INCREDIBLE......................... THE SHEER COINCIDENCE OF IT ALL....................
FortunateIy, I was not in a trade with Finspreads at the time - BUT - at approximately 14-00pm their site went down!!!!! They really do need to consider investing in a better internet service provider and their professional image - do they not?
At the same time unbelievably, the GBP\USD (I know it's bizarre is it not?) suddenly rose within 10 minutes (from a low of 1.9526 to a high of 1.9558) approximately 32 points whilst the connection to their server was unavailable.
Gee, I bet those guys at Finspreads wished that they could cope more professinally with their customers needs....
What's your take?
FortunateIy, I was not in a trade with Finspreads at the time - BUT - at approximately 14-00pm their site went down!!!!! They really do need to consider investing in a better internet service provider and their professional image - do they not?
At the same time unbelievably, the GBP\USD (I know it's bizarre is it not?) suddenly rose within 10 minutes (from a low of 1.9526 to a high of 1.9558) approximately 32 points whilst the connection to their server was unavailable.
Gee, I bet those guys at Finspreads wished that they could cope more professinally with their customers needs....
What's your take?
THE END
A few days ago I got a call from a gent from Finspreads. They could see that I had withdrawn my funds , and correctly understood it to be because of the troubles I had experienced with their service. I outlined my complaint, and told him I was on the point of writing. He asked me to send the letter which I did.
Yesterday he called again. I was offered half of the debit back- £1875. The total debit being £3750. I was not happy with the offer.
I said that I thought that Finspreads should accept liability for their service, because they had placed me in an untenable position by their interuption in the data supply. I said that I was prepared to forget about the £4750 I would have made on the day, had I not been forced to get out of the trade.
I would rather have a quick resolution than a prolonged dispute, which I may not win anyway. And of course it was nice to offer something in return.
The gent from Finspreads agreed and has now returned my £3750. Today, 19 January, the funds have been returned to my account.
Finspreads are happy, and I am happy. I would like to say thanks to all who have usefully contributed to this thread.
Good luck out there
Ian
A few days ago I got a call from a gent from Finspreads. They could see that I had withdrawn my funds , and correctly understood it to be because of the troubles I had experienced with their service. I outlined my complaint, and told him I was on the point of writing. He asked me to send the letter which I did.
Yesterday he called again. I was offered half of the debit back- £1875. The total debit being £3750. I was not happy with the offer.
I said that I thought that Finspreads should accept liability for their service, because they had placed me in an untenable position by their interuption in the data supply. I said that I was prepared to forget about the £4750 I would have made on the day, had I not been forced to get out of the trade.
I would rather have a quick resolution than a prolonged dispute, which I may not win anyway. And of course it was nice to offer something in return.
The gent from Finspreads agreed and has now returned my £3750. Today, 19 January, the funds have been returned to my account.
Finspreads are happy, and I am happy. I would like to say thanks to all who have usefully contributed to this thread.
Good luck out there
Ian
splorff said:
Very pleased for you. You were very fortunate, learn the lesson and use stops because you will get more site crashes in the future!
My opinion is that at 100 pounds per point, go to a direct access broker. I see no point in changing for another spreadbetting company.
Good Luck
Split
Jack o'Clubs
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,554
- Likes
- 342
Splorff,
Well done with your perserverance - it paid off in the end. Just to add to Spitlink's comment, also remember (apologies if you were already well aware) that £100 on the Dow is equivalent to putting about £1.25million in the underlying. You need to consider whether that is a level of exposure you are comfortable with, whichever platform you end up using.
Well done with your perserverance - it paid off in the end. Just to add to Spitlink's comment, also remember (apologies if you were already well aware) that £100 on the Dow is equivalent to putting about £1.25million in the underlying. You need to consider whether that is a level of exposure you are comfortable with, whichever platform you end up using.
Phil Mibbutz
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,860
- Likes
- 58
Great result, splorff. When I withdrew my remaining funds (a comparatively modest amount, but the principle's the same) after a similar incident, they didn't seem in the least bit bothered to be losing a punter. Maybe they're realising that treating people with contempt will eventually mean they won't have any customers left?
Jack o'Clubs said:
Glad you made that point! Put that way, you show the risk in its proper perspective. With such stakes you have GOT to be right the first time--no room for mistakes or systems such as being right x times out of ten.
Split
Splitlink said:
Hi Splitlink. Can I really expect an interupted streaming data service from pay sites such as Sierra. I thought these folks really would have their fingers on the pulse.
Yes I will be using stop losses too ! So what about the spikes ? How do you cope with them?
frugi
1
- Messages
- 1,843
- Likes
- 133
Trading £100 per point is the equivalent of buying the underlying stocks that make up the Dow 30 to the tune of £1.25m (assuming Dow is 12500).
