Is Duka A Marketmaker ?!!

OK here are my reasons why to believe they may be MM with all the negative consequences
1. you get filled on pending orders far away from the market (11 pips) you cant see the filled price nether on their charts or on any other platform(other ecn or mt4 charts)
2.slippage on SL stop entry orders every time from 2 pips to 10 pips even in the most active trading session (London)
3.filled market orders which you never transmitted
4.slippage is never to your advantage

Forex trading is in Switzerland not under any supervision of any governing body

pls see attached live screen shot of dukas live client terminal
following are my points
1.note the entry buy order at 1.7219 filled at 1.7230 and magically the order seem to have been interrupted by interbank counter party (whatever that means) this is just one example of many ,this one caught my eye especially since this seems to be their new explanation for bad execution
2.note the low first layer of liquidity

What was the order size? This is important.

0.5 mil and 2mil GBPUSD

ok, those order sizes should be fine with Dukas. Do you set "Max Slippage" when you make your orders?

..:'Do you set "Max Slippage" when you make your orders'?

NO is the answer to that, and you want to know WHY?

Because you either will not get filled at all, or you will get partially filled orders, their liquidity is absolutly laughable.
and it is not fine at all when i get slippage up to 11 pips reguarly on Stop entry orders

Also have you tried comparing the market depth to a currenex platform? I have not compared for that particular pair but I can tell you the ones I have compared, Dukas usually has 2 to 3 times the liquidity for EU.

I don't have any problems with EU with them.....I always set Max Slippage but then again my orders are always market orders. Personally I would rather not get filled or a partial fill then one 11 pips away. Have you contacted them about the issues? They are usually very quick to respond and may be able to give you more insight as to what is going on.

Who are you fxRichard? What does that mean:' ok, those order sizers should be fine...'

Who told you that? What do you mean by 'fine'?!!

You are defending Dukas as if it is your own company, you treat this thread and the first two posts by Kiado as if you are completely oblivious to those facts. 'fine'??!!! No way, I am going to change to a diffrent broker, Dukas is at the bottom, bottom draw of all ECN type brokers! (If they are ECN, that is!)

I actually had an account with Dukas for years now, they are now going down hill. Full stop!

My advice to you dear fellow FF members: Run before it's to late! Take your business elsewhere!

But be sure that your account manager is actually not away on holiday, like mine was (holiday? who can actually afford a 'holiday' in these volatile times??!), and that you are able to comunicate in the Russian language, otherwise they might not understand when you say: 'please wire over'!

Sorry, I didn't mean to have been rude! My best.

Who am I? Who are you? They are not my company, I use them so I am giving my input. When I say fine I am referring to their 250k order increment size. If the order size were the minimum of 100k then you will experience these problems, they will tell you that first hand. If the order size is odd and not in 250k increments you will experience problems. That is why I say "fine". I am trying to help is all, I am not oblivious to the facts.

i didn't understand what you say about the first layer of liquidity (best bid and best offer) at Duka,the fact is that it is thin as hot air between 1 and 2 mil max at the first level

you got a lot of liquidity up to 200 mil but then the spread widens up to 10 pips
maybe i am starting to think that at Dukas they offer two different price feeds to clients and successfull traders are executed manually ,this will explain why you dint experience any slippage, so yes you confirm my believe that they are actualy Market Makers

All I'm saying is have you compared the first layer of liquidity to say that of a currenex hub? I would be interested to see what you find out about this issue in general, to set things straight I am by no means defending Dukas, just trying to help, one cannot help without knowing the details. How do I confirm your belief that they are market makers?

Well, after having calmed down a little from my 'outrage' about Dukas, I would like to pay some further thoughts into this subject.

The truth is, as a retail client you are always at the bottom of the food chain, no matter what. First we have the raw Interbank market trading through EBS and Reuters Dealing 3000 and lately FXmarketspace, and arbitrage trading between those and Institutional ECN platforms like FXall, Accelor, Baxter, Lava, 360T etc.etc.

As a matter of fact, a retail trader has only a handful of 'real' brokers to choose from, mainly Interactive Brokers, MBTrading, HotspotFxi, Currenex (to acertain extent) and FXCM. Note that up until a few month ago Dukas was in (my) above list as well, no longer anymore.

Dukas ECN model/idea of aggregating many Institutional platforms, and creating the so called decentralized centralized market liquidity pool, was an excellent model up until the credit crunch area has started to become manifest.

In my view, a company, unregulated, with a only 10m CHF capital, is unable to compete in this current environment where credit margin requirements have gone up significantly, and a broker/bank offering liquidity has gotten the 'holy tag' status.

I recall times with Dukas, over a year ago, where the word 'slippage' was rarely heard in my office, where a stop loss got filled even in a hectic market, today, I can count the trades where I don't get slipped on one hand. No matter if it is a stop entry order or a stop loss order.

I get slipped on market orders with off market quotes, prices not seen neither on the Dukas live client price terminal, nor on their charts. It's frustrating to say the least.

I think the sole purpose of an online forum is to highlight the problems we face from companies out there looking for retail clients to do business with. I am happy that someone has taken the initiative to highlight the current issues. Thank you for that.

I am now looking for a new brokerage house, and perhaps it is also the right oportunity to step up the stakes, and to further look into names like: Calyon, Marex, GNI touch, Capital Forex, FIXI, GL Trade and VCap.

As a matter of fact, may I ask you, dear FF member:

Could you recommend a good PB and/or platform for the more 'engaged' trader?

But to come back to my original point and to finish off with this:

If you have the ability to trade other than on Dukas, do so by all means, there IS much better out there, someone somewhere has the liquidity to offer you need, its just a matter of doing a good research and to take the appropriate action.

My best.

Hi Richard,

I need to speak to you regarding dukascopy.

Regards.

in my opinion an ECN or NDD broker which doesn't provide you with the name of the counterpart isn't trustable .
Their is no real reason for not showing you the counterpart of your trade and their are enough examples of ecn brokers (IB)which do allow you to see the actual bank which have taken the opposite side of your trade

Keep in mind that they were a dealing desk from '03 - '06:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.dukascopy.com/

I'm guessing that the "transition" from DD to ECN was more or less a re-dressing of the frontend, and little changed in the backend.

Also, check out their site from '00 - '02 if you want some laughs.

It would appear his "incontrovertible proof" of the Duka-Theory didn't turn out to be that incontrovertible after all, and he had to head for the ordinary broker-business.

The 2001-sites are indeed most lol.

FXCM??? Are you high?

Dukascopy used to do this (a few months ago). EFX never did.

fxterrapin:

I wasn't high, no, but I was utterly stupid for saying this.

So here comes the correction:

FXCM:

Join the 'shops', the Bucket shops, that is.

Thank you fxterrapin

Note:

I was speaking to a CTA last night, the experiences he had with them were just not to believe, I had asked him why he had used them as a broker, he replied because he wanted to give them a shot. Well, magazin is empty, with lots and lots of dead bodies around. (his lawyer eventually got matters sorted out, or better said, is sorting matters out.)