Historical charts are drawn only for BID prices in the MetaTrader terminal. However, there is an option to see ASK prices for some charts. To enable the display of the latest ASK price, select the Show ask line option in Tools > Options > Charts.

Learn more about how to open a Demo account.

You may open as many trades as your margin allows. We set no limit on the number of trades.

Pip value for ECN/STP accounts (5th decimal pricing)

Pip (percentage in point) is the smallest change in four decimal place currency quotes (as well as in two decimal place quotes for pairs containing JPY). The fifth digit after the decimal point in quotes for currency pairs (as well as the third one for pairs with JPY) shows the price change discreteness within the four (two) decimal place quotes, i.e. the minimum quote change.

Quotes with 5 decimal places allow better transparency and better ability to catch better deals. For example, instead of 2 pips spread (1.5030 Bid 1.5032 Ask), a trader can get a 1.7 pip spread (1.50301 Bid 1.50318 Ask).

To know what a pip is in 5 digit quote, take the exchange rate and count 5 digits backwards. For instance, the EUR/USD is at 1.00615. Count 5 digits from the first: 1, 0, 0, 6, 1. The 1 is the 5th digit in the quote and it's at the 4th position after the decimal point, so a pip for the EUR/USD is 0.0001. The last digit in 5 decimal pricing is a ‘fractional’ pip. In our example is 8.1 ‘fractional’ pip is 0.1 of a pip. To calculate pip value you can use the following formula:

Example 1. 0.1 standard lot EUR/USD at the price 1.33391.

To convert EUR 0.07496 to USD you must multiply:

As you can see from the example 1 - ‘Fractional’ pip value is $0.1 that means 1 pip value is $1.

Example 2. 0.1 standard lot USD/JPY at the price 84,058.

As you can see from the example 2 - ‘Fractional’ pip value is $0.12 that means 1 pip value is $1.2.

The pip value for CFDs is calculated using the following formula:

where:

• K — Profit Currency (second currency in the symbol) to Deposit Currency conversion rate.
• Volume — volume of position in lots.
• Lot Size — number of ounces, barrels or commodity units in one lot.
• Digits — number of decimal places.

Example:

• Trade: #UK100
• Conversion rate (K): 1.6127
• Volume: 1 lot
• Lot Size: 1
• Digits: 1

Pip value: 1.61 (USD)

Example:

• Trade: US Crude
• Conversion rate (K): 1
• Volume: 1 lot
• Lot Size: 1
• Digits: 2

Pip value: 10 (USD)

Yes. See Etiquette for Trading Operations via Telephone.

This type of order allows you to control the price at which the position will be bought or sold. A buy limit order can only be executed at the limit price or lower, and a sell limit order can only be executed at the limit price or higher, meaning that if your order will get filled it will get filled at a price you indicated or better. When you place a market order, you can't control the price at which your order will be filled. True ECN pricing means that you will see the best BID and best Offer (ASK) as they appear from clients and Liquidity Providers who participate in ECN.

According to the principles of ECN Limit Orders:

• Lowest Bid price or lower to Short (Sell) Limit Orders, can be lower than Lowest Ask price, in another words, inside the DAB - referring to the difference between the best BID and the best Offer (ASK);
• Highest Ask price or higher to Long (Buy) Limit Orders, can be higher than Highest Bid price, in another words, inside the DAB - referring to the difference between the best ASK and the best BID;
• During times of high volatility Limit Orders or Take Profits, even if set at best Bid or Ask levels, might not get executed because the market has already moved.
  

A Buy Limit Order was placed exactly at the Best Ask but market price changed direction quickly. The Buy Limit Order wouldn’t be executed and would become pending until the market price returned to that level or the Order was changed. ECN Brokers transmit their clients’ Limit Orders to the Marketplace. Participants of the ECN can see all Limit Orders and Take Profits Orders in the Market Depth table.

A Client wants to place a Buy Limit Order of AUD/NZD at 1.24200 of a volume of 7.0 standard Lots (see Fig.1.). The DAB when the order was placed was: Bid - 1.24170 and Ask – 1.24230 (see Depth of Market window Fig. 1.). After the Buy Limit Order was successful placed – 1.24200 with a volume of 700,000 AUD became the Best Bid order level (see Depth of Market window Fig. 2.) which means that Buy Limit Order was added to the ECN Order Book.

Stop Loss and Take Profit orders can be attached to a Limit order (See Fig. 3). After a Limit order is triggered, its Stop Loss and Take Profit levels will be attached to the open position automatically (see Fig. 4).

