Just a small warning to those who spread trade online.
I used to trade fairly actively with IG Index, Cantor Index and Financial Spreads, but there is a subtle but sometimes very crucial difference when trading online with Cantors that is not a problem with the other two. (I do not know about City Index)
With IG or FS their so-called 'live prices' are a very good indicator of the market they are making but if you actually want to trade you in effect send a request for their 'real live price' for the amount you want to trade. They give you a price, which is very rarely more than a tick or two away from the original displayed 'live price', and you are given ten seconds or so to decide whether you want to execute a buy/sell at that price. Even within that 10 seconds they are at liberty, and have often done so in my experience, to pull the price and re-state it.
Now with Cantors similarly their displayed prices are supposed to be 'live'. So you put the order in to buy/sell at so many £ per tick at the displayed price. When everything is running smoothly the confirmation that it is done comes back within 10 secs. But for what ever reason (the market is moving rapidly, your/their systems are playing up, dodgy internet connection etc) that confirmation can take much longer, occasionally it might never arrive so you are forced to ring them up. And most crucially they can DK that order at their discretion (as they did several times to me). In effect they give themselves a free option for as long as they like (in practice a few minutes, the time it takes you to ring up and complain) whether to fill you or not, and it's strange how they never give you the fill when the market has subsequently moved in you favour! Even when running smoothly they have that 10 sec option whilst you are left hanging. IG and FS can pull their price in that 10 secs, you cannot with Cantor.
Any other pros/cons between the SB companies?
I used to trade fairly actively with IG Index, Cantor Index and Financial Spreads, but there is a subtle but sometimes very crucial difference when trading online with Cantors that is not a problem with the other two. (I do not know about City Index)
With IG or FS their so-called 'live prices' are a very good indicator of the market they are making but if you actually want to trade you in effect send a request for their 'real live price' for the amount you want to trade. They give you a price, which is very rarely more than a tick or two away from the original displayed 'live price', and you are given ten seconds or so to decide whether you want to execute a buy/sell at that price. Even within that 10 seconds they are at liberty, and have often done so in my experience, to pull the price and re-state it.
Now with Cantors similarly their displayed prices are supposed to be 'live'. So you put the order in to buy/sell at so many £ per tick at the displayed price. When everything is running smoothly the confirmation that it is done comes back within 10 secs. But for what ever reason (the market is moving rapidly, your/their systems are playing up, dodgy internet connection etc) that confirmation can take much longer, occasionally it might never arrive so you are forced to ring them up. And most crucially they can DK that order at their discretion (as they did several times to me). In effect they give themselves a free option for as long as they like (in practice a few minutes, the time it takes you to ring up and complain) whether to fill you or not, and it's strange how they never give you the fill when the market has subsequently moved in you favour! Even when running smoothly they have that 10 sec option whilst you are left hanging. IG and FS can pull their price in that 10 secs, you cannot with Cantor.
Any other pros/cons between the SB companies?
