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peat
12-11-2007, 05:45 PM
Heres a thread to discuss the platform , now that I'll be using it !

First off before we discuss features, issues etc I'll ask a question.

Is it possible to run FXTrade and FXgame simultaneously? I find opening one shuts the other down....

Points of interest to me with FXTrade

1/ As mentioned before , it has Gold and Silver ! And with no minimum trade size I can scale in slowly - great!

2/ Variable spreads - As mentioned in NZD thread these are quite large during weekends and until midday on Monday (when only NZ and Oz are trading I presume) and I understand they widen significantly during news eg Non-Farm Payrolls.

3/ I read the manuals y'day and discovered more about using the Fib indicators. If you draw a trendline from a low to a high then you can right click on it and apply any of the Fib indicators such as Retracements, Arcs, Time Zones or Speed Lines. This solves the problem I've had of not knowing how exactly to apply those indicators. Excellent!

4/ BoxOptions!! Just like options or DNT's. Draw a box and choose Hit or Miss and Oanda will quote you a price and a reward if your prediction is correct. Anyone use these??? Sounds interesting but I've never done it. Tried to do it in FXGame but wasnt working for me i.e I couldnt draw the box itself...

arco
12-11-2007, 06:30 PM
Peat

First off.........I like the Oanda platform. Its simplistic and functional....thats all I need......Oanda keep making improvments.....
..........on my wish list I have a trailing stop function.

Re you questions.
Yes, same problem here....cant run trade/demo together. However, if you have a seperate computer - no problem. Thats how I work with both.

Fibs - I just place and pull to the desired target. A recent upgrade means you can also modify the endpoint - this also applies to TLs.

I dont use Box Options on the trade account....had the same problem with the demo.......I think the Oanda forum has a bit of info on using them.

NFP, etc....most if not all FX dealers widen spreads on special announcments. I keep well away from trading these events, its a scary place to be....unless you dont mind the risk.

arco

peat
12-11-2007, 09:24 PM
here (using your Eur/Chf short and extreme targets I did a box option as shown here and note the top left of the graph tells you what the box cost and what it will pay. Doesnt seem like very good odds to me
A very out of the money HIT box option costing $100 only returns $135!!

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/432/eurchfboxmediumqj4.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eurchfboxmediumqj4.jpg)

AMR
08-02-2008, 07:53 PM
Any thoughts on how it's going after a few trades?

I just signed up to the FX game today after reading about it on the beginner's thread. Seems much better than Marketmaker so far, but still no elusive trailing stop.

Steve
08-02-2008, 08:28 PM
Peat, could you give a comparison between Oanda FXTrade & CMC Markermaker?

peat
08-02-2008, 08:55 PM
I wrote about MarketMaker here

http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthread.php?t=4279


Oanda is so much better tho - its hardly worth comparing and if you want to find out how good it is just use the Demo version Fxgame and you will soon see how its very intuitive and user friendly and its web based. It needs Java (which is pretty standard) and a little bit of setup eg adding it to your trusted sites and allowing pop ups , do those at the beginning and thats it.
Theres no trailing stop in either of these two platforms - if you really want that try GFT's platform DealBookFX.

Oanda's FxGame doesnt offer silver or gold tho whereas FxTrade (the real version) does. But all the indicators and other functions are there

The only reason I would use MarketMaker now is because it offers more (a lot more) instruments to trade eg Indices Shares and Commodities.

Hope that helps.

Steve
09-02-2008, 06:19 AM
Thanks Peat. :)

peat
12-02-2008, 05:07 PM
The issues I wrote about in the General chat thread resurfaced on my home machine and so I used live chat (within FXTrade) to question them about what was going on. They confirmed that there were changes to the platform over the weekend.
Heres what they told me re getting the metals to show in your selected pairs (as they had disappeared, and the selection and order of currencies had reverted to default)

OANDA: On chart where the currencies are displayed... right next to the Quote List and Quote Panel tabs there's a small box with a capital F please click this
OANDA: A User Preference window should pop-up
OANDA: There is a small arrow in a box next to currencies
OANDA: Please click this to drop the box and you will see commodities listed separate to currencies

so it would seem that the update threw a few things out

peat
10-07-2008, 06:00 PM
FX Desktop
I'm finding this really useful. Just a much faster way to access the customary interface. Its not even starting up the browser process either, so could save some you some memory usage if necessary.



