How do you trade when prices are skewed?

Hello all,

I trade by spreadbetting the FTSE, but for the past 2 days I've noticed that my SB company has listed totally different prices than the ones shown on my MT4 charts. Its about 4-7 points off towards the long side (e.g if MT4 is showing 5230 then the SB company charts will show something like 5237-8). Although there have been some good opportunities in the market these days (esp today) I decided not to trade because Im confused as to where to put my stop loss when the prices are off.

Does anyone have any advice or tips about what to do when prices are skewed? - is it best not to trade altogether because it increases your chances of getting the trade wrong?

Many thanks,

Pi

Dont spreadbet, get a proper brokerage account, then you wont have any of these problems.

pboyles said:

Dont spreadbet, get a proper brokerage account, then you wont have any of these problems.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. Ive looked up some of the brokers listed on this website, however, I cant really afford 5-10k in the account to trade. Or rather, this amount of money isnt money that I would feel comfortable losing if I was to lose it all (unlike the £500 in my SB account right now).

Do you have any other advice on what to do? and also, are the prices from futures brokers not skewed at all?

Thanks

charts are slower than the ticker. sometimes by 10pts in fast markets. watch the ticker for better entries

although not trading is also good if the fast markets are too spooky.

The skew of SB tick prices makes accurate TA, entries and stop-losses difficult. You have to allow for normal volatility plus the spread plus the skew (both of which can fluctuate anyway). Don't rely on the daily bars form the SB tick charts - these also include prices when the underlying index is closed and even prices from periods when you can't SB. Remember that, whether you SB or use a broker trading account, data sources often disagree over what the opening price each day is.

All these structural obstacles should be making you think that SB is not good for very short-term day-trading and especially scalping. However, it is very good value for multi-day swing trading. Horses for courses.