Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage?

Posted By: DdlV

Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/24/14 03:08

Hi. Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here goes: I have a 1:400 account and a 1:200 account. When I run the Download script to update Assets.dta, it's the same for the 2 accounts. Shouldn't the Margin entries be 1/2 (more or less) in the higher leverage account?

TS shows MMR values that are 1/2...

Thanks.

Posted By: jcl

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/24/14 07:44

Yes, the margin entries should be 1/2.

I would like to forward the issue to FXCM. Can you post the two Assets.dta here, from the old and the new account?

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/24/14 12:24

Sure. The files are totally identical, byte for byte, so I'll only post one. It turns out there are actually 3 numbers:

For example, for EUR/CHF:
1:200 MMR in TS is 8.00
1:400 MMR in TS is 4.00
Margin in Assets.dta is 5.00

HTH.

Attached File

Assets.zip (0 downloads)

Posted By: jcl

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/24/14 13:55

Hmm. This looks as if the margin is neither for 400:1 nor 200:1, but something inbetween. Let me check this with FXCM.

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/24/14 14:31

Thanks.

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/25/14 13:48

Hi jcl. Is there any reply from FXCM? Wondering how I should proceed... Should I manually copy the MMR's from TS into AssetFix.dta? It would seem that should cover Testing. However, if FXCM API is not returning the correct Margin, is it OK to Trade?

Thanks.

Posted By: jcl

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/25/14 16:04

Yes, it is ok to trade, but with half the margin. This compensates for the different size. AssetsFix.dta has no effect on trading.

I have a response by FXCM, but they play the usual game of asking irrelevant questions in hope that the problem goes away inbetween. It will take a couple of days in my experience until a programmer really starts debugging it.

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/25/14 16:44

Thanks jcl. Yes, I understand that AssetsFix.dta has no effect on Trading. But it does on Testing. I'll create a new AssetsFix.dta with Margins = MMRs from TS, then Test for the appropriate Margin for the original CR, then per the workaround, set the Margin slider to 1/2 of that value until FXCM fixes the problem.

Thanks.

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/25/14 17:22

OK, it seems to be stranger than that. Here's the comparison between the Margin in Assets.dta vs. TS:

Code:

Assets.dta	TS 1:400	Difference

AUD/USD	5.000		3.000		-2.000
EUR/CHF	5.000		4.000		-1.000
EUR/USD	5.000		4.000		-1.000
GBP/USD	7.000		4.750		-2.250
GER30	6.000		9.000		3.000
NAS100	2.000		2.500		0.500
SPX500	8.000		12.000		4.000
UK100	6.000		9.000		3.000
US30	6.000		9.000		3.000
USD/CAD	4.500		2.500		-2.000
USD/CHF	4.500		2.500		-2.000
USD/JPY	4.500		2.500		-2.000
USOil	14.000		20.000		6.000
XAG/USD	0.100		7.500/50=0.150	0.050
XAU/USD	3.000		4.000		1.000

The currencies require less margin than Assets.dta reports and the CFD's require more. So, what should be done with the Margin slider?!

Thanks.

Posted By: DdlV

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/29/14 13:26

Hi jcl. Did FXCM change something? Download now seems to give the correct 1:400 Margin on the 1:400 accounts, except that it's giving me 1:400 Margin values in the Demo account too, which they told me was always 1:200...

Posted By: jcl

Re: Margin in Assets.dta doesn't change with account leverage? - 07/30/14 08:45

It is possible that they changed it recently, but I don't know for sure. The communication with the API developers runs through many middle men and is not very reliable, to say the least.