Back on Track with FXCM

Yesterday I made an overdue switch of trading platforms from FX Engines to FXCM's TradeStation II. If you've been following the last couple posts you already know the reasons: FX Engines has been down for several days (still is, in fact). As a result I missed three winning trades in a row, and would've missed another winner last night if I hadn't made the switch to TradeStation.

Fortunately this turned out to be very easy since FXCM was already my forex broker and handled all of FX Engines' trade execution. So it was just a matter of faxing some power-of-attorney paperwork and downloading the latest version of TradeStation, which I'd used before so there weren't any big surprises there. Last night I made my first TradeStation trade by successfully shorting the EUR/USD, a promising start on the new platform.

Overall I've found TradeStation II to be a fine piece of software. The only small differences I've noticed with other trading platforms is that it doesn't come with default charts pre-loaded, so you need to set them up yourself. Which is no big deal. You also can't trade directly off the charts by pointing and clicking at your desired entry point. Again, not a big deal for me.

One trading option offered by FXCM that I'm very interested in is "No Dealing Desk" trades, which apparently have narrower spreads and currency rates that come directly from the large interbank players rather than from FXCM's in-house dealing desk. My only concern is that no dealing desk spreads could vary wildly at moments of high volatility in the market, and since that's when most of my trades tend to close I don't want to wake up to any nasty surprises. So there's definitely a trade-off between the greater certainty of the higher dealing desk spreads, and the lower yet more uncertain no-dealing desk spreads. I'll have to do some more research before I decide it's worth that added spread uncertainty.

To be fair, the reason FX Engines has been down so long isn't really their fault. The problem is apparently on FXCM's end, since they made a change to their trade fulfillment system that broke the API (Application Programming Interface) that allowed FX Engines to trade through FXCM. Which obviously really sucks for FX Engines and their clients, like me. So I hope FXCM gets their API working again soon.

FXCM Technical Difficulties

I just got an email from Drew Nive, CEO of Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) apologizing for technical difficulties with their software that apparently shut down trading yesterday and part of today (Feb 25-26). I trade with FXCM via my FX Engines account, but was actually complete unaware anything had gone wrong - the reason being I've just switched all my trading to completely automated execution using FX Engines. (More about that soon.) But if you had problems trading via FXCM because of their software crash, they'd like you to know they're very very sorry and will refund any losses you might have incurred because of their snafu. Here are highlights from the email:

"We know our clients were unable to trade on February 25th and for part of February 26th. As a result, clients with open positions were unable to close positions during this period or take advantage of trading opportunities. We are very sorry and believe this is unacceptable.

All clients who suffered a loss on open positions due to the technical failures related to the market opening on Sunday February 25th will be fully refunded the amount of any loss."

"Over the past few months, FXCM has invested millions of dollars to upgrade our technology with two combined aims: to roll out No Dealing Desk execution and to increase overall reliability. Obviously, the efforts to increase reliability have fallen short. We are now going to re-double our efforts on platform reliability and stability, renewing our commitment of resources and financial investment to successfully accomplish these goals."

"Moreover, I want to assure you that these technical issues are not indicative of FXCM's financial stability or health. FXCM has over $100 million in capital and no debt. In addition, approximately $600 million in client funds are traded using our platform, the FX Trading Station." [Reassuring for anyone out there with a REFCO hangover]

Words cannot express how deeply sorry we are for the frustration and anxiety that our clients experienced during this recent difficulty. If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to discuss a loss you incurred on an open position during the period mentioned above, please feel free to contact us 24 hours a day. You can reach us via e-mail at sales@fxcm.com, via live chat from our website, or via phone at (212) 897-7660. You may also access our international toll-free numbers from this link: http://www.fxcm.com/contact-fxcm.jsp"

Hope none of you lost anything because of this, but if you did, I hope they get it back to you quickly!