gft service

hi i was just wondering how many people here use gft and the platform dealbook 360 there customer service seems very good and i like the fact my money is in australia. just wondering what trading is like with them?

regards damien

your money may not be in Australia all the time champ.... read the PDS and push the salesman. you also have to pay a fee to have it wired back to u!

oh ok yeah i know soon as i open live chat my phone is ringing and every 5 minutes they ask to sign me up i thought that was dodgy and it got worse when i said i hadnt been trading long.

i have found another broker axis.odl anyone tried these mt4 platform with commodities indices and a few stocks on it as well?

regards damien

Hey mate

I have used gft for several years now and have no problems with them as for funding I funded through a local Aussie bank. I did get burned with refco and lost money with there collapse so I would not hesitate to recommend them and the Australian government will protect your funds in such a case with a local deposit.

They may be annoying but remember they are salesman, trying to make a living. It definitely slows down after a while and always say you have some trading experience.

Hope this helps

Darren

My experience from GFT trading and programming since Christmas 2009: (1) The GFT platform disconnects (2) crashes (3) must be running at all times during trading: DO NOT leave a robot unattended EVER (4) strategy arrows disappear (5) crash developers ask you to send a "report" (6) the data-feed and performance report is usually limited to 20 trades or less (7) The ChartStudio help manual is simplistic and Common Technical Language (CTL) is frustrating to program (8) I heard they charge you an inactivity fee (9) Heiken Ashi (report performance) is very different from reality OHLC bar fills (10) trades execute and close okay, but you must close or cancel all separate working orders: stops, targets, etc. MY GFT BROKER RATING: F

re: (1) and (2) was that demo or live? I had issues on demo with that kind of thing but no problems trading live.
re: (3), (4), (5) just throw the robots away and learn to trade properly.
re: (6) 20 open trades at the same time? That's pretty extreme considering that you will only have 1 position open per pair at a given time on GFT.
re: (7) I agree, CTL is a bit clunky compared to MQL but I dont use indicators anyway.
re: (8) Yes, they charge an inactivity fee if you dont conduct at least 1 live trade every 60 days I believe.
re: (9) Of course HA candles will be different to OHLC ... do you actually understand that HA candles are a lagging indicator and not a true reflection of the current market price?
re: (10) if you used OCO or parent and contingency then when you cancel one order it should remove the other.

I have used GFT for a while and have had no issues on a live account. The DealBook360 platform is great .... very customisable. Orders are filled at the order price, no spread blow outs etc.

yeah GFT is great but pay attention to broker how they deal with !!!

I just posted on another thread about GFT.
I've been using them for 2 years, works well for me. Fast, reliable executions, low spreads, quick to wire money, etc.

I've actually never had a disconnection, though I trade from server farm. I suspect that many broker disconnections are not the broker's fault...

I am not a fan of them. I now use FxPro(Cyprus) and Dukascopy(Switzerland).

I don't like the fact that GFT are a marketmaker and not and ECN provider. This means that they know where your stop losses are placed and despite whatever anyone tells you, this is not geared in the user's favour.

Deal book is good and solid software however that too depends entirely on how you trade. If you use EAs or custom indicators a lot then maybe consider someone offering MT4 as this is the most common platform.

Also, I chose Dukascopy as my primary broker because they are (A) secure, (B) have amazing liquidity and tight spreads during volatility - I have NEVER had a requote unlike with GFT, InterbankFX and FXCM where I got them routinely and (C) they have the best mobile/iphone trading platform so I still have market access, live Dow Jones newsfeed and charting with indicators available when I am on the go to track trade progress.

FxPro also requote at times but have never been as bad as FXCM and GFT.

My experience with GFT sales and aftersales service is that they are very keen to take your money and no as keen to assist when you have issues or want to withdraw cash. Dukascopy on the other hand have a strong book of institutional business already so they don't "need" retail investors as much and therefore will not hassle the life out of you. Their down fall though is their limited number of tradable instruments which is why I have found a balance with FxPro who are a little more expensive on spreads but have 100's of instruments.

This is just my opinion though and I wish you luck with whoever you chose

Probably my only really STRONG advice is split your money between 2 broker accounts. No matter what anyone says broker's servers can go down, this has happened to me personally with InterbankFx in the states and it is quite annoying if you have positions and no ability to close them in a quick change of market direction. It is also horribly dangerous if you have a position open that does not have a stop loss in place when it goes down.