FXDesktop

Get faster access to FXTrade, FXGame and FXNews with a direct server connection. FXDesktop adds login icons to your desktop—you can sign in without even opening your web browser.

http://fxtrade.oanda.com/forex_trading/fxtrade/fxdesktop.shtml

peat
25-08-2008, 07:09 PM
A new version of FXTrade came down the pipes today... it would seem only a few subtle changes. But it took me a while to find Fibonacci aaaargh I was screaming but no there it is hiding with the other trendlines.

arco
25-08-2008, 07:51 PM
Hi Peat

Oanda have made a number of improvements over the years, and the platform is becoming more complicated, but its user friendly.....

I particularly like the close all trades/orders instruction......however they still lack a trailing stop which would be good IMO.

Still a simple but functional platform.....

arco
24-10-2008, 11:45 AM
Greedy Bar Stewards

10 pips spreads currently on some majors......when others are still on 2/3 pips.

Wake up Oanda....you'll loose your client base

peat
24-10-2008, 11:54 AM
I sent them an email a few weeks ago detailing the three things they needed to do to ensure their primacy as online forex brokers... they were polite with their reply but non-committal.

arco
24-10-2008, 11:55 AM
Peat

What were the 3 things?

thks - arco

maknz
24-10-2008, 12:40 PM
I'm going through the process of opening an account with Oanda at the moment.

The spreads have gotten quite large on some pairs lately though, which is making them close to untradeable for me. IE right now on my game platform, AUDNZD = 40 PIPs! That's larger than a lot of my SL & TP targets.

Does the FXTrade version offer NZDJPY?

At the moment I'm using two different demos. Oanda for charts and trades on the smaller spreads and then use IBFX for placing trades on AUDNZD (10pip spread as opposed to the 30-40 on Oanda) and things like NZDJPY which I can't find on Oanda's FXGame.

arco
24-10-2008, 01:22 PM
Maknz

Oanda Trade does not have NZD.JPY

I think they must be loosing some money at the moment.........hence the wide spreads. Or they
could be just VERY GREEDY .

You also have to consider safety of funds, so choose brokers with care...Oanda seems OK on that score

rgds - arco



I'm going through the process of opening an account with Oanda at the moment.

The spreads have gotten quite large on some pairs lately though, which is making them close to untradeable for me. IE right now on my game platform, AUDNZD = 40 PIPs! That's larger than a lot of my SL & TP targets.

Does the FXTrade version offer NZDJPY?

At the moment I'm using two different demos. Oanda for charts and trades on the smaller spreads and then use IBFX for placing trades on AUDNZD (10pip spread as opposed to the 30-40 on Oanda) and things like NZDJPY which I can't find on Oanda's FXGame.

arco
24-10-2008, 08:31 PM
Anyone struck this ticket ?????

.................trying and enter on a fast moving bar.....its happened 3 times now.

....................each time big delay and filled at a very bad price.

Must be the way the market is at the moment

peat
24-10-2008, 08:38 PM
Peat

What were the 3 things?

thks - arco

I suggested they

implement a trailing stop.
increase the length of time available for display ie more than 1 year
include indices and more commodities.
abnamromarketindex.com has bonds and indicies using the Oanda engine so it should be pretty straightforwad to provide the last one

more data might cost them to obtain and to store , so I suggested they provide it as a chargeable service

the first one should be the developers main priority

imo of course. :D

peat
24-10-2008, 10:09 PM
the spreads are so large coz the market is gyrating like a very very gyrating thing.

here 140 pips in 10 minutes on the 1min chart

Mysterybox
25-10-2008, 09:46 AM
Anyone struck this ticket ?????

.................trying and enter on a fast moving bar.....its happened 3 times now.

