CMC New Platform bet financing cost is over 30% !

Simoh

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Just checked my CMC account and note that CMC are charging me 30% for financing long positions in WTI oil.

To put that into persepective, that's 30% per year on the entire worth of your position folks. Yep, at only £1 per point your position is worth £9000, so to keep a long position in WTI CMC will charge you an amazing £2700 per year for a £1 pp bet.

Another way of putting it is that your trading must make you (net after all losses etc.) 30% per year just to break even. How many people net 30% pa?

This is an unbelievable rate, I am utterly astonished at what is happening here.

I have a similar position open in the futures markets and it's costing me (effectively) zero . Let me explain this: CMC have abandoned futures bets for their new platform and replaced them with rolling cash bets, for which they charge a financing rate consisting of two elements: financing (which is the normal element you would expect consisting of the interest on the value of the position) and 'carrying costs'. Carrying costs are the problem.

While the financing element is broadly equal to the intrinsic interest charged within the futures contract (but slightly more expensive; this is in line with other spreadbetting firms), the 'carrying cost' would appear to be a bonus for CMC.

If a bet is taken 'old style' on a futures contract, the intrinsic cost of the bet will be roughly equal to the central banks rate (say 1%). A SB firm will add a few percent if they operate rolling cash bets instead of direct bets on the futures price, so you pay say 3%.

CMC are charging an additional 27.5% for the 'carrying cost'. Adding this to the extra 2% premium over the futures style bet nets them 29.5% for financing your bet (versus a futures bet).

These costs are crippling, no business can survive with these sorts of costs, nor can a trader.

As far as I can tell (further info has not been forthcoming after my phone call asking for precise information on how this charge is calculated) CMC claim this mirrors real-world equivalent costs for storage of the spot commodity and the such-like, which doesn't really wash I'm afraid.

CMC have abandoned many markets and all futures bets for the new platform. Spot bets would appear to be prohibitively expensive for non-day traders; futures bets, or futures derived bets are not available.

My advice would to be very careful before using a CMC new platform account - when compared to costs elsewhere, including their own MarketMaker platform which is being retired, the costs are prohibitive. A futures bet taken elsewhere will net you around an additional 30% per year in profits.
 
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I stopped using them years ago, manipulated the prices all the time and a reason why when they were known as deal for free they got a certain name from people who used them and a reason why they changed their name to CMC markets, they had a terrible reputation. No doubt the move will back fire on them as they lose clients.
 
I have never ever traded spot oil as oil is mainly traded on futures exchange.
Are you serious about this?
Need to double check as it's absolutely pathetic. Are they so desperate?
 
Deadly serious.

Breaking news...

Today the financing rate has increased - CMC are now charging me 56% today.

I am not kidding, 56%. This is effectively daylight robbery.

I'll post some screenshots of my account when I figure out how I can upload the pics.

Simon
 
Here is my attempt to upload the images of the relevant views of my CMC account.

cmcbet1.jpg


cmcbet2.jpg


You can see the rates in the 'Carrying Costs Annual Rate Column'. As you can see, despite the fact I am long WTI and short Brent I am being debited with all the costs for all the bets (the long does not appear to offset the short, as you might expect).

I have paid 56.5% to keep this bet open; it is clear that CMC do not wish me to keep it this way!

Quite clearly they are not happy with the fact that I've made some money on a bet and are making my position untenable. So much for fair play.

Simon
 
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Looks like you and the rest of the world are in the spread trade then?

That is daylight robbery though.

Thank you for drawing it to our attention. Why don't you post it direct on the CMC thread and get the owner to respond?
 
Have just posted to that thread but T2W need to approve my post by a moderator first apparently.

CMC have now got their wish, I have closed the bet having paid more than 1/3 of my profits in charges to them.

I've transferred the bet across to the futures market and will be closing my account with them soon.

As always, you learn the hard way (in cash!). Hopefully others will be able to learn from my experience.

