T2W Trading Community

Stay away
1/10
I was about to open an account with them in Canada but I decided to read first about them on the internet. It is scary what you read there and I cannot understand how anyone could trade with these crooks. The Australians have the same type of reviews as on this site, most people are screwed by their system.

I also subscribed to their Demo platform. I watched their Nasdaq and Toronto level II against a reputable provider I use for my trades (I am a reasonably seasoned trader). On Nasdaq, they mark up the spreads a minimum of 2 points each way and very often 4 or 5 points. For the Canadian market, where they try to enter (they are not tegistered yet) they did not mark up the spread. However I noticed the unusual spikes that so many people talk about which do not appear on the honest level II I use.

As far as I know, their platform is the only one that does not have Volume, On balance Volume or any other Volume related indicator. Can you guess why? I also checked with the software vendor who provides the original of the CMC platform. They have all the Volume indicators here missing.

At one of their hyped presentations in Toronto I presented them with copies of the reviews I collected of the Internet but I never opened an account.

The CD's (certificate for Difference) they trade are an interesting and attractive derivative if they were to be traded honestly. They could make money on a honnest and declared markup like any market maker. I would accept such mark-ups if the trades were automatic, with no human interference in between.

So stay away if you don't want to part with your money.

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

Meh
3/10
Windows-based platform has some nice features (single price windows, a lot of indicators), but also some real nuisances (limit/stop orders can't be autoclosed when you close a position, guaranteed stop positions MUST be closed by executing the stop loss order, for example). Have seen some insane price spikes (100 points or so) randomly turn up in their data feed; I don't put my stop losses that close, but other people have had problems with them where they do.

If the platform really appeals, might suit you well, but they're really not that great.

7 of 8 members found the following review helpful:

trade real mkts
1/10
I totally agree that cmc and for that matter all SB firms look to take your trades and your money, no way round this.
The only way not to get taken for a mug is to trade the markets direct with proper trading firms.

People say that it is tax free{ it is only on profits!- too bad if you cannot get your trades away}

22 of 27 members found the following review helpful:

Biggest Rip Offs in History
1/10
I have been to their headquarters about 5 years ago, I used to work closeby. They have a particular desk which looks at all the current positions from traders and calculates the risk towards the firm, they has a bias control that can move the market in their favour and take people out, this is common practice and happens all the time. The people that win usually have positions or stops to far away and are saved, I call this the 'Window Wiper' Scenario.

They also have 2 other key desks. One desk has a guy sitting there looking at all the traders that win all the time. When a trade for this person comes through the firm copies him/her and tries to make money for the firm. The money they use is reconciled from all those people that have lost, so basically its a recycling process, 'Make Money For Free'.

The other guy sits at another desk looking at all the loosing trades coming through. Usually the loosers trade massive stakes so he/she will hedge half the postion if the order is too big. He/she is allowed to take a certain % risk everyday, and the more he makes the bigger the car he will get at the end of the year.

Generally 95% of the people loose money so the firms hedge less and less and pocket the money, They hedge less and less because over the years they have accumulated so much money from 'loosers' they have their own 'pool of money' which can be used to pay money inn and out...

Many people do not understand the 'DEEP GAME' the firms are basically out to get you.

Most of the front line staff are not very clever and are generally rude/inexperienced, when they put the phone down they swear at the customers!

I have been asked by CMC Staff a few time "You are on the online trading platform why are you phoning us"?
I have to explain to an 18 year old that the reason I am calling is because I need a particular price and am getting rejections from the trader at a certain level so have given up on the online platform, also on level 2 there is much volume so why are you not filling me? I also have to advise the trader that they are there to perform a duty and need to satisfy the customer however they can within reason, and his comments are not an attractive way to invite business...its ridiculous really! They give you whatever price they want to give you.

The review by Vispatel below is also very good, this is a true reflection.

The spreads also seems tight but are a lie, they purposely have programmed engines that add +-2 to exits so in real terms you get a bad deal upon exit.

All firms perform this action they want to bankrupt you asap and then advertise again and get the next sucker in. Please hedge your positions and you will smash it!

