offered to UK alone and we can trade CFD.

faint...

min acc size=100$ (note: 2% cost for cc deposit, free for cancel back to cc)

Oil: min position size is 1 barrel or 70$, spread is about 0.1%, margin is 1%
commission is 2 euro for <=500 barrel and 0 for >500 barrel

CFD: min position for dow is 8400$, min position for sp500 is 900$
fixed spread, 6$ for dow while open, 1$ for sp500, no commission, margin is 1%

roll-over interest is mostly 3% annualized

seems most things match fxsol well... position size is reasonable.

they don't offer hk index cfd and commodity futures though.

they can also trade Citi for just 1share. spread is 1.5% and commission is 0.1% (min 2 euro)

very busy today. list of acc status:

fxpro: live acc ready to deposit/trade/withdraw, did not deposit yet
I start to trade their demo for futures though.

interactivebrokers: live acc ready to deposit, plan is deposit within a month i.e. Aug.1st....
they have tons of fee like monthly acc maintain fee...etc and it will cause my 2way currency exchange and 2way wire fee.
want to be sure of things worthy before doing it. (demo 1st)

fxcm-uk: I received fxcm-us cfd support saying welcome I checked in.
however no acc ready/can deposit confirmation from fxcm-uk yet. I am checking with support now... I am pushing every step as they move ahead...

deltastock: they still want a ID issued by government baring my signature... however all gov ID I have bares print name not signature...
they say only way is to get a notery to prove my signature and it cannot be my company... I can see that they are pretty serious about acc opening and did follow up closely.

thanks for the advice,
however I don't try live acc with any broker that has <25 feedbacks and rating not 3* or 4* on forexpeacearmy...
in the world of forex there is too many traps and risk is unforeseeable w/o sufficient customer feedbacks both satisfied and unsatisfied... to make sure we're taking steps with informed risk.

and sorry we don't take any recommendations from 1-3 post and new registered user also, typically we will have it cleaned up... it's not purposely done on you but it always happen like this.

btw I don't think NFA is nothing, their listed retail forex risks and information is more direct, non misleading and specific than any retail broker.

we do need regulation body that is not in conflict of interest with the trader in order to secure a fair market.

checked status of acc with fxcm-uk support.

the guy told me same thing as yeseterday

my register address is No.345, xxx street
my bank statement is building3, No. 345, xxx street

in their system they still have note saying "my reg address and bank statement does not match.... " and need me to file a request to add "building3" in address.

I told him that the support yesterday told me samething and form is submitted 24hr ago and yesterday's support confirm received while on chat.

he checked again and said yes... it is received... and it typically takes 2 days to process that's reason he did not know that I already submitted the form.

I have no words to comment... promise is acc open by Friday, let's wait & see...