Alpari.co.uk Discussion

The problem is, they haven't dealt with it at all. Over a period of a month, their price feed on MT5 (for me and others at least) has frozen anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes and this has occurred perhaps 6 or 7 times - that I have noticed. I have feeds from Gain, Oanda, Divisa, eSignals and Alpari's MT4 platform, and none of these have frozen at all during the same period.

If you are not bothered about not being able to trade due to reoccurring technical problems, then stick with them by all means. My style of trading means that I cannot accept such a poor service, irrespective of how often I am told that they are looking into it and that it has only affected a small number of accounts.

My core trading is on the MT4 Pro platform. Bits and bobs on MT5. If you've not had any problems on their MT4 platform, perhaps it’s just a MetaQuotes issue that they are trying to sort out.

Probably, yes. But they shouldn't take more than a month to sort out this type of issue on a live platform. it's a shame because I haven't had any other issues with them but this is a bit of a deal breaker for me really.

Please be aware that due to the US Independence Day on Thursday, 4 July 2013, trading hours on 3, 4 and 5 July will be affected for the following products:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9718/wrwi.jpg

All times are MetaTrader time (EET, GMT+3).

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Well, looks like you have a cast iron case, I apologise for implying otherwise. It does strike me as remarkable that they would mess up a straight-forward issue like that.

On the plus side, EUR is getting a hiding from USD today so maybe they've done you a favour. A broker that I use only allows deposits in USD - I was a bit annoyed I could not get an account in GBP. I am not that annoyed now 60 cents has fallen off it.

"NFA Files Another Complaint Against Alpari."

http://forexmagnates.com/nfa-files-another-complaint-against-alpari-us-business-may-no-longer-make-economic-sense/

Is this a concern for clients of Alpari UK?

Hi 4Xfactor,


Thank you for your post.


This has no impact on Alpari (UK) or its clients because:

1. Alpari (US) and Alpari (UK) are regulated by the regulatory bodies located in their respective regions. Decisions by a US regulatory body (NFA) on Alpari (US) have no bearing on Alpari (UK). Alpari (UK) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") and must comply with the FCA's rules which differ from those of the NFA.

2. Alpari (US) and Alpari (UK) are both independent entities within the global association of Alpari companies. In addition to our core products and platforms, each of the businesses has its own region-specific product portfolio.

3. Alpari (UK) and Alpari (US) each have their own Terms of Business reflecting their region's regulatory and legal environment. Clients can be assured that everything we do is underpinned by our regulatory obligation to treat customers fairly.

A reminder of our Terms of Business


Alpari (UK)'s Terms of Business are in line with FCA requirements and are regularly reviewed to ensure continued compliance with any changes to rules and regulation. When we make changes to our Terms of Business or Client Agreement we communicate them to clients by email and by notifications made in the Company News section of our website.


To ensure that you remain familiar with our trading policies it's always a good idea to review and read the latest version of our Terms of Business

Should you have any questions, please email our support team at [email protected] or call +44 (0) 207 426 2900. We will be happy to help in any way we can.



Alex


________

Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Thanks for the feedback Alex.

Happy to help 4Xfactor

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Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

I am trading with Alpari for last two years. I found their customer service is best among all other borkers but now i have problem that i live in Canada and Alpari is not opening any accounts for Canadian residents.

My question is that if Alpari is not offering services for new clients but at least the existing client should have option to open any account.

Regards

Hi aahmad29,

Good to hear

Unfortunately, Canadian regulatory restrictions prevent Alpari (UK) from processing any further applications from residents of Canada. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.


Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Scalping with alpari it's impossible.
I get always requotes up 5-6 times to open or close position.
This happens even with 5 micropips deviation, and also when there aren't much volatility at least 2 requotes to close position.
And that's not all, i think that with 5 digit allow they to move price so quickly up and down that makes you confused.

I'm truly disappointed.

Hi john142,

Welcome to the forum


If you are trading with the momentum of the market, and therefore by definition in the direction of least liquidity, then re-quotes are an inescapable fact of life that everyone has to deal with, from the busiest InterBank desks to the smallest retail trader. Having said that, re-quotes are dependent on your trading style. If you are buying in a rising market, that is buying when everyone else is trying to buy, or selling in a falling market, you will regrettably get more re-quotes.

Consequently, when attempting an instant execution order you may be re-quoted within a few seconds (and in the case of a pending order you may experience slippage). Orders are never guaranteed because if volatility is high, prices can be missed and we may not be able to obtain a quote for you at the price you requested. Orders are also sometimes filled away from the desired price due to gaps in the market. This occurs because currency prices can sometimes be very volatile or liquidity can be thin.

To put it quite simply, this is just the physical enactment of the Laws of Supply and Demand.

The only current alternatives are Direct Market Access Accounts (DMA). We at Alpari (UK) refer to this as a Pro account.

The basic difference here is that prices are not held static (for a few seconds) like non-DMA accounts, they constantly change. Orders are sent on a Fill or Kill basis where although you can avoid re-quotes, the risk is not getting a trade in (or out) at your preferred price at all. DMA accounts however do charge a commission (in lieu of spread) for each trade that you place.

To minimize re-quotes on non-DMA accounts:

1. "Enable the maximum deviation for quoted price" checkbox and set it above 10. This implies the max deviation is just 1 pip. To prevent re-quotes during volatile trading times, you may want to set the max deviation between 10 to 40 points (1 to 4 pips).

