Anybody out there autotrading Forex systems with a Gen3 broker ?
Did you have problems of connectivity, slippage, large discrepancies from theoretical results, usual tricks form sc…ahem forex brokers?
Are all C2 supported brokers the same? (yeah , same old question!)
What is the role of BulldogFX in autotrading C2 FX systems?
I would appreciate your comments. PM me if you prefer.
Thanks
Hmm It looks as if not many people are autotrading FX systems and are happy to talk about their experiences.
While I am waiting, I will ask some more “technical” questions.
It appears that if one wants to use FXCM, for instance, he/she would have to go through BulldogFX, who, (but you have to look around very carefully) write in small prints that accounts funded in GBP will be charged 1 pound and not 1 Dollar per mini round trip. A mark up of 60% currently.
Is there a way to use FXCM for autotrading without this further tax? Well obviously funding the account in Dollar, but are all accounts non denominated in Dollar charged a different amount?
If you want to use OEC FX, basically you will go through Gain/Forex.com, apparently (or so I am told) , one of the reasons why you have to open another account even if you already have an OEC account for futures.
Which trading platform will autotrading use at the final FX broker: metatrader, or the broker’s own platform?
Is it possible to test systems and functionality of autorading by using micro lots for a while? No demo, real money,live account, but micorolots
Thank you and best rgeards
This doesn’t answer your question regarding Gen 3, but I have been trading a FX system at Interactive Brokers using TradeBullet and Gen 1. The fills are quite consistently (20 of 24 recent trades) better than the autotrades reported on C2 for the system, enough so to cover commissions. That tells me IB’s fills are better than the average broker that make up the fill results. I go in twice a day and change the “Auto Logoff Timer” in Global Configuration so IB doesn’t log me off. For me, after getting through a learning curve, it works pretty well.
This doesn’t answer your question regarding Gen 3, but I have been trading a FX system at Interactive Brokers using TradeBullet and Gen 1. The fills are quite consistently (20 of 24 recent trades) better than the autotrades reported on C2 for the system, enough so to cover commissions. That tells me IB’s fills are better than the average broker that make up the fill results. I go in twice a day and change the “Auto Logoff Timer” in Global Configuration so IB doesn’t log me off. For me, after a learning curve, it works pretty well.
This doesn’t answer your question regarding Gen 3, but I have been trading a FX system at Interactive Brokers using TradeBullet and Gen 1. The fills are quite consistently (20 of 24 recent trades) better than the autotrades reported on C2 for the system, enough so to cover commissions. That tells me IB’s fills are better than the average broker that make up the fill results. I go in twice a day and change the “Auto Logoff Timer” in Global Configuration so IB doesn’t log me off. For me, after a learning curve, it works pretty well.
Thanks Gregory for your message.
I tend to agree that in general IB Forex quotes seem to better than traditional brokers’ ones. Unfortunately their cumbersome way to deal with FX trade is not of my liking in a number of ways.
Do you use IdealPro or Ideal? Ideal is not really â¦ideal â¦for FX trading and Pro has a minimum trade amount of 25k $ or equivalent, which is about 5 minilots. How does TB translate a C2 signal like , say, âbuy 3 EURUSDâ into the IB non lot based order platform?
While we are talking about Gen1, can I ask you if you baby sit the C2/TB/IB link and signals, or do you leave it alone and trust all will be OK?
How many times (if ever) have you had problems of disconnection/hiccups and so on?
Also, I think there is a way around the IB auto logoff time, if you search this and other forums.
Thanks again and best regards
â¦meanwhile, I am still waiting full of hope for some feedback about the experiences other traders have autotrading C2 forex systems with Gen3.
I am also hoping that someone at C2 will like to clarify the questions I posed about FXCM/BulldogFx, the platform and the micro lots.
Thanks
Hi, G:
You can find the list of supported Gen3 Forex brokers at:
http://www.collective2.com/static/aboutAutoTrade.htm
You asked a couple of questions. Let me try to answer them.
BulldogFX is a separate company from C2. It is an introducing broker that introduces accounts to larger FDMs (e.g. FXCM, Gain). It is not the only C2-compatible introducing broker that works with C2 and those forex dealers. Others do, too. (By way of disclosure: Collective2 is compensated by BulldogFX for use of the C2 platform.)
