Yesterday we started testing the live executions on our new, customized trading platform (“Currenex Trading System“).

The executions (entry and exit orders) occur on one click; which is much faster than the multiple clicking that’s required when day trading on the MetaTrader (MT4) platform. Unfortunately, we missed the action yesterday morning (London Time) due to an incorrect setting at the Currenex broker, but we were able to “fire away” a few test trades later on during the day, on a quieter market period and the executions were relatively fast. We need more testing on a faster moving market, so tomorrow and Friday might be good days to continue our tests.

Trading at FXLQ

As you know, FXLQ has been working on an improved MT4 system where a larger number of banks will provide liquidity. This system (I was told yesterday) probably won’t be ready until the end of this month.

Nevertheless, I was informed that they had added new liquidity providers to the existing MT4 system and that they had fixed something on their end that would allow us to continue trading until the new system was ready. Apparently, there was a problem on their end that kept generating a “no connection” message on our end when orders were placed.

The market today did not react much to the US PPI figures at 8:30 AM EST and it flatlined for much of the European and beginning of the US trading sessions (Click on the image below to see a larger view of this.). A few trades were still executed at FXLQ, even though the same old “off quotes” rejections abound. We’ll be going back and forth between the Currenex Trading System and the MetaTrader platform moving forward.

During the weekend, I was informed that we would be ready to continue trading at FXLQ by today. Today I received an email pushing the start date out to January 20th. I’m pretty upset about this, but at least we are making progress on another front…

Live Trading with Currenex Trading System

We are already set up at a Currenex broker and should start testing with real money and our customized day trading order entry system by early next week. The order handling capabilities of this system are awesome and I’m dying to see what the quality of executions is in real life.

Just to make things clear, this blog does not disclose anything private about FXLQ, any other firm we work with, or any client. After receiving a few customer calls about this blog, FXLQ has asked us not to disclose any private information in this blog. As a result, we will be more vigilant and a little more brief about any issues with FXLQ going forward.

Last Thursday, Brian from FXLQ told me that they were going to have MetaTrader technicians from Europe in their offices on December 27th, 28th, and 29th. These specialized tech’s are supposed to install a final upgrade, which will include an upgrade to FXLQ’s MetaTrader server that should eliminate the execution problems we have been experiencing. He told me that the addition of liquidity providers to the platform is on track, so the price feed should continue to improve up until January 1st. I just want to make it clear that even though the system might allow us to trade by January 1st, the Forex market might not have enough liquidity during the first week of January (liquidity has been decreasing during the last week or so). Even though we will always be looking for trading opportunities, if trading is really slow – we won’t force any trades just for the heck of it. It has to make sense.

The new Currenex Trading System is also ready for trading with live funds. We should start trading with it sometime in the first two weeks of January and keep you posted on the results.

The future of day trading looks bright!

We tried trading again (see associated log in a new window) on the MetaTarder 4 day trading software. The MT4 logs show a few sell attempts on 5 lots of EUR/USD (and one 8-lot attempt). All trades were rejected with a “TradeContext: ping error” that took exactly 20 seconds to come up. FXLQ says that their programmers are looking into this issue. Apparently, the trade signal is not reaching the MT4 execution server correctly.

This will hopefully be corrected in a timely manner. Can’t wait to start seeing some trading action again. Forex market, here we come!

Today was the first day that FXLQ restored the institutional feed on the trading platform. From what Brian McMahon told me, FXLQ has only a few banks making up the feed right now, but will be adding more liquidity providers (banks, etc.) up to January 1st – when the feed will be “complete.” This should narrow spreads overall and give us access to more liquidity when we trade (at least in theory).Brian also said that a system upgrade performed by their tech guys should eliminate the drastic number of rejections we have been experiencing (the dreaded “off quotes” message).

As instructed by FXLQ, we will start day trading again (with limited size). You might see some activity tomorrow. The primary goal is to see if the trade rejections are reduced, even though the liquidity won’t be “optimal” until the 1st.

New Order Entry Program Passes Demo Stage

Nigel and I have been testing the new trading order entry program that was designed for us. It works great on demo mode and passed all my tests.

