FAP Turbo, GallantFX and the NFA
The forex broker GallantFX has been making the news in FAP Turbo circles this past few days for a number of reasons.
Charles Floyd from FAP Winner has announced that he’s now endorsing GallantFX as a recommended broker for FAP Turbo traders. Although I have only recently begun testing them as a broker I can say that the recommendation of GallantFX is a much better choice than the FXCBS endorsement the FAP Turbo guys made a couple weeks ago (IMHO).
Not only does GallantFX offer straight through processing but they also offer FREE VPS hosting for your FAP Turbo robot, or any other EA.
Unlike FXCBS, GallantFX is actually willing to tell you who they are. If you check out their about page it tells you the actual individuals behind the company. Something every broker should be willing to do!
Interestingly though, GallantFX has withdrawn from the NFA and, according to Charles Floyd, the reason has to do with a new NFA rule coming into effect May 15,2009 that disallows hedging, or basically having a long and short position at the same time. You can read about it here.
This new anti-hedging rule is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Sure there were abuses but why not punish the abusers. hedging is a very basic and common method of risk control and by eliminating the ability to hedge they are effectively taking away one of the mechanisms traders use to manage risk.
Anyways, GallantFX has withdrawn from the NFA. What does this mean in the end? Good question. Given the new hedging rule I wouldn’t be surprised to see other brokers pull out as well. Though it’s not clear how it will affect their ability to take certain clients from certain contries without NFA status.
I downloaded the demo platform from GallantFX, but it does not appear to have the EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF pairs in the demo price feed. All the symbol names have a ‘gfx’ suffix (e.g. EURUSDgfx) which I haven’t seen before.
Hi Paul,
There is a minor bug in their mt4 version that they’re working on fixing. Basically by default all the currency pairs do not show up right after a new install. If you put the mouse over the area with the currency list (market watch) then right click and select “show all” you’ll see all the pairs you’re expecting to see.
Regarding the gfx suffix … it’s just something they do. no worries, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s like a bizarre branding thin i guess.
cheers,
Rob
I made a mistake in the above post when I said GallantFX has withdrawn from the NFA. They in fact never were part of the NFA.
They are a referring broker for Sun Spot Capital who are IRA and SEC members.
Many brokers fee the NFA is an organization the mega large institutions interests at heart and as such these large institutions lobby the NFA for rules and regulations designed to protect their position in the market place and keep others out.
Of course not everyone sees it this way.
Regardless, one other point I should have mentioned in the post was the difference in support between GallantFX and FXCBS. When I called any of the FXCBS phone numbers listed on their website I repeatedly got the same answering machine with every number. Never a real person.
When I called GallantFX I immediately got through to the people I wanted to and got all my questions answered on the spot.
I’m still testing them so this isn’t an endorsement. But if things pan out I’ll let you know.
Rob,
Let us know asap about Gallantfx! As you know, Alpari US has their eurgbp spread at 6 during our prime trading time which only leaves the eurchf to trade. What’s the catch with free vps hosting? Sounds interesting though.
Brad
Hi Rob
Another broker that may be worth checking out is FXOPEN. In the spread arena they match ALPARI UK exactly. (When I checked during trading hours ) My Alpari UK demo Had a fantastic month. I have opened a FXOPEN Demo to see how it does. Will let you know!
Thanks for all the good work in this site,
Al
Hi Al,
I’ve tested FXOPEN in the past and wasn’t too impressed. Their demo looks ok but when it came to live trading I found a lot of re-quotes. There’s always a difference between demo accounts and live accounts and but for various reasons I just felt the discrepancy between their live accounts and their demo accounts was too much and unjustified to make me happy. just IMHO
cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob
Thanks for the headsup on FXOPEN. I’ve since seen several negative comments on the FAPTurbo Blog on FXOPEN also. Too bad Alpari UK is not an option for BC residents!
On another note I was looking over the trades of DonnaForex and noticed a string of closed trades on EUR/USD around Jan 22-23!! Also noted a few closed trades on GBP/USD!! I thought those currencys were unavailable to FAPTurbo. Did she have another robot running alongside FAPT trading these currencys? Her results would still have been excellent without these currencys being traded. Just found it interesting!
cheers,
Al
Hi Al,
There are few options for BC residents unfortunately. This is one of the reasons I’ve been investigating GallantFX. GallantFX doesn’t give a crap where you’re from.
Regarding DonnaForex’s account, I can’t answer the GBP/USD question so you’d have to ask her that. I know that for most people who if they saw a trade opportunity and they’re experienced they might easily enter the odd manual trade rather than let it slip by. Again, you’d have to ask her.
As far as the EURUSD … FAP Turbo long term strategy works with the EURUSD. In fact it only works with the EURUSD.
cheers,
Rob
Regarding the
@Paul Street - Any updates or experiences on Gallantfx?
How are other pairs brought up in their demo?
So far so good with GallantFX. Their spreads fluctuate a lot because it’s using straight through processing but even with the spreads bouncing around it gets down around 3-4 pips for eurgbp many times throughout the trading session and a trade is taken by fap.
I’m finding it’s working well for both eurgbp and eurchf. I’m not testing any other pairs with them right now.
They do accept Canadian clients (BC residents as well)
To bring the other pairs up in their demo you have to place mouse over the watch window and right click the mouse, then from the menu select show all pairs. Kind of a bug but that’s what you need to do for now.
cheers,
Rob