FAQ

The VWAP or Volume Weighted Average Price is the average price at which your order is executed, where each trade price is weighted by the fraction of the volume associated with the trade.

For instance, when a trader places a large position, it may be filled at different prices as per the current market liquidity. VWAP summarizes all trades that occurred from the start of the order until the order was completed.

If you decide to buy 6 Million EURUSD at market, the order will be filled through the top 3 price levels of the trading book:

Note: quotes and volumes in this table are only for illustrative purposes and they will depend on the current market liquidity

In detail,

• Buy 1,5 million at 1.20205 (cumulative volume = 1,5 million; remaining to fill = 4,5 million)
• Buy 2 million at 1.20206 (cumulative volume = 3,5 million; remaining to fill = 2,5 million)
• Buy 2,5 million at 1.20207 (cumulative volume = 6 million; remaining to fill = 0)

In summary, your VWAP or Volume Weighted Average Price, will be calculated using the following formula:

VWAP = (1,500,000/6,000,000) x 1.20205 + (2,000,000/6,000,000) x 1.20206 + (2,500,000/6,000,000) x 1.20207

VWAP = 1.202062

We do offer Cash CFDs that allow you to trade with a continuous price that isn’t subject to an expiration date. The Cash CFD price is derived from the underlying futures contracts.

We offer floating spreads for all account types – Classic, Pro, and VIP. The Classic account offers variable spreads, starting from 1.6 pips with no commissions. Both Pro and VIP accounts offer variable spreads, starting from 0.0 pips with low commissions.

You can check out our spreads by clicking here.

At market opening and closing times and prior to announcements, the market spreads may widen substantially. Consequently, you must ensure that you have sufficient funds on your account to cover this eventuality.

We do not offer MetaTrader MultiTerminal.

If you wish, you can install multiple MetaTrader platforms and place them in different folders. You can download the MT4 platform and the MT5 platform from our website.

If you click ‘NEXT’ on the first screen, it will then install MT4 to the default folder without asking. On the first screen, you will see the options ‘NEXT’, ‘CANCEL’ and ‘SETTINGS’. You need to click on ‘SETTINGS’ to change the default folder. Then, the system will give you the option to change the default install patch.

You can download historical data from the MetaTrader trading platform, by clicking on:

Tools > History Centre – then choose a trading instrument and finally press the ‘Download’ button.

History will then be available on your trading platform, so you can click on:

File > Open offline > Open Offline Chart.

Please note that the longer the time frame, the longer the available history will be. For example, M5 history is available for 1.5 weeks, M15 history for 1 month, etc.

You can set Stop Loss and Take Profit orders with no limits on all account types. SL and TP orders will still be active, even if your computer is switched off. The minimum Trailing Stop level is 1.5 pips or 15 points. It is possible to set only 1 trailing stop per order. You need to have the MetaTrader platform open to keep the trailing stop active.

Currently, we do not provide tick data, as MetaTrader platforms are not able to store all ticks. Therefore, the tick data would not be accurate. There is an option for the server to store tick data, but we do not use it, as it is not able to store 100% of the ticks. In addition, that would slow down the server considerably due to a large amount of data, as the ticks are not filtered.

We offer FIX API connection to our large private clients and institutional clients. The minimum account balance required is 500,000 £$€ and the required minimum monthly commission fee generated should be 5,000 £$€. We are not offering a demo version. If a client generates 5,000 £$€ or more in monthly commissions, then we do not charge any fees for using this service. However, if the monthly commissions are less than 5,000 £$€, then a fee applies (5,000 £$€ – amount of commission generated).

Traders who use the maximum leverage available face the risk of a negative balance.

For example: Let’s assume that you have 200 USD on your account and you open 1 lot on USDJPY on Friday evening, with 1:500 leverage and 200 USD margin.*

On Sunday night, the market opens 30 pips away from Friday’s closing price in a direction against you, so your position will immediately have a loss of 30 pips x 10 USD = 300 USD loss, while you have only 200 USD on your account.

