Confusion about FXCM lot sizing

[ShruggedAtlas]

I am running a strategy that uses ATM. I was originally under the impression that if I wanted to trade forex through FXCM that my lot sizing defined in my ATM parameters needed to be 1 for each thousand. I also was instructed to do that by FXCM support.

In practice, my ATM has to show thousands. thus, if i want to trade 7,000 with FXCM, I need to specify 7,000 in the ATM parameters. My attempts to use 7 were met with errors that said I need to specify multiples of 1,000. I find this very confusing.

Second, when I enter a trade at 7,000, the NT chart shows that I am immediately in a losing position at well over $250 yet I know this is false when I look at FXCM charting software showing my trade in real time. See picture I've supplied.

The trade on those 7,000 met all three targets and netted about $23 yet the entire time NT chart showed me at a loss of over $200. Are there settings in NT that allow me to match FXCM info??

Thanks in advance for your help.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Hello,

I'm going to test this out on my end and see if I'm seeing the same discrepancy. I will post back on this thread as soon as I have some more information.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Hello,

I believe you may have stumbled upon a bug in the system. On my end, I can use "1" or "1,000" but this may be due to the fact that I'm not plugged in to an actual FXCM brokerage account. However, whether I enter "1" or "1000", my Account Performance shows the exact same value. It appears as if the platform is assuming a quantity of 1,000 when I enter "1", and also using a quantity of 1,000 when I enter "1,000."

I'm going to dig a bit deeper to see if I can iron this out, but this may be the result of how FXCM handles order quantities submitted to it via NinjaTrader.

[ShruggedAtlas]

I took a bogus trade at 7000 and got what I think should be the correct starting P&L. This is in SIM. I'll need to wait for a trade to happen with my strategy with my actual FXCM account to test if this was some weird anomaly or there is an ongoing problem.

See image. when my stategy kicks a live trade on i'll post image if the same problem occurs.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Do you have commissions set up for FXCM in NinjaTrader, by chance? I just tested this further to a live account, and I saw the same kind of discrepancy that you did, but the discrepancy was caused by the commission being added onto the PnL displayed.

[ShruggedAtlas]

yes i think i see the error now...when I check commission parameters I noticed I have .04 as minimum and 4E-05/1000 for my simulator but .04 as minimum and .04/1000 for FXCM. That means $40 commision for each 1,000 share lot which explains why I was -$280 at the entry. I haven't tested this on live trade yet but that explains why it works fine in simulator but not on my FXCM account. THANKS!!!

[soulfx]

Hello have been trying to follow the threads that discuss FXCM and lot sizing.
Alas there isnt and NEEDS to be a consistent clear page on this.

With chart trade with 'NONE' atm strategy defined the quantity appears as 1000 ie 1 micro lot by default i would need to change this to 100,000 for 1 standard lot.
However when i load an ATM i previously used for futures the quantity of course is 1 contract. Even if i try to change this and save as a new ATM strategy with a different name and use 1000 or 10000 and save - the quantity reverts back.

Is there a comprehensive explanation for this and for FXCM lot sizing criteria - there is little to no documentation on this except to be very careful when running strategy analyser and to modify quantities. I appreciate different brokers may have different lot sizing and not all offer mini and micro lots but in this instance i am asking about FXCM - i dont need to know about other brokers.

Any insight and on how to manage and the P&L etc would be appreciated
thanks

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Hello,

When you are trading to your actual FXCM brokerage account, then there should be a default lot size set up over in your account. It is possible to set up a standard lot as the default account lot size, in which case "1" would represent one full lot, or you could do the same with mini lots, so that "1" equals 10,000, or do the same with micro lots.

The key is to determine how your account is specifically set up, and what the default lot size is.

[soulfx]

Hello thanks for the reply. The demo i have was from ninjatrader brokerage which is linked to fxcm. Does this differ to an FXCM account and if and when live do i need to manage my account and lot settings within the FXCM system itself or with the ninjatrader brokerage

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

Hello,

Yes, this works differently when connected to a forex demo account. On these, you will need to enter a literal notation (1,000 for micro, 100,000 for standard lot, etc.), but when you open a live account, you should have your default lot size as mentioned in my previous post.

If you are trading through NinjaTrader Brokerage, then our brokers should be able to set up the default lot size for you, or at least point you in the right direction as to how to change it. You can reach our brokerage team via email at brokeragesupport [at] ninjatrader [dot] com any time.

[ScaleInTrading]

Please see the following link which confirms from another user that FXCM uses micro lots (i.e. $1000) as the standard lot size. Regardless the strategy has to submit orders to the live account in actual dollar values (not lots). So if you want to trade 10 micro lots you'd get your strategy to submit an order for quantity $10,000.

http://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=68011

[Brightredmegaphone]

FXCM Lot sizing

I'd like to ask if anyone has actually solved this problem with a live FXCM account?

I have strategies which worked perfectly well with Gain in a live environment, that for the life of me cannot now seem to work with FXCM. They work perfectly well in back testing, but on conversion to the live environment, simply get rejected.

I've adjusted the code to what I think should work, run it past you (to which you replied it should work) and now got a developer involved. Nobody seems to have an answer, and reading through the various threads on this forum, it appears nobody has come up with a solution.

Did you deliberately choose the most convoluted broker to work with on the planet?

[birdjaguar]

In a live account with FXCM through NinjaTrader, the default quantity has to be 1000 or greater for the micro lot of 1K or better. Make sure your live account is selected and not in Sim101. Your P&L will move $0.10 per pip.