There is a discussion going on about EFX at another very large forum. In it, they discuss the swap rates. Here is an excerpt. It's all part of doing due diligence. To be fair to EFX, you should go read their response.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree! The Swap they pay vs. the Swap they charge is waaay out of line. Even the really sucky brokers are not this greedy. Take a look at what they pay (1standard lot) on GBP/JPY... It's $5.97 and there are many brokers (even bad ones) paying 22-24 per standard lot. Of course if you go short they wack you with -$15.84.
Just so you know with a carry trade of only 1m that's around $4,809 they are taking out of your pocket every single month... Or around $57,708 per year.
On the USD/JPY the long would pay $7.48 (1 standard lot) and charge you -$23.73 (1 standard lot). Most brokers pay around $12-14 and charge around $14-15. So the difference on only 1m long per month would be $1376, but if you go short you pay an extra $2,919 per month (1m short carry trade for 1month) over what most brokers are at.
If you mainly daytrade and flat before 5pm ET this is a non-issue though. Other than that they look ok to me but I've not used them for the same reason as MountainTrader.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree! The Swap they pay vs. the Swap they charge is waaay out of line. Even the really sucky brokers are not this greedy. Take a look at what they pay (1standard lot) on GBP/JPY... It's $5.97 and there are many brokers (even bad ones) paying 22-24 per standard lot. Of course if you go short they wack you with -$15.84.
Just so you know with a carry trade of only 1m that's around $4,809 they are taking out of your pocket every single month... Or around $57,708 per year.
On the USD/JPY the long would pay $7.48 (1 standard lot) and charge you -$23.73 (1 standard lot). Most brokers pay around $12-14 and charge around $14-15. So the difference on only 1m long per month would be $1376, but if you go short you pay an extra $2,919 per month (1m short carry trade for 1month) over what most brokers are at.
If you mainly daytrade and flat before 5pm ET this is a non-issue though. Other than that they look ok to me but I've not used them for the same reason as MountainTrader.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------