More than one SB platform?

[bond_trader1]

One thing I would say is don't pay too much attention to what the websites say, they often have outdated information.

I setup an account with IG Index on the basis their website told me they had a spread of 2 on the Bund. As soon as I opened the account, I found the spread was 3.

I had a look at that PDF from TD Waterhouse. It says the NTR for the Dax is 125. I am almost certain this is WRONG since I have seen a friend trade this at £3 a tick with far less than £375 in there.

 

[the blades]

Hi blades,

Can you give me the specific spreads you want me to check out and I will do it for you and report it here.

Thanks,
BT1

BT1,

Try any FTSE250 stock......erm....Aggreko?

Cheers,
UTB

 

[Phil Mibbutz]

No-one's mentioned WorldSpreads and their 1 pip spreads (some increased to 2 now, sadly), or that TDW and Barclays SB are really City Index and that the platform is dreadful. Luckily, the £150 offer gives you just enough margin to find out at their expense!

 

[JTrader]

The disadvantage with SB fgor fx trading is the £1 per pip minimum stake size with most SB'ers.

With a retail fx broker like alpari for instance, you can trade micro-lots = to $0.1 per pip.

 

[bond_trader1]

BT1,

Try any FTSE250 stock......erm....Aggreko?

Cheers,
UTB

Aggreko's spread is 3.4 (559.3 - 562.7)

 

[bond_trader1]

No-one's mentioned WorldSpreads and their 1 pip spreads (some increased to 2 now, sadly), or that TDW and Barclays SB are really City Index and that the platform is dreadful. Luckily, the £150 offer gives you just enough margin to find out at their expense!

WorldSpreads have minimum account opening balances though which I believe are fairly large for the new trader.

I didn't know TDW and Barclays SB are really City Index...the platform is absolutely dreadful, you're right there. I believe they don't even offer any charting.

However, I haven't come across another SB company that lets you use unrealised profit as margin.

 

[bond_trader1]

I'll give you some examples of spreads - I'd love to know the CMC equivalents since I hear so much about them (and I've just found out that I can't access their platform without depositing money with them)

US Crude Oil (September) - 6
Live Cattle - 15
Soybean Meal - 8
Nikkei 225 - 20
GBP/JPY - 8

 

[options]

US Crude Oil (September) 6
Live Cattle 20 (Oct)
Soybean Meal 1 (SEP)
Nikkei 225 30 (cash)
GBP/JPY 8 (Cash)

These are of this morning, so if the market is not 'in play' the spread will be wider.

 

[bond_trader1]

Thanks Options!

So that kind of proves that CMC are equal or slightly worse in these markets

US Crude Oil (September) 6 ---------- EQUAL
Live Cattle 20 (Oct) ---------- ETRADE SPREAD BETTER BY 5 POINTS
Soybean Meal 1 (SEP) ---------- ETRADE SPREAD BETTER BY 2 POINTS
Nikkei 225 30 (cash) ---------- ETRADE SPREAD BETTER BY 10 POINTS
GBP/JPY 8 (Cash) ---------- EQUAL

 

[options]

As I say. If you took your readings at market open times then there will be a difference.
If you took them around about the same time as me then figs are correct.

 

[bond_trader1]

I did take them around the same time as you...

 

[the blades]

Aggreko's spread is 3.4 (559.3 - 562.7)

interesting. To really compare we'd need to look at both a the same time. My figures are averages and net off the market spread - which obviously will vary over time.

Maybe we could do a "live" comparison next week (I'm in the states this week and away from my platform).

Cheers,
UTB

PS - can you confirm that this was for a quarterly bet?

 

[bond_trader1]

interesting. To really compare we'd need to look at both a the same time. My figures are averages and net off the market spread - which obviously will vary over time.

Maybe we could do a "live" comparison next week (I'm in the states this week and away from my platform).

Cheers,
UTB

PS - can you confirm that this was for a quarterly bet?

Ahh - no, this was for the cash (rolling) price!

Quarterly are as follows:

September - 2.4 (561.7 - 564.1)
December - 3.2 (566.5 - 569.7)

Cash is now 2.1 spread

 

[the blades]

Ahh - no, this was for the cash (rolling) price!

Quarterly are as follows:

September - 2.4 (561.7 - 564.1)
December - 3.2 (566.5 - 569.7)

Cash is now 2.1 spread

right - and the market spread was about 1.0 at that time - giving a SB spread of around 1.4 - giving a spread of around .24%. So they're at least competative (if not better, though one swallow and all that...) than CMC. Is this on a credit account too?
Food for thought.

Cheers,
UTB

 

[bond_trader1]

Hi, I'm not sure what a credit account is...

 

[the blades]

Hi, I'm not sure what a credit account is...

you don't put up any margin - they credit your account with a "margin balance" and the margin requirement for each trade is deducted from this.
It then just limits the level of trading activity - though you can get plenty.

I have credit accounts with Fins, World and IG. CMC don't offer it.

It needs condidering for longer term traders such as myself, as there's a cost of lost interest that needs to be considered in the cost of trading.

CMC are still cheaper than the others for FTSE350 stocks. WS pip them for indices.

UTB

 

[JTrader]

i have accounts with most of the SB companies, though have only funded & traded from 2 of them - WS & CMC.

 

[lurkerlurker]

Margin requirements at TD Waterhouse are very high though.
If you are trading say:
GBP/USD it is £200 margin to trade £1 per tick
GBP/JPY it is £300 margin to trade £1 per tick
I think I can find much better margin requirements with their competition.

Also regarding the £150 free, it is not available until you place your first trade as mentioned on their website.

Actually, if you email them, they just put it in the account for you. I did this. I'm sorry to say that I just opened a limited risk with them for the £150 to see what their platform was like, and was not impressed. There is nothing remarkable about their range of instruments, spreads, margin requirements, executions, etc.

I placed a trade in cable, which lost, and I don't have enough margin left to trade anything else with them, and I don't see me trading with them in the future. It was very nice to get a paper statement and paper contract note from them though. I really should get around to closing the account since I won't be using it in the future.

 

[MoonlitBay]

Hi,

i'm going to start trading Forex soon, mainly on EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
any recommendations on SB companies that has nice spreads and good platform for trading Forex?

 

[lurkerlurker]

Hi,

i'm going to start trading Forex soon, mainly on EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
any recommendations on SB companies that has nice spreads and good platform for trading Forex?

The best spreads are with CMC Markets SB - they are even tighter than IG and I think CMC were in forex before SB. Good enough platform as well. Margin requirements are moderate. They have 24h markets on all pairs. Capital Spreads / E*Trade have slightly wider spreads, don't quote the minors out of hours, and appear to have an unresolved issue with manifestly incorrect prices on their FX feeds. TradIndex have forex spreads wide enough to drive a bus through (6 on daily EUR/USD for example!), and the margin requirements with City Index (Barclays FST, TDW SB) are very high. IG offer reasonable spreads, but not as tight as CMC.

Executions - can't comment on IG. CMC are pretty good - if you place an order you can cancel it at any time before it is filled. Capital Spreads / E*Trade have fairly good execution, however if your trade goes to a dealer you can be waiting 30 seconds for a fill and will only be filled if the price goes against you (CS have confirmed that is policy on these boards "as that is how it works in the real market" - with CMC you can cancel at any time). Spreads are narrower on CMC vs CS anyway.

Good luck with your FX trading. You might want to look into Finspreads, etc, as I can't comment on those. I believe worldspreads quotes EURUSD at 1 pip, and there are additionally some bucket shop forex brokers you might wish to try. Let us know what you decide.