I hit cmc hard and do massive trades out-of-the-blue, you need to be aggressive with the traders who are on about £30k but think they are on £100k+ when they are not. When I loose with CMC they are not aware I am betting elsewhere and only loose small amounts as I do sector bets. But they are catching on because the money going into the account is weird numbers like 1038.57p as I balance the books.

I get massive delays on my account because they are looking at what I do and copy me. I know this for sure, because when I bet on level 2 a precise chuck gets filled.

A friend traded the interest rate cut a few weeks ago, they said "We could not fill the order as it is exceptionally busy"! What?!!!!basically they got shafted and did not want to make the fill. I have advised this person to take it to the FSA it is a 'Compliance issue'

I would love if a group of traders got together and constituted a account with CMC and traded as a co-op basically there are ways you can make risk free profits if you have £200k in cmc account. The orders also need to be telephoned through to make sure it happens!

People should be very very careful to trade with cmc, just imagine someone setup a betting exchange between traders and no middle man like bet fair! This would be great.

The people who are serious traders should not use this broker, there is much competition and you can find alternative easily.

Firms give you a free £250 bet you can use this and close account. There is now law against this.

10 of 12 members found the following review helpful:

CMC = Steal4Free
1/10
CMC used to called Deal4Free, traders nicknamed them Steal4Free then moved on. CMC's trading reputation was so bad they had remarket themselves as CMC Markets. Enough said? What I have found personally is when you start winning at a constant rate, you will experience difficulties with your trades. If your a successful trader, try betting above 5pp, it's a nightmare. Scalping is a no no, you need to prepare yourself to be robbed of a few pips per trade before you take it.
Why do I trade with them? Because I enjoy taking a few grand a month off their bottom line profits, but am looking for an honest SBet company (do they exist?) to trade with who won't mess me around when I up my stakes considerably in the future, has anyone got any honest recommendations? Not Cap spreads, Finspreads or IG index, they are just as bad.

9 of 11 members found the following review helpful:

The house always wins in this case
4/10
Having read some of the reviews below, it reinforces the fact that this trading platform seriously feels as if you are being screwed in everyway possible...

Pending orders which take sometimes 45 mins, having to ask the helpdesk on chat to physically ask the traders to push the price through, to be then told 'one moment please while we check the stock ticker to make sure the price has been hit' was the most insulting thing ever. My worst experiance once was, i was Short USCrude which moves like lightening as you may know, my order was hit and highlighted in my pending orders list. The price fell and i was making roughly a dollar gain yet my order still hadn't been filled. So i decided to buy by the position back and lock in my profits, to be later told that 'the order will not be filled as there was not sufficient volume at that price'. So basically what will happen is a pending order will only be filled when the market moves in their direction.

Overnight trading is hilarious... even when the market is extremely stable, you will be given a reqouted price ... after a minute may i add.. of a price maybe another 12 basis away. Thanks CMC your a bargain!

Why you may ask that im so angry about a platform and still using it? Well its only when i came across this platform that i realised i wasnt the only one.

By the way the guys on the chat helpdesk do not have a clue what they are talking about sometimes, its best to ring the dealing desk direct. I have been given so much misguided information its unbelivable they are able to get away with this.

and one more note, if you think you will ever be able to profit out of events such as FED annoucements, EIA inventories reports or any dramatic report like such, you WONT, because your order will never get filled in time i promise you.

If anyone has a better platform which they recommend, or one that you know you feel you can trust when you place and order.. please let me know! thanks

Vispatel

9 of 9 members found the following review helpful:

frustration!!
2/10
The platform looks nice and is easy to use...BUT definitely not for day trading!

I have sent about 20 emails complaining about various shortcomings of there system....fills are definitely a big issue, if the market is moving fast your guaranteed to get royally screwed by cmc.

Today it took 20mins for my pending order to get filled after the fed announcement....i went from 250bp gain to only a 70bp gain, not to mention that all my capital was locked up waiting for the pending order to get filled so couldn't do anything until i was filled at a price which turned out to be VERY much against me.

Today was the last straw and i am now looking for a decent application/platform...any ideas are welcome

Also am considering setting up a i hate cmc markets society! any takers?.....

