Capital Spreads platform

[Windsor House]

Is anybody having similar poor experiences with the Capital Spreads platform. During my period of "demo trading" I frequently experienced problems when trying to close a position. The drop down closing window from the 'open trades' screen displayed figures miles out from the actual profit/loss displyed in the bottom right hand corner. If you did in fact close the bet, the result would be (usually) a debit to your account instead of a credit. Did not matter too much since it was paper trading. Having started live trading yesterday the same things happend twice. Luckily for me each time I was in profit and by the time I got through on the phone to a trader at CS and closed my bets, I was still in the black but less so. What if I had been on the losing end of a volatile move against my position! Frightening to say the least! I wrote in a nice email of complaint to the boss but only got a reply from a guy saying that they had studied my account and could not see any problems. The platform obviously has some technical problems at present. Why can they not just admit this and recommend that we telephone trade (which I don't like) until it is fixed. Am I the only one having these difficulties?

 

[Black Swan]

use IGIndex instead, hope this helps

 

[Masquerade]

In my opinion if you are even half serious about making money from spreadbetting you need to leave capital spreads and trade elsewhere

Edited for accuracy.

 

[ceydababy]

Is anybody having similar poor experiences with the Capital Spreads platform. During my period of "demo trading" I frequently experienced problems when trying to close a position. The drop down closing window from the 'open trades' screen displayed figures miles out from the actual profit/loss displyed in the bottom right hand corner. If you did in fact close the bet, the result would be (usually) a debit to your account instead of a credit. Did not matter too much since it was paper trading. Having started live trading yesterday the same things happend twice. Luckily for me each time I was in profit and by the time I got through on the phone to a trader at CS and closed my bets, I was still in the black but less so. What if I had been on the losing end of a volatile move against my position! Frightening to say the least! I wrote in a nice email of complaint to the boss but only got a reply from a guy saying that they had studied my account and could not see any problems. The platform obviously has some technical problems at present. Why can they not just admit this and recommend that we telephone trade (which I don't like) until it is fixed. Am I the only one having these difficulties?

Not defending CS here. Mr Denham is big enough and ugly enough to do it himself. With regard to Trades being rejected I have had this happen. It's frustrating. However, it' s happened on winners and losers. I don't imagine they've got their computer setup to screw over acount 21789 when it takes a trade. The biggest clue that they don't like your trading and it's probably a sign to move on is if you get put on to dealer referal.

I do believe if this happens you're on a sticky wicket. If you go to your trade history and the name is "John" you're being traded by the CS computer. I've only ever gone at sizes up to £10 with CS and am still being traded by "John" occasionaly I get a dealer name but ironically those fills are often better and don't get rejected.

Generally though, it's time to move on if you're on dealer intervention. If you want faster spot on execution go to IG and pay an extra point in spread.

In terms of the P&L not updating quickly, again a bit of an annoyance, but keep your eye on the bid/offer and not the P&L. If I'm short at 10 @£10 a point and the offer is 0 I don't need a P&L to tell me I'm £100 up.

 

[Black Swan]

TBH I wouldn't give something so serious a second chance and am therefore amazed that anyone returns to an SB company they have had a bad experience with. Move on.

 

[si1503]

I stopped having trades dealed by John months ago. Since then I have not noticed any major problems, perhaps slightly longer delays in placing/closing trades, but in general, the platform is still useable. IG has similar, if not better spreads on forex than CS, however CS is better for crude with their fixed 5 ticks. I use both interchangably depending upon what I am trading and the spreads offered. As mentioned there were major issues with the CS website today, however this is quite uncommon in my experience.

 

[Trader1UK]

Im also testing CS and afew others live, if i do experience any problems i shall close my account and use another. Glitches do happen once in a while, ive experienced them too, but if it happens constantly and affects my bottom line then its bye bye.

 

[ceydababy]

TBH I wouldn't give something so serious a second chance and am therefore amazed that anyone returns to an SB company they have had a bad experience with. Move on.

When I wasn't so happy with my methods and trades went wrong I found that the CS platform was an easy scapegoat. It's easy to blame CS for a trade reject on the trade that "Would have" made you 100 points.

Now I realise if I miss a few points because a trade was rejected it's not the end of the world. I also PROMISE that I have had trades rejected when the price has moved against me so I guess if you net it out it works out to about even.

I'm not defending CS, but lets be honest. If you were making $$$$ that they couldn't hedge, they'd probably just slap you on to dealer. I don't go with the conspiracy theories that SB Firms be that CS or anyone are out to get you. If you're on dealer referal then it's time to leave.

 

[si1503]

Si55, that is really what it comes down to, personally I do not feel the glitches at CS have effected my bottom line much, if at all. Yes they are fustrating at times but as the saying goes "if it is not broke..."

ceydababy, why is dealer referral such a bad thing? As far as I am aware that means they are hedging your positions as opposed to playing you against their book. Dealer referral means that a dealer must authorise the trade, it is not like they start giving you different prices to that on your screen/chart/the exchange, if your trade is onside by 50 pts it is onside by 50 pts. It amazes me why people think that SB companies would want rid of good traders, they just have to ensure they hedge them fully and can profit from the spread rip.

 

[ceydababy]

Si55, that is really what it comes down to, personally I do not feel the glitches at CS have effected my bottom line much, if at all. Yes they are fustrating at times but as the saying goes "if it is not broke..."

ceydababy, why is dealer referral such a bad thing? As far as I am aware that means they are hedging your positions as opposed to playing you against their book. Dealer referral means that a dealer must authorise the trade, it is not like they start giving you different prices to that on your screen/chart/the exchange, if your trade is onside by 50 pts it is onside by 50 pts. It amazes me why people think that SB companies would want rid of good traders, they just have to ensure they hedge them fully and can profit from the spread rip.

I got put on to dealer with World spreads. That was my only experience of it. For short term trading it was an utter nightmare. I would chose to sell at 40 the market would go to 50 and they'd put me in. If it dropped I would get a requote at 30. This happened time and time again.

I have the occasional trade go through a dealer with CS and I haven't had that problem. IT's usually FanFan or Henrik who fill me and TBH I've not noticed a difference. At World Spreads it was causing me a major problem.

 

[Windsor House]

Thanks for all the useful comments. I would like to clarify that my trades were not 'rejected' but that the drop down closing box would just not show the correct price - it froze for anything up to 10 minutes!

 

[poborsky]

Hi John have you had a look at paddypower, its the same platform as capital spreads just about. I have never had any problems getting filled, normally it is very fast and on the odd occasion it has been slow to fill my position it has taken my trade even though it was going in my favor. Spreads are just about the same. i usually trade small amounts so I cant comment on what happens with dealer referral etc.