Just Some Guy Trading™

Observations of the Forex Market by a Guy Trading from Home

Library routine didn’t work out so well today. I ended up spending most of my time dealing with my current broker, IBFX. After their NFA FIFO compliance updates to their system, my platform reports a different account balance than what my “official” statements report. Worse yet, certain pages on their website (e.g. Withdrawals, Transfer Funds) report the same account balance as the platform (which is not “official” according to IBFX). Because of these discrepancies, I recently withdrew more money than I would have liked because I used the account balance on the Withdrawal page versus the number in my statements which reflect my “actual account balance”.

I reported the problem to customer service on Monday and they said they would be able to tell me how the balances got out of sync within 48 hours. After not hearing back from them within 48 hours, I escalated to someone I am acquainted with at IBFX who is in a position to help. At least I got assurance from her she would get back to me on Thursday (10/15).

Poorly thought out implementation of FIFO compliance, if you ask me. If I can’t trust the numbers, I can’t trust the broker.

I’m hoping this all works out for the best. I’ve been with the broker since I started trading live over 4 years ago and have felt them to be honest, but I’ve run into quite a few major technical problems within the last two years (recurring problems with their data feed, a problem where my closed trades from the previous week suddenly became active again at the open of the following week). But this accounting issue is by far the worst, and I need to see results or I’ll have to walk away from them.