Finspreads/Cap Spreads/Fills & probs

[Elbie]

Hi,

Started trading today after quite a break. I thought I'd test something on daytrading - something I have always steered clear of up to now (I'd rather lose my money more slowly on end of day!)

I had a Finspreads account anyway but thought I'd open up a Cap Spreads one due to better spreads and feedback on T2W. Unfortunatly I had repeated probs getting the platform stable. I phoned up my ISP (I tried it using Vista, XP, diff sec, 3 PCs in the house, etc) but no luck so had to go back to Finspreads.

I placed an order to trigger 1.9938 for GBP/USD this morning. Price shot through this and showed 50 pts above trigger. My icon showed my order had been triggered but no guarantee on price. After 5 mins still onthing so I phoned them. Spoke to a helpful lady but she told me I been filled at 1.9982 (still a 15 pt profit at the time). While still waiting for this to change to my active orders the price starting going down but because I no "active" orders I was unable to close it. As soon as it finally appeared on my active list (after 10 mins from trigger) I clsed straight away for the grand sum of 1pt profit, compared to a paper potential of 60+.

Ignoring guaranteed orders (how much are these by the way, and do you pay for them when the order is triggered??) my question is this - is this typical? Any thoughts on how to avoid a repeat? Kind of defeats the object of day trading if I am waiting 10 mins before a fill shows!

I have wrote to Finspreads, but thought I'd ask you guys as you have real experience and arn't biased to see if you have had anything similar or have I just been unlucky. The time i traded was near one of annoucements, looking back, so are there volume issues?!

Many thanks, and apols for length of post.

 

[trader_dante]

Hi,

Started trading today after quite a break. I thought I'd test something on daytrading - something I have always steered clear of up to now (I'd rather lose my money more slowly on end of day!)

I had a Finspreads account anyway but thought I'd open up a Cap Spreads one due to better spreads and feedback on T2W. Unfortunatly I had repeated probs getting the platform stable. I phoned up my ISP (I tried it using Vista, XP, diff sec, 3 PCs in the house, etc) but no luck so had to go back to Finspreads.

I placed an order to trigger 1.9938 for GBP/USD this morning. Price shot through this and showed 50 pts above trigger. My icon showed my order had been triggered but no guarantee on price. After 5 mins still onthing so I phoned them. Spoke to a helpful lady but she told me I been filled at 1.9982 (still a 15 pt profit at the time). While still waiting for this to change to my active orders the price starting going down but because I no "active" orders I was unable to close it. As soon as it finally appeared on my active list (after 10 mins from trigger) I clsed straight away for the grand sum of 1pt profit, compared to a paper potential of 60+.

Ignoring guaranteed orders (how much are these by the way, and do you pay for them when the order is triggered??) my question is this - is this typical? Any thoughts on how to avoid a repeat? Kind of defeats the object of day trading if I am waiting 10 mins before a fill shows!

I have wrote to Finspreads, but thought I'd ask you guys as you have real experience and arn't biased to see if you have had anything similar or have I just been unlucky. The time i traded was near one of annoucements, looking back, so are there volume issues?!

Many thanks, and apols for length of post.

Hi Elbie,
Unfortunately, your experience is typical of Finspreads. This used to happen to me all the time with them. There is usually a small delay between your order being executed and it showing up in your open positions but when the market is moving fast it can take several minutes. You can use a guaranteed stop to get you out of a position but not in to a position. Prices can be found on the company website. From personal experience, I would say Finspreads are getting worse and worse. I would suggest trying someone else again. I use E*Trade. I highly recommend them.
Tom

 

[Elbie]

Thanks for above reply.

I decided to try again today again (I know - I should know better!) and an almost similar experience.

This time I got filled at the right level (whoo-hoo) but it took 8 mins to register as an active order. Once again I closed the trade as it was going the wrong way. I could (and would have) bailed out at + 30 pts but had to settle for +17pts because I couldn't close it.

In summary, from 2 trades, I have a profit of 18pts compared to a potential one of 90pts purely due to Finpsreads less than speedy platform. I have new PC, broadband, etc so I know its not my end!

I'm spending the rest of day reading theT2W site and looking at E*trade and seeing if I can get CS to work...

I have, again, wrote to Finspreads and will cheerfully print their reply if anyones interested.

 

[hornblower]

Thanks for above reply.

I decided to try again today again (I know - I should know better!) and an almost similar experience.

This time I got filled at the right level (whoo-hoo) but it took 8 mins to register as an active order. Once again I closed the trade as it was going the wrong way. I could (and would have) bailed out at + 30 pts but had to settle for +17pts because I couldn't close it.

In summary, from 2 trades, I have a profit of 18pts compared to a potential one of 90pts purely due to Finpsreads less than speedy platform. I have new PC, broadband, etc so I know its not my end!

I'm spending the rest of day reading theT2W site and looking at E*trade and seeing if I can get CS to work...

I have, again, wrote to Finspreads and will cheerfully print their reply if anyones interested.

just close your account, they are doing this all the time,
and they will do it again, and again

 

[Jen]

Hi Elbie

Sounds frustrating. I use Echelon and find it quite user friendly. I generally do end of day trading so I'm placing orders with stop losses. The minute they are filled, they come up on my screen and once they are stopped out or closed, this also shows up.

When trading live, it will tell you what you will be buying/selling at, and you have a choice to either proceed with the order or not. Again once this is done, it shows up live on the screen.

Although I haven't really explored any other companies, I will say that I can sometimes be an impatient techno-savvy person , and Echelon hasn't managed to annoy me yet!

Hope this helps!

 

[Elbie]

Thanks for above posts. Certainly have some ideas as alternatives.

I have STILL not received any explanation or reply from Finspreads and so, following the advice of others and my own experiences, I will say good bye to Finspreads and join the masses who rightly say they are rubbish for day trading.

In todays competition heavy industry, I really have trouble understanding their attitude, unless its just old fashioned complacency and misplaced arrogance...