Simon
 
While I would like to pose my question to the other thread, unfortunately every time I submit a post it says it needs to be approved by a moderator.

As the moderators would appear to be on leave at the moment, according to another thread in the General section, it would seem my post is not likely to appear any time soon.

Hmmm.

Peter, if you're reading, would you care to comment on your financing rates of 56%. This is frankly only a way to show a customer the door; no-one is going to accept these kind of rates, you may as well just call them up and say 'sorry, but we don't want you as a customer'. It would be a more honest way of dealing with customers you don't want.

Simon
 
The role of most financial firms is to subtly transfer their clients money to them.

Case in point is CMC, but seriously how greedy can you get. The amount they charge is absolutely grotesque.
 
Actually I've been thinking about my previous post outlining the fact that you must make 30% (which became 56%) pa just to break even. For those of you who didn't spot my fundamental error, here's the correction.

In fact, just to break even, typically you will need to make 560% per annum. Making 56% pa is required if all your positions are fully funded, i.e. no leverage is used.

I imagine every spreadbetter uses leverage to some degree. In order to manage risk effectively this should probably be kept to levels of around 50%, but from what I can gather, particularly for new starters, leverage used is more like the maximum. This would equate to using margin of 10%, or leverage of 10 times. i.e. your pot size is probably (hopefully at least) 1/10 of the size of the total value of the bets you're making (£pp multiplied by number of points in instrument).

What's the net effect? In fact, if you are using typical leverage you will need to make 560% a year on the CMC new platform just to break even. Yes, that means you need to multiply your pot by 5.6 times every year just to break even; that's double your entire pot, then double it again, then up it by another 50% every year.

Looking at it another way, you have to increase your entire pot by 70% every MONTH just to break even here.

Good lord.
 
total casino rules everywhere you look.

even if you win on the markets you then have to beat the broker.
 
I guess they spent too much money on their new platform so they have to charge us over the odds and get rid of some staff. New system = way down for CMC.
 
Just checked my CMC account and note that CMC are charging me 30% for financing long positions in WTI oil.

To put that into persepective, that's 30% per year on the entire worth of your position folks. Yep, at only £1 per point your position is worth £9000, so to keep a long position in WTI CMC will charge you an amazing £2700 per year for a £1 pp bet.

Another way of putting it is that your trading must make you (net after all losses etc.) 30% per year just to break even. How many people net 30% pa?

This is an unbelievable rate, I am utterly astonished at what is happening here.

I have a similar position open in the futures markets and it's costing me (effectively) zero . Let me explain this: CMC have abandoned futures bets for their new platform and replaced them with rolling cash bets, for which they charge a financing rate consisting of two elements: financing (which is the normal element you would expect consisting of the interest on the value of the position) and 'carrying costs'. Carrying costs are the problem.

While the financing element is broadly equal to the intrinsic interest charged within the futures contract (but slightly more expensive; this is in line with other spreadbetting firms), the 'carrying cost' would appear to be a bonus for CMC.

If a bet is taken 'old style' on a futures contract, the intrinsic cost of the bet will be roughly equal to the central banks rate (say 1%). A SB firm will add a few percent if they operate rolling cash bets instead of direct bets on the futures price, so you pay say 3%.

CMC are charging an additional 27.5% for the 'carrying cost'. Adding this to the extra 2% premium over the futures style bet nets them 29.5% for financing your bet (versus a futures bet).

These costs are crippling, no business can survive with these sorts of costs, nor can a trader.

As far as I can tell (further info has not been forthcoming after my phone call asking for precise information on how this charge is calculated) CMC claim this mirrors real-world equivalent costs for storage of the spot commodity and the such-like, which doesn't really wash I'm afraid.

CMC have abandoned many markets and all futures bets for the new platform. Spot bets would appear to be prohibitively expensive for non-day traders; futures bets, or futures derived bets are not available.