11 of 11 members found the following review helpful:

Bad experience
1/10
I was on a trading course a while ago. We were trading live, using CMC as the spread betting co but, we had an independent data source for verification.

We held a position overnight which was showing a good profit and tried to close it soon after market opening. Every time we tried to close it, CMC moved the price away from us, even though the independent RT data feed showed that it had hardly moved. By the time CMC, finally, accepted the order, they had taken another 4p points in addition to their normal spread.

I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

0 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

cmc
4/10
relilble platform

2 of 2 members found the following review helpful:

Sluggish execution
2/10
My experience was that whenever market moved, their system made sure I wasn't able to get my trades executed. I've been 1000 times more satisfied with IB.

9 of 10 members found the following review helpful:

Not for the serious trader
1/10
This is really not a platform for anyone that is serious about trading.
You are not going directly into the market but betting against the house.
This would be ok but after waiting for 1 minute to see if a trade gets filled on dow futures or not i would not call this a professional system by any means.
if you can afford to wait 1 minute to see if a trade gets executed and on something like the dow can surrender 100 points on a requote then feel free to use.
Anyone serious about trading must go down the direct access route.

2 of 2 members found the following review helpful:

Super charts
8/10
Excellent charting on their MarketMaker platform. I use 3 other SB Co's and CMC is by far the best technically for playing around and individualising the vast amount of indicators. I have found a brilliant use for heikin-ashi candles by playing around with them after coming across them while looking for something else !! Well done CMC

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

ex customer
4/10
I used to use CMC but now prefer Dealing Desk. No complaints whatsoever. Spreads are just as good, if not better and doesnt feel like they are trying to screw you.

1 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

Top Platform
7/10
No SB firm is perfect, but this is a top platform, it's stable, it's fast and it does what it say on the tin.

1 of 4 members found the following review helpful:

The Spread
5/10
i understand the importance of looking after the pennies but really are the spreads that important? i mean how much are you playing with? to me its like watching the rugby and complaining for the whole match about the grass you cant cheat fate a loser is a loser

4 of 5 members found the following review helpful:

The Spread!!
5/10
Having just recently closed my account with CMC Spreadbet on the grounds that I no longer found their spreads competitive in particular US and European Stock Price. Along with various other problems with the platform updating late following telephone trades. i.e: Closed trades being shown as open following data feed crash. Thus resulting in further trades closing trades that were not open!! I was a little surprised at the offer I received from the staff member. Words to the effect we can offer tighter spreads for certain individuals and offer tighter stop placement. I felt it was a little odd. Why cant everyone enjoy this facility??? The staff member added that a small number of clients were enjoying this facility already!! Nice polite staff though...
PS. I wonder if the "big" spread players are paying some other traders spread???? :-) How kind.. This may prompt a nice 10/10 feedback from another CMC "Client"!!

3 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

Tricky and dubious
3/10
Tricky and cunning in their use of manufactured spikes that are not reflected in the actual market to wipe out your stops...after a while all their good points are lost in the mire of this dubious practice......

15 of 15 members found the following review helpful:

Agreed
1/10
I have to agree with firscall.

The spreads may seem tight but after 12 months of requotes, shading, stop running and all the other shady techniques of your turn of the century bucket shop, one ends up paying well over the odds. All in all this leads to a situation of negative expectancy because you're not trading the market you're trading against the CMC house. Go the Direct Access route and pay the income tax because you'll be saving in the long run.

CMC has a slick public facing marketing machine but don't be fooled by it. Because the not so public customer services arm are great when you're asking simple questions but not so good when you ask question like "why does it take upto 45 seconds to get an S&P500 futures fill?"

The following is an actual reply, from the CMC compliance department, that was given to a client of mine:

"...while you were trading on S&P June contract, there were some pricing issues. As a result of this, all trades on that instrument were being manually checked by a dealer which led to the delay. We do not believe that this is unfair practice, if you were incurring losses while we were experiencing pricing difficulties in good faith, I think you would expect the firm to be taking care to ensure that you were dealing on the right prices. This is an unfortunate situation, however, I am afraid that we cannot offer to reverse your trades on your account. We have acted fairly, followed your instructions and have adhered to our Terms of Business 6.5."