Limit Orders make up the book of viewable volume at which clients want to buy or sell at a given time. During periods of high volatility or low liquidity, Limit Orders may be partially executed. This means that the position will get filled immediately fully or partially if the price is met and the rest will be displayed on the market until the price is met.

Client placed a Buy Limit Order of AUD/NZD at 1.24227 for 30 standard lots of the volume. See appropriate Journal entry on the Fig. 5.

The Buy Limit Order was executed partially because at the time the market touched the limit price the ECN did not have a matching counter-order of 30 lots on the market. One 30 lots Buy Limit Order was displayed in the market and was gradually filled by 7 orders as they were entered by other market participants at the Limit Price, see Fig. 6.1 - Trade and Fig.6.2 – Account History.

In ECN accounts, the Margin Call is triggered when the Margin Level (Equity to Margin ratio) is less than 100% (i. e. the equity of your trading account is equal to the margin used to open the positions).

A  position is stopped out (closed by broker automatically) when the Margin Level of an account is less than 50% (i. e. the equity is less than 50% of the margin used to open a trade).

The full calculation of the equity/margin ratio for the stopped out positions is available in the MetaTrader. Open Terminal window, Account history tab, column Comment. If you do not see the Comment column in your MetaTrader Account History, right-click on the closed position and select Comment.

The ECN Broker transmits the clients Limit Orders to the Marketplace which causes the illustrated in Fig. 14 to occur. Once a Limit Order is placed in the Marketplace the Client must put up the margin for the position. However, at the moment when the Limit Order price is triggered and the margin is not met, the necessary margin is added to the client’s account automatically (Credit In) and then the position is executed. As soon as the order has been executed, the credited amount will be automatically deducted from the account according to the Credit Out procedure. If the margin level after the deduction (credit out) is less than 50% - order will be closed immediately according to the Stop Out procedure. All Clients should carefully monitor their trading accounts to prevent such situation from occurring. If the margin level after the deduction (credit out) is higher than 50% - the order will remain open until the SL or TP level is reached or the client closes the position manually.

Below you can see Logs for situations when the Limit Order price is triggered but the margin is not met.

Sell Limit 30 Lots GBP/USD was opened at 07:38:09 server time (see journal logs above).

The trading account was automatically credited by system – Credit In $60 467.09 - because at the moment when the Limit Order price was triggered the margin was not met and just after Sell Limit was opened credit was withdrawn – Credit Out -$60 467.09.

All the above-stated is true for Pending Stop Orders as well: when a Pending Stop Order is activated, there is enough Free Margin available and at the time of its execution Free Margin is insufficient (for example, due to significant change of the instrument’s price during this period) – then Credit In/Credit Out procedure will be applied. This situation is also possible when Pending Stop Order opening price is within a Price Gap.

Market Order execution in ECN accounts is designed in a way that provides super-fast execution as well as excludes any dealer intervention in the process. However, these significant advantages might possibly cause undesirable high slippage in fast-moving volatile markets. To protect Clients from high slippages, we have introduced a mechanism that compares the Client’s Market Order price with the best price at which this order can be actually executed. If the difference exceeds the maximum allowable slippage value, the execution process is aborted and the Market Order is rejected.

The maximum allowable slippage value may vary depending on the level of market volatility at the moment, when a Client initiates a Market Order from his terminal.

The same mechanism applies to Pending Sell and Buy Stop Orders. Stop Loss Orders and the automatic order closing according to the Stop Out procedure are executed at the best available price and the actual price may differ considerably from the order level or the calculation data, according to the Stop Out procedure.

Market Order is an order that lets you fill your order the fastest way. You can almost always expect your order to be filled, however this might not be at the best price you want. During volatile times the gap between the price you see when you enter the order and the price you get your order filled at may be wide, but when the market is fast moving this might be the only option in order to fill your position before the market moves further away.

When you click the market buy or sell button, you can expect the order to be filled at the price the market was trading when the participating qualified destination received your order. This price may not be the same market price you may have noted when you initially placed the order due to the size available when the order is processed. In order to provide clients with the best execution, the system automatically matches the client’s order, with other orders and executes as a block or in multiple smaller transactions.

