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by chollida1 4338 days ago
I've typed and deleted this comment about 4 times now as I can't write it in a way that doesn't seem insulting.

I'm sure these guys are very solid citizens but money is money and it makes people do funny things. If there isn't a disclaimer on their site that they don't sell your flow or jump in front of your trades or make money off of you in any way other than a very simple flat fee per trade then you should assume they do.

There is a reason no self respecting hedge fund would use a sell side's algos. If you can't see the source code you don't know that they do the right thing.

These guys might be perfectly honest but then have an error in one of their algos that is only exposed when bitcoin has a very volatile day. What happens then when their algos execute an order on your behalf that you think it shouldn't?

When its your money why take a chance, even if it seems remote.

Again I'm sorry, I fee like a bit of an ass for bringing this up, but until they com out and verify they don't front run you, or sell your flow or make any money off of your trading other than a flat per order fee then you should be skeptical.

And even when they do that, don't use their algos. Most people won't have flow large enough to need to disguise it. Small limit orders can go a long way for most individuals traders.

One other thing that would be good to veriyf is do they guarantee execution at the NBBO (National Best Bid Offer), meaning if 2 different exchanges offer to sell at different prices will they ensure you buy from the cheapest seller?

EDIT They should also fix their private policy. https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/sf-ox.com/PrivacyPolicyOX...

It is so blurry that I can't read it:(

3 comments

We do not front run any order.

We will make this clear on our site. We tried to do so by showing the complete order book and not just a single price.

You also have complete control of when you execute the algos.

Fixing the privacy policy - not sure what happened to the pdf upload. Thanks for catching.

> Fixing the privacy policy - not sure what happened to the pdf upload. Thanks for catching.

I've never seen a privacy policy as a PDF. Any reason for this?

No reason.
Fixed privacy policy.
You're absolutely right when you say that the brokerage could make money by front-running you. But so do the exchanges the broker is operating on. After all, we don't even know who operates btc-e, Bitstamp is slightly more transparent, Coinbase a bit more. The whole industry is completely unregulated so everyone could cheat you until it matures and some rules are set.
Technically (more like legally), a broker cannot front run an order.
Wouldn't front running as a broker be illegal anyway, or is bitcoin somehow different? IIRC the SEC has already showed that it won't ignore financial crimes just because they're done with bitcoin.

It's not their own explicit policies that prohibit traditional brokers from front running or through trading, it's regulation.