Interesting that CMC don't see the need to inform their customers of price delays.

Oh...I'll include the Terms of Business 6.5:

"It is possible that errors may occur in the prices quoted by us. In such circumstances, without prejudice to any rights you or we may have under statute or common law, neither party will be bound to any Bet which purports to have been made (whether or not confirmed by us) at a price which was, or ought reasonably to have been, known by the other third party to be materially incorrect at the time of the Bet."

That is short hand for "we'll do what we like with our pricing."

If you must spreadbet then try Barclays. The spreads are slightly higher but you get quick execution and it actually feels like you're trading the market.

8 of 11 members found the following review helpful:

Poor
1/10
Poor execution, price shading, price spiking that doesn't mirror the market.

If you want to position trade without using stops, don't mind losing a tick or two per-side due to requotes and don't mind the dubious small print (for God sake read it) then this broker is for you.

5 of 7 members found the following review helpful:

Good platform, good value seminars
10/10
I've been a CMC customer for a few months and am so far impressed with the company as a whole. The spreadbet trading application is well designed, and a new version has just been released. They do a range of free and paid-for seminars and workshops. The paid-for ones cost around £200 and they teach you a lot. There's no need to pay thousands for certain other trading courses!

2 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

Great Spreads, Great Platform, Great Service
10/10
No complaints at all! I did a spread comparison with other firms and found them either better or equal to other firms for what I trade. Good platform with excellent charting and fast execution. I also found the default layout feature really helpful. 24- hour dealing and customer support, very happy!

4 of 7 members found the following review helpful:

Wendell
1/10
Don't do it!
This service is a rip off,
For all you inexperienced people out there spread betting with these guys is a sure way get poor fast....

1 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

Good broker
10/10
Good broker

3 of 4 members found the following review helpful:

Good broker
10/10
I have no complaints with CMC - good spreads, good charting and good committment to enhancing the platform. One thing I would say is that you need to ensure that you have good memory on your PC otherwise the CPU can get overloaded leading to the platform freezing.

4 of 5 members found the following review helpful:

I like it
8/10
Been with CMC for 7 months now - German version. Support is very good and charts as well as the software is one of most stable ones I've ever used. I like the fact that your templets get saved on their servers, so wherever I log in I got the same layout. Execution is fast. The data on the charts is not always clean (notrade spaces for example) thats a minus.

2 of 2 members found the following review helpful:

Could do better
8/10
I've been dealing with CMC for just over 18 months now. Initially there reputation, or lack of it, on the customer service side was a worry. However whenever I have had to speak to a dealer or ask for assistance they have been great. No problems.

The only gripe I have is with their trading platform Marketmaker. It's a great package and has fantastic charts, it just doesn't always seem to work that well. It freezes at time and candles can be missing or change shape/colour when you next log on. Not helpful if you are trying to ascertain a HLCO scenario. If they could sort out the problems with it then they would do better.

4 of 4 members found the following review helpful:

Steal 4 Free
1/10
This company has a reputation for running stops and moving prices that do not reflect the underlying index.Constant reqoutes and extremely poor service complete the picture.
If you want to get severly worked over this is the company to chose.
Do not ever trade the aussie 200 index with these guys they will kill you.

3 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

D4F
8/10
I have been using CMC/D4F for over 3 years now and I have seen that how their software has grown in functionality and stability and how much effort they put on their system.

I trade forex/index/gold/oil with them and have in past compared their prices with other providers (oanda for example) and their spreads are equal or better.

I do get sometimes "requote" but that is understanable given the trade size or market volatility.

The only time I was not happy with them because I was trading too much and too fast and trying to find someone else to blame for my losses. If I am trying to get 10 points scalp and market moves against me and I also get a requote on top, of course I will be unhappy. But this can happen any where.

Once I have started trading in a discipline, I am making money with them as well as I think they are makign money in the "market making" and "flow".

I do not think their business model is the bookie business model -> suck all blood out of your client.

4 of 4 members found the following review helpful:

Deal4Free Spreadbet
9/10
This review is from a spread betting perspective.

