Just some quick FX 101 here...
All ECN/DMA/NDD brokers are STP. STP is not a feed or account type it refers to the way orders are routed, ie they do not hit an internal book.
An ECN is ONLY an ECN if it has matching capabilities.
The term DMA is just another way to say STP that sounds more 'interesting'. DMA 'usually' is made up of banks only, no non bank liquidity, thus there 'should' be no last look policy in place.
The term ECN is used by almost all brokers... incorrectly. If you are a broker and source liquidity from another broker or prime of prime that claims to, or has, ECN liquidity in their aggregation, you are not necessarily an ECN, as the order sent over FIX to that liquidity providers aggregation may or may not actually rest within the LPs ECN provider, normally FIX orders that are routed to more than one aggregation point are IOC or FOK thus they do not remain on the LPs ECN book and do not match with other client orders. There are only a small handful of actual direct ECN's in the market, and 99% of them are institutional, 50k is a bare minimum, usually larger ECN's will ask for higher sums.
All ECN/DMA/NDD brokers are STP. STP is not a feed or account type it refers to the way orders are routed, ie they do not hit an internal book.
An ECN is ONLY an ECN if it has matching capabilities.
The term DMA is just another way to say STP that sounds more 'interesting'. DMA 'usually' is made up of banks only, no non bank liquidity, thus there 'should' be no last look policy in place.
The term ECN is used by almost all brokers... incorrectly. If you are a broker and source liquidity from another broker or prime of prime that claims to, or has, ECN liquidity in their aggregation, you are not necessarily an ECN, as the order sent over FIX to that liquidity providers aggregation may or may not actually rest within the LPs ECN provider, normally FIX orders that are routed to more than one aggregation point are IOC or FOK thus they do not remain on the LPs ECN book and do not match with other client orders. There are only a small handful of actual direct ECN's in the market, and 99% of them are institutional, 50k is a bare minimum, usually larger ECN's will ask for higher sums.
Kevin Murcko | CEO at FXPIG
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