Still learning, some Indicies help please

Hi Using demo account on Capital Spreads to learn a bit more about spread betting.

A few things I'm not sure about, sorry if they are dumb questions. I am dealing on the Indices mainly, mostly rolling FTSE100 but I am trying the others for experience too.

They have one that is Wall street rolling, which I assume is the Dow, so why dont they call it the DOW as everyone normally refers to it. Anyway that is not my real question, my question is they are offering dealing on the Dow between 07:00 and 21:00. I really dont mean to be dumb here but the price is moving. Are they not closed and asleep at this time of day, so can someone explain what is happening here.

Second question is they have one titled Joburg 40 which I want to play with but cant find any Internet site offering graphs or much else for this and the Capital Spread one is not that good I find. Anyone know another place I can get graphs for this hopefully free? My share dealing company, that I use, does not seem to offer this particular one.

Last question with the "Dec" ones which are for example raised on the rolling FTSE, do you just buy and sell them almost as if they were a different index. And is it possible to look at a chart for a "DEC" one?

I know these questions might be a bit silly but I am trying to learn and until someone tells me these things or I read them somewhere they seem confusing to me.

Any help appreciated.

Hmmm, given the nature of your questions it might be worth you trying to find a book or resource on here that takes you through how spreadbetting works, because if you're at this level there's going to be a lot that you need to know before going 'live' to avoid getting skinned, including stuff you don't know you need to know (if you know what I mean ).

Spreadbet firms are essentially basing their index prices off the futures markets because simply speaking you can't trade the cash index - ie you can't buy or sell the cash quote for the FTSE100 or S&P or whatever. They're an index, not a traded product. But the reason why CS's Dow quote is moving now is because the Dow futures market is trading now on the eCBOT exchange - Europe traders (and some early rising Yanks) will be trading it at this moment and it's pretty much a 24-hr (electronic) market. Another reason (not in this case), is that the spreadbet company could decide to make its own market even when the exchange was shut, and base the price movements on what was going on elsewhere in the world.

If you go to 'FutureSource' you'll find free charting (not real time) for different contract months, and some s'bet firms will offer this as well. Are you sure CS doesn't have charts for the Dec FTSE if it quotes it? You don't buy/sell them as if they were a different index because they will correlate very closely if not exactly with the underlying cash price, but you need to be aware of the forward premium in the price - for example I trade currency futures rather than the spot market, but am aware that I need to know where the 'round number' support and resistance levels are for 'spot' quotes, as that is the most traded market.

Cheers Jack o'Clubs for your answers and your patience with my questions, but you have helped me. Sorry they were so basic.

I am reading loads and trying to understand it all but sometimes you hit what seem like silly questions and you can't see where to find the answer. For me that holds me there as I feel I must know the answer before I move on. I don't like to just jump bits as I learn, and come back to them later, I want to know the ins and out of it all as I attempt to learn it all

Only thing is as a result of your answer I must therefore ask, why then, dont the spread betting companies let you trade 24 hours a day? More money for them.

happyhappyhappy said:

Only thing is as a result of your answer I must therefore ask, why then, dont the spread betting companies let you trade 24 hours a day? More money for them.

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Some do, eg CMC. But some won't because they either don't have the scale to man the desks 24hrs, or don't want to take the risk on their own book (Dow futures trade for about 20 hours a day rather than a 'true' 24) - so if North Korea nuked Japan during the couple of hours that the Dow futures were shut, there would be no way of them hedging their risk - an extreme example, but you see what I mean.

Jack o'Clubs said:

Some do, eg CMC. But some won't because they either don't have the scale to man the desks 24hrs, or don't want to take the risk on their own book (Dow futures trade for about 20 hours a day rather than a 'true' 24) - so if North Korea nuked Japan during the couple of hours that the Dow futures were shut, there would be no way of them hedging their risk - an extreme example, but you see what I mean.

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Glad you are taking over- this guy is wearing me out!

Happy- something else for you to ponder over The margin on Fins rolling FT, this morning is down to 20 quid. Probably because of future expiry soon.

Split

Apologies I didn't want to be a pain to anyone, just trying to learn.

I thought it would be ok to put these questions on here. I thought it could also help others, a bit like when everyone wants to know the answer but only one guy will put his hand up.

Thanks for the advice.

happyhappyhappy said:

Apologies I didn't want to be a pain to anyone, just trying to learn.

I thought it would be ok to put these questions on here. I thought it could also help others, a bit like when everyone wants to know the answer but only one guy will put his hand up.

Thanks for the advice.

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Hey! I was joking, of course! You ask away!

Split