In comparison to other firms deal4free have the tightest spreads i have seen, i challenge anyone to enlighten me as to a cheaper option here (spread betting only).

They have a broad range of instruments however if you are looking to trade smaller cap US stocks they will not cover these.

Occasionally in fast markets you may get re-quoted price, however this will depend on your trade size and trading £1-5 per point I hardly ever get re-quotes.

Whether you get re-quoted will also depend on your trading style, if trying to scalp (not advised with spread betting) you will undoubtedly get re-quotes.

The trading platform is rather resource intensive, with the new IT Finance Charting system it is the best trading platform of any spread betting firm imo (again I welcome anyone to challenge this) , offering customisable indicators and option to write your own indicators and systems and then back-test them on spreadbet data. The charting is surprisingly good however again is resource intensive, with recent updates to platform I have found it less reliable that it used to be due to increased computer requirements, sometimes charts can take a while to load and sometimes simply wont at all around busy market hours, though once loaded they update fine. However if ur using your own charts package then the execution side of the trading platform is robust.

They also have real-time account monitoring, which keep tracks of positions and account balance. However they keep track of positions at market price rather than bid/offer which doesn’t give you exact profit/loss on eacj trade only out by a few pounds here and there but still annoying. Once the trade has been exited they obviously give exact P/L with executed entry and exit price.

They have a good range of strategy orders with market, GTC and Day Stops, One Cancels Other, Controlled Risk Bet etc.

On support there is a live chat option through which you can speak to different depts of D4F regarding general enquires perhaps on software or to dealers regarding execution. I have always found the chat to be quick and efficient in solving problems.

Whilst Deal4free spreadbet is not the ideal platform for an active day trader to work for, as a spread betting from in general I think it is by far the best out there.

1 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

Don't ever Deal4Free!!
2/10
Nothing good to say about this company - wouldn't recommend them to anybody.

System is poor, service is even poorer, as for the spreads - don't even get me started!

Please look at every other company possible before you open an account with them.

If I could rate them less than 1 I would.

3 of 3 members found the following review helpful:

CMC
4/10
They may say Deal for 'Free' but the spread is often wider than quoted if you want to deal in any reasonable size. They will keep you hanging on and waiting to deal even if there are sufficient orders on the book to fill your deal.
Customer service? If you have a problem... don't bother.

Much prefer other brokers to this company, even if it might 'seem' initially you have to pay more.

D4F
9/10
As a regular user of D4F they are the outstandingly best UK platform for online trading .. my interest is the Dow. What other platform is there? No offense intended but Finspread does not compare; when you want to trade you have to wait while they bring up a price .. really sweet.

There have been a few recent problems with the D4F platform which are irritating when they occur. The live graph currently appears not to working properly with intermittent dotting instead of the actual price movements but anyhow I use LiveCharts at Quote.com (and recently they went intermittently bad for a couple of days).

But D4F gives you a live, continuous and sensitive 'prices meter' with an instant trading facility. Cool. And then there is lovely tax free feature of all spreadbetting .. bliss!

CMC Service
5/10
I have been using CMC for 18 months and until recently was very happy with them. However, they have had horrendous system problems recently which have made the service unuseable for extended periods, resulting in a loss of many thousands of pounds to me. They have not compensated me for my losses and are having difficulty tracking phantom trades. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take my business elsewhere, because as an active trader, I simply cannot afford this kind of thing.

Deal for Free
4/10
I've been using deal for free for 3 years now, they have a good platform, however i would only use them for indices for overnight trades or longer term trades. Last year I was on auto fill on the Dow and this was excellent, however I'm now on manual fill (even for a pound bet) and this can take 60 seconds to fill, in fast moving markets this can be a bit of a nightmare.

Also (and this has happened so many times that I personally do not feel it is a random event)it appears that manual fill depends upon the market turns & the way that orders have been filled with speed as it goes against you and slowly when in your favour (& then a requote).

Although spreads quoted are 5 points I found City Index with an 8 point spread to be more effective as fills are instant with them.

However now I have direct access with 1 point Dow spreads i don't use CMC much for indices.

In a positve vein I have heard from fellow traders that CMC are as good as it gets for trading stocks among the spreadbetting firms.

