As a relatively newbie to the world of spread betting, I'm more than happy to attend any seminars/courses and read any books that will prove beneficial to me; the fact the the Introduction to Spread Betting Seminar held by City Index was free made it a no brainer to attend. I'm also still deciding what Spread Betting company to use if I do infact decide to spread bet at all. I have used the City Index Simulator and to be fair, I was somewhat disappointed by its lack of features such as charting - I thought this would be a great opportunity to be able to openly ask questions with the CI staff.
Upon arrival I helped myself to a drink before being seated in a large seminar room. The room itself was divided into three sections with two large projectors arranged accordingly. I estimate that there would have been around 80-100 people attending, maybe less, possibly more.
I was provided the usual material you would expect at such a seminar including the CI books on spread betting and CFD's. I was also provided with a notepad, a pen, and the current edition of "Shares" magazine.
The presentation was performed by Tom Hougaard, the Bloomberg and CNBC commentator and chief market strategist for City Index...a confident and competent presenter to say the least. The information he provided was informative. Tom started with explaining exactly what and what not City Index is...
Then a definition of spread betting followed by what you can spreadbet in. Throughout the night Tom provided various examples of spread betting and the layout and explanation were very simple to follow. Tom continually raised the point that trading with City Index is the easy part... the hard part is infact deciding what to trade in.
Towards the end of the evening, Tom stated that anyone opening an account right there and then would be provided with a free £25 Vodafone bet (the equivalent of 2500 Vodafone Shares).
The seminar had obviously worked as the amount of people madly filling in their application forms really surprised me. I had no intentions of joining as I would like to learn more about the other players (i.e. Finspread, CMC, ect).
There was one point throughout the seminar that I thought was wrong (if not wrong, maybe ethically incorrect). At the start of the evening Tom emphasised how how City Index was the leading spread betting firm for the last 2 years running (or something to that extent)...that's great. However, at the same time people were filling out their application forms, Tom stated that in the middle of "Shares" magazine was a subscriber review. The sort of thing that comes annually in every type of magazine - basically asking what company you feel delivers the best service in certain fields.
Tom stated that if you were to also fill out the award review and write in that City Index was your favourite Spread Betting company, he would place them into a box and randomly draw one. The lucky person who's award review would be pulled out would have £500 placed in to their CI account.
Suddenly I'm wanting to know what Tom meant at the start of the evening when he stated that CI was the leading Spread Betting firm. If it's based on the amount of people recommend CI through Shares magazine, it's easy to see why. To me, they were buying votes...something I don't agree with...and I wonder how many other forms are filled out with their other various seminars. Personally, there was no way someone was going to buy my vote with the chance of winning a £500 account. Again, most of the people attending started looking for "their" award review form.
Whilst people were filling out their application forms I had the opportunity to ask a few questions with a CI staff member. I asked if they provided any charting within the CI platform. The answer was quite vague...he stated that whilst they do, he was unable to tell me exactly what markets they provide charting in and whether they chart daily, or intra-day. I asked if we were going to see the charting in action, however he stated that it's something that City Index hold close and don't want "non-account holders" to really see (what ever that means). He did say however I am more than welcome to visit their Moorgate office and a rep could show it to me there. I was somewhat disappointed so I thought who better to ask the same question then Tom...he is the CI chief market strategist. Unfortunately the response was very much the same.
Tom provided some live trades to prove just how easy the CI platform is. Ironically, he was using a third party charting package provided by e-signal. This to me, IMO, obviously highlights that maybe their charting package included in the CI platform is weak.
I left the evening happy and satisfied that I attended. I was satisfied with the content provided however felt a little unsure about parting with my money on the fact that no one could show me the charting package....and the way that Tom had bought votes didn't really take my fancy either. Saying that though, I hold City Index quite high and I believe they are a reputable firm.
What also amazed me throughout the night was the number of people who I had met who were diving in head first...with no research, no nothing. I also met some people already trading with CI and when I asked if they used any TA to decide what and when to trade, they stated that they don't, as charts only tell you what has happened in the past. I asked how do they decide on what to trade and when to buy/sell, and their response was they "just get a feel" of what's going on.
Going to the seminar actually improved my confidence even though I haven't even traded yet. Surely if I'm willing to learn and inspect all the options prior to landing my first trade, I will be in a better position....won't I? I'm not expecting to make money initially and I'm more than allowing a substantial loss however I (again, IMO) believe this is a better perspective than thinking I can trade profitably simply by opening an account and gaining a free £25 bet on Vodafone.
It would be interesting to know who much of City Index's revenue comes simply from one time account openers who then lose there initial opening fund, not ever to deposit more. The "Introduction" seminars are held quite regularly so surely CI must make "some" revenue this way?
For any T2W members who are staff of CI or trading with CI, please do not take this post as a criticism against City Index...This is only MY opinion. I thought others may find it useful on what I attended last night...I'm sure there were many people confident in City Index and this was plain to see with the percentage of people opening accounts. I myself may actually open an account with City Index, however I will not do so until I know all my options, investigate all the other Spread Betting Co's, and decide whether to spread bet at all.
Trader_Dave
