Dealing Hours

The market is open 24 hours a day, from Sunday 5:15 PM New York time until Friday 4:00 PM New York time. Quotes, order placements, and confirmations are available online or via telephone.

Dealing Desk Trading Etiquette

To Place a Trade or an Order Via the Phone:

Traders CANNOT hold the quoted price, as it is only good for 3 to 5 seconds depending on market volatility. In the event the trader holds the price, the dealer reserves the right to change the price by saying either "change," "price change," "off," or "your risk." Dealer: Will confirm to trader ANY order that is placed during the course of the conversation. Note: Traders/Clients should not call the dealing desk for non-trading related purposes.

Account Options

Traders can choose 100K Accounts or Mini Accounts. Compare account options

Trading Software

The FX Trading Station features live, streaming prices. Charting and News software can also be downloaded and integrated with the FX Trading Station.

Dealing Spreads

Trade Size

On the FXCM trading platform, all trades are executed in standard sizes of 100,000 base currency units per one lot. There is no maximum trading volume; however, for trading sizes larger than $50,000,000, traders must request a quote over the telephone.

Here are some examples:

• U.S. Dollar/Japanese Yen (100,000 U.S. Dollars)
• Euro/U.S. Dollar (100,000 Euros)
• Euro/Great Britain Pound (100,000 Euros)
• Euro/Japanese Yen (100,000 Euros)

Smaller trade size available via the FXCM Mini account.  Learn More

Margin

FXCM enables currency trading to be conducted on a highly leveraged basis. Every trader is able to select the degree of leverage that the trader wishes to employ in trading.* Unless the trader specifies otherwise, FXCM sets the leverage level at FXCM's default margin level for the deposited amount. The requirements for leverage vary with account size and may be changed from time to time at the sole discretion of the dealing desk, based on volume traded and market conditions.

Margin — Exotic Currency Pairs

Margin requirements for exotic currency pairs are two times the standard amount for trading positions in your account. For example, if a trader has a 100K account and the margin is set to 1%, the margin requirement for the exotic currencies, USD/HKD and USD/SGD, will be 2%.

Margin Watcher

There is also an important safety feature embedded in this system that prevents clients from losing more money than they have in their accounts. Should the account equity—meaning the total floating value of the account—fall below the margin requirement of approximately 1% per lot, the dealing desk may close all positions. This protects the trader from losing more than the existing funds in the trading account.

Rollover/Interest Policy

At 5:00 PM New York Time, funds are subtracted or added to accounts with open positions because of the automatic rollover. For accounts that have a margin requirement of 2% or more, funds are added to the account for positions in which the client is long (holding) the currency bearing the higher interest rate. Funds are deducted in the opposite circumstance. For accounts that do not have a 2% margin requirement, the rollover amount is deducted from the account for each position, regardless of the account's holdings.

Note: On Wednesdays, the amount added or subtracted to an account as a result of rolling over a position tends to be around three times the usual amount. This "3-day" rollover accounts for settlement of trades through the weekend period.

Why does Rollover take place?
In the spot forex market, trades must be settled in two business days. If a trader sells 100,000 euros on Tuesday, the trader must deliver 100,000 euros on Thursday, unless the position is rolled over. As a service to our traders, FXCM automatically rolls over all open positions to the next settlement date at 5:00 PM New York time. Rollover involves exchanging the position being held for a position expiring the following settlement date. The positions being exchanged are usually not valued at the same price. The amount of the difference varies greatly based on the currency pair, the interest rate differential between the two currencies, and fluctuates day to day with the movement of prices.

Types of Orders

The trading platform provides sophisticated order entry and tracking of market orders, entry orders, stop/limit entry orders, and stop-loss orders. All of the above orders are Good Until Cancelled (GTC), which is valid until the order is executed or cancelled.

Deposit Options

In addition to the US dollar, traders have the option of depositing funds and viewing all trading information in EUR, GBP, or JPY. For European and Asian clients in particular, this option will be of great convenience in handling all the administrative duties of trading—thus allowing traders to focus more of their attention and energy on analyzing and profiting from market movements.
Learn More about GBP and EUR denominated accounts.

Margin: Managing your Risk in the FX Market

By trading on margin, traders have the ability to control positions much larger than their deposit. The margin deposit for leverage is not a down payment on a purchase of equity, as many perceive margin to be in the stock markets. Rather, the margin is a performance bond, or good faith deposit, to ensure against trading losses. This is very useful to short-term day traders who need the enhancement in capital to generate quick returns. However, leverage is a double-edged sword. Without proper risk management, this high degree of leverage can lead to large losses as well as gains. To help manage your risk, FXCM offers a unique margin watcher feature, which is embedded in the platform. If the equity in your account drops below the margin required to maintain your open positions, the dealing desk may close all open positions. This guarantees limited risk. You also have the ability to track your margin in real time. In the accounts window you will see two columns: used margin and usable margin. The used margin indicates funds currently pledged towards open positions. You can think of usable margin as your "wiggle" room. Once usable margin reaches zero, a margin call will ensue, and all open positions will be closed by the dealing desk.