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FXCM Review

    • 3280 posts
    February 2, 2023 1:08 AM EST

    FXCM Review

    For traders who appreciate advanced trading tools and quality market research, FXCM is a winner – especially for algorithmic trading. Though its range of tradeable markets is growing, it remains fairly narrow, and the pricing at FXCM is just average.To get more news about fxcm review, you can visit wikifx.com official website.

    The range of products available to you will depend on which global entity under the FXCM Group houses your trading account. In addition to a growing selection of over 300 CFDs that includes fractional shares and 44 forex pairs, FXCM offers exchange-traded securities across 43 exchanges in Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. The following table summarizes the different investment products available to FXCM clients.

    Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is available at FXCM through CFDs, but not available through trading the underlying asset (e.g. buying Bitcoin). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents.
    Standard account spreads: Using the time-weighted average tradeable prices from April 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020, all-in spreads on the EUR/USD at FXCM were 1.4 pips, which is higher than the industry average (although it is worth noting that Q2 2020 saw more volatility due to the coronavirus’ impact on markets).

    Active trader discounts: FXCM’s Active Trader Rebate Program (not available in the U.K. or EU) has five tiers. Depending on the tier, traders can receive a rebate ranging from $5 per million traded (Tier One) to as much as $25 per million traded (Tier Five). It’s good, but not great – Tickmill and FP Markets offer far more competitive pricing for active traders. For example, FXCM’s commission-based pricing has low underlying spreads of 0.2 pips during peak hours (using Q2 2020 data for the EUR/USD), yet the effective spread is closer to 1.1 pips after including the commission-equivalent of $0.90 per mini lot.

    Active Trader requirements: The requirements for each tier may vary depending on which FXCM Group entity you use. In the U.K., for example, a $25,000 account balance with at least $50 million (or 500 lots) of monthly volume will see the commission per side drop to $3 ($6 round-turn). This brings the effective spread to 0.8 pips, based on an average core price of 0.2 pips (using Q2 2021 data for the EUR/USD). Above $150 million in monthly volume, commissions drop slightly to $5 per round turn, which would bring the effective spread to 0.7 pips in the above example. Deeper discounts are available if you trade over $500 million per month at FXCM.

    Execution methods via order type: FXCM offers “At Market” orders, which have the potential for slippage, and “Market Range” orders, which are less likely to experience slippage but can be rejected if the requested price or price range is no longer available. Likewise, limit orders are more likely to experience positive slippage. I found the ability to select execution type by order to be more favorable than having the execution method separated by account type like FxPro does.

    Other notes: FXCM publishes detailed monthly execution statistics, showing the percentage of orders filled with positive or negative slippage across its offered order types. Through the 8 months ending August 31, 2021, FXCM delivered average price improvements on at least 23.78% of orders executed each month, compared to negative slippage on just 12.69% of total orders. The remaining 63.54% of monthly orders experienced zero slippage. According to its spread widget, the effective spreads at FXCM on the EUR/USD in August 2020 are closer to 1 pip than the displayed price. This effective spread is due to the likelihood of price improvements (primarily on its limit orders).
    Thanks to its combined offering of both Trading Station and MetaTrader 4 (MT4), FXCM delivers a reliable, feature-rich mobile experience for forex traders.

    Apps overview: FXCM doesn’t offer the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform, but the broker makes up for that shortcoming with its wide support for third-party algorithmic trading platforms.

    Ease of use: Though the Trading Station mobile app may appear to lack an official watchlist function, it’s worth noting that traders can select instruments for display, and that these instruments will sync across devices and platforms. Also, the app includes a comprehensive trade ticket, which offers advanced order types such as one-cancels-other (OCO) orders.

    Charting: With nearly 60 indicators and multiple drawing tools, charting in the FXCM mobile app is a pleasure. Trendlines can be drawn with precision thanks to a magnifying glass feature that auto-zooms while dragging the trendline into position.