Spreads trashed even on ECNs, data feed also wrecked

I'm seeing horrible spreads on two ECNs that I watch for major pairs. For the one I trade with as of 7a Eastern to the minute, eSignal chart data is trashed, and not showing all the trades. eSignal gave me a story that a server was being rebooted, but now half a day later it looks the same. I can see in the brokers software that the last trade price is off by huge amounts, and eSignal is painting flat lines for the most part, and even then only every few minutes.

Anyone else trading with ECNs seeing this mess? I imagine the "market makers" are showing it all nice and smooth. I'm about to call eSignal, but if anyone else is having these problems please let me know what you've found and I'll do the same.

God bless,
-E

So the story continues... eSignal continuing to give me a story about engineers working on servers, with no ETA (though it has been 12 hours). Called the broker and they say no probs on their end. I said I wanted to speak to a supervisor, and was given a phone number and a persons name. The number dumped me into a general sales phone mailbox, not to any person, and even at that the box was full. Nice huh? If there was any other charting package I could really use I'd dump these clowns. Genesis FT looks pretty cool, but no real time FX data. So now I'm waiting on a phone call from an alleged supervisor from the AU eSig office.... fun!

No problems here on IB's IdealPro data. I keep a Hotspot FXi demo going to compare spreads and their data has been fine too. I'm looking into a tertiary ECN data source and will avoid eSig, thanks for the heads up.

I had a chat with IG markets and they said the banks have increased the spread due to the high volatility in the market at the moment. Spreades appear to be getting back to normal now.

Is IB an ECN? I notice they say they have 2 platforms, 1 for converting ccy, the other for trading it.

The other ECN I was watching was HS but just retail, not institutional. $Y is still 2 pip spread right now.

I think I'm going to call it a week and play some xbox.

IB/IdealPro is best described as an internal ECN. They have quotes from 7 or 8 interbank providers, sub-pip spreads, and client orders are broadcast inside the book (you can pay the spread, or wait & make the spread). No NZD and 25:1 on exotics, so I'll be moving on shortly (to either EFX or HS FXi).

2 pip is not unusual lately with the volatility, it's 3 pip on IB right now (normally 0.5 pip, but tonight is hectic for $Y). Spread ranging from 0.1 pip to 3 pip on FXi tonight as well.