My advice would to be very careful before using a CMC new platform account - when compared to costs elsewhere, including their own MarketMaker platform which is being retired, the costs are prohibitive. A futures bet taken elsewhere will net you around an additional 30% per year in profits.
Very scary and shocking indeed. And theres me getting ready to try them all over again with their new platform. After seeing this i dont think i would be.

Is is the same for the CFDs platform?

With Goldman Sachs owning 10% of CMC, u know ur F^£d!
 
Very scary and shocking indeed. And theres me getting ready to try them all over again with their new platform. After seeing this i dont think i would be.

Is is the same for the CFDs platform?

With Goldman Sachs owning 10% of CMC, u know ur F^£d!

Peter commented on this issue on CMC's thread ...
 
Hi Everbody that has posted on this forum. You really are not making yourselves look very bright. I already responded to these questions on my thread but to save you looking it up I have copied the reply here.

Here is response for you and simoh

CMC cash commodity prices are created by stripping out the carrying costs (convenience yield) that are built into futures prices. So the price you see on the platform is an implied cash price (stripping the underlying convenience yield from respective futures contracts). This cash price will be at a discount (less) than the futures price when the market is in contango (i.e. the price to buy a commodity today is cheaper than buying it in the future due to carry costs) and it will be at a premium when the market is in backwardation (i.e. the price to buy today is more than buying in the future due to immediate shortage / under supply or future oversupply in the market). So the convenience yield (carry cost that you get charged or paid depending on whether you are long or short) is dictated by the underlying futures market. The only difference is that we make this charge apparent and not build it into the price like futures contracts. Most people that trade futures don't pay attention to the convenience yield curve (the price difference between one future contract to another) but are subject to the same economics without noticing it.

For non-perishable commodities like gold or silver the convenience yield will be relatively low and for commodities such as Natural Gas, Heating Oil historically the carry costs could be quite substantial due to the volatility, storage constraints, seasonal factors, weather and political events.However it is important to note that the convenience yield applies to both sides of the trade if the market is in contango people who buy the commodity will pay this carry cost and people that short sell receive it as income on a daily basis. Alternatively for commodities that are in backwardation people who short sell the commodity will pay this carry cost and people that buy the commodity will receive it as income on a daily basis. The spread between what is paid and what is received in normal market conditions typically range between 1 to 3 percent.

Maybe giving you a current example could further clarify this... I will focus on Crude Oil which is going through some interesting times. Historically the price difference between Brent Crude Oil and West Texas Intermediary has been minimal. Currently the price difference between the two futures contracts are $17 (i.e. Brent $116.98 while WTI 99.76). WTI is in contago (with a steep convenience yield) while Brent is in Backwardation with a smoother convenience yield. Please refer to the respective images below which display prices and respective convenience yields. So due to the steep convenience yield curve WTI price diffreneces between various delivery dates are larger and for brent due to the smoother curve its lower. As a result implied cash price is closer to the front month contract on Brent and farther away for WTI.

So a customer that was short Brent yesterday would have paid 2.38% in carry cost and a customer that was long would have received 1.33% and a customer that was long WTI would have paid 30.06% and a customer that was short would have received 28.95%.


Bid Ask
US Crude -30.06% -28.95%
UK Crude 1.34% 2.39%


please see attachment I hope this helps
tks peter please see attachments oil.doc
 
Hi Anley
suggest you get your facts right. see my reply on roll overs before you start jumping on the band wagon.

Peter

The role of most financial firms is to subtly transfer their clients money to them.

Case in point is CMC, but seriously how greedy can you get. The amount they charge is absolutely grotesque.
 
hi lancenicolase
see my posting 18
you should be happy you can trade rolling cash commodities. they save you money but why let facts get in the way of a good posting.

cheers peter

I have never ever traded spot oil as oil is mainly traded on futures exchange.
Are you serious about this?
Need to double check as it's absolutely pathetic. Are they so desperate?
 
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