STP Pro Account FAQs
- How do I access STP Pro trading?
- What are the advantages of trading under an STP Pro model compared to a market maker?
- Can STP Pro accounts qualify for the Active Trader program?
- Are there any account or trade restrictions with an STP Pro account?
- How do I transfer funds between my current account and new STP Pro account?
- What time do "Day" orders expire in my STP Pro Account?
- What trading platforms are available to me with an STP Pro account?
- Are FOREX.com prices available in the STP Pro model?
- What is top of book pricing?
- How is cost per trade determined?
- How do orders get filled in an STP Pro account?
- How are liquidations executed on an STP Pro Account?
- What is the difference between the STP Pro and ECN models?
- I trade small contracts, will my 10K market orders get filled?
- Can I list my own bids and offers?
- Can I place orders within the spread?
- Do STP Pro accounts have access to greater click and deal sizes?
- What recourse do I have if my order is not filled?
- How many liquidity providers do STP Pro accounts have access to? Will they be listed?
How do I access STP Pro trading?
After you've opened an STP Pro account, simply log into the web trading platform and place a trade.
Open an an STP Pro account now.
What are the advantages of trading under an STP Pro model compared to a market maker?
The STP Pro account is ideal for serious traders looking for maximum transparency and control. Full market depth exposes traders to multiple levels of liquidity that allows them greater insights into the market and control to trade on the best bids and offers sourced directly from FOREX.com’s liquidity providers.
Can STP Pro accounts qualify for the Active Trader program?
No, the STP Pro account cannot qualify for the Active Trader program. However, as an STP Pro client you will have access to many of the same benefits like the opportunity to earn interest on balances, waived wire fees and a dedicated Relationship Manager assigned to your account.
In addition, STP Pro offers you the opportunity to benefit from reduced commissions based on volume traded. Volume discounts are calculated based on a three-month rolling average, allowing you to benefit from deep discounts month over month.
An example of how we would determine your commissions would be:
- If you trade $350M volume in Month 1, your commission for trades in Month 2 will be $50 per million traded.
- If you trade $550M volume in Month 2, your commission for trades in Month 3 will still be $50 per million traded, since it is based on your 3-month rolling average of volume traded.
- If you trade $600M volume in Month 3, your commission for trades in Month 4 will be $40 per million traded (based on 3-month rolling average of volume traded).
Are there any account or trade restrictions with an STP Pro account?
There are no minimum account or trade requirements for an STP Pro account. The minimum trade size is 100K.
How do I transfer funds between my current account and new STP Pro account?
You may request a funds transfer across your accounts in MyAccount. Keep in mind that transfers from a standard FOREX.com account to an STP Pro account can take up to 48 hours.
What time do "Day" orders expire in my STP Pro Account?
Day orders placed in the majority of currency pairs will expire at 5 PM ET in your STP Pro account; however, Day orders placed in currency pairs containing the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) will expire at 3 PM ET.
Examples of currency pairs with 3 PM ET daily order expiry include NZD/USD, NZD/JPY, NZD/CAD, NZD/CHF, GBP/NZD, EUR/NZD, and AUD/NZD.
What trading platforms are available to me with an STP Pro account?
You may access your STP Pro account from the full suite of FOREX.com trading platforms that includes web trading and mobile. However, you should be aware of key differences within each one of the trading platforms.
Web Trading Platform
Simply log in and click a buy or sell button to open the STP Pro trade ticket with full depth of market.
Advanced Trading Platform
The Advanced Trading also gives you full trading capabilities for trading and managing your account. You can access “STP Pro Trading” from the main navigation on the trading platform.
Orders placed from the STP Pro Trading window will be immediately passed to the interbank market, in FOREX.com’s name, where they will be added to the liquidity in the pool. Your limits and stops effectively become bids/offers for other participants in the liquidity pool to interact with.
Mobile Apps
Trading on mobile apps will be limited to top of book pricing.
Are FOREX.com prices available in the STP Pro model?
No, FOREX.com prices are not available in an STP Pro account.
What is top of book pricing?
Top of book represents the best available bid and offer at that time and typically available up to. Top of book pricing is typically available up to 1M. Actual execution prices may vary to pricing displayed on the platform.
How is cost per trade determined?
