Why Aren't UK Stocks Seen as Sexy?

[Helenqu]

Hi all,

It is amazing to me that so many people just discount UK stocks as not worth looking at. I agree that in terms of buying/selling short term all but those with the biggest accounts would find them uneconomic to short term trade. However spreadbetting gets over a lot of those problems and just look at the returns on simple UK stocks as seen in the Shareleague Comp on here.

I think it's about time we began to appreciate the local opportunities, especially those who are new traders.

 

[options]

Hi Helen.

Volume m8. More people are trading usa stocks, because they are fed up with such a raw deal in this country. I don't trade any uk stocks now. Simply not worth it to me.

Until the situation improves with better deals for the uk punter, it will continue to deteriorate.

Will the last person to leave please turn out the light and close the door?

 

[Helenqu]

I disagree O. If you trade FTSE100 and spreadbet then you have fair prices and liquidity, I really do think too many people just ignore what is on our doorstep because the US is seen as glamourous. Sounds better at dinner parties to say "I trade the US markets"

(Not deliberately stirring........)

 

[oatman]

When's the next dinner party :?: :cheesy:

 

[Helenqu]

I had the feeling FTSEBeater was organising one?

 

[theblackmamba]

this is my first post so please be gentle with me.
i have been trading uk mid 250 non sets shares for about 7 years now, and feel ive done ok out of it.
i momentum trade and look to be out of a position by the end of t10, although will take up if still going up.
over this period i have made over 4000 trades. as you can imagine the commissions, spreads, etc have built up to a large level. so 18 months ago i decided usa had lower commissions, spreads etc, . i jumped straight in(as believe paper trading makes me cheat) using my method and lost. over the 18 months i have tried umpteen different methods, and at best these have broken even, but overall lost. in the meantime the uk equity curve has increased with very small drawdown.
my frustrations ended 2 weeks ago when i decided, except for the odd investment like gold, im packing up trading in usa and concentrating only in uk. its not as if i didnt put the time and effort into succeding, as i was at it often at least 10 hours a day, and a couple of hours at weekends. i just couldnt do it.
funnily enough since packing it in, ive had my best 2 weeks in uk for over a year.
to summarize, i just want to agree with helenq that the uk mkt is forgotten, and there is money to be made in uk. i accept that the business costs(commissions, spreads) are higher, but i would prefer to have a rising equity curve even though have had to pay more rather than have lower business costs, but watch equity curve slide down.
the key imo is have an open mind.

 

[Helenqu]

Thank-you BM

 

[barjon]

Helen

I think UK stocks ARE sexy - you don't even have to stray
outside ftse 100 to pick up some good moves. Spikes are
a problem (for me anyway!) making it difficult to set stop
losses very close, but I expect it's the same in US although
some say it's a "purer" market in that respect.

Fly the flag I say.

good trading

jon

 

[bonsai]

we probably have to differentiate between 'trading' and 'scalping'

FT100 and FT250 are both very good for trading.
but the Uk being a smaller market does not give such good
intraday volatility or reliable volume ? with one or two exceptions.

And scalpers live on volatility ?

Personally I now only trade UK.

 

[Scripophilist]

I am an experianced investor of many years and originally started in my home land the UK but now most of my money is held in dollars. Why?

US is more liquid, dynamic and full of opportunties. Also when I set up a US brokerage account years ago, I suddenly could go short use margin and all sort of things I couldn't do in the UK. Also a big winner is that the costs are much lower. IMHO the US blasts the UK out of the water.

The universe of stocks is vast and it is much easier to find something that will fix your criteria in the US. A small cap in the US is usually measured in $100m increments not <£100m in the UK.

My migration was slow at first but with the dawn of the internet I now have much better access to conferance calls, reports and information than I do in the UK and again the quality and scale of this data is better and costs much less than the UK.

I do hold UK stocks but mainly to take advantage of tax positions and investment rationale such as Yeild.

To point an example. I am an investor in TOMKINS a UK company (well geographically speaking any how). But I hold most of my stock in US ADR's.

It's much cheaper for me to buy and reinvest through my US account than buy the stock in the UK. Daft but true.

When you look at stamp duty, dividend reinvestment and various other liabilities it makes no sense to invest in this company in the UK.

At some point the Government will realise that punishing investors in the UK (pre and post investment) is a sure fire way to ruin. Wake up Gordon. No chance.

 

[mully]

Given the 'day-trading' bias of this site, the imposition of 0.5% stamp duty is a significant hurdle to the sexyness of day-trading UK stocks.

However, as a position trader, the run since March has been very positive/fruitful. Just look at Corus, RSA, Amvescap, Spirent and Reuters just to name a few.

 

[bonsai]

Scriph
why would a socialist government do anything to promote
capitalism ?
in my opinion, stockmarket and other money management issues
should be on the syllabus for all 6th forms.

In the meantime 'punishing' investors fits well with the dogma
that 'profit' is a dirty word.

 

[neil]

Socialist !!!......Socialist !!!

No - I will not start an "off thread" debate here.

 

[Helenqu]

Yes behave yourselves! No politics in here please
I do think that the LSE being taken over by some new blood would be a positive step forwards, even a simple thing like data feed costs are crazy at the moment.

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi all

I have a slightly different take on trading the UK and US.

The US moves faster while the UK moves very slowly. The US is also more range bound with big daily moves so although there is plenty of movement, over days and weeks stocks don't move all that far. Now the UK moves slower and generally keeps going in one direction or another, so trading short-term US is best - on longer term the UK is best.

Why do I no longer trade UK.

Simple, I won't trade UK again until the LSE dinosuar gets taken over, re-formed or just dies. I'm making a stand :!:


Hi Helen

Could you imagine me ever organising a dinner
BTW hope you had a good holiday

 

[Helenqu]

Thanks Mark

I can imagine yes...................................

 

[tar]

old topic .... the same question i had ...

 

[blaser]

I've only recently started trading in shares so far all in the UK, started 3 months ago although I've 'studied' the market on and off for a few years. Considering the current climate and my inexperience I've faired pretty well. I've found myself not doing so well on the FTSE100, but really well on AIM shares averaging 30-45% gains on capital investment. The only reason I've started trading is to get better returns than the banks interest rates.
BTW any tips on where to look for info on US stocks? and which brokers to use?

cheers

 

[metals_trader]

not a big stocks trader only dablle a bit myself but i can answer this because what i trade is similar.
For example i trade the base metals such as copper or aluminium, which you dont hear a lot about yet every day you will hear traders talking about gold and how good it is to trade.
Mostly i would say its due to arcades which pumps out futures trading on mostly liffe and eurex products. Reasons for this are mostly due to the commision they make off this aswell as the low fees the trader pays.
LSE are very expensive in the fees they charge to traders compared to other exchanges so this is seen bad for a trader for example i know LSE charge 2 different fees which are one for passive trades and another for aggresive trades, and secondly commision for a trading firm is so low off LSE they would need you to be trading in the millions of shares each month.
Lastly also the margin requirement to trade cash equties compared to futures is a lot more.
So in short futures tend to be attractive for the reason they are cheaper not only as the products but what the exchanges also charge.

 

[Splitlink]

Hi Helen, long time no see,

I'm with you and Jon. I trade UK shares.

Split