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PFG and Forex

  #1 (permalink)
 
MWinfrey's Avatar
 MWinfrey 
Lubbock TX
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Stage 5 Trading
Trading: CL
Posts: 1,878 since Jul 2009
Thanks Given: 1,450
Thanks Received: 3,335

I've been using a demo PFG data feed to sim trade forex for a while and am getting to the point that I want to fund the account and start trading live. However, before I do that I would like some feedback from others on your experience with using PFG. So far with the demo feed I've been very satisfied. Also, I have been working with another forex trader using another feed and I've seen no differences. Now to the other issue of trading against the broker. Following is what my PFG rep told me about both the issues I mention and I offer it here to get feedback.

"PFGBEST offers a Direct Market Access (DMA) model for forex traders. A DMA broker offers 5 digit pricing and variable spreads. Clients trading with a DMA broker will have direct access to place orders with a network of liquidity providers.

An Electronic Communications Network (ECN) Broker receives pricing from several banks and is typically able to offer a tighter bid/ask spread than a Dealing Desk. Clients trading with an ECN broker do not have direct contact with the liquidity providers. As a result, clients trading with an ECN broker may see re-quotes, slippage and partial fills.

Dealing Desks are often referred to as Market Makers. When a client is buying from a Dealing Desk, it means that the Dealing Desk is selling. In other words, the customer is trading with the Dealing Desk, not other market participants. Dealing Desks have the potential for creating a conflict of interest, as the Dealing desk profits when the client loses and vice versa. PFGBEST® is not a dealing desk, we do not take the opposite side of your trades for forex."

Mike

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  #3 (permalink)
 mrphr 
London
 
Experience: None
Platform: .
Trading: .
Posts: 255 since Apr 2011
Thanks Given: 65
Thanks Received: 182


I have trade Forex with them in the past on Ninja Trader and my advice is stay away from PFG Best. They may have a nice customer service but that is ALL, for trading it is UNRELIABLE. Quotes lags very often, it is terrible [I am talking about live funded account]... Now if the live it is unreliable imagine the demo... If you are using NT they will always blame Ninja Trader, that is their excuse.

Last year I have had a really nice run in a particular Month, but I gave back most of it because of the lag in the quotes.

There are other better alternatives to trade Forex on NT, such as MB Trading, Interactive Brokers and Gain Capital.

I am with MB Trading and I never had such a problem like with PFG Best, MB trading historical backfill may not be the best but it is okay. The live quotes are good, I compare MB trading live quotes with Dukascopy live quotes from my iPhone often and they match the majority of the time.

But really, stay away from PFG Best.

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  #4 (permalink)
 
ThatManFromTexas's Avatar
 ThatManFromTexas 
Houston,Tx
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Mirus Futures/Zen-Fire
Trading: TF
Posts: 2,265 since Feb 2010
Thanks Given: 1,206
Thanks Received: 4,348


MWinfrey View Post
I've been using a demo PFG data feed to sim trade forex for a while and am getting to the point that I want to fund the account and start trading live. However, before I do that I would like some feedback from others on your experience with using PFG. So far with the demo feed I've been very satisfied. Also, I have been working with another forex trader using another feed and I've seen no differences. Now to the other issue of trading against the broker. Following is what my PFG rep told me about both the issues I mention and I offer it here to get feedback.

"PFGBEST offers a Direct Market Access (DMA) model for forex traders. A DMA broker offers 5 digit pricing and variable spreads. Clients trading with a DMA broker will have direct access to place orders with a network of liquidity providers.

An Electronic Communications Network (ECN) Broker receives pricing from several banks and is typically able to offer a tighter bid/ask spread than a Dealing Desk. Clients trading with an ECN broker do not have direct contact with the liquidity providers. As a result, clients trading with an ECN broker may see re-quotes, slippage and partial fills.

Dealing Desks are often referred to as Market Makers. When a client is buying from a Dealing Desk, it means that the Dealing Desk is selling. In other words, the customer is trading with the Dealing Desk, not other market participants. Dealing Desks have the potential for creating a conflict of interest, as the Dealing desk profits when the client loses and vice versa. PFGBEST® is not a dealing desk, we do not take the opposite side of your trades for forex."