....................each time big delay and filled at a very bad price.

Must be the way the market is at the moment

Ugh yes I keep seeing this ! Am just learning forex atm, only doing FXtrade. thx for good reads.

peat
25-10-2008, 10:22 AM
awesome nights trading tho I did have to increase the settings for my default stop entries after one trade blew the 30 pips before I got a chance to adjust it. Crazy volatility

Last night I did a lot of quick trades - more than I've done for a long time and I didnt have any problems with Oanda

speres
30-10-2008, 08:07 PM
I'm agreeing with the majority at the moment, loving this volitility, oanda's spreads are f...ing me off a wee bit tho.....

The platform could also do with an alarm , keep missing bloody entrys ....... (could also be something to do with the wife nagging me)

arco
31-10-2008, 07:28 PM
Oanda - 9 pips spread on Eur.Yen

:eek:

3 pips on the competition.


Oanda on Gold......spread 250


Competition - 100

Whats happening..................................

arco
01-11-2008, 08:59 PM
The OANDA FXTrade team is pleased to announce the recent additions to the FXGame and FXTrade trading pairs:

AUD/CAD
EUR/NZD
GBP/CAD
NZD/CAD
NZD/JPY
USD/CZK
USD/HUF
USD/SEK

To add any of the new pairs, click Tools -> User Preferences and then click the Quotes tab.

peat
02-11-2008, 10:52 AM
Lol, so thats the one thing I didnt say they should do in my email... i.e expand the range of currency pairs. And while I dont have any problems with them doing that it seems to me it wont change things much.

Currency traders may appreciate more pairs but they dont really need them. Its not like there arent enough already to work with. Whereas they do need a function like a trailing stop.

Implementing equity indices would have attracted them more new business than a few exotic pairs.

All good, just not what I would do.

arco
02-11-2008, 08:42 PM
That looks like you Peat................guess you had another bad day on the streets of AKL :confused:

peat
02-11-2008, 08:59 PM
halloween !

arco
03-11-2008, 04:29 PM
Obviously someone loves em :)

http://i33.tinypic.com/2uopf7s.jpg

arco
07-11-2008, 02:08 PM
.
Interesting -

it appears to me that the Heiken Ashi indicator on Oanda re-paints itself (1 min charts)

....need to check higher time frames

peat
27-01-2009, 05:44 PM
OANDA operated profitably throughout the year

arco
27-01-2009, 08:52 PM
Understandably so - some of their spreads are a bit high nowadays

Spread on Loonie was 10 pips earlier today (now 5) :rolleyes:
Elsewhere 3 pips all day.

EY presently 5 - MT brokers 3.

peat
03-03-2009, 05:33 PM
The profile setting wont retain my colours for Heikin-Ashi :(

I reckon it should so I've logged some feedback.

peat
04-03-2009, 12:21 PM
Their reply was

Thank you for your interest in OANDA FXTrade. Once you make color changes on Heikin-Ashi chart, to save these changes, go to "Tools" and then "Save Current Profile".


My reply was


Thats not very helpful because what I'm trying to tell you is that doing that doesnt work.
You test it out!


Their reply was

To change color on Heikin-Ashi Candle chart, right click on the candle, it will show "Rising Color" and "Falling Color". Select the color you wish to change to and save your settings go to "Tools" and "Save Current Profile".
We have already tested it out and it is the only way to add colors to the candles

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

arco
04-03-2009, 01:23 PM
Hard to get good staff nowadays :mad:

Suggest you 'ask to talk to their superior', if that doesn't work ask for Michael Stumm (he's the boss).

peat
08-06-2009, 12:30 PM
here in the hinterland of QLD the Optus wireless only gives me a max of 5 KB/s so thats effectively dial-up speeds.

Good that Oanda still works tho!!!

peat
20-10-2009, 07:00 PM
I never realised that Oanda has a trailing stop feature but its there in the market order screen! So I will test it out - this has always been a criticism of the platform but seems like I've been blind to it. I'll test and advise

arco
20-10-2009, 07:06 PM
Hi Peat

I knew it was there, but haven't used it so far. I have a feeling you have to set the trailing stop at the time of placing the order.