Client 1 wants to open short position of 400,000 GBP/JPY using a Market order but currently one buyer has placed an order of volume 300,000 GBP/JPY at 1.5876 and another buyer has placed an order for a volume 200,000 GBP/ JPY at 1.5878. Thus Client 1 receives his short position of 400,000 GBP/JPY at 1.5877 because:

Immediately after a Market Order execution, the screen will show the Confirmation window (See Fig. 10). We can note that the Order was executed with the full requested volume, 7 Lots, at 1.62884 which is 0.00009 better than price in the Quotes window at the moment the opening was initiated. As said, the system automatically matches sell order with incoming prices from clients and Liquidity Providers enter the Marketplace just after the moment of initiating the short position. It can work in both directions and depends only on the liquidity of the Marketplace.

In the Client’s Journal they could find logs detailing the open of the position:

1. 2009.06.25 05:30:42 '2625': order sell market 7.00 GBPUSD sl: 0.00000 tp: 0.00000

2. 2009.06.25 05:30:42 '2625': request was accepted by server2009

3. 2009.06.25 05:30:42 '2625': request in process

4. 2009.06.25 05:30:43 '2625': order was opened: #267378 sell 7.00 GBPUSD at 1.62884 sl: 0.00000 tp: 0.00000
   

As you see on Fig. 11, the best price to close the Short position is 1.63075 with volume of 18 standard Lots. To close the position, the client has to click the Close #... sell 7.00 GBPUSD by Market on the bottom (Yellow Button).

Immediately after the Close Market Order is executed, the screen displays the Confirmation window (See Fig. 12). We can note that the Order was executed with the full volume of 7 Lots at the 1.63074, which is 0.00001 worse than price in the Quotes window at the moment the closing was initiated. The system automatically matches the closing sell with incoming prices from clients and Liquidity Providers. The Client can find logs regarding the closing of this position in the Journal (see Fig. 12).

Learn more about using expert advisors.

Learn more about reserving margin for Pending orders.

A pending order becomes a market order when a specific price level is achieved and broken. A stop order is placed below the current market value of that currency for Short (Sell) positions and above for Long (Buy) positions. When the price reaches the level of Sell Stop or Buy Stop, the position will be opened automatically at the current market price similar with Market Order execution. The price when Stop Sell or Buy Order is executed may not always be the price you set up. This may be especially true in fast-moving markets where currency prices are more volatile.

To a pending order Stop Loss and Take Profit orders can be attached.

Current Market price: Bid - 1.24460, Ask – 1.24490.

Order Price Level: 1.24523 must be above Ask of Current Market price. When the price reaches Order Price Level, the position will be opened automatically at the current market price similar with Market Order execution.

Stop Loss: 1.24512 must be below of Order Price Level. When the price reaches level of Stop Loss, the position will be closed automatically at the current market price similar with Market Order execution.

Take Profit: 1.24531 must be above of Order Price Level. When the price reaches level of Take Profit, the position will be closed automatically at the Take Profit Level or better similar with Limit Order execution.

Current Market price: Bid - 1.24420, Ask – 1.24485.

Order Price Level: 1.24409 must be below Bid of Current Market price. When the price reaches Order Price Level, the position will be opened automatically at the current market price similar with Market Order execution.

Stop Loss: 1.24450 must be above of Order Price Level. When the price reaches level of Stop Loss, the position will be closed automatically at the current market price similar with Market Order execution.

Take Profit: 1.24395 must be below of Order Price Level. When the price reaches level of Take Profit, the position will be closed automatically at the Take Profit Level or better similar with Limit Order execution.

Stop Loss and Take Profit Orders can be included in a pending order or modified on an existing position. After a pending order has been triggered, any input Stop Loss and Take Profit levels will be attached to the open position automatically. Stop Loss and Take Profit orders can only be executed for an open position, but not for pending orders.

Please, note that if a client uses the “Market Execution” to open position(s) he/she cannot add Stop Loss(es) and Take Profit(s) but, the system allows the addition of these parameters to already opened orders with the Modification mode.

This order is used for minimizing losses, once the Financial Instrument price has started to move in an unprofitable direction. If the price reaches the set level, the position will be closed automatically at the current market price similar to Market Order execution. The price when your Stop Loss Order is executed may not always be the price you set. When a Stop Loss Order Level falls to a level at which a Price Gap has occurred, the Order is executed at the Quote which is presented in the Price Flow, once the Price Gap has ended. The Client can place a SL only together with an already open position or a pending order (Limit or Stop orders). If a Stop Loss Order Level is set very close to the pending order open price it may cause the immediate close of the just executed pending order. The Terminal checks long positions with the BID price for meeting of order provisions, and the ASK price for short positions.

