Anyone Using IC Markets or Alpari?

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to check if anyone in this forum is using IC Markets and/or Alapri? If yes, please let me know the following:

1) How can you get access to its Historical Data? They are providing only 1 year worth of data in the MT4. I tried the Historical Data App, but the trades do not appear to be similar when tested on strategy tester even after I changed the details on Symbol Settings in EA Studio. Any solution to this please?

2) I’ve read some reviews mentioning them as Scam Brokers, Stop Loss Hunters, etc. I understand, most of them could be coming from frustrated traders who’s seen their trades go south. However, just wanted to if anyone in this Forum have any feedback regarding these brokers.

Thank you very much.

[richard]

I like to stick with DMA / ECN brokers that pass the price / spread directly to you.  Stay away from market makers.  They make money when you lose.  DMA / ECN brokers make money from the commissions they charge you.  The more you trade the more money they make.  They want you to win and stay with them….  I think Alpari went into bankruptcy a few years ago…..  So check that out first.   I trade with pepperstone and Global Prime and I am located in Australia.

[Meryjonestexas]

Hey Faraz,

I stick to the brokers that are listed on the brokers’ page and I did not have an issue. Even I am not sure if Dukascopy is a market maker or not???

Anyway, what Richard says is right.

Also, did you watch the new video from Petko where he shows how to fit the Historical data from the App for your broker? It works fine with JFD. Here is the video:

 

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Richard and Mery,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Actually, I had a look at Pepperstone and Global Prime. It mentions both as market makers. I’ve been using Interactive Brokers for many years now for my manual trading.

Just looking for another broker to fully concentrate on the EAs.

Yes Mery, I’ve watched this video and have amended the symbol settings accordingly. Still IC markets was having some issue. I will anyway look into the brokers recommended by Petko.

Thank you very much.

[Petko Aleksandrov]

Hey Faraz,

Glad to hear that you are working on finding the right broker for yourself.

However, do not take the listed brokers as recommendations, I just asked the team to build the page so it will be easier for our students to find a regulated broker. As you already know there are many scammers around.

What is your experience with Interactive Brokers? I know they are reliable for stocks but I have never used them. Don’t they have MetaTrader with Automated Trading?

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Petko,

Yes Interactive Brokers is really good. I have been with them for many years. Never had any problem with them. They do have MT4 for EA trading as well, however I wanted to keep my manual and EA trading diversified with 2 different brokers.

With regards to Interactive Brokers, recently during the volatile period for OIL, it went to negative prices. However, the Interactive Brokers platform was not designed to manage negative prices. I read that many brokers have this same problem. So I faced a huge loss not because of my fault but because of their system and immediately the next day I was paid back all my losses.

Later I read on Bloomberg that many traders have experienced the same thing with Interactive Brokers during that period and all of them were compensated entirely for their losses. In total, the losses faced by traders in Interactive Brokers on that particular day was $113 Million and Interactive Brokers compensated the entire amount. This just shows how reliable they are. Here’s the news article for that:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-08/oil-crash-busted-a-broker-s-computers-and-inflicted-huge-losses

I also read in some other forums, where the traders who faced the similar scenario with their brokers were not compensated.

I was thinking of working with IC Markets (ECN Account) for the EA Trading. I read that they do not charge additional margins for hedged trades. So I have a buy and a sell for EURUSD, I will only be charged margin for one of the trades, not both.

Do you have any advice or suggestions regarding IC Markets Petko? Please let me know. Thank you.

[Petko Aleksandrov]

Hello Faraz,

I am glad to hear that you were compensated.

This happened because the brokers offer the futures price. Not the spot price.

Anyway, regarding the brokers…it is up to you. I am a bit skeptical of IC Markets because some students reported losses with my EAs, while they were actually profiting with me on JFD, for example.

But you can give it a try.

Also, if you are satisfied with your broker (Interactive Brokers) I do not see a reason to look for a different one.

The margin is like that with most brokers, so it is not something special with IC.

Cheers.

[ch_alcala]

Hi Faraz,

are you sure that we can use interactive brokers with MT4? I’m unable to find the way… I’m very happy with them for manual trading.

cheers,

Christian

[Bart Meijrink]

Yeah, I would be interested to test their MT as well.

Cheers,

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Petko,

Thanks for your reply. I see many people in this forum talking positively about JFD and you use it all the time in your courses. So I think I’m going to go ahead with JFD too. Just went through the in-depth review by your team, pretty good except for the low leverage. I guess that’s what makes them reliable and shows that they’re not trading against us like these other brokers who provide 1:500 leverage.

I know I’m asking a lot of questions Petko, hope you don’t mind. Just need one advice on the EA Studio.

In your Historical Data App video, you are downloading the Dukascopy Data and changing the Symbol Settings according to JFD. However, in the spreads section you are keeping it to 10 pips as it is. Whereas JFD,IC markets or IB have mostly on average 1-2 pips of spread. Ofcourse I understand during times of special news, the spreads go wider than 10 pips.

Do you do that as a safety measure? Or do you think if I reduce the spreads in the Symbol Settings to around 1-2 pips I will get better executable trades?

Kindly advise.

Thanks a lot for your continuous support.

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Christian and Bart,

Hope you’re doing well. You can create an MT4 for IBKR using a bridge. Please read this link below from the IB website.

https://ibkr.info/node/1982

Hope this helps. Thanks and have a great week ahead.

[ch_alcala]

thanks Faraz, I appreciate.

Have a nice day.

c.

[Petko Aleksandrov]

Hello Faraz,

Glad to hear from you, and it is great to see people writing more and more in the Forum. That is so useful for everyone.

I use 10 as a spread but that is in points. This is 1 pip.

So you are fine to place 10, or even 20. Usually, I prefer to round it to a higher number.

If your the spread is 17 points(1,7 pips) I would use 20 in EA Studio. Especially for the floating type of spread.

[Faraz Fazlet]

Hi Petko,

That’s great. Now I have a better understanding about this. Thanks a lot for the explanation.

Have a great day ahead.

[Petko Aleksandrov]

Sure, Faraz. Maybe it is a good idea to be mentioned in the EA Studio itself. I will ask Forex Software for such an update.

Cheers,

[Author]

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