I was fleeced by my broker and I have proof!

This is my story of how I ended up with an account at FXCM and why I only stayed for 2 weeks. At the end of 2 weeks and numerous calls with at least 5 different FXCM support members, I ended up withdrawing my entire $12,142.98 in panic.

I know starting this thread will upset FXCM. They may even write in or try to get this thread removed. They will make excuses and fight to disagree with my story. This message/thread is to warn those who have accounts at FXCM or are considering using them. My hope is that I can expose these crooks for their unethical business practices. FXCM is hurting right now. They have been bailed out by Leucadia National Corp multiple times. It's obvious that FXCM is in a lot of debt and trying to find ways to pay off it's lenders/shareholders. With this being said, lets get into my story....



Started at ATC Brokers and forced to move to FXCM...

I originally opened an account at ATC Brokers. Great broker and liked them a lot! If you saw or heard in the news, they went bankrupt because of a high profile lawsuit. Since ATC Brokers is a 3rd party company to FXCM. This means my funds were actually deposited at FXCM but used ATC's platform, spreads, tech support and commission structure. FXCM claims ATC used their spread feed. To my knowledge, this is not correct. If you pull the brokers platforms side by side...live account to live account, you will see the spreads are not the same. ATC's spreads were much more competitive then FXCM's. After staying with ATC Brokers for 2.5 months they filed for bankruptcy and my account was officially forced to FXCM. This means I would be now using FXCM's platform, spreads, tech support and commission structure.



My first week at FXCM....

I was placed on a standard (low spread) ECN structure account with a -$4 in and -$4 out commission for each standard 1 lot trade. I was using FXCM's MT4 platform for my trading.

I didn't notice any issues my first 2 days with them because I wasn't watching close enough.
Problem 1. Day 3 all hell broke lose while I was watching a EURAUD trade of mine get close to hitting my 20 pips take profit. I eventually watched the candlestick move past my TP line and it didn't close out! I was shocked because the trade ended up needing to go 23-24 pips before it would close out. This would be completely normal if I WASN'T using an FXCM ECN account but I WAS! Spread was only 0.5 pips when I took the EURAUD trade. Problem 2. I took a screen shot before the trade closed. Take a look at the bid price at the top left side. You will see bid is 1.47331. Now if you look at the current price on the chart you will see that it says 1.47320. These 2 numbers should be the same but they are not. As you see there is a 1.1 pip difference between the two. These 2 problems mentioned would give FXCM 1.1 + 1-3 pips additional profit each trade. So what I was seeing was 2-4 pips on each trade that I made not being accounted for. This is proof that FXCM was manipulating the price on my account and profiting from it. I sure as hell didn't see those 2-4 extra pips profit. If FXCM is manipulating price on my account I'm suspicious they are doing the same on others accounts.

After this experience I called FXCM numerous times about the problem. They first acted as if I was crazy and the problem didn't exist. After disagreeing with the rep, I was then transferred to a higher-up representative. After 5 minutes on the phone with him, he eventually said, and I quote..."This server has been known to have problems". I said...."Then why did you put me on this server if you knew it had problems?" I quote again..."because we put most of our new clients on this server". The guy slipped up. He shouldn't have said that. See what I'm getting at here? My suspicion is... FXCM puts most of their new clients on this faulty server to manipulate price until they are caught. In attempt to retain my business, the representative then promised me a change of servers would fix my problem. At this point I was already setting up an account with OANDA. I just needed 1 week for the process complete. While I waited, FXCM had me sign a strange form that allowed me to change servers. My funds were then transferred within 24 hours.

FXCM tried to put blame on MT4 for the problem I was experiencing. They even said if I moved to their official java trade station I wouldn't experience problems anymore. To me, this is just a way to put blame on MT4 so FXCM can do a better job hiding their price manipulation within their own software.



Week 2 at FXCM...

I'm now trading on the new server. The problem I was having on the first server was completely gone! Trades were closing out when they should and everything seemed to be running smoothly. I was honestly surprised that it would be that simple. FXCM was caught though. At this point, it was important to just retain my business even if they weren't fleecing me anymore. Just another indication that they fleece their clients only when they are unaware or lacking knowledge.

Day 3 on the new server was the day all hell broke lose again! This next problem was one of the worst issues I've ever seen at a broker in my 11 years of trading. See statement pic 1. The picture shows my EURJPY trades I took. You see on 3/29 the rollover fee was -$0.16 for trade one. On 3/30 the rollover fee for trade one was now -$0.04. 3/31 the rollover fee for trade one was now -$17.48! That's 109X (109 times) more then the rollover on 3/29 and 437X (437 times) more then the rollover on 3/30. I also took a 2nd EJ trade on 3/31 marked in orange in the picture. The rollover fee on this trade was the same at -$17.48. So on 3/31 FXCM took -$34.96 from me in rollover fees from just two EJ 0.12 lot trades.

This is insane! Have you ever heard of a broker taking a -$17.48 rollover fee for one 0.12 lot trade?

When this happened I got on the phone with FXCM right away. The rep on the phone said the JPY interest rates increased by 3X over night. They also said...because it's April 1st (the Japanese new year) rates would increase an additional 3X. This means my rollover rate for 3/31 should have been just -$0.24 not -$17.48 according to them. The rep on the phone said and I quote, "I have no answer for you at the moment why you're rollover rates where more then 6X on 3/31. You can dispute the trades with our Trade Audit department if you like". He was just trying to pawn me off. I didn't go for it.

