Newbee questions

[Minimee]

Well I have now been demo trading Forex for approx 9 months and I feel I am now ready to dip my toe in the water with my hard earned cash, however I would be very grateful if someone could give me a little guidance on brokers etc

1) I note that a number of UK based traders do not spreadbet, with the tax advantages of doing so why is this the case?

2) I need a trailing stop feature

3) I use MetaTrader and from what I have read this cannot be used for spreadbetting?

4) My style could be regarded as scalping where some trades only last a few mins and others though can last a few hours but they are all intraday trades never held overnight

Thanks in advance

 

[£10kLoser]

1) It is generally felt that with £9k allowance and 20% capital gains tax, the advantages of spread betting are outweighed by the disadvantages - slippage, large spreads, slow fills.

2) You sound like you want to spread bet, so use IG Index - apart from the expensive futuresbetting.com, they are the best and have a trailing stop feature.

3) No, nobody has Metratrader for spreadbetting - probably because the prices are not controlled by the spread bet firm. But, it's easy to use Metatrader for you trade signals and place the trades anywhere.

4) Spot Forex is obviously the way to go. Although spread bet firms discourage scalping, less than maybe 5 or even 10 short trades a day should be OK. I don't call trades that last more than 10 minutes scalping, but is there a precise definition?

I use IG index and Tradefair (Capital Spreads) and have few problems. You don't need guaranteed stops with Forex and any trades below, say, £10 a pip will pass through the system automatically and trouble free. Always put in stops and limits, even if you plan to close manually. With IG, you can put in a set number of pips for the stop and limit long before you click the button to open the trade. Big time spread betting can get dealer intervention - particularly if you are making big time money.

 

[Minimee]

Thanks for your reply

Just one quick question, I was thinking of using IG Index, however does the disadvantages of slippage, large spreads, slow fills etc that you mentioned apply to them as well, as spreads seem fair but the rest is of concern

Also because I am already in a high tax bracket that is why spreadbetting is appealing to me

Thanks again