Good luck

Loxy

CMC / Deal4Free
9/10
Not a regular poster on these kind of boards, but felt I just had to stand up for CMC, who I have used for just over a year now on a daily basis.

I think they run an excellent business - and although I use other spreadbet companies for options etc, I wouldn't dream of putting any FTSE100 or currency bets anywhere else.

The spreads are superb. Anyone whingeing about requotes should run a level 2 screen alongside the CMC screen to see why they won't offer you say RBS at 1610 in £50 when they are only offered in say 10 shares in the market ... they are not a charity! Take a look at their spreads in cash gold, where they are half a dollar compared to up to one and a half dollars elsewhere !

The new software is a big step forward - ok the charting package is not going to win any awards - but for pure speed and flexibility (especially over multiple monitors), you're not going to find better. One word of warning: do check the financing adjustments made on your rolling cash bets - they do make the odd mistake - but everytime I have pointed it out they have been very quick to put it right.

I sound like I work at the place - but I can assure you I don't ... just wanted to balance some of the negative comments out there, which I think are just ignorant.

Deal4Free Spreadbet
9/10
I have used Deal4Free for couple of years and cannot understand all the problems reported about spreads and requotes. Apart from a period where I became a bad boy for trading too frequently and ended up with all my trades via a dealer, they are extremely fair. For UK FTSE 100 stocks their cash prices are generally identical to those shown on Level 2. Smaller amounts (£5 on RBS, GSK, AZN or £10 on HBOS, BARC etc) go straight through instantly on the automatic system at exactly the price shown. So, you can Buy (and Sell) at exactly the Level 2 price, with no costs or Stamp Duty - forgive my stupidity but what can be wrong with that ? Their software is 95% reliable, phones are answered quickly and pleasantly, they usually stand by the price you try to get on the very odd occasion you are held for a requote. I strongly suspect that anybody who feels they are less than excellent has never tried some of the alternatives, who manipulate prices, requote almost every time, have system problems constantly etc. With D4F I at least feel that they want my business and treat me accordingly, whereas my other experiences left me feeling that emptying my account as fast as possible was their sole mission.

CFD ftse100 spreads
8/10
I don't understand this critisism. I have compared D4F's prices with those supplied by Esignal and MyTrack, and the bid and offer prices were identical.

The above statement is based on watching CFD Single Price Windows in MarketMaker v5 of FTSE100 stocks. I haven't actually traded with D4F yet. The prices supplied by D4F were about a second behind Esignals/Mytrack but were always the same. D4F say the SB prices are the same as CFD ones, I haven't verified this.

What you say might be true for other stocks, as I have only checked some FTSE100 ones. I was talking to someone at the CMC seminar on Thursday and he said to ONLY trade FTSE 100 stocks as D4F is uncompetitive elsewhere. How can you justify what you say for FTSE100 stocks, given what I've seen? I'm planning to only trade FTSE100 stocks, so the fact that the outer-mongolian stocks' spreads are loose, doesn't bother me. Are orders actually filled at completely different prices than are shown in the Single Price Windows?

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

Take a gamble
6/10
"we have the tightest spreads around"....what they fail to mention is how far their entire spread is out the market! Spreadbetting is a gamblers game and deal4free will manage to consistently price you out of the market. Forget TA if you want to spread bet, because by the time your system has generated a long signal, you probably need to go short to work the spread.

If you have a query D4F will be there ready to answer with their online chat service .... unless it looks like answering it will make you loose less money - bast**ds.

This is a quick way of loosing money. Their CFD service is no better - they use practically the same spreads. STAY AWAY.

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

really?
5/10
deal4free maybe their name, but dealing for free you're definitely not.

their trading platform is simple and the tools they supply for analysis are useless along with their mediocre support, but hey! it's not about their support, it's about making a s*** load of money and driving your ferrari 360 spider in a year's time and living in the swankiest part of town where every one has a porter and a cook!

just as quickly as i've excited and made you stain yourself i'll have to knock you off your high horse to the real world. it's betting. they are a bookie. they rig the prices so you don't win. if you have balls of steel and go around saying: 'i'll be back.' you can take on a position over a long period of time to really capitalise because thats the kind of person that deal4free are aiming at; your balls have been replaced because you have been kicked in them so much yet you still keep coming back for more.

what does toilet paper in public toilets and arnold schwarzenegger have in common?

they're rough, they're tough, and they take no s***!

don't be a fool as you could end up cleaning public toilets when you're broke.

