Current price differs by up to 5 pips at different bokers - any explanation to this?

[Bint_Crusher]

Your broker according to the BBC is your BITCH, and this proves it. He is taking your money quicker than you can rip the skirt off a prostitute. (If that is your thing).
Brokers can fill you at whatever price they like, and can also stop you out if you are taking too much in the way of profits.

 

[ChocolateDigestive]

i may be being naive or stupid here (im sure someone will tell me if i am) but if you look at capital spreads fsa register number on their website (3218125) it is actually 1 digit too long if you look on the fsa register all numbers are only 6 digits.... curious??

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but in this case def naive and a little bit stupid. The firm you mention is regulated by the FSA. If you think the FSA are going to protect you from SB's taking your money then think again. SB can quote whatever price they want, up to you if you take it. I can assure you if it's remotely complicated or if it can be made to seem complicated the regulator doesn't have a clue.

 

[ChocolateDigestive]

SB's can take money from you by messing with prices but for the most part they don't need to and dont - certainly I have seen very little evidence of price tampering with the SB I have an account with. Most SB punters are under capitalised and use tight stops. The fun and games in the underlying market is normally sufficient for them to take your money with no messing with price. capiche

I would stop thinking about price manipulation as something underhand. With an SB price manipulation could certainly be termed underhand but in the underlying market manipulation happens all the time. If you have deep pockets and you need to make money from the market you have to find someway of getting the smaller players to buy from you and then sell back to you at a lower price. You could call this manipulation but it's what happens day in day out.

This is why you need a huge edge to trade SB's profitably. You are trading an overlay of the underlying market which is being 'manipulated' perhaps with more manipulation on top along with wider spreads. capiche