I had this occur to me and had to call in to InterbankFx in the states to close an open trade as I had no other broker account open that I could hedge this with. Of course because it was down, everyone called them and I spent 20 mins on hold before I could close out my position. Not a fun experience mate

Also being across two means that you are not held hostage by poor service by one while they are ever so slowly returning your money

4xAddict,

You wrote:

"I have NEVER had a requote unlike with GFT..."

"FxPro also requote at times..."

Odd! Which is it?

I still maintain the opinion that being an FX broker is a business: they have spreads, quick fills during news is impossible, etc.

Maintaining accounts with two or more brokers is a good idea, but is a bit impractical for me, and a bit too much paranoia.

I think there exist "honest" brokers. But no matter which one you choose(non-3rd world-scam broker that is), the key factor is placing good trades.

Your broker is truly irrelevant in the long run. Software features, customer service is another mention...
GFT may well be crap for some people.

well im seriously thinking of going live with gft i need a new broker and they seem the friendliest and the most wanting to help me atm. yeah i looked at axis but until i hear more about them im staying clear. its either gft or igmarkets or fxcm in my list atm and gft are looking the best. and my statement above about there dodgy customer service ringing soon as you finish chatting i guess the dudes have to earn a living i cant blame them for wanting to sign traders up its there job. so ignore that post lol

regards damien

GFT is us based. They are under nfa guidelines. So if you funded and are in Australia your money is probably sitting in a US bank account. Any broker who is under nfa guidelines is US based, since you can't avoid them if your based there.

Hi jm8985,

Sorry for any confusion - my comment about never having a broker requote is with reference to my Dukascopy account which I acknowledged as being my primary broker in the same sentence. I only use FxPro as a best of the rest to gain access to a wider range of tradable instruments that Dukascopy don't offer.

There are plenty who don't run multiple accounts and trade successfully but my years of experience have taught me otherwise. All professional brokers in the banks use multiple brokers as part of their risk management and to ensure they get the best deals. I guess it really depends how much you are trading with in the first place. I trade full time and am trading larger lot sizes than the lion's share of retail traders that I have encountered on FF - it's just another safety net to protect yourself.

I agree on your final points 110%, placing good trades is the key in the end! In reality unless you are intraday scalping with small account equity, broker spreads really make little difference.

i aint a scalper i just want a good platform with a trustworthy company that has base currency in australia.

regards damien

All the decent brokers will let you keep your account in AUD as the base currency. It's normally just a box your tick during your application.

I’ve had a live account with GFT for a year ½ and so far I am content with them. I’ve had two other live accounts (Oanda & FXCM). They all have their pros & cons, but once I gained experience in Forex trading it became easier for me to select a Broker. Because now as a full time Trader I know which benefits are most important to me. GFT spreads are reasonable most of the time, good execution, 24x7 live customer support. DealBook Server problems happened twice in a year and half.
I do agree with having access to at least two different Broker platforms especially if you’re trading for a living. I like to keep check on a few things - mainly bid/ask price, & spreads. Just think of it as having a “trading backup plan.”

ive noticed a lot of brokers sending in a personal Representatives to forex factory lately. i dont see why all brokers wouldnt do this it would have to be beneficial to there company. i know they get roasted alot from scalpers on execution speed and such. i wonder if gft send p.rs around i might ask them lol

regards damien

Anyone interested, be aware of GFT inactivity fees and charges. Do not open an account and then , for various reasons (like high volatility and stuff),not place a trade for a couple of months. They charge $ 60.00 per month if you don't trade. Try to get yourself together after a loss or a series of bad trades or just think that you'd better wait for proper conditions, pay attention newbies, and GFT is going to slash your account $ 60.00 every month.A small account takes only a few months to disappear in charges and fees. Also, personal opinion, Dealbox worked extremely slow on my computer running XP and on Windows 7 as well.Very disappointed. Not to mention the web version.It takes forever to load. Only thing I did find working with them was the live chat.They weren't much help for me but it did work reasonably good. MT4 works a charm with any brocker I used so far, if anyone is looking for reasonably good broker, AUD deposits, check Axis.I'm quite happy with them.IBFX have a lot of tools and resources, quite nice and useful ,but on my demo with them , their spreads are most of the time double the size as with AXIS. Hope this helps.

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Live long and prosper

3D