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ECN Brokers - Need your input

  • #1
  • First Post: Edited 11:06am Mar 31, 2006 10:58am | Edited 11:06am
Hi all,

Being lured by the low spreads, lack of any dealing desk to potentially trade against you, no stop order restrictions, no news trading resctrictions and fast trade executions, I'm considering opening an account with an ECN.

I've included a list of the 4 ECN brokers I'm aware of as well as some comments that might help kick off some discussion.

If you have experience with any of these ECNs, please provide your input as I think it will be valuable to any other members considering a move to them as well. Specifically I'm looking for overall satisfaction, trade execution, system downtime issues, and any other details that would help a prospective client make a decision...

MB Trading - Can trade minis as well as full lots, $5.00 R/T commission for EUR/USD, no news feed, no integrated charting, 100:1 leverage, $400.00 minimum account deposit.

COES FX - Couldn't find out much about these guys. Their website is very short on details...

HotSpotFX - $3 R/T commission on EUR/USD, real-time news feed integrated into trading platform, charting by FX Trek (included with account), $7500.00 minimum account deposit, no mini trading

Interactive Brokers - $2.50 minimum R/T commission on EUR/USD, $25000.00 minimum trading size (1/4 EUR/USD lot, for example), 50:1 leverage, $2000.00 minimum account deposit, no news trading restrictions, no integrated news feed, integrated charts, but limited tech. indicators.

Please let me know if any of the info I listed above is not correct.

Thanks to all in advance for your input,

Ian
  • #2
  • Mar 31, 2006 1:38pm Mar 31, 2006 1:38pm
Just FYI, I don't think these commissions are round-trip...they are each side. This is definitely a fact for MB Trading and I'm not so sure about IB, but I believe they are not round trip as well.

Furthermore, it's actually based on the LOT size in USD...you are charged $5.00 for every $100,000 USD you trade (both sides).

So for example, if you enter a long position for $10,000 USD/JPY, you will be charged $0.50 and then when you exit that position, you will be charged another $0.50 for a total of $1.00 R/T...

On the other hand, if you buy 100,000 EUR/USD (@ 1.2000), you will actually be spending $120,000 USD for a long position, and thus be charged $6.00 commissions for the position and then when you exit (let's say at 1.3000 for simplicity), you will be charged $6.50 for the commissions on the sale having gained another $10,000 in position.

The commissions for IB are the same, in reality...they charge 0.2 basis points which is the equivalent to $2.50 for every $50,000 US traded.

I haven't seen how HotSpotFX works...I don't even know what their spreads are.

Incidentally, there IS still a spread at IB and MBT, but of course, you can trade within the spread if need be...but there will always be a bid/ask price.

I have an account with MBT at the moment.

I'm not really keen on any of these platforms, BUT, I do notice less trading/technical problems with MBT even during peak times. I have had a quote server running for 2 months, and I have had only 1 unexpected outage and it lasted only 2 minutes or so. Furthermore, they have a well supported API so it makes automated trading and alerting much more reliable. Unfortunately, and this is BIG flaw, I had to develop all of the components required to actually trade their platform because, let's face it, it just sucks. On top of that, there is no historical data. There are 3rd party platforms already built for MBT, including forex capabilities, but I always found 1 or 2 things wrong (I liked the charting, but not the trading platform, or vice versa, or the platform used too much memory, or I found it too expensive, etc).

In any event, they are supposed to be working on historical quotes as well as integrating with MetaTrader...so let's hope for the best.
  • #3
  • Mar 31, 2006 2:04pm Mar 31, 2006 2:04pm
Quoting mrmikal
Just FYI, I don't think these commissions are round-trip...they are each side. This is definitely a fact for MB Trading and I'm not so sure about IB, but I believe they are not round trip as well.

Furthermore, it's actually based on the LOT size in USD...you are charged $5.00 for every $100,000 USD you trade (both sides).

So for example, if you enter a long position for $10,000 USD/JPY, you will be charged $0.50 and then when you exit that position, you will be charged another $0.50 for a total of $1.00 R/T...

On the other hand, if you buy 100,000 EUR/USD (@ 1.2000), you will actually be spending $120,000 USD for a long position, and thus be charged $6.00 commissions for the position and then when you exit (let's say at 1.3000 for simplicity), you will be charged $6.50 for the commissions on the sale having gained another $10,000 in position.

The commissions for IB are the same, in reality...they charge 0.2 basis points which is the equivalent to $2.50 for every $50,000 US traded.

I haven't seen how HotSpotFX works...I don't even know what their spreads are.

Incidentally, there IS still a spread at IB and MBT, but of course, you can trade within the spread if need be...but there will always be a bid/ask price.

I have an account with MBT at the moment.

I'm not really keen on any of these platforms, BUT, I do notice less trading/technical problems with MBT even during peak times. I have had a quote server running for 2 months, and I have had only 1 unexpected outage and it lasted only 2 minutes or so. Furthermore, they have a well supported API so it makes automated trading and alerting much more reliable. Unfortunately, and this is BIG flaw, I had to develop all of the components required to actually trade their platform because, let's face it, it just sucks. On top of that, there is no historical data. There are 3rd party platforms already built for MBT, including forex capabilities, but I always found 1 or 2 things wrong (I liked the charting, but not the trading platform, or vice versa, or the platform used too much memory, or I found it too expensive, etc).