Mike


@MWinfrey

Just curious, why did you decide on Forex instead of trading Currency Futures (6E etc) ?

I looked at Forex and was concerned about the lack of regulation in the Market. How do you know when "they" are giving you the best price without constantly checking the price you are quoted against other data feeds?

I'm not disagreeing, or trying to argue one is better than the other, but I have respect for your opinion was interested in your decision making process.


I'm just a simple man trading a simple plan.

My daddy always said, "Every day above ground is a good day!"
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  #5 (permalink)
 
trendisyourfriend's Avatar
 trendisyourfriend 
Quebec Canada
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: AMP/CQG
Trading: ES, NQ, YM
Frequency: Daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 4,526 since Oct 2009
Thanks Given: 4,167
Thanks Received: 6,018

According to this member Deucalion fills are good with PFG. A good combo would be DTN/IQ for the datafeed and PFG as a broker to pass orders: follow the link

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  #6 (permalink)
 
MWinfrey's Avatar
 MWinfrey 
Lubbock TX
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Stage 5 Trading
Trading: CL
Posts: 1,878 since Jul 2009
Thanks Given: 1,450
Thanks Received: 3,335


ThatManFromTexas View Post
@MWinfrey

Just curious, why did you decide on Forex instead of trading Currency Futures (6E etc) ?

I looked at Forex and was concerned about the lack of regulation in the Market. How do you know when "they" are giving you the best price without constantly checking the price you are quoted against other data feeds?

I'm not disagreeing, or trying to argue one is better than the other, but I have respect for your opinion was interested in your decision making process.


Really it's a matter of confidence in what I'm doing more than anything. Forex offers a much lower cost way of trading live and specifically EURUSD. I can apply money management techniques more easily when trading a dollar a pip versus 10+ dollars a tick on a futures contract. That is really the main thing I was interested in.

Regulation is obviously an issue and as I mentioned in my first post I think many times the broker is taking the opposite position which is an obvious concern. That is why I went with PFG because I've heard from others who use them for forex that they don't do that. PFG also publicly state they don't do that. Unless someone can tell me based on first hand knowledge that PFG does otherwise then I will believe what they claim. Also, I started with PFG what seems like a really long time ago and the only reason I left them was their platform didn't allow custom built indicators. Couldn't do my analysis on a platform like that.

As far as price quotes goes, I've compared before and found no difference. Also, their spreads are much better than the others I've looked at. I know someone is going to ask who else I've looked at but for the life of me I can't remember except for the data feed that comes with Metatrader. I am currently working relatively closely with an experienced and successful forex trader who is using one of my indicators. Our price quotes are really close. He and I are getting the same entries. Unfortunately I haven't asked him who he gets his data from. Oh also, everything I'm talking about now is the demo feed which I already know is delayed. So, if it's delayed and I'm getting the same entries as someone else, then it should only get better with a live, unfiltered, (un)delayed feed.

That is pretty much my thought process but all who know me understands my thought process can be a bit flawed from time to time.

BTW, TMFT it's been a while since we've talked. I hope things are going well. Like everyone else who knows you, we were concerned when we didn't hear from you.

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  #7 (permalink)
 
MWinfrey's Avatar
 MWinfrey 
Lubbock TX
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Stage 5 Trading
Trading: CL
Posts: 1,878 since Jul 2009
Thanks Given: 1,450
Thanks Received: 3,335


mrphr View Post
I have trade Forex with them in the past on Ninja Trader and my advice is stay away from PFG Best. They may have a nice customer service but that is ALL, for trading it is UNRELIABLE. Quotes lags very often, it is terrible [I am talking about live funded account]... Now if the live it is unreliable imagine the demo... If you are using NT they will always blame Ninja Trader, that is their excuse.

Last year I have had a really nice run in a particular Month, but I gave back most of it because of the lag in the quotes.

There are other better alternatives to trade Forex on NT, such as MB Trading, Interactive Brokers and Gain Capital.