The Take Profit order is intended for closing a trade in profit when the Financial Instrument’s price has reached a certain level. Execution of this order results in the closing of the position following the rules of a limit order execution. The TP will be closed at the level picked or better, however, in a case with low liquidity, there is the possibility of a partial fill, resulting in part of the position still being open. The Client can place TP only together with an already open position or a pending order (Limit or Stop orders). The Terminal checks long positions with the BID price for meeting of order provisions, and the ASK price for short positions.

ECN environments more appropriately use the word difference instead of spread; Difference or (DAB) refers to the difference between the best BID and the best Offer (ASK). DAB is variable and not fixed and depends on the buy and sell orders available on the Marketplace.

FXOpen provides True ECN pricing which means that you will see the best BID and best Offer (ASK) as they appear from our clients and other Liquidity Providers who participate in our ECN liquidity pool. FXOpen does not manipulate or add any pips to the BID or ASK. On the average, you can expect ECN DAB to be considerably lower than fixed spreads in Market-Maker (Micro) accounts. The minimum DAB possible for all financial instruments in ECN is 0 pips.

Simply put, a pip is a change in the quote of a currency pair, which can affect the profit or loss from trading. Watch this short video to learn more.

Partial closing is a standard MetaTrader 4 technology feature allowing customers to close a part of the open position manually by dividing the original lot size into smaller parts. The “Partial close” strategy gives customers the opportunity to close portions of a trade at different (desired) levels. This strategy allows traders to capture smaller profits faster while leaving the position open as the market moves farther in their favor. Partial closing is commonly used to reduce losses and increase profits.

Imagine a trader opens order, 0.5 standard lots GBP/USD, at 1.62638 (#9399348).

Right after the trader opens the order, in MT4 Trade tab he sees the round turn commission charged.

For some reason the trader decides to close 0.30 standard lots of this order. To close a position partially, the trader must make right click on the order line in the Trade tab and from pop-up window choose Close order option. The Order window will pop up. In the Order window the trader must enter the lot size he would like to close in the field for Volume and press yellow button Close.

The confirmation message appears and indicates which order has been closed partially and at which price. The closed order portion is recorded in the Account History tab of the Terminal window with the corresponding comment. The commission for the 0.3 closed lots is deducted from the account balance and is indicated in the Account History tab as well.

The remainder of the order #9399348 (0.20 standard lots) is re-opened at 12:58 server time, at price 1.62638 (exactly the opening price for #9399348) with a new ticket number #9399601. The order is seen in the Trade tab of the Terminal with the corresponding comment. The commission charged for 0.20 re-opened standard lots is seen in the Commissions tab.

The commission is deducted from the account balance proportionally to the closed position volume.

The above example shows how partial closing works when a customer closes a position manually. Positions also may be closed partially during periods of low liquidity. For example, if the TP level is reached, the position will be automatically closed partially due to lack of liquidity.

A client placed a Buy Order (#****847), 0.50 standard lots of AUD/USD at 1.04642, SL 1.04653 and TP 1.04730. When the Best Bid price reached the TP level, the ECN market place did not have an exact matching counter-order. In fact, at the moment when the TP level (1.04730) was reached, the ECN had a matching counter-order of 0.10 lots only, instead of the required 0.50 lots. According to the Trading Platform features, the order was closed in full volume and the profit for 0.50 lots was added to the account balance. The remaining 0.40 lots were re-opened at 1.4730 (exactly the closing price for #****847) with a new ticket number (#****983 ) and closed at the same price with zero profit when the Best Bid reached the TP level again. In this example the ECN did not have a matching counter-order of 0.40 lots on the market to close the position in full again. The following 3 orders: #****985, #****989, #****002 were re-opened/closed the same way. So, one Buy Order of 0.50 standard lots was closed gradually by 5 orders as they were entered by other market participants.

Right after the trader opens the order, in MT4 “Trade” tab he sees the round turn commission charged .The commission for 0.50 standard lots is deducted from the account balance once the order is closed in full volume.

The commission is deducted just once.

The re-opened order #****983 will remain open until the closing price 1. 04730 is reached. If the price goes in the opposite direction and the closing price cannot be reached, the client will suffer loss.

28. What is the minimum deposit for ECN accounts?

29. What is the maximum balance for ECN accounts?

30. What is the minimum transaction size?

32. What leverage do you offer in ECN accounts?

35. Where can I find FXOpen SWAP (rollover) charge rates for ECN accounts?