I emailed FXDD asking about their widened spreads for the FAPT pairs, particularily EUR/GBP which has been between 5-8 in the last week or so (we all know why, I was just curious to see what FXDD had to say).
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Dear Jordan,
Regarding the EUR/GBP pair, I’m sure you are aware of the recent popularity of several EA programs in this pair. They are all similar - generally a scalping program on EUR/GBP and usually triggered during late New York or early Asia time. You can often find these programs for sale on EBAY or in mass mailings.
Running EA’s are not a problem for us. A very good portion of our trades come from EA’s. The problem develops when the prices we show are not transparent to, or reflective of the interbank market. Many traders and bloggers make a basic assumption that the dealing rates they receive on their platform appear as if by magic from some endless pool of liquidity, and therefore should be available at a fixed rate over all currency pairs, at all times, in all market conditions. This is not necessarily the case.
Through good and bad, we at FXDD (and many other FCM’s) try to our best to provide static spreads on all currency pairs in an attempt to provide continuity to our client base. This is a service to our clients but not necessarily a true indication of the interbank market; that is not controlled by us. We manage our risk and part of managing the risk is making sure we have adequate liquidity at the prices we provide. Lately, the fixed spreads we provided at three pips have not been true indications of actual liquidity and prices in the interbank market, particularly during that trading session.
I have heard of some FCM’s that have made the decision to unilaterally close the accounts of these scalping EA groups such as FAP Turbo, and returned clients’ funds. Others have widened the spread far more than we have. We strongly believe FXDD to be one of the most reputable and honest brokers out there, and we are trying to accommodate this business and all business as best we can given the current market conditions.
When all is said and done, all liquidity is generated by major banks. Retail institutions like FXDD are a conduit for the retail community to trade the interbank market. In normal market conditions, there is plenty of available liquidity in EUR/GBP. However, there is a finite amount of liquidity in any currency pair. These EA programs are all aggregating at one price and hitting the market at multiple market makers, at precisely the same time, in large tickets, at a thin market time of day, in a climate of tightened credit and much less risk aversion by the banks. It is not just our spreads that have widened; it is the interbank markets spreads that have widened. After keeping spreads in EURGBP constant for as long as we could, it finally came to the time when the dynamics of the situation have forced us to provide the actual market transparency to our clients. If other firms continue to offer 2-3 pips on EUR/GBP, I have to question the quality of execution when all the EA’s hit at the same time.
I hope this helps to explain our side. We have excellent available liquidity with the major banks, but it is the banks themselves that ultimately have to take in the flow, and they are dealing in a market where liquidity can be a scarce commodity at certain times of the day in certain pairs.
We will make every effort to return the spreads back as soon as market conditions normalize.
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Interesting stuff.