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MBTrading could have been the best broker

  • #1
  • First Post: Sep 1, 2009 10:38am Sep 1, 2009 10:38am
I am in the midst of shopping for an ecn broker for my new strategy. I thought MBT could have met my criteria but it didn't, which is a pity. The drawbacks are as follows:

Cons:
The platform is too messy, especially with those floating windows.

Improvements:
Display buy/sell on position window.
Choice to show separate trades of the same instrument on position window, and display the filled price rather than the aggregate basis.
Grouping of open orders.
Better charting capability.

Other than that, I think the platform is good, especially with ecn.
Anyone, especially MBT clients, agree to my proposed improvements?
  • #2
  • Sep 1, 2009 12:57pm Sep 1, 2009 12:57pm
Quoting jlryan87
I am in the midst of shopping for an ecn broker for my new strategy. I thought MBT could have met my criteria but it didn't, which is a pity. The drawbacks are as follows:

Cons:
The platform is too messy, especially with those floating windows.

Improvements:
Display buy/sell on position window.
Choice to show separate trades of the same instrument on position window, and display the filled price rather than the aggregate basis.
Grouping of open orders.
Better charting capability.

Other than that, I think the platform is good, especially with...
I assume you are talking about the Nav and not MetaTrader? I use Meta through them for some stuff and Nav for others. Nav is much more customizable. I like the floating windows because I can lay out my screen however I want. Better charting would be nice, but that's what Nav Pro is going to be about. As for the separate trades thing, that's a function of an ECN and not a desk. Since you wanted an ECN, you can't get around that (should be a hint when a broker says they are ECN but doesn't aggregate). Execution rocks though, and the Nav order types are spectacular.
  • #3
  • Sep 1, 2009 5:27pm Sep 1, 2009 5:27pm
I too was looking to sign up with MB Trading but are not accepting live accounts as of yet for the MT4 platform.....and who knows for how much longer.

IndyTrader, do you know any comparable ENC brokers that are running MT4 platforms and could start up with about $2,000.....cause I know there are others that require a much lager initial deposit to start.

Have you heard of PFG Best?
  • #4
  • Sep 1, 2009 6:23pm Sep 1, 2009 6:23pm
Quoting IndyTrader
I assume you are talking about the Nav and not MetaTrader? I use Meta through them for some stuff and Nav for others. Nav is much more customizable. I like the floating windows because I can lay out my screen however I want. Better charting would be nice, but that's what Nav Pro is going to be about. As for the separate trades thing, that's a function of an ECN and not a desk. Since you wanted an ECN, you can't get around that (should be a hint when a broker says they are ECN but doesn't aggregate). Execution rocks though, and the Nav order types...
I have to agree with everything you say. I don't know about MBT charts because I use Sierra.
  • #5
  • Sep 1, 2009 9:01pm Sep 1, 2009 9:01pm
Yeah.. MBTrading was great in many ways, and bad in others.. I'm currently withdrawing my money from account today.. however, their customer support is great and withdrawing is smooth.
pros:
1) great fills. My limit orders almost always got an improved slippage price.
2) great spreads during news, while everyone else is complaining about 50 pip spread during a news spike, I wonder what they are talking about because most of the time my spread remains low.
3) fast order execution.

cons:
1) terrible ugly charting software. its more suited for ppl that like pro-looking bloomberg terminal style stuff.. i'd rather have a nice graphical user friendly looking platform. call me a noob, whatever. =)
2) can't run my MT4 EAs... I had to develop external software in C# to run my EA; it's a lot of work. No way I'll do that for every single EA I have.
3) harder to manage trades.. i want to close a trade, oops can't unless i remove all pending orders related to it first... but what if I want to still keep those pending orders?? ahh such a headache.
would be nice if I could visually see and edit my pending orders...
  • #6
  • Sep 2, 2009 3:54am Sep 2, 2009 3:54am
Quoting Fly Low
I too was looking to sign up with MB Trading but are not accepting live accounts as of yet for the MT4 platform.....and who knows for how much longer.

IndyTrader, do you know any comparable ENC brokers that are running MT4 platforms and could start up with about $2,000.....cause I know there are others that require a much lager initial deposit to start.

