Should I complain to my broker about stoploss being hit?

Quoting Zarul Shahrin

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I would like to hear some opinion, I had a smaller accounts on Oanda, just a few hours ago, My SL was hit, I was selling EURUSD and my TP was at 1.1340 and I was stopped out at 1.1396 which is the current high...So which mean it hasn't touch 1.1340... Some of you might say it's just a matter of 0.00004 pips away..But, the funny part is, recently more than twice the price was about 0.00002-0.00005 away from my TP, but my TP wasn't hit, so this is not a matter of 0.00004. If My SL got hit before reaching the number, I guess the same thing should happened to my TP, but it didn't but now the opposite thing happened to my SL...

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Quoting Darkstar

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Did you account for the spread? Looking at Oanda's chart the peak median price was 1.31396 at 18:13. Tack on the .6 pip spread and your stop was smoked.

Incidentally, you were among many who had stops placed there. Thanks for giving me your money.

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Quoting kermut

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Hi Zarul,

This is a very common occurence with Oanda. The price on the candlestick is not the actual price at the server, but it is some "average" price.

The only concrete price you have is if you go to the type of chart section and select the min/max option, guarenteed you will see the chart atleast 1 pip higher than your sl value.

It is a different point totally whether that price is actually a real price on the interbank platform (real, true interbank that is).

Oanda is a market maker, and it is their discretion the price they chose to offer on the bid/ask.

Go to the Oanda forums and search for slippage, shading, stop hunting, and you will get some very very interesting posts and also very valuable information.

How do I know all this? I have a live account at Oanda, and trade through them for 99% of my trades. This has happened to me on several occasions, and it has never been a blessing (ie "imagine of the price went against you). My sl seemed to be like a magnet almost, and the price reversed within 1-2 pips of my sl, and continued in the original direction, once to the tune of over 200 pips. Is Oanda chasing stops - I don't know and can't give a concrete answer. What s the best way to avoid this happening - No clear answer, only suggestions eg. use mental stops and have a close trade window open, this way Oanda doesn't know where ur stop is; use funny numbers for sl eg 23, instead of 20 etc.

A true story - I was in a trading room a while back, and there were some pro-traders there trading on currenex and hotspotfxi, using e-signal for charting, and some others trading on retail platforms. I was in a trade where I had my sl hit, to the pip, and then the thing reversed and went for 100 pips. I immediately asked all the traders for their high at that particular time, no one had a quote that high, all where about 4 pips lower. I immediately rang Oanda, and talked to the customer rep, and complained that how come 6 other platforms did not show the price I got hit at. Reply - "we are market maker, we make our prices, doesn't mean that it is real price" http://www.forexfactory.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Since, Oanda were the best broker for my type of trading (for a beginner), I decided to change my style/strategy, and how I use sl. Result - if stop gets hit, the thing is going in the opp direction to me.

Hope this info will help you better your strategy and make more pips in the future.

Regards,
K.

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Quoting kermut

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Hi Zarul,

I was in a trade where I had my sl hit, to the pip, and then the thing reversed and went for 100 pips.

Regards,
K.

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