I am with MB Trading and I never had such a problem like with PFG Best, MB trading historical backfill may not be the best but it is okay. The live quotes are good, I compare MB trading live quotes with Dukascopy live quotes from my iPhone often and they match the majority of the time.

But really, stay away from PFG Best.

Thanks for you comments...Just curious. How did you figure out there was a lag in the quotes? I see you currently do a comparison between MB and Dukascopy. Is that what you did with PFG as well or was there something else that told you there might be a problem.

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  #8 (permalink)
 
ThatManFromTexas's Avatar
 ThatManFromTexas 
Houston,Tx
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Mirus Futures/Zen-Fire
Trading: TF
Posts: 2,265 since Feb 2010
Thanks Given: 1,206
Thanks Received: 4,348


MWinfrey View Post

Like everyone else who knows you, we were concerned when we didn't hear from you.

So was my "Trophy Wife" ... but I doubt she was as happy with the outcome as ya'll...

Every day above ground is a good day


MWinfrey View Post
Thanks for you comments...Just curious. How did you figure out there was a lag in the quotes? I see you currently do a comparison between MB and Dukascopy. Is that what you did with PFG as well or was there something else that told you there might be a problem.

I had a live futures account with PFG years ago. I thought their customer service was very good. I didn't like the platforms they offered ... at the time they did not offer Ninja Trader.

I tested PFG demo Forex account and did not have any problems with it.

I understand that MB pays you to use Limit Orders (interesting). I used them for equities back in the dark ages. When they first started using Ninja Trader there were issues interfacing it with their platform, I have no idea if that is still an issue.

I have my futures account with Mirus. They offer Forex by referring you to Gain ... how you say... "Bucket Shop" ... frankly .... if trading against your broker doesn't scare you... what do you do for "thrills"... re-enact that scene from "The Deer Hunter"....

I'm just a simple man trading a simple plan.

My daddy always said, "Every day above ground is a good day!"
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  #9 (permalink)
 mrphr 
London
 
Experience: None
Platform: .
Trading: .
Posts: 255 since Apr 2011
Thanks Given: 65
Thanks Received: 182


MWinfrey View Post
Thanks for you comments...Just curious. How did you figure out there was a lag in the quotes? I see you currently do a comparison between MB and Dukascopy. Is that what you did with PFG as well or was there something else that told you there might be a problem.

Hi, because my strategy was behaving very strange, like I was having a kind of slippage very often... I was like WTF and PFG Best could not tell me what was going on; As I said they will blame on Ninja Trader if anything goes wrong...

I contacted NT they were very helpful I even talk to them on Skype, but they could not tell exactly what was going on; They told me to compare the quotes with another broker, then I download Dukascopy app for iPhone and I discover that I was getting delayed quotes from them...

After that of course I change to MB Trading, I do not want to convince you to trade with MB Trading but they are one of the best options to trade forex on NT at the moment. They have good commissions and spreads... Their quotes are good it matches Dukascopy quotes... Also they replay my e-mails, pick up and answer the phone, and even call me back.

The only thing that I do not like about MB Trading is the historical backfill sometimes is not that good, it is slow and sometimes you can get a error message, but you just need to restart NT. In case you need more reliable and accurate historical data backfill for backtesting etc... You can sign up for IQ/DTN or Kinetick [Barclays] forex data which one of the best forex data you can get for a retail trader but will cost you about $100 per month, then you can get the the historical backfill from Barclays and the live quotes from MB Trading. Barclays is the second biggest forex player 10.75% of the total forex volume comes from Barclays, anyway...

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  #10 (permalink)
 mrphr 
London
 
Experience: None
Platform: .
Trading: .
Posts: 255 since Apr 2011
Thanks Given: 65
Thanks Received: 182



MWinfrey View Post
Also, their spreads are much better than the others I've looked at. I know someone is going to ask who else I've looked at but for the life of me I can't remember except for the data feed that comes with Metatrader.

That is right PFG Best spreads are good but you will pay very high commissions, almost twice as much of MB Trading commissions... And Metatrader it is a piece of crap, it was build for brokers to take advantage from traders.

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