Tightest Spreads for Spread betting

[whoelsebutme]

Hi everyone
I am a new member of T2W.
I was working as a junior trader at an investment bank in London, and got laid off recently. I am very interested in trading, but have not had a lot of experience yet. My risk limit is a bit low as well, while I am giving trading a try, which is why I don't want to start trading futures yet as they are "bigger" than what I am willing to risk per tick.
I have turned to spreadbetting for now, mainly because of the "small" risk you can take per tick with most contracts.
I am most interested in trading Bunds (because I was a rates trader at the bank), S&P, Dow, Dax, FTSE, Gold, and a few forex pairs (EURJPY, GBPUSD, EURUSD). I was wondering if any of the experienced members here could suggest which spread-betting firm would be the best for my purpose. I used IGIndex first, but realized their spreads widen to as much as 4 ticks for Bunds and even Schatz, which is shocking as it's 8 times the normal spread for Schatz. Now I am mostly using CityIndex as their spreads are fixed and they also allow 1 pound per point on indices, whereas IG asks for at least 2 for Dax, etc. and 10 for S&P! Recently I have read some posts about GFT and want to give it a try, but even they have 3 ticks in Bunds. So basically I am asking if there's any decent firm out there that provides tighter spreads than GFT? I am even open to CFDs, but seems like even their spreads are same as Spreadbetting. Obviously, I would love to go for Direct Market Access, were it not for my low risk profile while I am just starting out on my own. If I am successful in trading in the medium term, I would def move to something like Interactive Brokers.
Thank you very much for your help!

 

[shadowninja]

If you get filled, then great... no point having tight spreads if they shift the price 10 pips before filling you or they lock you out because it's become suddenly volatile.

 

[mikeeg]

Whoelse,

You never quantified your risk capital, but anything less than £5k and you will struggle to find a broker to accommodate direct access CFD's (e.g both GFT and IB have an equivalent minimum of around £5k I believe). Sounds like you've done a fair bit of research into the spreadbetters spreads and have answered your own question. My advice, open an account with more than one, so you can pick and choose the spreads accordingly. IG, CMC, City Index, Trad Index, Finspreads are all potential candidates (some come with a better reputation than others though!).

 

[gedward3]

HI,

Register at the link below and get yourself 100 quid to play around with at 10p
per point. Keep you busy for a few weeks

Ged



Spread Betting - Financial Spread Betting online - Interactive Investor

Hi everyone
I am a new member of T2W.
I was working as a junior trader at an investment bank in London, and got laid off recently. I am very interested in trading, but have not had a lot of experience yet. My risk limit is a bit low as well, while I am giving trading a try, which is why I don't want to start trading futures yet as they are "bigger" than what I am willing to risk per tick.
I have turned to spreadbetting for now, mainly because of the "small" risk you can take per tick with most contracts.
I am most interested in trading Bunds (because I was a rates trader at the bank), S&P, Dow, Dax, FTSE, Gold, and a few forex pairs (EURJPY, GBPUSD, EURUSD). I was wondering if any of the experienced members here could suggest which spread-betting firm would be the best for my purpose. I used IGIndex first, but realized their spreads widen to as much as 4 ticks for Bunds and even Schatz, which is shocking as it's 8 times the normal spread for Schatz. Now I am mostly using CityIndex as their spreads are fixed and they also allow 1 pound per point on indices, whereas IG asks for at least 2 for Dax, etc. and 10 for S&P! Recently I have read some posts about GFT and want to give it a try, but even they have 3 ticks in Bunds. So basically I am asking if there's any decent firm out there that provides tighter spreads than GFT? I am even open to CFDs, but seems like even their spreads are same as Spreadbetting. Obviously, I would love to go for Direct Market Access, were it not for my low risk profile while I am just starting out on my own. If I am successful in trading in the medium term, I would def move to something like Interactive Brokers.
Thank you very much for your help!

 

[si1503]

Best for spreads I find are capitalspreads, but often struggle to get filled, one way around this is to call up the dealer - but you might find they give you a rubbish price and by the time the opportunity has arisen it could be a bit late, alternatively drip your stakes in slowly until you get your full stake filled, this for me I feel helps reduce the chance of a fill caused by slippage, which can be frequent and costly if you get a huge order slipped half a dozen ticks or so.

IG index are far better for fills, they have volatile spreads but you will get filled with the price you see. I use IG for FX as they tend to be fixed and competitive, however their oil spreads can be upto 10 ticks at times, in comparision to 5 (fixed) at capitalspreads, hence I normally take my chances with the latter.