Even though we will constantly be tweaking it for “perfection” (if such a thing exists!) as we go, we’ll probably start testing it with real funds in the next few weeks (or possibly at the beginning of the new year).

By next week, the forex market activity might diminish significantly – not the ideal environment for successful day trading. This might FORCE all of us to take a vacation until the beginning of the year. We should anyway, right?

Our Internet provider experienced an outage and our phones were down for most of the day.Last week FXLQ told me that we might be trading again by Monday (12/11). Yesterday I was told that trading was pushed back to Wednesday (tomorrow) – and I’m afraid that it might be pushed back again to Thursday or Friday. Shucks!

We missed some great trading opportunities last week (especially on Friday), but let’s not look back – only forward!

Update on Customized Trading Execution Program

Since Sunday, I have been testing the new order entry application that our programmer has been working on and it works great. We are working on polishing it off before trading real funds on Currenex [with another broker], but I’m hopeful it will be a success. It should be much faster than our current set up. This might be ready for live testing within 2 weeks.

After an unbearable, multi-day period of silence, FXLQ spoke…

Actually, one of our clients who’s also a trader [you know who you are], took the liberty of contacting FXLQ to express his concerns about the little incident last Wednesday (11/29). Shortly after that, Brian from FXLQ replied via email.

He said that FXLQ is in the final stages of a new liquidity deal in which our “day trading on steroids” (scalping) style won’t be an issue anymore. He said that we could be trading again by early next week. Let’s see what happens next week.

I spoke to Brian later on during the day yesterday and he confirmed the above information. Nevertheless, our programmer continues to develop another option to allow us to day trade at other firms via Currenex in order to diversify. What happened last week was a good wake up call.

We can’t put all our eggs in one basket. If an issue arises that forces us to stop trading at broker A, we need to be able to trade at broker B. I have mentioned this to you in the past and will let you know when the second option is ready. We have big plans for the future.

Let’s keep our chins up and continue pressing forward. The future looks bright.

It’s difficult just to sit back and watch the forex market move without being able to take advantage of it.

The trader just sent me the log of Wednesday’s trades. I want to concentrate on a section of the log that shows 13 straight attempts to get out of a position! (one of the problems we’ve been having from day 1 – just look at the number of “[off quotes]” messages – log link below). Even though problems like these are unacceptable, you can’t stop a good thing. Despite difficulties, the trader was able to get out. Lets keep this in mind as we go forward. Yes; there will be troubles – but we WILL emerge victorious from the darkness! Keep fighting!

Click here to see the trading log.

Account still disabled. Can’t day trade. Still waiting for FXLQ’s phone call. I will keep you informed regarding the status of this new adventure.

You know the story of David and Goliath, right? If you don’t, Google it! Today reminds me of that story. Let me explain…

Everything started well. Profits were good, the sun was shinning, the sky was clear, and then…without warning…Goliath reared its ugly head. The account was disabled!

Yes; after 10 AM New York time, WHAMMO! See the screenshot from the trader’s computer (in a new window).

Why do these things happen when I’m out of town?

I spoke to someone at FXLQ and was told that one of the “counterparties” (banks) complained about our style of trading: quick in – quick out (a.ka., “scalping”). FXLQ said that they could not jeopardize their relationship with their counterparties and that’s why the account was halted.

As I was being told this on the phone, I wondered, “What; are we making too much money?” Freaking, greedy banks!

I was totally shocked by the entire ordeal. We made FXLQ aware of our “need for speed,” from day 1 and no one had a problem with it. Even with all the limitations we have had and problems we have encountered, we are still generating pretty good trading volume – something that should make banks and brokers happy.

I requested to speak to the top guy at FXLQ to see what they want to do going forward. He’s supposed to call me back.

I know this is not good news, but just in case we can’t day trade anymore at FXLQ, our programmer should finish a customized order entry application that works with Currenex in a few weeks. I will keep you informed about this.

This is why it is important to diversify across different firms. We have something good going and there will always be resistance. We can’t let that stop us though – and need to keep pressing forward. I believe there is a much higher power behind our efforts.

I thank you for your prayers and support during difficult times like these.