I recognize the GUI, that is from MBtrading. ECNMarket has the same funding requirements and the same fee structure as MBtrading. MBtrading has an IB program I found out from another trader. My goal is to get EA converted over and run against ECN like this one. I just need to know the FIX Protocol version used. I have a few emails out now, and some ECN list their protocol versions. (4.2 seems common).

Hi Daraknor,

I just joined efxgroup which is also a ecn with MBT IB. I have a personal EA for MT4. I'm totally noob on this subject. Can EA or some simple automated program be written to take the trade?
I'm thinking if I want to get a simple program or something program for taking trade (set by me) I usually trade 4 hourly therefore should be quite straight forward to get the logic.

Regards
Vidda

I've looked into it. If you don't mind paying $80/month plus a few miscellaneous fees you can reprogram your EA and change the execution style. After that you use the FIX protocol to submit trades. Look on the MBtrading site for partner software. I'm aiming to be listed on that directory by implementing the FIX protocol myself.

I should mention, the MBtSDK is not so great. It is mostly GUI application controls for drawing windows and listing trades. It doesn't have complete code examples, the API isn't well documented, the support is a yahoo group where people say "figure it out yourself" and the language is MSVC++ 6, with a COM+ adapter for .Net. It also requires IE to be installed in order to function. In other words a pile of crap unless you want to make a charting application in Windows.

Vidda, good luck with your trading. It takes a bit of adjustment to use the order entry system, but it is OCO or Order Cancels Other. Unlike Metatrader Buy-> close, Sell -> close, the way to exit a trade is Buy -> Sell. Of course, this is problematic for Grid based trading unless there are two accounts linked to the same funds. If you want to use trailing stops, enter the order first, the trailing stop second. Watch the Level 2 system (off by default) you'll see some interesting activity.

Most of the 'arbitrage' performed is a bank or hedge group joining multiple ECN via FIX and making sure prices stay similar across regions. Reuters has an hourly synchronization, you should find little divergence with Reuters data.

Remember that trading with ECNs still has its drawbacks, take a look at the link below where someone had 250 pips slippage on EURCAD with ODL Securites on Currenex - it looks like ECN brokers also employ downnright fraudulent practices too!

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=24672

I suppose the best thing would be if would could trade forex from a centralised exchange, like is done with the CME. I now believe that the proponents aguing against this are all the institutions that make money from this type of slippage. It makes sense. With today's technology, there is absolutely no reason why the forex market cannot be run from a centralised exchange.

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I feel bad for the guy, but the broker didn't screw his order. They messed up on the signal perhaps, but filling at market is dangerous because you don't have any built in protection. Limit orders are recommended because it has a built in slippage protection. This wasn't really "slippage" that we see from our brokers, it was a client out of synch with the ECN trading on bad data. Who is to blame? Maybe the guy was downloading on BitTorrent or ITunes when the order was sent. That is why I'm against GUI based applications for trading - I want it on a data server, I want it directly connected to the internet, I want it to be as good as I can get.

A hosting client of mine uses IBFX and a dial up modem. He tested me this week without me knowing. (the best kind of test) He reported to me that my orders filled 1.5 minutes before his modem based orders. We were both more than a little surprised. Keep in mind that ping is not a true measure of latency, it is a measure of *ideal latency* because routers by default have other traffic wait and send ping first (or in some cases, not at all like Microsoft's corporate network). A TCP based ping is a better measure of normal session new connection latency than ICMP based ping (ICMP is normal, it takes special software for TCP or UDP ping)

That little side story about latency and networks is designed to illustrate one thing: most people aren't ready for direct ECN trading. Many ECN require direct connection, which means a dedicated circuit (sometimes a dedicated wire) between the two locations. I'm hosted in a facility that can handle that, but I'm hoping I don't need it. (More expensive than driving an SUV!) Now I'm not too clear on this part, but it sounds like the next version of the FIX protocol (Version 5) is designed so it doesn't cost so much to connect directly to the ECN. I'm preparing to connect to a brokerage ECN (and not directly into the cable next to the bank's cable) with FIX 4.2. When FIX 5.0 becomes available, I'll probably support it because it has better native FX syntax. FIX 5.0 is a released standard as of February but I haven't seen any brokers supporting it yet.

I should also point out, I don't trust any poster with less than 10 posts with "amazing news" on any topic.

Found another ECN that supports FIX. http://www.dukascopy.com/swiss/engli.../int2/fix_api/
It doesn't look like I'll be using them right away Who knows, maybe someone who uses the system I'm building *will* qualify.

I think that Interactive brokers offer FIX via what they call CTCI

IB API seems to be free (it would be because the platfrom is terrible).

And in their website they have links to third party tools. Seems they have no problem to interact with another software.

The best broker I know is MAN Financial Inc. Assets by 500M according last CFTC report.

I have talked with them some time ago. The minimum to open an account is 100K.

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