Active FX Traders

Hours:The dealing desk is continually open between Sunday 5:15 PM New York time and Friday 4:00 PM New York time.Mode of Dealing:Quotations, Order Placement, and Confirmation available over the telephone or via the Internet.


Hours
Mode of Dealing
Bid/Ask Spread
Order Sizes
Types of Orders
Margin
Margin Requirement By Currency Pair
Rollover/Interest Policy
Bid/Ask Spread4-5 pips on the Majors and 5-20 pips on the Crosses: • U.S. Dollar / Japanese Yen (5 pips)• U.S. Dollar / Swiss Franc (7 pips)• U.S. Dollar / Canadian Dollar (5 pips)• Euro / U.S. Dollar (5 pips)• Euro / Great Britain Pound (5 pips)• Euro / Japanese Yen (5 pips)• Euro / Swiss Franc (7 pips)• Euro / Canadian Dollar (10 pips)• Euro / Australian Dollar (20 pips)• Great Britain Pound / U.S. Dollar (5 pips)• Great Britain Pound / Japanese Yen (10 pips)• Great Britain pound / Swiss Franc (15 pips)• Swiss Franc / Japanese Yen (10 pips)• Australian Dollar / U.S. Dollar (5 pips)• Australian Dollar / Canadian Dollar (20 pips)• Australian Dollar / Japanese Yen (10 pips)• New Zealand Dollar / U.S. Dollar (5 pips)Order Sizes:On the GFM trading platform all trades are executed in standard sizes of 10,000 base currency per one lot. There is no maximum trading volume on the GFM Trading Station, however, for trading sizes larger than $10,000,000 traders must request a quote over the telephone.Here are some examples:• U.S. Dollar/ Japanese Yen (10,000 U.S. Dollars)• Euro/ U.S. Dollar (10,000 Euros)• Euro/ Great Britain Pound (10,000 Euros)• Euro/ Japanese Yen (10,000 Euros) 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. Click here to learn more about the different types of orders.Margin:GFM enables currency trading to be conducted on a highly leveraged basis. Every trader is able to select the degree of leverage or gearing that the trader wishes to employ in trading. Unless the trader specifies otherwise, GFM sets the leverage level at GFM's most lenient requirement. 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 Requirement By Currency Pair:
Currency
Mini Account
EUR Based Currency Pairs(EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, EUR/CHF, EUR/CAD, EUR/ AUD)
$130 Per Lot *
GBP Based Currency Pairs(GBP/USD, GBP/JPY, GBP/CHF)
$200 Per Lot**
All Other Currency Pairs(USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, AUD/CAD, AUD/JPY, NZD/AUD, NZD/USD)
$100 Per Lot**
• In the event that EUR/USD moves above 1.3000, the margin requirement for EUR based currency pairs will be adjusted upward to comply with NFA regulations.• In the event that GBP/USD moves above 1.8000, the margin requirement for GBP based currency pairs will be adjusted upward to comply with NFA regulations.Clients must have approximately 1% of the value of the positions they hold in their account for each lot of currency being traded (approximately 100:1 leverage). This amount does not change after 5:00 PM New York time, which is the rollover cut off, but stays constant at approximately 1% per lot the entire day and overnight. There is also an important safety feature imbedded in this system that prevents clients from losing more money than they have in the account. Once the account equity -- meaning the total floating value of the account -- falls below the margin requirement of approximately 1% per lot, the dealing desk will close all positions. Rollover/Interest Policy:In the spot forex market, trades must be settled in two business days. If a trader sells 10,000 euros on Tuesday, the trader must deliver 10,000 euros on Thursday, unless the position is rolled over. As a service to our traders, GFM 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. On any given day, the rollover is approximately $1 per lot.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. This 2% margin requirement is the most generous policy available to traders in the forex industry, as many firms require 3-5% minimum margin before traders can benefit from rollover. 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.