Have you heard of PFG Best?
you need 5k to get started with pfg best if they didn't change it.
  • #7
  • Sep 2, 2009 4:24am Sep 2, 2009 4:24am
I gave up Demoing PFG - All my Demo's performed better on other brokers. Also they seem a bit lax (like MB) with the demo server. I've also stopped demoing MB until they have a reliable demo server. At this point they restart and update the demo server so much that I cant trust the EA results - For MB I'll just have to wait until they get the kinks worked out.
  • #8
  • Sep 2, 2009 5:10am Sep 2, 2009 5:10am
So right now for MT4 ECN there arent so many good options, are there?

maybe only ATC I think.
  • #9
  • Sep 2, 2009 5:20am Sep 2, 2009 5:20am
I LOVE Collective FX but you're right there are only a few decent brokers. My current 'LIKE' list is Collective FX, ATC, MBTrading (If they ever get the demo stable..) and Broco (Maybe?) - I also like that FXOpen is hooked up with Dukascopy but I havent tested them yet (I hear bad things but their ECN feed is new and possibly worthy of a shot)
  • #10
  • Sep 2, 2009 9:44am Sep 2, 2009 9:44am
Quoting Fly Low
I too was looking to sign up with MB Trading but are not accepting live accounts as of yet for the MT4 platform.....and who knows for how much longer.

IndyTrader, do you know any comparable ENC brokers that are running MT4 platforms and could start up with about $2,000.....cause I know there are others that require a much lager initial deposit to start.

Have you heard of PFG Best?
PFG is STP but not true ECN. I can say this, from my searching. If you are looking for:

US-based
ECN
MT4 that functions properly for EAs
Low deposit requirement (i.e. under $5000)

Then the only option that matches these (and are quite good anyway, so that's not a negative) is MB Trading.

If you don't really care about the deposit thing (i.e. if your account is bigger), then a couple of points. You can get lowered commissions with MB based on volume of trading monthly, and as to the first three points in the list, no one else matches just those, no matter what the deposit requirement.
  • #11
  • Sep 2, 2009 9:46am Sep 2, 2009 9:46am
Quoting xsmd
2) can't run my MT4 EAs... I had to develop external software in C# to run my EA; it's a lot of work. No way I'll do that for every single EA I have.
Huh? Why can't you run your EAs?
  • #12
  • Sep 2, 2009 9:54am Sep 2, 2009 9:54am
Quoting JoePass
So right now for MT4 ECN there arent so many good options, are there?

maybe only ATC I think.
The problem is not just that there aren't many MT4 ECN brokers. The problem is that there aren't many ECN BROKERS, period. There are several that claim to be ECN because the term is pretty loose, but they aren't really. And the reality is that of the few brokers that are ECN, my understanding is that MT4 is really, really hard to get a true bridge with. It's like oil and water. However, I've been on the MB MT4 beta for months now, and it has been working perfectly smooth. They had a delay related to the FIFO rule that forced them to make some significant changes because MT4 itself didn't handle the new rule in a way that was usable with the ECN backend. This update finally occurred over the weekend, and my account is still working perfectly, but is now operating under the FIFO rules. Since there isn't any new NFA requirement pending (hedging, FIFO, etc) that could change this up a lot, I'm guessing MB will be ready to get this thing out of Beta very soon, and then everyone has their solution. However, if you are waiting for the Demo environment to be stable, I think you'll have a long time to wait. LOL. MB's demo environment even on the Nav side has always sucked.
  • #13
  • Sep 2, 2009 11:55am Sep 2, 2009 11:55am
Im with Mb as well but just found FXCBS which claims to be an ECN and have a live MT4 that I am demoing right now and spreads are .3-1 pip above MB's spreads might want to check them out until MB gets their MT4 up and running.