If Dow falls 1% i.e 125 points you lose £100 x 125 or £12500, which is the same as 1% of a £1.25m position in the actual stocks.
If Dow falls 1% i.e 125 points you lose £100 x 125 or £12500, which is the same as 1% of a £1.25m position in the actual stocks.
splorff said:
Sierra never gave me any trouble--neither did IB's data download to them. But you may go blind for a while, if a site crashes on you, just like it did with Fins. You already know that that is an unpleasant experience and one to be avoided.
IB give the hint that such a thing could happen by advising against using trailing stops, the reason being that these stops are monitored by IB, not the exchange, where all the other stops are registered. So, If IB goes down and you have a trailing stop on, it won't be triggered or quaranteed. This is very extreme and trailing stops remain popular.
Spikes?
I haven't figured that out yet!I found Sierra very friendly, by the way, and they gave me a free month (then). With a free data feed from IB, that will give you time to sort yourself out with regard to where you want to get your data.
Split
JTrader
Guest
- Messages
- 5,741
- Likes
- 507
Hi splorff
I can strongly recommend that you subscribe to Tradestation charts - now version 8.2. Tradestation has got to be one of the best, if not the best charting platforms around. It is better than esignal and sharescope in my opinion, and esignal and sharescope seem to have had better reviews than Sierra Charts and other 'budget' chartingh services.
Tradestation covers all US markets, which is fine for you if you trade the Dow.
If you can afford to trade £100 per point on the Dow, you obviously have a bit of money tooked away, maybe you won the lottery, maybe you have built up to earning the right to trade this size, through regular consistent profits and compounding of profits, or perhaps you have worked hard through highly paid jobs and are now trying your hand at trading.......I don't know.........
but paying a bit more for a better charting service is worthwhile. In any case tradestation 8.2 is not expensive.
Please don't think i am being funny, I only have your interests at heart, but as people have said, £100 per point is a very big positon to trade, and on must be aware of this. From the questions and comments you have posted on this thread, you do not give me the impression of a person who is an advanced trader - .i.e. you traded the Dow at £100 per point via a dial-up internet connection for starters, you were trading with Finspreads with a 6-point spread on the Dow, whereas you could have had a 1-5 pip spread at worldspreads, and your questions/comments charting packages..............
Please don't think I am being funny or trying to sound patronising, you may well be a highly profitable trader with a long history of success. But if you are a person who has money to spare, but doesn't as yet have a great command of the world of trading or financial markets in general, no matter how deep your pockets and how big your bank balance, wouldn't it be better, and show a more disciplined and strategic path of development to trade much smaller sizes - i.e. £5 per point or less, and earn the right to trade at £100 per point through consistent profits and compounding of profits?
Whether you are trading £1 per point or £100 per point, the trade size is unimportant, I think it is much better to think in terms of points/pips profit/loss and not ££££££££££££££££££'s - no matter what stage of a trading career you are at.
It is not the size of the trade stake sizes, and £ profit/loss that matters or impresses, it is the number of points profit/loss, the discipline demonstrated in ones trading plan - ie. 1-2% maximum capital risk per trade.
Therefore in my mind, the trader who makes £100 per week trading at £1 per point, always sticking to their maxium capital risk per trade, never letting their maximum stop-loss level pass them by without exiting their trade, is a far more successful trader than the trader who trades at £50 per point, and makes 20 pips profit per week - if both of the traders traded on the same timeframe, and used the same stop-loss sizes.
I can also recommend you get a UPS (universal power supply) which give you a few minutes of back-up battery supplied time to exit any trades in the event of a power failure. Belkin do some some good ones for about £35, Mine has 6 plug sockets, 3 of which provide battery back-up, all 6 are surge protected.
All the best.
I can strongly recommend that you subscribe to Tradestation charts - now version 8.2. Tradestation has got to be one of the best, if not the best charting platforms around. It is better than esignal and sharescope in my opinion, and esignal and sharescope seem to have had better reviews than Sierra Charts and other 'budget' chartingh services.
Tradestation covers all US markets, which is fine for you if you trade the Dow.
If you can afford to trade £100 per point on the Dow, you obviously have a bit of money tooked away, maybe you won the lottery, maybe you have built up to earning the right to trade this size, through regular consistent profits and compounding of profits, or perhaps you have worked hard through highly paid jobs and are now trying your hand at trading.......I don't know.........
but paying a bit more for a better charting service is worthwhile. In any case tradestation 8.2 is not expensive.
