Best Thread Spreadbetting, the myths and what is the reality?

It's manipulation of traders, and seems to happen even at £1 per pt, when the risk to them of taking a bet must be tiny in the scheme of things. Why not just have the platform flash up a message saying:

'Trade rejected due to company policy. Please note that we only accept business on the basis that we can't lose.'

Sorry but IMHO this doesn't happen. The platform may fail, the software may fail, human beings at both ends of the transaction fail...
 
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Just noticed I am now a senior member due to this post. Hooray!

Pleased though I am, should not this system be looked at? New members might mistake "senior" status for trading expertise. Mostly what I've done to get here is go about shouting the odds on random stuff and slinging abuse at the few climate change believers on here.

Don't knock it mate; milk it! I should be becoming "legendary" any week now.
I'm preparing my very reasonable "Spread Betting for Beginners" course in order to "trade" off my newfound "legendary" status ....

:LOL:
 
The reality is that we have to trust them or not trade, unless we go to a broker, who we would be trusting with more of our money.

I have been trading with my SB since before they went online. I'm still with them and I would be not be if I thought that I could not trust them within certain limits. That is not to say that I am going to stick my arm in there, but a finger, yes.

The rest of the worries, the ones that you mention, I put aside unless I suspect that they are manipulating me. That isn't the case, to my knowledge. My account is at the top of the page and I can see what is happening to it every time I open or close a trade.
 
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A good and balanced post. However, the major problem trading with SB today is trade rejections, referral to a dealer, and the not allowed practice of flagging individual clients, this in order to control how and when certain clients will be able to get into the trade. Otherwise, SB have come a long way in the right direction compared to just a few years back.

"not allowed" by whom?
 
Have there ever been any cases of SB whistle-blowers (or purported whistle-blowers) ever coming on here (or similar forums) and spilling the beans on the SB companies from the inside? I don't think I remember anything exactly like that in my time here, although there has been the odd case off "a friend of a friend" reporting on this or that.
 
What about Simon from CS?:)

:LOL: Just had one of those near spit coffee on monitor moments...was that tongue in cheek or irony...? Either way nice one...

In answer to Mike's question, I asked this a while back, "WHERE ARE THE WHISTLE BLOWERS? IMO the SB industry is not anywhere near as devisive as so many would like to think. I actually don't think it's as slick as most think, which may cause a lot of the issues. IMO the 'mistakes' the industry makes are to do with human errors as opposed to 'witchcraft'...
 
All these issues you raise are the same at institutional level. Spot traders jam stops, it's a nice source of revenue for them. Clearly you don't do it to the most favoured clients, because you want them coming back. Overall it's better to have clients making money, as they become less price sensitive and are more likely to deal again ------ but clients come and go, and they're there to make money from (otherwise what's the point).

Having said that, it's easier to blame the tools than the workman. One very active trader I know complained to me his stops were always getting jammed, so now he leaves them 5 pips further away. Problem solved. (or in other words, his original stops were simply in the wrong place!)
 
They (obviously) have their own software for identifying consistent winners and hedge 'em..simples. They do not/have no need, to manipulate the individual trades of individual consistent winners/traders...
Yes I agree, but what I am talking about is individual accounts, and that is serious enough.
 
In order to trade with SB at a safe level, you must be aware of what might happen and include that in the risk profile. If there were no problems with some individual traders, you would not have such a thing as referral to a dealer or excessive re-quotes. I had a SB that called me up from GB a year ago (a white label, not connected to CS) suggesting I open an account with them. Ok I said, they came back to me a couple of hours later, telling me they do not approve of short term traders like me.
 
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"they stop hunt", "the spikes are synthetic", "the slippage took me out", "they re-quoted me", "the platform froze", "they moved my stop", "they closed my account due to not liking me winning and or scalping", "their spreads are way off DMA", "their prices are 2 pips away from the real market", "they accused me of cheating", "they're just a bunch of crooked bookies, "they only want losers"...anything I've left out?

Then let's try and discuss these myths, or realities...evidence backed experiences would be great...:)

losers make excuses,

"they stop hunt", = markets gravitate to size, check prices from an independent source

"the spikes are synthetic", = same as above

"the slippage took me out", = your lucky you got out then!!!!!

"they only want losers" = this is not true, I can tell you with first hand experience, the best client is a client who just churns his account, someone who is making something which is not worth withdrawing, but not losing enough to make the client give up or wipe him out. it costs money and effort to go get another client. winners and losers both have their advantages also. Ultimately this depends on the business model employed by the SB firm and the person you are asking.
 
It is not about losers or winners. They couldn't care less, unless the internal risk management system is totaly put out of work. Individual trade patterns is what alerts them (not necessary a winner), and there are plenty of short term traders around turning on the alarm, this resulting that you could in fact get flagged. Still I found SB to be worth while, as long I am aware of the risk involved (compared to DMA) and how to protect myself in order to stay in the game.
 
I was long EUR/USD this morning with a stop at 1.4525. Spot traded down to 1.4525 but the platform didn't stop me out, which surprised me. Spot then rallied to 1.4550 before again going back to 1.4525 (half an hour later). This time I was stopped out, at 1.4525, following which spot then rallied 20 pips. I checked the low at an independent data vendor and it was indeed 1.4525. In this instance, I am fairly happy with the service, I don't detect anything untoward.
 
I was long EUR/USD this morning with a stop at 1.4525. Spot traded down to 1.4525 but the platform didn't stop me out, which surprised me. Spot then rallied to 1.4550 before again going back to 1.4525 (half an hour later). This time I was stopped out, at 1.4525, following which spot then rallied 20 pips. I checked the low at an independent data vendor and it was indeed 1.4525. In this instance, I am fairly happy with the service, I don't detect anything untoward.

wtf were you long on EUR/USD...:eek: sorry mate, not wishing to sound critical, I just don't see it...always open to ideas etc TIA.
 
They (obviously) have their own software for identifying consistent winners and hedge 'em..simples. They do not/have no need, to manipulate the individual trades of individual consistent winners/traders...

That is the most balanced, non conspiracy theory post ive seen in this thread....
 
Can't we find someone who used to work for a SB company to spill the beans? Or do they sign confidentiality agreements?

Or maybe, if we did find someone, and they told us that there was no such conspiracy, we wouldn't believe it anyway.

I personally don't believe there are elaborate algorithms to fleece clients, but I'm in the minority.
 
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