IG Index question

[geewcee]

Hi, I've only been using IG Index for around a week - I have accounts at both Tradefair and Worldspreads.
Managing rolling positions profits/losses can be a pain on IG as positions close and re-open everyday. It seems to 'bank' your profits from your trades daily and then resets your overall profit to zero for the next days market opening.
Therefore I cant seem to see which positions have gained me the most profit overall. Both Tradefair and Worldspreads show your position and then current profit and loss next to it, no matter how long you have held the position open (days/weeks/months).
Any ideas? Is there a setting within their software which I can change?
Cheers!

 

[tar]

Hi, I've only been using IG Index for around a week - I have accounts at both Tradefair and Worldspreads.
Managing rolling positions profits/losses can be a pain on IG as positions close and re-open everyday. It seems to 'bank' your profits from your trades daily and then resets your overall profit to zero for the next days market opening.
Therefore I cant seem to see which positions have gained me the most profit overall. Both Tradefair and Worldspreads show your position and then current profit and loss next to it, no matter how long you have held the position open (days/weeks/months).
Any ideas? Is there a setting within their software which I can change?
Cheers!

IMHO realizing profits is a good thing so u can use the cash for margin requirements for new positions ...

 

[Hotch]

Go into the "my account" bit or whatever (the bit where you make withdrawals and deposits.

From there go preferences. The option to automatically roll your bets is there, you can also do it on the ticket I believe.

 

[geewcee]

Thanks Hotch thats great. Tar, I'm not so bothered about it realising the profit each day I just wish it would keep an ongoing record of how much a particular position has grown since it opened. The daily statement is more complicated than a suduko puzzle and I really havent got the time each day to make manual notes on it.
Cheers!

 

[alphahunter]

That's one drawback of IG Index. I update my holdings in a excel spreadsheet every day, using the "My Account > Transactions > Download History" menu so that I can compare each positions with their original entry price.

 

[shadowninja]

There's no way round it. I spoke to them about it about 3 years ago and they effectively said that is how it is.

 

[kavsp]

Just noted down the entry price of your position, and subsequent rolls as "alphahunter" says, download in a spreadsheet and in a few clicks you can work out what the position is actually in profit including all the rollovers/mark to markets etc

Like "tar" I agree that them resetting things everyday is better as it can act as an early warning system if things aren't going your way on a particular day, help with Margin, and stops you from overtrading because you know what you have as opposed to what you had.

 

[alphahunter]

kavsp
I looks like I did not explain myself well. Apologies, it was late at night !
Bar a few exceptions, my positions are rolled-over daily. But as I look at my "Open Positions" tab, I don't know whether I'm in profit or not (or more accurately by how much) at a stock level from the date of inception (e.g not since yesterday's close) in the portfolio. Hence the download.

From the margin perspective it does not change anything since IG uses current market values to calculate calls (or in their speak "deposits") . They used to calculate them from daily market values at close, but changed this to real-time/intraday market values about a year ago I think.

 

[kavsp]

@alphahunter
Wires crossed I think... I will illustrate what I meant / understood by way of example of an actual trade I have done with them (although I haven't closed it yet):

Say I enter LONG GBPUSD @15692.20 (6/12/10 9:39am)
They rolled it at 8pm by - close @ 15717.70 and open @ 15718.55 (cost of 0.85 pips) (6/12/10)
They rolled it at 8pm by - close @ 15768.30 and open @ 15769.16 (cost of 0.86 pips) (7/12/10)
Lets say I closed the trade today @ 15789.70 (now) 5:25pm

Which means total profit is worked out like:
Gross = 15789.70 - 15692.20 = 97.50 pips
Net = 97.5 - 0.85 - 0.86 = 95.79 pips
Multiply that by the number of £/p traded at to make the £ profit.

So thats how I was talking about keeping the records, so that one knows what the actual position cost, obviously some instruments may have positive rolls and that would mean the position would get "cheaper".

 

[MaxiV]

There's no way round it. I spoke to them about it about 3 years ago and they effectively said that is how it is.

i agree... i have been using IGIndex for years.... just the way they do rolling trades. I guess you will have to sum up all the daily trades to see your daily p/l ( can do this on a day-to-day basis). Also, you can download the data of your trades to an Excel spread sheet and summate the totals ( its not that fiddly if you know your PC).

 

[Hoggums]

If you want your P&L to remain overnight then you'll have to trade the futures. You'll pay extra spread but if you hold positions long term you will be compensated by lower (equivalent) overnight rolling charges.

I also think this is probably a sensible stance by IG, it effectively marks-to-market trades so stops punters running up huge unrealised losses, which given the likes of spanish and medbs is no bad thing.

 

[kavsp]

If you want your P&L to remain overnight then you'll have to trade the futures. You'll pay extra spread but if you hold positions long term you will be compensated by lower (equivalent) overnight rolling charges.

I also think this is probably a sensible stance by IG, it effectively marks-to-market trades so stops punters running up huge unrealised losses, which given the likes of spanish and medbs is no bad thing.

Agree totally with this!

 

[alphahunter]

.... for the punters who believe that a loss is not a loss if it hasn't been realised. Are there still many around?

 

[liberati]

What's the length of trade (approx) for a futures bet to be more beneficial than the rolling daily from an overnight financing point of view?