Is iii.co.uk spreadbetting or DMA?

johnnn

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Is iii.co.uk spreadbetting? Or DMA in an SB wrapper? I.e. is scalping OK or would it be viewed as trying to pick the bookie's pocket??
 
No spread betting firm offers DMA. The prices are always their own market.
 
Thanks. So where can I get retail DMA (e.g. on Dow or related) where my profits aren't the firm's losses?
 
Any recommended firms for retail scalping of Dow or related? I'm in UK. Some have recommended interactivebrokers. Any good, or crap?
 
Any recommended firms for retail scalping of Dow or related? I'm in UK. Some have recommended interactivebrokers. Any good, or crap?

Look up the thread by Interactive Brokers UK on T2W.
If you search this site first you will often find answers to your questions.
 
ProSpreads.com ,If they are not, they are very very close to offering DMA as a spread bet and their Equities are DMA.
I'm a bit turned off by the way ProSpreads pitch. See here for an undated review/advert. They also refer to a 5 point spread on the Dow narrowing to 3 points on the 201st lot in a month (if I've read that right). How can you scalp against a 3-point spread? That's certainly too wide for the system I've been testing.

What spread on the Dow do IB (UK) offer? I couldn't find any straightforward statement at their website, amid all the hype! And can someone confirm that the IB offering (on the Dow) is real DMA and not 'DMA-like'?
 
IB are not about hype, they're about offering real traders a real service.

They also only offer exchange based products so the bid-offer is the same for everyone, regardless of size or reputation.

I don't trade the Dow but I'd think it was 1-2 ticks on the ETF and 1 tick on the future.
 
I'm a bit turned off by the way ProSpreads pitch. See here for an undated review/advert. They also refer to a 5 point spread on the Dow narrowing to 3 points on the 201st lot in a month (if I've read that right). How can you scalp against a 3-point spread? That's certainly too wide for the system I've been testing.

What spread on the Dow do IB (UK) offer? I couldn't find any straightforward statement at their website, amid all the hype! And can someone confirm that the IB offering (on the Dow) is real DMA and not 'DMA-like'?
I looked at the Mini Dow spreads and tough to scalp, but where PS are different as it is said there are no requotes, when you get quoted by the others they may make you 2-3 pip spread then another 2-3 when you want to get out, but if they fill you within seconds then you know they have read you right and got a couple of pips on you already. With PS your spreads are fixed so you know what your paying on top of the mkt price which is actual mkt price as i have tested this against my old TT platform.
 
What spread on the Dow do IB (UK) offer? I couldn't find any straightforward statement at their website, amid all the hype! And can someone confirm that the IB offering (on the Dow) is real DMA and not 'DMA-like'?[/QUOTE]

I don't know if they charge spreads as well or only comissions. They might stick with the commissions only policy, as they do it even with Forex (where every broker as found an opportunity to squeeze up its costumers accounts). But, with or without spreads, the very idea of scalping with a CFD sounds awkward to me, to say the least.
It seems to be clear that if you trade the market you can scalp the very bid/offer spread, by acting as a market maker and "quoting" your own prices. But if you trade the CFD, with or without spreads, the quote will always be taken from the market, so you're just there looking at the market and waiting for it to come to you. Althought there are many other advantages to trade the market; using a CFD for, say, volatility strategies wouldn't sound reasonable, but for scalping that's really not the path I would take.
 
Put it this way, if 90% of traders lose then 98% of scalpers will lose unless they've got the best setups behind them and that therefore knocks out almost everyone out with a £400 Dell and a BT internet connection (1st 3 months 50% off!).

DMA, non-DMA it doesn't really matter because it's you competing against other players who ARE properly setup, not the market. There's only a set amount of profit that the market can offer so probabilities state those with years of scalping experience and proper setups will get the money. Always exceptions to the rule, but hardly any because it's the cost of doing business + market access/speed that's always going to be the nemesis of the small trader.
 
Put it this way, if 90% of traders lose then 98% of scalpers will lose unless they've got the best setups behind them and that therefore knocks out almost everyone out with a £400 Dell and a BT internet connection (1st 3 months 50% off!).

DMA, non-DMA it doesn't really matter because it's you competing against other players who ARE properly setup, not the market. There's only a set amount of profit that the market can offer so probabilities state those with years of scalping experience and proper setups will get the money. Always exceptions to the rule, but hardly any because it's the cost of doing business + market access/speed that's always going to be the nemesis of the small trader.

IB offers decent execution speed for a reasonable price, and nonetheless hard to get, there are for sure more chances to make a profit scalping "on" the markets (futures, etf's, stocks, whatever) then through CFD's. But if one chose CFD's I agree, it doesn't really change much DMA or not DMA, at least it doesn't change anything for your scalping strategy, cause you'll be only market taker and can't quote your price; although it may make a change for other aspects such as conflict of interest and so on.

And yes, scalping is hard to get at home, not impossible but hard. I think we are better of with volatility to start, and those who can put a million together may then become professionals and access the chances in arbitrage in a improved way.
 
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Thanks for the above! I'm a research mathematician, for what it's worth!

My system involves staking 0.08% of the bankroll, and getting out when the gain is 0.08% or the loss 10 times as great. There's scope for about 15-20 trades per day during the 2-3 hours I can spend on this. Requires watching volatility measures that I won't go into here.

Breakeven is at 10 wins per loss. Over 5000 trades on demo platforms, my mean has been 15 wins per loss, daily upper quartile 17, daily lower quartile 13, top decile 19, bottom decile 11. Two losses in a row and I stop for that day. The above is with a 2-point spread, on Dow CFDs. I haven't used level 2 or made any markets. The system wouldn't work with a 3-point spread.

The risk would be getting ****ed about by dodgy SB firms, which seems to mean all of them. So long as the broker isn't seeking to stop me making a profit, and I can put in guaranteed stops, I think it would be worth me trying the above system with real money.

(Wouldn't touch a Dell with a proverbial BTW! :)
 
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