I am demoing MBs MT4 and the only problem I have had is a calculation error on lots twice noe but they have fixed it every time so as usual their Customer Service is on the ball.
  • #14
  • Sep 2, 2009 2:06pm Sep 2, 2009 2:06pm
Well, I was planning to go live with MBT for a few weeks now, as I got my EA's working properly I think in the demo env(Ignoring the unstability..), but they wont give an estimate on how much longer its gonna take... IndyTrader - you seem to be well informed, how much longer do YOU think its gonna take for them to open again for beta, or open for real? also, I'sent ATC a true ECN? why not?
  • #15
  • Sep 2, 2009 2:17pm Sep 2, 2009 2:17pm
Quoting JoePass
Well, I was planning to go live with MBT for a few weeks now, as I got my EA's working properly I think in the demo env(Ignoring the unstability..), but they wont give an estimate on how much longer its gonna take... IndyTrader - you seem to be well informed, how much longer do YOU think its gonna take for them to open again for beta, or open for real? also, I'sent ATC a true ECN? why not?
I have no idea when they will open the Beta again. If you go back to May and even before, they were starting to open the application for Beta accounts about every week, and you could sense that they were about done and it was all working great, and then it all stopped with the FIFO issue. I have no idea what they still see as "issues" from a backend perspective, but they just did their update this last Friday. From a trading perspective, as I said, it is all smooth. Those who use the demo environment as a gauge are making a mistake...and unfortunately, that might not change a lot based on the fact that MB has always been woefully bad in the Demo world, which I will never understand. This looks to be the exact MT4 platform that everyone should want, and if you have EAs, the hedging issue is easily bypassed by opening two accounts and running your longs in one and shorts in another. But beyond that, I would have no idea what MB is seeing, testing, or waiting for at this point. It's only been three days since the update. From an IT perspective, that's nothing as you have to make sure every little possibility is doing what it is supposed to.
  • #16
  • Sep 2, 2009 5:02pm Sep 2, 2009 5:02pm
Quoting IndyTrader
Those who use the demo environment as a gauge are making a mistake...and unfortunately, that might not change a lot based on the fact that MB has always been woefully bad in the Demo world, which I will never understand.
IndyTrader, thanks for your reply and your insights. Can you please explain what you mean exactly by the demo being unstable? What would be some differences between the live and the demo because I just downloaded their demo less than a week ago. Thank you
  • #17
  • Sep 3, 2009 1:53am Sep 3, 2009 1:53am
Quoting Fly Low
IndyTrader, thanks for your reply and your insights. Can you please explain what you mean exactly by the demo being unstable? What would be some differences between the live and the demo because I just downloaded their demo less than a week ago. Thank you
Um...the demo might not work on any given day, orders will get stuck, the statements are off, and the system crashes regularly. This is the best that I can figure it: MB Trading views their demo environment as a place where they can test their own system upgrades and where an EA programmer (for example) can come test their EAs to tweak and see if they can perform on MB's ECN versus a regular MT4 deal desk. If, on the other hand, you were thinking about running an EA for a week to see how the EA PERFORMS (instead of just proving that it works and then moving to live), I would almost guarantee that you would run into some kind of trouble over the course of a week. Somewhere between one order getting stuck, all orders suddenly getting stuck, and/or your entire account not making sense. Just depends on the week and what they do to the environment. But the funny thing is, and they would probably just say "well this is how it should be," I bet you'll never have a problem with their Live environment once you get the EA to "perform" (not "work over time") in their demo environment. Maybe that makes sense to you. I don't know how else to explain it. Other brokers have Demo environments that make you believe that you will always have a perfect world, perfect fills, and everything perfect so that you want to trade through them. MB Trading basically says, "We don't care about making you comfortable, but come trade with us." And when you do, life is good...lol.
  • #18
  • Sep 3, 2009 3:59am Sep 3, 2009 3:59am
Thanx bro, lol perfectly understood. Actually after reading this, almost all of the above is just happening to me right now. I'm actually currently in a trade up 55+ pips and I can't even close it. When I go to close it, it tells me "No connection"....it's stuck. I contacted support through chat and he quoted me "Our demo is temporarily unavailable due to updates and testing" I also noticed that my P/L are not balancing. I guess you were totally right about their demo, not too good at all.

I just hope we can go live soon with the MT4 platform or else I don't know who to go with in the meantime...
  • #19
  • Sep 3, 2009 8:39am Sep 3, 2009 8:39am
Quoting Fly Low
Thanx bro, lol perfectly understood. Actually after reading this, almost all of the above is just happening to me right now. I'm actually currently in a trade up 55+ pips and I can't even close it. When I go to close it, it tells me "No connection"....it's stuck. I contacted support through chat and he quoted me "Our demo is temporarily unavailable due to updates and testing" I also noticed that my P/L are not balancing. I guess you were totally right about their demo, not too good at all.

I just hope we can go live soon with the MT4 platform...
Yeah, their Demo has been down for the last five hours. I rest my case. Live flies along nicely though...
  • #20
  • Oct 28, 2009 8:34am Oct 28, 2009 8:34am
so I dont quite understand MBT, because better NO DEMO at all that this one..... weird
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