flibbertigibbit

At the end of last year I had a long position in cable with DF Markets and sometime between London close and NY close I was taken out. The price on tradingview, IG and dukascopy charts all showed the price went to a certain level but the DF Market chart had a 5 pip bust to the others price. So the market price did not look like it had reached my stop. I was watching the DF Markets spread at the time and it was varying between 1 - 1.5 pip but nothing erratic until the price came within 5 pips of my stop. DF Market spread increased to 5 pips and took me out. The spread looked stable at 1 - 1.5 again in the period after my position was stopped. So market price did not take me out it was DF's increase in spread. I took a 30 pip / £300 loss. I wrote to them next day and explained my position that other brokers and the market price did not seem to have reached my stop yet DF price did. I told them i was monitoring their spread at the time and noticed this jump from a stable 1 - 1.5 spread to 5 pips. A few rounds of emails ensued where they explained that their price is their price and their spread is their spread and it is not unusual for increased spreads after hours and that it's unfortunate for me but I have to accept their market pricing. They also said that many other brokers had a market price that would have stopped me out also so I explained to them that I understand how it works and that i have to accept their price but told them that it was not exactly after hours as NY was still in full swing. I also told them I would not dispute that other brokers had a similar price action and that I had probably traded with a few of these brokers in the past and there was a reason why I didn't now. Anyway, my point - they put my grievance to management and they looked into it and agreed that THEIR price action was unusual for that time. They refunded me the difference between where I was stopped out and the following high that cable made, in effect they took £300 from me when I was stopped out then credited me with £1300 for what could have been if i had not been stopped out. They said this was a good will gesture like they are doing me a favour!

I get taken out often, sometimes bang on the money, sometimes the spread takes me out and sometimes it goes over by 5 - 10 pips before price reverses and goes to the point I entered and then into profit. I see this happen more often after NY closes and before London opens. It's very frustrating and brokers say it is not them, and some market players say it is the banks and funds hunting places that will take their orders without slippage. I had recently tried to either increase the stop or use a combo of increased stop / reduced size of position. It is too early to say it this has reduced the events of being taken out only to see price reverse in the direction you wanted prior to being stopped