Ok... I'll try to explain.
I do all my calculations, i.e where to put my stops, based on data that I download from Paritech on the Dow Jones, which is presumably what is defined as the 'market' prices.
I then open a position with one of the Wall Street Futures - Jun, Sept, Dec, March usually offer stops based on the 'market' value, so instead of having to work out where the support (or resistance) would lie on the Future in question, I can just use the value from my charts - This is not only easier and means there is less room for miscalculation, plus there is no chance that Finspreads can influence their quotes to take out stops.
On Wednesday last week, I opened a long position on the Dow, and put my stop at 13510, based on market. Strangely I didn't get stopped out on Wednesday, although I thought I should have done. On Thursday, it went even lower and at the end of the day I found that my stop had been triggered at 13512 (June Future Quote). As the June Future was trading at about 25 points higher than the market, this means that I was stopped out 23 points below what I should have been. I'm just wondering whether Fins have ripped me off here, or whether I am misunderstanding what the 'market' price is.
A futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a specified price. The underlying instrument for a Futures index is the Cash index. The futures price is sold at a premium above the cash index and normally converges towards it as it approaches expiry. Market price IS NOT the price of the Cash index! Make sure the chart you download is for the instrument you are trading. ie/ Cash or Futures, once again, they are 2 different instruments. The cash index is not the market price.
In any instrument you trade there are normally 3 quoted prices.
1) BID - The highest price someone is willing to buy an instrument
2) ASK/Offer - The lowest price someone is willing to sell an instrument
3) LAST Price - The last price an instrument traded at.
The spread is the difference between the BID and ASK price.
Using the ES futures contract as an example, the spread is normally 0.25 points.
If the last price traded at 1520.00 and was taken at the Bid (and there were more buyers at that price) then the quotes would look like this:
BID: 1520.00 ASK: 1520.25 LAST:1520.00
A trade taken "at the market" will depend on which side you are taking the trade. if you BUY at market you will pay the lowest ASK price, 1520.25. If you SELL at market, you will get the highest BID price, 1520.00. Assuming you bought at market, the last price will reflect this:
BID: 1520.00 ASK: 1520.25 LAST:1520.25
Once again, I think you are confusing the market price with the cash index price. On a final note: I trade with a direct access broker and with IGindex spread betting. I don't see any major difference between their quotes on the S&P500 futures and the ES contract. I don't believe SB companies manipulate price to take out stops, I certainly don't see any evidence of it.
