Is anyone using IG Markets Level 2?

[quote=MaximeCau;8089876]{quote} Are you sure you trade their DMA ? I'm new with them but when you allow dma you can't deal contract per contract, you can't trade half contract... {quote}

They call it Forex Direct and claim it is pure DMA but it's still just a CFD. From their manual:
http://demo-deal.ig.com/content/file...nual_en_GB.pdf

Forex Direct is our no-dealing-desk trading facility for forex, giving you institutional prices and the ability to place orders directly into the forex order book. Available through our PureDMA dealing platform, Forex Direct provides full market transparency and access to prices from a wide selection of global banks and liquidity providers.
(.../...)
It is important to note that while you are trading based on underlying market prices and depth, what you actually receive on placing a trade is a CFD from us. It works like this: Forex Direct displays the best bid and offer price available for a particular currency pair, as well as up to four further prices on each side of the order book (the ‘market depth’). When you place an order using Forex Direct we instantaneously conduct a margin check to ensure you have sufficient funds in your account to cover the margin requirements on your proposed trade. Once this is confirmed, we will place an order in our name in the market and simultaneously create a corresponding CFD between you and us. As such, although you are trading at market prices all contracts will be cash-settled CFDs and you will not have any entitlement to delivery of the underlying currency.

Arguably the spread is much better than their regular FX offering but their commission & swap rates are terrible...

Since funds are under IG's name, orders can't be filled under your name. In DMA there is two contracts : one between market and your broker and the other one between you and your broker.

Gavin Holmes from LCG FX, agency model, explained me how it works :

"You have an account with us so we are your counterparty, LCG have an account with our Prime broker Citibank so we become their counterparty and they are counterparty to the market making bank with whom you traded. Remember you do not have an account with either the prime broker ( citibank) or the market making bank so it would not be possible for them to settle the trade directly with you in your name."

Commissions are high under 100m average a month because this offer is for big players, hedge funds who have much better prices.

Spreads are higher in their CFD forex because they don't charge commissions, they get paid through spread. Saxobank costs' are equal to IG's Forex direct.

IG's Forex direct uses Currenex .

Maxime,

I sent you a PM with the attached livechat discussion (in French) I had with IG asking them how I was able to execute 1.14 EUR/USD lot and then 0.12 AUD/USD lot through their DMA FX platform when they're supposed to only accept fixed round contracts...

They actually asked me how I was able to circumvent the minimal size... They confirmed that any order above 1 lot would be accepted under their L2 platform. I've asked the agent to double check that as it should not work in a real DMA environment...

Let me know if your inquiries lead to anything different.

As a retail trader dealing with micro/mini-lot, you can't pretend to trade on the interbank market. All the STP/ECN/DMA brokers are the same shit: They contract liquidity providers to make business with. It means that your orders are "virtually" sent to a LP but your broker is actually your counterpart since the broker may decide to not hedge a specific client or trade for any reasons.

Spot fx is DMA at IG markets and it's exactly the same thing than FXCM, Dukascopy, ActiveTrade. Do you really believe that you have already bought sth from Goldman Sachs or Nomura?

The thing is IG Markets doesn't need to claim that they are a "NDD ECN/STP/DMA" broker to attract clients. Just find a broker which can manage its risk properly and trade. Make money. Maybe one day you'll be capitalized enough to pretend trading trough a real direct-market-access solution.

What you say is not true : retail can be on DMA if they trade one lot.

IG's DMA requires a minimum of 1 contrat : 100 000 of the base currency.

Below that, you are on the forex cfd offer.

I know hedge funds who use IG forex dma : look at commissions $10 for those ou make 1 500M a month.

Whats the charting with IG's L2 software I can't seem to find any ?

I'm no longer trading with IG Markets. They slipped my stop by 31 pips when it was just normal price movement and there was no news event at that time. Look at my post under the IG markets thread.