So its not just rhumors. Only a few days ago i replied in a thread saying that it was my opinion those complaining about being shut down were just looking for someone to blame. I would like to change my position. Shortsandlongs have shut me down today. I phoned up and once i gave my acc number the bloke started his excuses before i even explained the problem. We talked for a while and i wouldnt accept any of his answers, such as "your trades are too short to hedge, so we dont want your business". Eventually i got this out of him and was content with the answer "well obviously you know what your doing, and we dont want your business". At least he was honest, eventually.
I can feel myself calming down as i rant right now but i only got about 11,000 out of them. He also acted like he was doing me a favour by allowing me to withdraw what i had left in the account.
So i can't be the first distressed and outraged trader who feels cheated. What is the next step? i am applying to prospreads when i finish this post, but i don't know if they will have me (i havent been trading 12 months). Even if they take me i dont know that they wont shut me down, i mean every bookie claims they don't (as shortsandlongs did when i signed up).
What to do...
SOCRATES; said:
For spreadbetting, with the games played by the spreadbetter companies aganst the public betting their pennies, crystal balls are needed, because you need to have extra pairs of eyes all the time.
Asking some nicks on a bulletin board what to do now is totally incongruent with the correct mindset of a trader who is capable of getting it consistently right in the markets.
As you ask I shall give you the correct advice, in contradistinction to what you will be told by the members of this site who are not traders (by this I mean they do not earn their living from trading).
The correct objective is to be professional in this environment. This means understanding what you are doing. When you are proficient you should expect to get it right nearly all the time. The qualifications required are merit, ability, and conduct. If you have these qualities, and persist through sheer dint of will you will ultimately succeed.
Being professional involves doing everything possible to enhance your edge. Part of this is execution. I will explain:
You ought to be participating in the most liquid execution venue for the instrument you are trading. For futures, this means trading at the exchange. There is no excuse for trading an OTC derivative of a future which is incorrectly priced, has exorbitant dealing costs built in, and with a counterparty who wishes you to lose as it is the basis of their business model. A possible exception is if you are holding positions for
several weeks there may in some cases be an advantage, from a taxation perspective.
If you are proficient, you should expect your positions to get at the money almost immediately and in the money soon after. Spread betting companies will lose if your position moves in your favour quickly. There are no exceptions. As they are a business who expect to profit they will use every conceivable manipulation to interfere with consistently successful short term traders. This should be obvious. Any "trader" who does not know who their profit comes from and why is not long for this business.
This betting lark is exclusively the domain of the guessers and gamblers who will not succeed trading very fast very liquid markets.
If you are confident that you understand when to buy, when to sell, and when to abstain, and within the correct framework of understanding, you should continue with your trading in a professional manner. This involves considering your quality of execution and dealing costs - these are business costs, and it would behoove you to minimise them as much as possible.
At your current level, this means dealing on the exchange through a competent broker, and not making bets with a bookie.
You will be told all sorts of other things by the blinkered majority on this site, who are not and will never be successful traders. The agenda here is obvious, and a perceptive individual can see at a glance who is who in the zoo. You are responsible for deciding who to listen to - I can assure you there are only a handful of experts on this site, and almost all have better things to do then to fight a pointless rearguard action.
I hope and expect that this clarifies, to your benefit and my satisfaction.
Very kind regards
