Alpari Announces NDD ECN Technology Powering its MT4 Platform, Expects Trading to Increase
The large global FX provider is optimistic about its new non-dealing desk electronic communications network technology that will be available
Steven Hatzakis
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Technology
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Institutional FX )
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2013-10-01T15:21:18+00:00
2013-10-01T15:21:18+00:00
Alpari (UK) Limited, one of the leading global providers of online foreign exchange, precious metals and CFD trading services has announced the launch of its own proprietary Non Dealing Desk (NDD) Electronic Communications Network (ECN) technology which will be available to all clients trading on the MT4 platform offered by Alpari.
The new ECN platform from Alpari integrates directly with 17 top-tier liquidity providers such as global banks, funds, financial institutions, as well as other ECN’s making them compete anonymously for execution by offering clients tighter spreads.
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Located within the same Equinox data center in London (LD4) as the liquidity providers, enables Alpari UK the benefit of being co-located to the sources where prices originate in order to offer clients faster trade executions. The new NDD ECN technology from Alpari UK will give its clients prices that accurately reflect true market conditions and will be available across Micro, Classic and MT4Pro account types. The company expects the level of customer satisfaction to increase according to the announcement, as deep liquidity and no limits on scalping are part of an overall transparent trading experience.
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The news follows several large changes within the brand including changes in its US and German operations.
Daniel Skowronski, Chief Executive Officer at Alpari (UK)Limited, commented in the broker’s public statement, “We are constantly enhancing our product and infrastructure to give clients the best trading experience possible. Our new ECN enables Alpari UK to provide highly competitive pricing and faster execution for our clients.”
According to the release, the association of Alpari companies had reported several months of record trading volumes during 2013, and expects the new ECN improved pricing and faster execution to contribute to further significant increases in trading activity. The launch of the new ECN technology, which will enable a No Dealing Desk environment for traders, has followed a series of recent product launches by the firm including Newsroom and Trader Connect.
Although Alpari’s US Entity is still listed as a regulated Forex Dealer Member with the NFA as of publication, the regulatory capital that will be freed as a result of Alpari’s exit from the US market (and subsequent withdrawal from NFA or downgrading of its license to that of on IB) should enable the firm to re-focus company efforts in markets where a larger concentration of existing clients is and new markets where it can enter. The challenges in the US were shared in a previous discussion following recent events, as explained to Forex Magnates.
NDD ECN: this means that the broker the client places it’s funds with is just a middleman and it doesn’t control the logic used to accept or reject the trade, instead some unknown counter-party is in control of that logic. Forex liquidity tiered system: Tier-1 liquidity the top tier is the Market Making banks, they have a vast network of clients that are users like governments and large multinational corporations, hedgers like retail brokers, and speculators (alpha seeking hedge-funds), the size and diversity of their book of business allows them to be very efficient and about 90 to 95% of… Read more »
Does anyone really believe any retail FX broker is offering a TRUE ECN-NDD model?
STP/NDD/ECN/DMA is bad for trader.
why bother trading when you can whinge
the reality is the closest a retail trader can get to wholesale spreads of zilch is ECN
so bang those tight zero ish pip prices with cheap comm’s rather than ars_ing yourself or never getting set on BS market-maker circa 2 pips
Mr. Me Bigpiping.
Well written bit your conclusion is fundamentaly wrong. Retail will continue to generate new clients and rarely these clients progress to other tiers. It is 2 worlds. You either belong to one or the other…
@ BigPiping In all 3 tiers, the forex market still must be made. A lower volume market maker would likely be more expensive than a higher volume one as the buying/selling power is less. @Won, there are several brokers who do not interfere with clients trades in any way, and only pass on the best bid/ask to clients, and slippage is natural (purely market driven). In fact, as the gap between retail and wholesale order flow decreases, the scamming-type market makers will either have to try harder or go back to operating gambling shops . @FxTrader, why do you say… Read more »
I worked in the FX industry for several years both on the sales side and dealing side and it always seemed to me that a clients biggest concern was whether or not the broker was making money when they were losing.
Are we assuming in this discussion that NDD-ECN means that this is a true “A” book model?
All of the propaganda and miss information about the NDD model just clever marketing. The mystical exchange were trades get done and nobody loses does not exist. Forex is a zero sum market which means for one trader to win, another has to lose and there is no such thing as a “true A-book” model there is always a maker that has the logic to deal the question is do you have a direct relationship to the dealer or do you go through a middleman. @ Jon FxTrader is right STP/NDD/ECN/DMA are bad for the trader, these brokers simply middleman… Read more »
Amazing how that FXDD was the first MT4 integrated to stp/ecn via strategybuilder.com MT4 the off shot of moneytec and still going strong..
@ Won, Could you define “true A book model”? I do agree with BigPiping in the sense that many brokers have misused the term ECN/STP/NDD/raw spreads/etc in order to trick newer traders into using them. All it took was a few retail brokers to actually offer what I consider to be true ECN conditions. I usually use FxOpen ECN, Global Prime Au, IC Markets Au, Excel Markets, and about 4-5 other brokers as a baseline. @BigPiping. You say that these ECN/STP brokers are middleman that do not add value to the trader. What do you consider to be value? For… Read more »
@Jon I would define a “true A book model” to be the broker not taking risk and profiting from loses.
To state my position, I personally do not think it should matter who is taking the other side of the trade as long as the trade is not being manipulated. My issue with brokers stating that they are NDD,STP,ECN, etc. is that it means absolutely nothing and is strictly marketing when advertised in retail FX trading.
“My issue with brokers stating that they are NDD,STP,ECN, etc. is that it means absolutely nothing and is strictly marketing when advertised in retail FX trading.”
Not universally true. For example, you can see counterparty IDs on trade tickets with interactive brokers (mostly bulge bracket fx banks). Or, Lmax has no license for dealing on own account.
@Won, I agree totally here. Most retail and institutional clients share safety of funds and getting a fair deal (STP on best bid/best offer with natural slippage). I really wouldn’t care if the broker runs a b-book, whether partial or fully; get me filled ‘fairly’ as described above and you’ll never hear any complaints from me. Where the ‘b-book’ thing got a bad rap is because unscrupulous brokers did not hedge their exposure and instead found it more profitable to employ tricks and traps (asymmetric slippage, stop hunting, fake ticks, unnatural order delays, etc) to profit from trader’s losses. Unfortunately,… Read more »
Could it be that some broker say they are ECN and just outsource the b-book to a larger provider with a split?