STP Pro is a commission-only model, you’ll pay no FOREX.com spread. Your cost to us is the commission paid.
How do orders get filled in an STP Pro account?
STP Pro Trade Ticket
Limit orders placed via the STP Pro trade ticket (displays DOM) will be immediately passed to the execution venue on FOREX.com’s behalf where they effectively become bids/offers for other participants in the liquidity pool to interact with and executed with no additional mark up. Upon execution of the trade, FOREX.com will update the trade in your account at the same execution price. FOREX.com acts as principal and counterparty to ever trade.
FOREX.com may cancel an order if the available margin falls below the required margin. Stop Loss orders placed via the STP Pro trade ticket are contingent upon a price trigger before they can be considered for execution.
Standard Trade Ticket
Non-market orders placed via the standard trade ticket (no DOM) on the Advanced Trading Platform, as well as the mobile platforms will be rejected.
FOREX.com may cancel a limit order if:
- the available margin falls below the required margin for the limit order
- the order violates NFA FIFO rules
How are liquidations executed on an STP Pro Account?
You are responsible for monitoring your account and maintaining 100% of required margin at all times to support your open positions.
If at any point, the equity available drops below 100% of the margin required you will be subject to auto liquidation of the position incurring the largest loss. The liquidation process is as follows: the net aggregated open position with the greatest unrealized loss is closed first, followed by the next largest losing position and so on, until the maintenance margin requirement is satisfied or exceeded. Depending on the size and unrealized P&L of the open positions, all open positions may be liquidated in order to meet the margin requirement.
In the event of a liquidation, the trade is executed in the market directly with the liquidity provider and then passed down to the client.
When your account falls below 120% margin, a margin alert will automatically be sent to you via email. This notification is for your convenience and should not be relied on to protect your account.
While our 100% margin requirement and real-time margin system are designed to limit your trading losses and help ensure that total losses never exceed your total account balance, you do risk incurring losses greater than your account balance, especially during periods of extreme market volatility. For this reason, we strongly encourage you to manage your use of leverage carefully. Increasing leverage increases risk.
What is the difference between the STP Pro and ECN models?
There are many similarities between the two models in terms of pricing. Both provide clients with access to the interbank market which creates tight pricing with depth of book transparency. In a typical anonymous ECN model, the individual client must have secured their own credit line from a traditional Prime Broker or Prime of Prime provider in order to participate in the ECN. With FOREX.com’s STP Pro model, we leverage our existing Prime Brokerage relationships to provide customers with access to trade on prices sourced directly from our liquidity providers.
I trade small contracts, will my 10K market orders get filled?
No, the minimum trade size for an STP Pro account is 100K with increments of 100K.
Can I list my own bids and offers?
Yes, you can place your own limit orders as bids/offers on the platform. Keep in mind that these orders are sent to the market in FOREX.com’s name.
Can I place orders within the spread?
Yes, the STP Pro account type is the only FOREX.com account which allows you to place limit and stop orders within the live spread. Keep in mind that orders must be placed by using the STP Pro deal ticket.
Do STP Pro accounts have access to greater click and deal sizes?
Yes. It's important to keep in mind, as this is interbank liquidity, a large click-and-deal market order (10M+ for example) would sweep through the first few levels of market depth and will likely cause the spread to widen as the deal is executed.
Liquidity providers typically stream bids/offers in 1M increments, so 10M could sweep as many as 10 liquidity provider bids/offers down the stack.
What recourse do I have if my order is not filled?
Our ability to fill your trade is contingent on the order being executed with our liquidity provider(s). When you trade on our STP Pro service, your limit orders are passed directly to our liquidity providers with FOREX.com acting as counterparty to your trade. A lack of available liquidity from FOREX.com’s liquidity providers may result in your order not being filled at any price.
We will display currently available pricing for the contracts offered under the STP Pro Service. The actual execution price achieved in the market with our liquidity provider is passed on to you at the same price with FOREX.com acting as counterparty to your trade. There may be instances when the execution price may differ from the pricing displayed which can result in price improvement or slippage.
How many liquidity providers do STP Pro accounts have access to? Will they be listed?
The rates are sourced from a wide number of top-tier liquidity providers and banks; however, their names are not listed. All STP Pro trades are centrally cleared. All liquidity providers are anonymous on the platform.