The position will be automatically closed and your account would have a negative balance of -100 USD. This situation is 100% impossible when a trader uses 1:1 leverage. The higher leverage a trader uses, the more risks they take. Please also note that a negative balance may occur due to a slippage during high volatility.

AlpacaFXTrading grants negative balance protection to all clients. The company may chose not to grant negative balance protection if the negative balance has been incurred as a result of fraudulent purposes or market abuse.

Moreover, our Risk department is constantly monitoring our clients’ risk-taking and if we see that a client trades irresponsibly, then we will notify the client via e-mail and ask them to reduce risk exposure. Also, we might reduce the leverage on the client’s account.

*This is an illustrative example.

The minimum amount to start trading on the AutoTrade account is 1,000 $€£. Trading terms are the same as on the Pro, except for a 0.6 pip markup per side (1.2 pips in total). For example, if you trade 1 lot on EURUSD, then your total cost is = a commission of 4 euros + 1.2 pip spread. EA and manual trading are allowed on Myfxbook AutoTrade accounts.

AlpacaFXTrading’s trade execution model is designed to deliver maximum value for investors. It begins with the firm’s No Dealing Desk (NDD) hybrid execution model that involves both market-making and straight-through processing.

The NDD model greatly eliminates the potential for conflicts of interest with client objectives and moreover, the internal measures taken to avoid conflicts goes a long way towards instilling confidence in AlpacaFXTrading’s services.

AlpacaFXTrading provides Liquidity from tier 1 banks, non-banks (HFT) and ECN-s.

AlpacaFXTrading Ltd is a NDD broker, which means that we just clear our clients’ trades and retranslate quotes we get from our liquidity providers. Orders in the real market are always executed at current market prices, which is why a slippage may occur in the case of a sharp movement. Please note, that during market-moving news or high volatility, the risk of slippage is higher than during normal conditions. With us, you will get both positive and negative slippages.

Hedging is allowed. The required margin for hedging positions on Classic, Pro, and VIP accounts is 0. Scalping is also allowed. There are no time limitations for keeping the positions open.

The minimum leverage is 1:1. The maximum and default leverage is 1:500.

Metals: The leverage for gold is equal to the account leverage, while the leverage for silver is 4 times lower than the account leverage. If the trading account has a leverage of 1:500, then the leverage for gold will be 1:500 and the leverage for silver will be 1:125.

For more information about our leverage and margin requirements, click here.

Our margin call / stop out levels are 100% / 30%

Your account may be subject to a margin call if your account equity falls to a level that is equal to the margin of your existing positions. For example, you have an open position of 1 lot on EURUSD. The margin to hold that position is 200.

When you opened the account, you had a 400 EUR equity on your account. When the position starts to move against you and your account equity falls to 200 EUR, you will have a margin call. But your position will not be closed yet. When your account equity falls to 30% of the required margin, then the system starts to close your positions immediately.

Taking the above example, if you open a position with 200 EUR of margin and your account equity falls to 60 EUR, then the system starts to close your position. If you have several positions opened, then the system closes them starting from the one with the biggest loss.

If, while closing the positions, your account equity reaches a level of more than 50% of the required margin, all other positions will remain open.

Our average execution speed is around 0.20 seconds.

The minimum trade size is 0.01 lot and the maximum trade size is 100 lots. The maximum amount of orders you can open on a MetaTrader account is 200.

On the VIP account, there is a commission of 1 currency unit per side per lot (0.0010% notional) in the base currency of the trading instrument.

For example, if you open 1 lot on EURUSD (1 lot = 100,000 EUR), then the commission is 1 EUR per side and 2 EUR per round turn.

For 1 lot on GBPUSD, the commission is 1 GBP per side and 2 GBP per round turn.

For 1 lot on AUDUSD, the commission is 1 AUD per side and 2 AUD per round turn.