Please don't think i am being funny, I only have your interests at heart, but as people have said, £100 per point is a very big positon to trade, and on must be aware of this. From the questions and comments you have posted on this thread, you do not give me the impression of a person who is an advanced trader - .i.e. you traded the Dow at £100 per point via a dial-up internet connection for starters, you were trading with Finspreads with a 6-point spread on the Dow, whereas you could have had a 1-5 pip spread at worldspreads, and your questions/comments charting packages..............
Please don't think I am being funny or trying to sound patronising, you may well be a highly profitable trader with a long history of success. But if you are a person who has money to spare, but doesn't as yet have a great command of the world of trading or financial markets in general, no matter how deep your pockets and how big your bank balance, wouldn't it be better, and show a more disciplined and strategic path of development to trade much smaller sizes - i.e. £5 per point or less, and earn the right to trade at £100 per point through consistent profits and compounding of profits?
Whether you are trading £1 per point or £100 per point, the trade size is unimportant, I think it is much better to think in terms of points/pips profit/loss and not ££££££££££££££££££'s - no matter what stage of a trading career you are at.
It is not the size of the trade stake sizes, and £ profit/loss that matters or impresses, it is the number of points profit/loss, the discipline demonstrated in ones trading plan - ie. 1-2% maximum capital risk per trade.
Therefore in my mind, the trader who makes £100 per week trading at £1 per point, always sticking to their maxium capital risk per trade, never letting their maximum stop-loss level pass them by without exiting their trade, is a far more successful trader than the trader who trades at £50 per point, and makes 20 pips profit per week - if both of the traders traded on the same timeframe, and used the same stop-loss sizes.
I can also recommend you get a UPS (universal power supply) which give you a few minutes of back-up battery supplied time to exit any trades in the event of a power failure. Belkin do some some good ones for about £35, Mine has 6 plug sockets, 3 of which provide battery back-up, all 6 are surge protected.
All the best.
Last edited:
Following on
I have been reading the various replies to Splorff. In doing so it makes me glad that I join Trade2win, I join with the purpose of benefiting from other traders experience and Knowledge of which there seems to be ample here. My present position is I have a system which I`ve paper traded with stops and profit targets. Of course this is only the bottom rung of the ladder in a sense ,since I now have to find out how well it will work real time,how do I deal with problems like Splorffs and how will I cope psychologically. The other stumbling block I have, is that I have I full time shift job ( I am planning to take some time out at the end of the year.I am at a critical point in my life I do not want to still be doing the job I am doing currently. I have been drawn to shares/investing and have been dabbling for some 20 years now I have a wife and two young kids so obviously I need to carefully plan every step and be realistic that is why I am not rushing to try my system ). Since my system is day trading ,right now I do not have time to start trading but what I do have time to do is to prepare my software needs ,broker requirement etc. Yes there is a question with all this. The first of many to come, is there a good book detailing software ,back-up requirements and things mention by Splitlink and others about direct access brokers and trading futures as opposed to dailies and standard spread betting firms? Thank-you in anticipation. Apologies for the poor grammer,not a strong point.
frugi said:
I have been reading the various replies to Splorff. In doing so it makes me glad that I join Trade2win, I join with the purpose of benefiting from other traders experience and Knowledge of which there seems to be ample here. My present position is I have a system which I`ve paper traded with stops and profit targets. Of course this is only the bottom rung of the ladder in a sense ,since I now have to find out how well it will work real time,how do I deal with problems like Splorffs and how will I cope psychologically. The other stumbling block I have, is that I have I full time shift job ( I am planning to take some time out at the end of the year.I am at a critical point in my life I do not want to still be doing the job I am doing currently. I have been drawn to shares/investing and have been dabbling for some 20 years now I have a wife and two young kids so obviously I need to carefully plan every step and be realistic that is why I am not rushing to try my system ). Since my system is day trading ,right now I do not have time to start trading but what I do have time to do is to prepare my software needs ,broker requirement etc. Yes there is a question with all this. The first of many to come, is there a good book detailing software ,back-up requirements and things mention by Splitlink and others about direct access brokers and trading futures as opposed to dailies and standard spread betting firms? Thank-you in anticipation. Apologies for the poor grammer,not a strong point.
stevespray
Experienced member
- Messages
- 1,289
- Likes
- 156
Finspreads have been down for around 40 minutes now...... Genuine technical problems or 'economic decision' to prevent punters making easy money in fast trending conditions which swallow spreads in a single tick?
Steve.
Steve.
stevespray said:
Steve.. Welcome to the world of spreadbetting... yet another example of why I believe it is ridiculous to trade with such companies... I am surprised these things go unoticed.
Do yourself a favor, get a proper broker account like IB or optionexpress and leave that world behind..since I did, I dont get all that nonsense and today youd have made around 100 points shorting the Dow let alone the previous days..
Remember, they are CASINOs they are not investment houses really.
Good luck
Paul
