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Can FIX (Financial Information eXchange) be used to connect to any broker or can it only be used to connect to brokers that offer a FIX API?

user1819133
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2 Answers2

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FIX can only be used to connect to a broker that offers a FIX API. The majority of brokers should offer a FIX API, but some will have only a proprietary API.

hunch_hunch
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    That is what I thought; I have a client that wants to use FIX to connect to a broker that is still working on their FIX API. This means I can tell him that it cannot be done until they are ready. – user1819133 Feb 19 '15 at 16:40
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can it only be used to connect to brokers that offer a FIX API

No you don't need a broker's API to connect to the broker. You can you use your own API if you want or any of the commercial APIs available. But before using an API you have to decide on a FIX spec which determines the message structures you will be exchanging, the version and of course the technical details of the server, ports etc. And every broker would be able to handle FIX messages, as FIX is the industry standard messaging, which all financial bodies use.

DumbCoder
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    If they don't offer an API how can one login or send trade orders via FIX? How would one know where to send trade orders or in what format? What if they have not released an API because their system is not yet accepting trade orders via FIX? How would one know what message structures, what version of FIX to use, etc.. I could make my own key to my neighbors door but without any knowledge of how his lock is designed, I won't have much chance of entering without his permission. How is FIX different? – user1819133 Feb 20 '15 at 19:37