If you have a USD account, then 2 EUR, 2 GBP and 2 AUD will be automatically converted to USD.

The Pro account has a commission of 2 currency units per side per lot (0.0020% notional) in the base currency of the trading instrument.

For example, if you open 1 lot on EURUSD (1 lot = 100,000 EUR), then the commission is 2 EUR per side and 4 EUR per round turn.

For 1 lot on GBPUSD, the commission is 2 GBP per side and 4 GBP per round turn.

For 1 lot on AUDUSD, the commission is 2 AUD per side and 4 AUD per round turn.

If you have a USD account, then 4 EUR, 4 GBP and 4 AUD will be automatically converted to USD.

AlpacaFXTrading is a trading name of AlpacaFXTrading Ltd, which is regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA).

AlpacaFXTrading is also a trading name of AlpacaFXTrading USA Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom, of AlpacaFXTrading Europe Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), of AlpacaFXTrading Asia Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Labuan Financial Services Authority and of AlpacaFXTrading South Africa (Pty) Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

AlpacaFXTrading provides you with low spreads starting from 0.0 pips and ultra-fast execution speed of 0.15 second on average. Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay, UnionPay and credit card deposits are processed instantly while withdrawals are processed within one working day. We are proud that we have no restrictions on trading and no requotes. We also allow scalping, hedging, arbitrage, EAs and algorithms.

FX trading is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. You can trade on Monday from 00:02 until 24:00, from Tuesday 00:00 to Thursday 24:00 and on Friday from 00:00 until 23:58 (MT4 Server time). Find out more here.

For Precious Metals, our specific trading hours are listed here

For CFDs on Stock Indices and Oil, our specific trading hours are listed here.

For Bonds, our specific trading hours are listed here.

Cryptocurrency trading is available from Monday 00:00 to Friday 24:00 (MT4 Server time).

The server time is set to GMT+2 and GMT+3 during DST in the US and Europe.

Trading hours can be also viewed in your MT4 terminal (Market Watch > Right click on the symbol > Specification).

Note: Trading hours are subject to change without prior notice. Liquidity Providers may adjust trading schedule as necessary, depending on market conditions.

There are no commissions on the Classic account. The commission on the Pro account is 2 units of the base currency per side per lot and on the VIP account 1 unit of the base currency per side per lot.

We don’t have a dealing desk because we are a NDD broker and all our procedures are automated. We have no conflict of interest with our clients as 100% of the orders are cleared with liquidity providers.

At AlpacaFXTrading, slippage can occur during big news announcements, depending on the market conditions and volatility. There could be both positive and negative slippage.

AlpacaFXTrading is one of the few NDD brokers that doesn’t have any requotes.

We offer some of the most popular and easy-to-use platforms, the MetaTrader 4 and the MetaTrader 5, which are available for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. At AlpacaFXTrading, you can also trade instantly with our Web Trader that requires no installation whatsoever.

Yes, AlpacaFXTrading provides you with a MetaTrader 4 platform for your Mac that is almost identical to a regular Windows application. Download it from our MT4 page by clicking here.

Negative price movement can potentially lead to a margin call and the subsequent triggering of an automated margin close-out of positions. In the event that market conditions are unfavorable to you, we will set a stop-out level to reduce your maximum loss. This means that we will set a threshold of margin value, below which positions are automatically closed. This stop out is set at 30% of the margin

For example, based on a margin of 100, the position would be automatically closed if the net equity* reaches 30 or lower.

In a nutshell, once your account net equity drops below 100% of the initial margin required to establish the open position(s), the MT4/MT5 changes colour, to red, to indicate that you are close to or, on margin call. Once your account net equity drops below 30% of the margin requirements (depending on entity and client classification), it will close your trades one by one, starting with the trade with the biggest loss.

*Net equity: Defined as the sum of the client’s net profit and loss on an open position(s) and client’s deposited funds.

Yes, we offer Muslim traders all our accounts with a swap-free option.