Let me know how you get on

rgds - arco

peat
20-10-2009, 11:02 PM
the trailing stop is an orange line and its definitely moving up on my long position , nearly to break even tho it doesnt change the originial setting of the s/l showing in the trade info in your trades display area

arco
21-10-2009, 08:54 AM
Peat

Do you place that trailing stop at the onset, and can you amend it later?

peat
21-10-2009, 09:16 AM
i placed it at the beginning of the trade but didnt attempt to alter it. I will try that sometime soon. Ironically I would have done much better without a trailing stop last night :( , cant have it both ways i guess.

peat
21-10-2009, 09:14 PM
added a trailing stop in after the trade was in place ok.

arco
21-10-2009, 09:16 PM
Thanks Peat - I'll certainly give it a try

peat
04-11-2009, 07:28 AM
and here , as shown by the orange circle is the actual event of a trailing stop (placed after the initial trade was set) saving me from giving back too many pips.

peat
13-11-2009, 06:46 AM
I;ve noticed that one can use both fixed and trailing stops together

so, a strategy one could employ to assist with unmonitored trades is to place a fixed stop loss at a eg -40 point and then a trailing stop starting at say -70 pip. if the trade moves any more than +30 the trailing stop will take over progressively reducing that -40 stop until when the trade is +70 stop is at break even and locking in at least some profit if there are further gains , all while you're not at the screen. this can provide some comfort if you are busy for a while

arco
13-11-2009, 12:58 PM
Hi Peat

Yes, I noticed that appeared to be the case and wondered if I'd done something wrong. For that its a great tool IMO

arco

peat
22-03-2010, 08:21 PM
i'm getting disconnected a lot recently... is anyone else noticing this? I'm a bit dubious about the quality of my internet connection at the moment so it could well be me or my ISP but if anyone else can let me know that Oanda is working fine for them (or not) I would be appreciative.

Pumice
23-03-2010, 07:00 AM
Seems to be working fine for me.
I dont think I have ever had issues with Oanda to be honest.

peat
23-03-2010, 08:21 AM
Thanks Pumice. I did some speed and ping tests and concluded my internet connection was fine. So I used the chat facility and asked an Oanda person. They recommended clearing out the Java cache which I had done already but I also rememberd I had tweaked one of the proxy settings... So I completely deleted the folders and files in the cache location (not just using the Java facility) set the proxy setting back how it was and then restarted Oanda, using the normal web login , not the FXTrade desktop. Its working better now.

peat
23-03-2010, 02:40 PM
so the problem is still there , I've logged a call with my ISP. I've had disconnections with MarketMaker as well so I think they need to sort things out a bit. After about 10 minutes of talking , giving me all sorts of bogus suggestions such as changing my plan as the one I'm on has traffic shaping (but has unlimited data) , he finally admitted that they were investigating an issue with international traffic. grrrrrrrrrrr.

arco
23-03-2010, 03:26 PM
Hi Peat. No problem here with Oanda. Although we do get the odd disconnection - its nothing to do with Oanda.

Bilo
23-03-2010, 10:01 PM
so the problem is still there , I've logged a call with my ISP. I've had disconnections with MarketMaker as well so I think they need to sort things out a bit. After about 10 minutes of talking , giving me all sorts of bogus suggestions such as changing my plan as the one I'm on has traffic shaping (but has unlimited data) , he finally admitted that they were investigating an issue with international traffic. grrrrrrrrrrr.

I am in your camp Peat. If I improve it I will post a note.

Bilo
23-03-2010, 10:28 PM
I took Marketmaker off and put it on another computer, different ISP, and XP not Vista. Oanda seems to be going fine now.

Bilo
23-03-2010, 10:34 PM
Marketmaker is still playing up. Graphs cause it to jam after Australia/NZ close down. Either a privileges / access thing IMO - CMC making money by rigging access - again. They suggested using the web based system - a real dog for older MMC users. But watch out for the 30minute ban on access once you use it.