2. If you use an MT4 indicator to detect spread widening, please make sure that your indicator is configured for the 5 decimal pricing system that we use. Otherwise a 3 pip spread-widening will be shown as 30 pips by the indicator.

3. Another thing to consider is your internet connection to our servers. Test your latency by pinging the Alpari trading servers or just ping alpari.co.uk. If your latency is high (higher ms numbers), then this is one of the factor causing your orders to be re-quoted.

For example, let's say a client is complaining about re-quotes. He gives us an account number and we pull the logs. We find that we received his order at let's say, 9:01:11 and sent the execution back at 9:01:12, so less than a second. He claims it took two minutes and was requoted. Now, his logs showed that the order was placed by him (manually) at 8: 59:50. So, yes, assuming all timestamps are correct, that looks like 2 minutes, but we can clearly see that from the time it was received on our end until the time of execution it was barely only a second, hardly a bad time.

Traders in UK and Europe enjoy significantly lower latencies (hence higher speed execution) and experience almost no re-quotes (when maximum deviation setting is correct) than other traders usually in Asia, Australia, Africa or in countries where the internet is routed via proxies such as Saudi Arabia.

Small market movements matter. That's why we have five digits on most of our instruments on the MetaTrader 4 platform. This way you can benefit from smaller price moves quicker while at the same time receiving tighter spreads, better execution and more price updates.

I do hope that you give us another try as we would very much like to see you as one of our long term traders.

If you would like to discuss any other concerns, please feel free to contact our team on live-chat, via email or on +44 (0) 207 426 2900 (07:00-22:00 UK Mon-Fri). We're here to help.


Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

so far so good...but check out their GBP/AUD 4hour chart for tis week and compare it with other brokers' charts....

Hi Alex

1 of the reasons i use alpari is because of this thread and seeing the way otheres have helped so any answers to my question would be appreciated

i sent this to support also but no reply as of yet

I was trading GBP/JPY hourly candle GMT 8am-9am today and was short from 150.169 stop 150.269 i was stopped out and on both mt4/mt5 accounts price had not touched my stop so why was i taken out? and as i write price is getting further away from stop and closer to my TP


Regards

Hi remi05,

Thank you for your post.

As discussed in the email, please be aware that the charts show the bid only – and you should not rely solely on the chart information to determine where the market offer is at any given time.

You have to factor in the spread to find the offer. If you have a Short Position, as you did, it is upon the offer that the fate of your trade will be decided.

In this case the market rose to 150.242/150.269 at 10:24 and so your SL order to buy at 150.269 was executed quite correctly.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/6232/pfal.jpg


For a Buy Limit the market has to be offered at, or below, your chosen level.
For a Sell Limit the market has to be bid at, or above, your chosen level.

For a Buy Stop the market has to be offered at, or above, your chosen level.
For a Sell Stop the market has to be bid at, or below, your chosen level.

If you have any other concerns that you would like us to address, please feel free to contact our Client Services team by phone +44 20 7426 2900 (07:00-22:00 UK time, Monday-Friday), via live-chat or on email. We're here to help.


Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Hi,

I live in U.K so was interested in using the Alpari MT4 spread betting account. I have a few questions.

1. Can I place multiple orders on the same pair in both directions and distinct orders (i.e. hedging).
2. How is it different from the normal account apart from the tax advantages?

Kind Regards

Mark

Hi Mark,


Happy to help.

Hedging is allowed on the MT4 platform.

On a spread betting account you're not trading volumes, you're trading a stake. The volume relates not to lots but the stake you are prepared to risk per pip.

For example:

On a Non-Spread Betting account


Profit and loss = market movement x pip value per 1 lot x volume

Let’s say you’re trading 0.02 lots EURUSD at 1.40908 and the trade closes at 1.41000.

Market movement = (difference between opening and closing price) x 10,000 (or if term currency is JPY x 100)
Market movement = (1.41000 – 1.40908) x 10,000
Market movement = 9.2 pips

Profit or loss = market movement x pip value per 1 lot x volume
Profit or loss = 9.2 x USD10 x 0.02
Profit or = USD1.84

Depending on the position – whether you bought or sold – you made a profit OR loss of USD1.84.

On a Spread Betting account


Let’s say you placed a sell order in GBPUSD at an opening price of 1.56850, which you closed at 1.55223 for a stake of 12p/pip:

Profit or loss = (opening price-closing price) x 10,000 x stake
Profit or loss = (1.56850 - 1.555223) x 10,000 = 162.7
Stake 12p/pip x 162.7 pips = GBP19.52 profit

On the other hand, if you placed a buy order in GBPUSD at an opening price of 1.56850, which you closed at 1.55223 for a stake of 12p/pip, the outcome would be different:

Profit or loss = (closing price-opening price) x 10,000 x stake
Profit or loss = (1.55223 - 1.56850) x 10,000 = -162.7
Stake 12p/pip x 162.7 pips = £19.52 loss

For JPY pairs, profit and loss = (closing price-opening price) x 100 x stake


Alex

________
Alexander Chadwick
Alpari (UK) Representative

Thanks Alex,

It sounds ideal for me, What is the minimum bet size?

Update: I looked at the FAQ and it seems it's 10p

Hi Alex,


Is there any info why some prices say the ftse is different to IG for example