[forex scholar]

No Mas! No Mas! Like a bloody and battered Roberto Duran the folks over at Rosenthal Collins are giving up on MT4. This weekend they dropped a bombshell on their clients:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=92624

Dear Valued Client,

From day one, Tradeview has worked to offer clients optimum trading solutions, by offering the familiar Metatrader 4 platform with sophisticated enhancements to the software. Our dedication has been to provide the latest trading technology by offering clients an unprecedented link to the biggest liquidity pools in the world. In doing so, we cultivated a new kind of FCM - one with a focus on innovation, and a relentless devotion to the best technology.

By creating our systems with this focus, we gained the ability to make fast changes in the most robust 24 hour market in the world. Every Tradeview client can rest assured that they will have access to the best possible solutions as soon as they become available.

We founded our partnership with Ikon GM based on our need for aggressive technical restructuring. Supporting 24 hour-a-day trading requires intensive support, and most FCMs are forced to outsource their technology needs. By joining Ikon GM, we are able to eliminate 3rd party solutions by utilizing their in-house technology company which specializes in network trading, and utilizing the latest market innovations. For our clients, this means we have direct control over our platform, and the ability to develop and test more advanced solutions in response to ongoing demand.

In addition to maintaining the best trading solutions, Ikon GM has a distinguished regulatory history. Since the firm?s original inception in 1999, Ikon Global Markets has maintained an exceptional record, which is an ethical priority we share.

By combining forces, Tradeview will continue to improve upon the promise we make to our clients: Providing optimum support, execution, and trading solutions that are unrivaled in the industry. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at our RCG office or our new office at Ikon Global Markets.

RCG Office: 212-437-1870
Ikon Office: 212-482-8275

Regards,

The Tradeview Team

Anyone who spends time on the bulletin boards has gotten to know Tradeview Forex as they have spent gobs of money advertising their wares. Yet it appears they were never able to get MT4 to work proficiently and as such are simply walking away for the whole failed experiment. One Tradeview customer on the forex factory thread referenced above states:

Well, considering what it has been like trading with Tradeview's MT4 platform all last week, a change for the better was needed. There have been numerous outtages to put up with and not to mention requotes during normal market conditions, invalid price messages, and not to mention when you enter an order the order does not go through and instead an "order accepted" message pops up and with no confirmed order. The message would sit there forever so one would have to cancel it and try again, but then one would get trade text is busy message. To circumvent around that you would have to close down the platform and re-open it and try all over again. That would cost you seconds and many pips. One night I could not close any orders and had to phone them in to close. The IT department has had their hands full rebooting the server and trying to fix the problems.

Tradeview says there were numerous problems related to hard coding from their 3rd party vendor for the STP technology. Problems that they could not get support for to fix.

While Tradeview should be commended for knowing when to call it quits I must take issue with this notion that Ikon has a "distinguished regulatory history."

Last fall Ikon merged with Royal Forex Trading, which had a poor regulatory record and was sanctioned by the NFA right before they gave up their FCM license due to the fact they did not have the necessary capital to stay in business.

Second, both of Ikon's principals were former principals of Coes FX. Right after they left Coes FX became the subject of numerous regulatory actions by both the NFA and CFTC resulting in a quarter million dollar fraud settlement and the closure of the firm.
http://www.cftc.gov/newsroom/enforcementpressreleases/2006/pr5215-06.html

Third, sources have informed me that many of the clients that Ikon will be receiving from Tradeview were formerly the clients of One World Capital. One World was the poster child for undercapitalization and blew up last year just as the $5 million capital requirement was kicking in.

In short, Ikon seems to stick its fingers in an awful lot of cookie jars and it they aren't careful they may get their pudgy little digits stuck in one soon.

Finally, they are $10 million below the $20 million capital requirement set to kick in next spring.

So to those MT4 traders out there who chose Tradeview Forex because they were well capitalized I say buyer beware. Ikon is not Rosenthal Collins. It may be time for you to shop around again...