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

Deal4Free
3/10
I used this firm for a short time, their quoted prices can leave a lot to be desired, then they may re-quote which takes even more time. If you are trading inter-day by the time all of this nonsense is completed you may well have missed your trade and indeed find yourself very quickly testing your stop.

I found the trading platform to be very poor indeed with frequent loss of data.

The spreads are not as tight as you may think 4pts on each end plus 4pts for a CRB

re-cuoting
10/10
you have to be cerefull when they re-quote you .

you might see the spreads up-to 100 points for a stock of £8

Market Maker 5
9/10
10th Feb - Deal4Free release a new version of their software called MarketMaker 5.

Key differences and upgrades

1. The whole thing has Windows XP look and feel.

2. The product is much more flexible in the way it lets you organise data. e.g. you can now have individual prices, groups of prices, charts, and your realtime position all up and scattered around the screen in various different windows.

3. They have got their layouts working. So I can save an array of charts and prices in the exact place on the screen and get everything back exactly as I want it every time. e.g. I have a morning layout for European markets, an afternoon layout layout for the US, and a laptop layout for my laptops little screen. I can switch between the three layouts at the click of a button.

4. They've included stochastics in their charting. I've asked them to include CCI so hopefully that will come later. They've told me that they have a full time developer working on charts now so hopefully more improvements to come in the future.

Deal4Free
8/10
As a relative newcomer to D4F I initially found it quite cumbersome. However their back-up is good, although it does take some time to trade, then further time to enter a stop.
One big drawback I find is that if you close a trade you have to remember to cancel the stop, otherwise you finish up with a trade you didn't want.
Would not want to trade the Dow dailies on it, blink and you've missed several moves, I am too much of a novice as of yet.
Overall, service not bad. Their statements were confusing to someone not used to rolling bets, but once sorted out are very clear.

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

Not Keen
6/10
Ok for the smaller trader, but on large trades it is better to go with a broker rather than a bookie, feel uneasy knowing that when I win they lose...it is not in their interest for client sto do well.

Prefer being GNI Touch as I can use the order book for the auctions.

D4F
8/10
All peto has said plus:

Good for smaller bets (<£10/point) on UK FTSE100 shares because most of the time, there is no extra spread added on.

US share bets not so good: minimum spread is 5 and they frequently increase to 10 or 15 in volatile conditions. I have seen the spread jump to 100 e.g. EBAY and remain there for a minute or so.

And to repeat peto: scalping indices for < say 20 points will kill you.

D4F Spreadbet (and CFD)
8/10
Uses the almost the same quotes as D4F CFD, with spreads just 1 point wider in some instances. No bias although all index prices are based on futures prices so it might seem like there is if you are watching the actual index prices. Both have reasonable real-time charts but CFD charts are better.

Foreign Exchange prices are competitive with the open market (better at times) so a good choice for tax free FX dealing.

Index spreads are easily the best in the S B market (but still about twice what you'd find for true Futures). Fills can be very fast if you get automated service (about 1 second). In my experience auto-fills were usualy available during market hours on the major indexes on reasonably small bets, but sometimes very slow (30 secs?) outside of these times and on lesser indexes like the Spanish IBEX leading to re-quotes.

Trading Platform loads in 30 secs or so after initial downloading, is stable, allows limit/stops/oco. Account status is always 10 odd minutes out of date, irritatingly.

Customer Service is good

Due to the taxfree benefits I would reccommend them for FX trading; and Index trading if your time horizon is over 1 or 2 hours on open positions. For shorter term trades get a futures account as the spread will kill you!

Individual shares - can't comment, no experience

1 of 1 members found the following review helpful:

D4F
8/10
For UK stocks I think D4F are excellent. I wouldn't personally use any SB company for index trading now I have a real futures account.