You can apparently get a free currency trading with $25 in it when you sign up for this CNBC Portfolio Challenge, with no upfront money required from you. At first I thought it was play money but they even have a requirement before you can cash out:
You must complete five (5) round-turn trades in your new FXCM Micro account, and your account must be in good standing before you are eligible to withdraw any funds from your account. Existing FXCM account holders are not eligible to receive the promotion.
Thanks to reader Andres for the tip. I’m still in Spain so I haven’t tried it myself. I’m just happy the Euro/USD conversion rate is much better than a few months ago! (I’d just gamble with the $25 and cash out, personally.) Please share any experiences or new discoveries in the comments.
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stop emailing and have a good trip!
FXCM only pays out with a check and there is a $10 fee for the service, so you’re looking at ~$15 net assuming you don’t make any gains. If you just want to trade and cash out, EUR/USD has the smallest spread.
I personally just find trading someone else’s money fun. 🙂
They ask for WAY too much personal info to be worth it. The potential gain of $25 is not worth it to have all of my personal info stored on a server somewhere with a company I know nothing about. They ask for all your employer info, DL#, SS, # of dependents, whats that all about?
Is this a hard-pull?
I agree Patrick
You’re not at all required to put SS#, etc. Just put the absolute minimum amount of information–why would you want to put more (like driver’s license number??)
Its called regulation.. you know to prevent third party activities / AML. all brokers do this since patriot act.
I said “what the heck” and tried to open an account with them today.
I was too suspicious about the level of data they required. Interestingly, I failed to open the account because could not answer the verification questions correctly.
I know they were correct (all three were “none of the above”) which made me think. I opened other accounts before and at least one or two of these questions had something from my past history but this one did not have any. In the end I abandoned it.
I would like to know if any one of you tried and experienced the same thing. I think I will make an inquiry about them and what they do with the information I sent to them.
I also received an email message with the same message about failed sign up attempt and it had instructions to sent a message and get a free online course in currency trading. I got it scheduled for tomorrow morning. Let’s see if it’s any good.
Huh, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about–perhaps I’m just jaded from doing too many bank deals.
In any event, I can confirm (for whatever the opinion of a random commenter on the internet is worth) that these guys are legit. I opened an account, got my $25 credit a few days later, and have been happily trading it. I haven’t tried removing any cash yet (as this was never my intent).
If you’re new to forex, I found babypips.com to be a helpful resource. There seems to be a lot of garbage out there regarding forex trading. (I’m not affiliated with FXCM or Babypips.com. (Man, what is it with me and gratuitous parentheticals today?) )
I opened it with no problem, yeah at first I didnt pass my background check with the questions and then read the questions carefully and found the one I made a mistake on. FXCM is a well known company and I dont think CNBC would be dealing with someone that had a fraudulent intent. Let me know how that class goes.
Looks like this is a legit company. I got an email from them about my inquiry regarding the personal information captured in the application form.
How much do trades cost? If you have to make 5 trades to get the money you might not have any left?
There are no commissions. FXCM gets paid through the spread (difference between bid and ask price). The typical spread on EUR/USD is 1.5 pips (15 cents). So, the spread for 5 round trip trades would cost $1.50. Of course, this doesn’t include any gain/loss you may make with the trade.
Is it possible to lose more than the $25 if you never put any of your own money in? If a trade goes wrong that is.
And how little of a position can you take? I don’t want to be taken out immediately.
I just signed up and gave them my information; then sent an email to compliance@fxcm.com telling them not to share any of my information with third parties and affiliates.
FXCM guarantees that you’ll never pay a debit balance on their site:
http://www.forexmicrolot.com/margin-rollover-faq.jsp#a5a
Of course, if you get a margin call they will automatically liquidate your positions to insure against a negative balance.
The leverage in the micro accounts is quite large. The lot size is 1000 units (euros, dollars, etc.). Each lot costs justs $2.50 to control. If you’re just trading the $25 they give you, then you just want to trade 1 lot.
Say you’re trading the EUR/USD which has a pip value of 10 cents. You can’t withstand a move of 250 pips against you. According to Babypips.com, the average pips per trading session move of that pair is 70 pips. A common rule of thumb is to have a risk-reward ratio of 1:2, meaning risk 10 pips for a 20 pip gain, 20 pips for a 40 pip gain, etc…
Thanks Dave. Very useful info.
I was curious today and went to withdraw from my account and found out they charge a $10 fee. Also they will only send you a check. Allow 3-5 for processing and another 15 for delivery.
Dave, do they accept international users ? i’m not american and i found my country at the field (citizenship) there but didn’t find it at the field (country/residence) as it’s only displaying : US and porto rico like there’s no place else in the world to live in but those two. also the first form insists on the SS# which is not supported in my country. at least they should have said what countries are allowed to join in the first place.
@Nikey,
Yes, it seems they do support some international users:
http://www.forexmicrolot.com/open-an-account-international.jsp
i think some of u guys are too paranoid about the personal info required by fxcm.its just standard procedure and fxcm is a legit company.i just opened my fxcm microlot account.have tried demo – liked it.
Has anyone made $$$ yet?? 😀
Yes. I ran my $25 up to over $250 in the span of one week, just getting in and out of the Euro’s huge rally against the dollar back in December (?). Then I made a huge bet again on the Euro, right from the top of the peak, and I got almost completely wiped out in the span of like a half-hour or hour 🙁
Since then I’ve lost most of the rest of it and I think I have like $3.50 left in my account.
Hi all,
I have been playin on a demo account and im winning like $400 Per day i dnt see how you could lose money.
Is it different playing with real money?
Dear all,
I started the fxcm account in $25. But i count managed that. because of many losses. How can i play for it? Please Help me. Please Please Please………………. please
Thank you
I started with 1000 Dollars, high risks, made up to 5000 – monday to friday, day and night intensive. Man I felt luckyyy. The whole money went, just like that next monday alone. Believe me its all modern day gambling. The sure winner is the brocker.