You asked next about whether the executions received by Gen3 AutoTraders differ substantially from the results posted here on C2. Generally speaking, the fill prices displayed here on C2 do not differ substantially, because of a very interesting thing that Collective2 does: we actually change the fill prices you see here on the C2 site to reflect the actual fill prices received in live brokerage accounts. (An important part of our Gen3 electronic protocol between brokers and C2 requires that brokers report actual fill prices to us.)
While it is important to remember that the results you see here on C2 must be regarded as hypothetical, because no single trading account looks exactly like the trading record displayed here, I personally believe that C2’s hypothetical data are useful, since they are based on real fills in live brokerage accounts.
The standard warnings about the limitations of hypothetical results – displayed prominently on the bottom of this page, and every other page on this Web site – still apply. If you haven’t read them yet, please read them carefully.
Thank you Matthew for your reply.
Your answers have always an (understandable) institutional flavour, and I see why you want and need to address general issues for the benefit of many other readers of the forum. So it is OK that you reply by addressing many general things I already knew. I have obviously read and studied the list of Gen 3 FX brokers. I know BulldogFX (BDFX) is not the only introducing broker (OEC FX is another and I wrote it on my message). I know and have read all there is to know about hypothetical results. But I understand why you want to point these things out as often as possible.
At the same time it would be nice to have direct answers to some questions I am really interested about.
What I do not know is if I can autotrade an FX system with FXCM without going through BDFX. I do not expect you to answer the question about the higher BDFX fee for GBPound based accounts, by the way, but why if I chose FXCM in setting up for autotrade I have no option but to go through BDFX (unless, it appears, I were Australian)?
What I do not know is if it is possible to use microlots in a real account while testing a system and how to set up for it.
What I would like to know (but this is obviously directed at final users out there) is whether a brokerâs fills are sistematically worse/better than another or there is a re-assuring consistency. Or if some links are less reliable than others. For instance, I understand there are reliaibility/stability problems with MT4 run through FXCM (perhaps FXCM does not use MT4 to autotrade C2 systems, I do not know). Or any other feedback that may be useful.
I hope this may help other potential users to make a more informed decision.
Thanks again and best regards.
C2 Gen3 forex AutoTrading does not support microlots – only minilots (10,000 currency units per lot).
If you want to use FXCM and Gen3 Autotrading, you currently do need to select BulldogFX as your introducing broker. This is more of an FXCM back-office issue than anything else, as AutoTrade fees for forex are currently the same across all Gen3 compatible brokers (that is, you won’t be paying any more or less by selecting BulldogFX or an alternative).
If you prefer not to select BulldogFX as your introducing broker for some reason, other Gen3 forex brokers are available, which do not require BulldogFX. These include OpenEcry and MB Trading.
Matthew
Thank you Matthew.
On the general enquiry to all users out there, I guess that if nobody bothered to answer by now, I will have to give up hope, disappointedly.
I may have to go and take the plunge into uncharted waters, infested by the most fearsome predator out there: The Forex broker!
Cheers
g greg
C2 units are mini-lots=10K of currency units. If a C2 system calls for 3 EUR.USD then IB would buy 30K. I don’t really babysit the Gen1 C2/TB/IB connection, but I do check on it 4-5 times a trading day. It’s really pretty stable, but not foolproof. I wouldn’t try it without a reliable internet connection. Most of the “hiccups” (missed trades) were early on and self induced. It was largely a matter of getting the proper settings. I put Microsoft Update on manual after it shut things down on a computer restart. There was a learning curve. I tend to trade longer term systems, so if a trade is missed by an hour or two it’s usually not critical. Thanks for the tip on the auto-logoff. Regards.
Thank you very much Gregory for your input.
I take it that somewhere in the links C2/TB/IB a "buy 3 lots" order is automatically translated into a buy 30k order. (By the way, sorry, it was a typo on my previous reply: I meant to say 2.5 lots.)
I also think that in general the longer term the system the easier it should be to do Gen1 autotrading. The shorter term the system, the more one asks for trouble.
The corollary is that the longer term the system, the more one has a chance to trade it manually…
Thanks again