In any event, they are supposed to be working on historical quotes as well as integrating with MetaTrader...so let's hope for the best.
MrMikal,

Thanks for the great comments and insight. I definitely wasn't aware that the commissions were on each side of the trade, so that's definitely something worth taking into consideration.

I just checked out HotSpot's trading platform and found it very rudimentary, albeit functional. It's also Java, of which I'm not a big fan. It was a 26MB download (ouch!). I guess I'm partial to MetaTrader's interface so let's hope MBT does get their integration with MT running soon.

Best,

Ian
  • #4
  • Apr 2, 2006 3:52am Apr 2, 2006 3:52am

The greatest aspect of trading on an ECN is not only smaller spreads, but no spreads. Actually, the goal is to make the spread.

Not all ECN type brokers on the Forex allow this. I know COES does because I have went to their main branch and seen them in action. MB does not, and that to me makes them worthless. I'd rather pay the spread and not have to watch a "level 2" screen to save a pip or two. However, if I can save 4 pips in and 4 pips out...now that's worth my time.

Just something to keep in mind.

  • #5
  • Apr 2, 2006 10:12pm Apr 2, 2006 10:12pm
I have just recently opened an account with CoesFx. While there commissions are higher than some, I have found their customer service to be great. Plus, they are negotiable with the commission rate. They also give access to a mentoring service with the Radiant Capital Group. Which I have also found to be outstanding. So far, I am very happy with the company.

I also did a lot of research on Interactive Brokers IdealPro FX trading platform. Their commissions are a lot cheaper, only $5.00 roundturn. The smallest lot unit to trade is $25,000, which also makes for better position sizing. A really solid company. However, they really cater more to experienced traders. Their platform is not easy to learn (at least not as easy as CoesFx). They did not, as of a month ago, have any easy way to track your FX positions on the IdealPro platform. Their customer service is not that great as far as getting questions answered as they expect you to already know what you are doing.

So, for me, at my level of experience, CoesFx was the better choice. However, if your experienced, or already familiar with TWS (IB's order entry system), then Interactive Brokers might be a better choice for you.

John
  • #6
  • Apr 3, 2006 4:41am Apr 3, 2006 4:41am
mbtrading-has-integrated-trading.quotetracker

Being lured by the low spreads, lack of any dealing desk to potentially trade against you, no stop order restrictions, no news trading resctrictions and fast trade executions, I'm considering opening an account with an ECN.

I've included a list of the 4 ECN brokers I'm aware of as well as some comments that might help kick off some discussion.

If you have experience with any of these ECNs, please provide your input as I think it will be valuable to any other members considering a move to them as well. Specifically I'm looking for overall satisfaction, trade execution, system downtime issues, and any other details that would help a prospective client make a decision...

MB Trading - Can trade minis as well as full lots, $5.00 R/T commission for EUR/USD, no news feed, no integrated charting, 100:1 leverage, $400.00 minimum account deposit.

COES FX - Couldn't find out much about these guys. Their website is very short on details...

HotSpotFX - $3 R/T commission on EUR/USD, real-time news feed integrated into trading platform, charting by FX Trek (included with account), $7500.00 minimum account deposit, no mini trading

Interactive Brokers - $2.50 minimum R/T commission on EUR/USD, $25000.00 minimum trading size (1/4 EUR/USD lot, for example), 50:1 leverage, $2000.00 minimum account deposit, no news trading restrictions, no integrated news feed, integrated charts, but limited tech. indicators.

Please let me know if any of the info I listed above is not correct.

Thanks to all in advance for your input,

Ian[/quote]
  • #7
  • Apr 3, 2006 1:57pm Apr 3, 2006 1:57pm
Quoting dentist007

MB Trading - Can trade minis as well as full lots, $5.00 R/T commission for EUR/USD, no news feed, no integrated charting, 100:1 leverage, $400.00 minimum account deposit.


Please let me know if any of the info I listed above is not correct.

Thanks to all in advance for your input,

Ian
Hi, I spoke to a rep at MB Trading and he verified that the commissions are charged as follows: http://www.mbtrading.com/fx/commissions.asp

This is a one way fee so R/T would be twice that amount. You pay more in commissions as the amount of lots you trade increase.
  • #8
  • Aug 21, 2007 4:46am Aug 21, 2007 4:46am
Hi,

Do I have to pay for the chart for EFX???

What about MBT???

Regards
  • #9
  • Aug 22, 2007 12:12pm Aug 22, 2007 12:12pm
Quoting yyc196
Hi,

Do I have to pay for the chart for EFX???

What about MBT???

Regards
It's fairly well documented on these boards that EFX's new Omega platform will have charts and should be coming Sept/Oct. Not sure on charts with MBT, though.
FXChant Singing the World of Forex
  • #10
  • Last Post: Aug 24, 2007 10:30pm Aug 24, 2007 10:30pm
I thought I read in this forum EFX has the omega planned since 2005/2006 ? as well as integration with MetaTrader....

EFX Quote server are a joke. it lagged then and it still lagged now. and the excuse is same as others complained here before (your ISP) after several slip that cost me. I open MetaTrader & oanda & trade at EFX/MBT using MetaTrader Quote... which was much much more reliable .....
and I keep wondering, why quote form oanda & MT was not lagged as MBT ......
(metatrader with demo account @ mig)
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