Opening accounts

ATM can only log in to one FXCM account at any one time.

If you've setup ATM to run in many FXCM accounts, then ATM will have to log out from one, then log in to another, before it can place any trades.

Logging in to the FXCM trading platform, you can notice a distinct pause after you click the "login" button, while all your account information is downloaded and displayed. ATM has to download that same information and will have the same pause while it does so.

For example, when ATM downloads the account information for all FXCM accounts you have set up, here's what happens:

1. Log in to account #1 (with the noticeable pause)
2. Log out from account 1
3. Log in to account #2 (with the noticeable pause)
4. etc.

Logging out doesn't take long. So ATM will stay logged in wherever possible, in the hope that the next action it has to perform is for the same FXCM user that it's already logged in with.

But how to get around this restriction? Is there a way to setup ATM to trade in multiple FXCM accounts on a single login? Here's what the FXCM forum says:

You can request to set up a PAMM account, which allows you to login to a manager account and trade for all accounts mapped under the manager account.

It is possible to have more than one account in the accounts window. Additional accounts would be set up through our sales and support team along with the necessary paperwork, whether they are additional accounts for you, or accounts of others' that you are managing. Contact admin@fxcm.com to start the process.

One note is that if the accounts are on different servers, they would require separate logins, even if they are both your accounts, or the account owners have assigned you power of attorney to trade their account.

(Noting that you would only be able to find out if your accounts are on different servers by contacting FXCM).

I imagine it would be almost impossible to include a demo account and a live account under the same login. It is recommended, if you want to auto-trade in both a live account and a demo account at the same time, that you install ATM twice in two different directories. Then run both 'instances' of ATM - one for the live FXCM account, and one for the demo account. You would not need to worry about doing this though, if you do not care about the lag time required when logging in/logging out.

It would be appreciated if you have gone through the steps to make this work, that you contact us and let us know the steps you took to get it all sorted.
 

When Downloading Prices

This restriction should not have a large effect if you are just downloading prices.

If a user is currently logged in to FXCM, ATM will simply use that current connection to get the streaming price downloads. If nobody is logged in at the present time, FXCM streaming prices logs in with the "best" FXCM user:

1. The first 'real' user it comes across
2. The first 'demo' user it comes across if there are no real ones.
    

ATM gives you the option to send alerts to your mobile/cell phone. There are two different SMS providers (or "gateways") available. One is free with limited coverage, and the other (Clickatell) is not free but covers most of the planet. It's pretty cheap though.

Here you can see the coverage of the free SMS gateway. You might be lucky. If so, you don't need to create a Clickatell account. Similarly, if your mobile/cell phone can receive email messages, just get ATM to send you alerts via email instead of SMS.

However, if you can't use the free provider, and your phone can't receive emails, then you'll have to open a Clickatell account.

Fortunately, Clickatell will give you 10 free credits so you can test that it works before paying any money. If it works and you're happy, you then purchase some SMS credits from them.

Following these links will show you the coverage and prices of Clickatell.  Then follow these instructions to open an account:

1. Follow this link to register.
2. Fill in your details (which includes choosing a username and password), and click the "Continue" button. They will send different verification codes to your phone and your email address, so both need to be correct.
3. Type in those verification codes, and click the "Verify Now" button.
4. You should now be logged in to your Clickatell account. But there's more to do...
5. Click the "Manage my Products" link (at the top, just below the header).
6. In the "HTTP/S" paragraph, click the "Add connection" link.
7. The next page has a whole lot of fields that you don't need to fill in. E.g. IP Lock Down, Callback Url, etc. Just fill in the "Name" field. This can be anything you like, e.g. "My HTTP/S connection".
8. Click the "Submit" button.
9. That connection should now appear in a list at the top of the page you are taken to.
10. Note the "API ID" of your connection.

Now you are all set to go. When you enter the SMS details into ATM, you will need to type in your Clickatell username and password, and the API ID.

Here are a couple of extra points of interest:

• If you're still looking at the Clickatell page from before, you can see your Client ID in the header. Note that down. You'll need to enter this along with your username, next time you want to login to the Clickatell site.
• Also in the header is an "Buy SMS Credits" link. But you should have been given 10 free credits, and before buying any more credits, you should use those 10 free ones to test that ATM can actually send SMS to your phone through Clickatell.
• While using the free credits, the actual text sent by ATM will not show on your phone. Instead you'll just get a "Clickatell test message". But at least you'll be able to determine that text messages can be sent to your phone by ATM, and approximately how quickly they turn up.

If everything works fine, then use the "Buy SMS Credits" link mentioned above to purchase SMS credits from them.

Thinking Stuff is an affiliate of Clickatell, and we receive 10% of the money you pay to them. We didn't choose Clickatell because of the money. In fact at first we decided to use Clickatell, and then thought that if if we're sending business their way anyway, we might as well join their affiliate program and reap the rewards on offer. If only all the companies we use had similar offers... *sigh* :-)

Note that we stop receiving commissions 6 months after you join up, so if you were a real friend, you'd create a new account every 6 months using the links here :-)
 

Fairly straight-forward:

1. Go to the Gmail website.
2. Click on the "Sign up for Gmail" link just below where login details are normally entered.
3. Fill in the mandatory details.

Note down your new email address and password. You'll need to enter these details into ATM.
 

Here's the page for their demo account:
http://www.fxcm.com/open-free-100k.jsp

And to open a live account:
http://www.fxcm.com/open-an-account.jsp

After you have created your live account, send an email to admin@fxcm.com and ask that hedging be switch on. Also ask that your live account be given Multi Session User Access. This lets you log in to both the FXCM trading platform and ATM at the same time. (Both are switched on by default for demo accounts).

But, here's what they say about Multi Session Access on a Micro account:

From a technical stand point, it is possible to connect to a micro account. We recommend multiple session access to API users since they normally log in more than once. The restriction of not allowing multiple session on micro accounts is due to the manually intensive process of doing the switch - not a technical restriction.

Thus you can still use the API on micro, just consider that if you log into the same API twice, one session will be kicked out. If you do not want this restriction, you would need to upgrade to a standard account.

For the one micro account, I believe you will be able to log in at the same to both the FXCM trading platform and ATM. But not two 'instances' of the FXCM platform at the same time, or two instances of ATM at the same time. It's probably not an issue.

See also:

• The FXCM API has a big restriction