If anyone has delt with a brokers trade dispute department, you'll understand that most, if not all cases go in favor of the broker. I wanted my money out of this broker. I wasn't going to wast weeks/months while they work up a bunch of additional lies on why rollover on 3/31 were so much. The rates I had were completely unacceptable. No excuse can hide that fact. To cover my bases, I even checked OANDA's rollover rate on 3/31 for the EURJPY. I checked and found multiple resources showing that OANDA's rollover for EURJPY had not been changed since April 2015. A FXCM rep even checked this with me on the phone and found that their rollover had been the same since April 2015 as well. He was surprised. What shocked me was he took this opportunity to start bashing OANDA as a company and why I shouldn't trade there. I couldn't help but laugh at this point on the phone over how ridiculous this had gotten.

I stopped trading at FXCM on 4/1 after these obscene rollover rates took place. I requested a withdraw that same day.

FXCM has fleeced me. I don't have proof that others have been yet but hopefully this thread will bring more testimonials. These guys need to be fined or even shut down because of these unethical practices. I showed proof here that they did it to me. Hopefully that's enough.

I'm sure Jason from FXCM will write in on my thread with some excuses. I'm sick of this broker making excuses for it'self. It's time they are exposed in a REAL way.

Just FYI, if you say in public they are "stealing", they could easily sue you for libel if they wanted, and probably win too. You might want to phrase that differently. They have all your contact information already. They probably wont, but why risk it at all..

Nice post. Better then the guys who just whine and complain with nothing to back it up. Seems very dodgy, lucky i don't or have never had the intention to use them.

Japanese interest rates went UP? Where do they get their sources from? The magical fairy kingdom of bullshit?

Did u consider posting this in the big FXCM thread as well? (http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=8960)

The FXCM rep beeing active there will soon react i guess, but if you keep things on an objective basis i would encourage you to do so.

Leucadia got in at the right time after the CHF tsunami, using ZIRP fresh cash to buy FXCM.

They bailed/bought FXCM and now they're pimping it until the wheels fall off. FXCM still has soft skin and pear-shaped tits so that's what's up, they're making money for big daddy Leucadia. It ain't gonna last forever though.

Most of the execs are crackheads anyway and they probably are skimming off some $ as well. The gravy train is rolling for everyone, enjoy it while it lasts.

before you start shouting like a newbie.....it's good to take note for the EURAUD... though the TP was 1.47329 ... you can see the bid was 1.47331 ...so it was not triggered..

for your take profit to be hit TP = Bid Price.

[quote=Cubbybgood;8862260]

Hello Cubby,

I also have FXCM and I notice that their spread changes a lot during certain news events and time of the day.
The problem I do not understand here is that if they admitted that their server was faulty then they should compensate you. I have had problems with them many times about my trades not getting closed at my limit and they were able to compensate me for the mistake.

I have another question, Let say you win $10,000 trading and they broker pays you this money does they broker consider it a loss......., I mean where does the money come from? If it was a casino I understand that such money comes from money collected by the casino from other losers. Therefore in such a case the casino does not like winners else they will be paying out lots of money and go broke. Is this the same with Forex brokers? If this is the case then Forex brokers will not also like winners else they will also go broke and file for bankruptcy.

Hey Cubby, I am surprised you got your money back or that much back after ATC went on bankruptcy.

well OP said he used ECN to work with FXCM products or so he thought. This begs the question why would FXCM manipulate shit as they'll make a living from his commissions. If that was the case, then money comes from "the market". There's also casino-type model brokers - like Oanda, called Market Makers.

How can this broker still keep top player position....?
http://smnweekly.com/2016/04/05/fxcm...s-in-feb-2015/

Had thought of joining FXCM a few months back but somehow got delayed.
Will have to give it a thought now on opening any account in FXCM.

Before you go calling me a newbie... This picture was to just point out that the bid price is 1.47331. The price on chart is 1.47320. This is where the discrepancy lies.

Looking at the price on the chart you will see 1.47320. Now, when you look at the price in the price box in the terminal you will see 1.47341. This is a 2.1 pips difference.

Also, my TP was set at 1.47329 and the price was already at 1.47320 according to the price on the actual chart... not the bid price. The thing is both these numbers are supposed to be the same not different.

This problem was happening to me on every trade on this server. It doesn't make sense to get compensated for every trade I make. Also, how do I get compensated for trades when they hit TP. Say they stole 2-4 pips from each of my trades on that faulty server? I'm sure that wouldn't fly over well. Never the less....I would never trust this broker again after witnessing what happened here.

It's a pawnshop. Anything based on MT4 is a pawnshop. This software was coded so that it could be manipulated, including price feed, etc. They will freeze the platform also during major events, such as rate decisions, NFP, etc. They will unfreeze your terminal when your account is wiped out. MT4 brokers are all pawn shops pretty much. Unless otherwise stated. Even if they let you trade, report back if you get your funds back, and not peanut buttercookie change, but say 20-40K USD. I doubt they exist.

Ah, memories of PFG. Every American Forex trader lost 100% of their account despite the fact that they were supposedly segregated accounts. After that I no long even consider Forex to trade on. If and or when they centralize Forex I'll think about it.

I had issues like this trading gold with them but instead they would extend price to touch my sl and only their chart ever got to that price... ill never be back with those crooks

We are headed towards decentralized systems... we need centralized clearing via blockchain ledger

SNAP!

What do you expect when you're using bucketshop hillbillys?

Thanks for starting this thread I've had some friends tell me they had issues with their MT4 platforms too, some strange over night accounting.

There is a reason why they've got fined so many times.....

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"When there's smoke there's fire"