Ok, these are well documented reasons why not:
1) The platform is hugely unstable. You will be kicked out many times in a day, and will not be able to log back in. No other spreadbetting site does this. I think I've been kicked out 8 times today-and it's 12.45pm.
2) Their spreads are usually the widest in the market.
3) Their order filling is appalling
4) They will suspend markets when moves are happening, so if in a winning trade you can't exit, and in a losing trade, you get nailed with even bigger losses.
5) Dealer services on the telephone is awful
And now I have even more worrying (and detailed) reasons why. It is always stated that Finspreads do not bet against clients-they don't care if you win etc. This has always been treated with a pinch of salt by many, and I now know why.
I shorted a share on the September contract- non guaranteed Stop loss of 850p. The share would swing wildly on the opening-managed to make it all the way to 840 after opening around 790 a few times, but never crossed my stop loss. But guess what. I was stopped out TWICE. ANd at what price? 850? NO!! At 880p!! The price never even got near these levels, let alone crossed the stop loss, but it still closed me out! The bet had to be reinstated twice. Alarm bells were already ringing for me on this one-that the system was so inaccurate, and that I had to check very carefully if my trades were actually being executed properly. If you do this for a living like I do, it's hard enough to pick what is going to make you money. To then factor in that the spread betting company you use is actively, unfairly or inaccurately trying to take your money on top of this is unacceptable.
You could say this was an isolated incident, but 1 week later (today and yesterday in fact)-something occurred that has made me realise that Finspreads is simply not wanting to let the punter win, and will actively do everything in it's power to this end.
I was long a share (September contract)-it got involved in the periphery of some bid speculation and it shot up. Fell quite sharply the next day, so I placed a limit order to catch any quick market movements to the upside to lock in profits. Will guess what, the price spike happened, and guess what, the order was not filled, and the market was suspended. Fair enough you might say, and so would I.
BUT!!
The market graph clearly showed this spike had occurred. I reloaded the graph a few hours later and guess what? The spike had disappeared??!! It never happened according to the new chart-price history was rewritten! The price would not have been suspended with the chart that was now showing because there were no fast market conditions!!
After finally speaking to a trader (they were too busy for the first 6 hours to help me)-I got this reason. Sometimes the price spikes, and it is unrelated to real market prices, so the contract is suspended while this is checked. Of course, prices are also susoended when a price moves fairly too, so it's nice to know they have themselves covered in all eventualities.
This pricing issue raises another point. How is it that a share price can swing over 15% on Finspreads system prices, and be completely wrong? Essentially, the market graphs, info and market making conditions that Finspreads were supplying were totally inaccurate, hence I was making a decision on my limit order using totally wrong prices.
So the bottom line is this, Finspreads' system will regularly quote the wrong price. If it is in their favour, it appears that this price will be used to make them money. If it is against them, markets will be suspended so no-one to capitalise on them.
Even if you can argue that there is no bias and order execution is done at random (although the evidence to the contrary certainly mounts up over the years doesn't it?), Finspreads basically quotes incorrect prices, and will act on them as and when they want to.
Putting these two incidents together has meant that I think that Finspreads are, at best incompetent, and at worst, manipulating prices and orders to ensure that punters lose.
Avoid them at all costs.
1) The platform is hugely unstable. You will be kicked out many times in a day, and will not be able to log back in. No other spreadbetting site does this. I think I've been kicked out 8 times today-and it's 12.45pm.
2) Their spreads are usually the widest in the market.
3) Their order filling is appalling
4) They will suspend markets when moves are happening, so if in a winning trade you can't exit, and in a losing trade, you get nailed with even bigger losses.
5) Dealer services on the telephone is awful
And now I have even more worrying (and detailed) reasons why. It is always stated that Finspreads do not bet against clients-they don't care if you win etc. This has always been treated with a pinch of salt by many, and I now know why.
I shorted a share on the September contract- non guaranteed Stop loss of 850p. The share would swing wildly on the opening-managed to make it all the way to 840 after opening around 790 a few times, but never crossed my stop loss. But guess what. I was stopped out TWICE. ANd at what price? 850? NO!! At 880p!! The price never even got near these levels, let alone crossed the stop loss, but it still closed me out! The bet had to be reinstated twice. Alarm bells were already ringing for me on this one-that the system was so inaccurate, and that I had to check very carefully if my trades were actually being executed properly. If you do this for a living like I do, it's hard enough to pick what is going to make you money. To then factor in that the spread betting company you use is actively, unfairly or inaccurately trying to take your money on top of this is unacceptable.
You could say this was an isolated incident, but 1 week later (today and yesterday in fact)-something occurred that has made me realise that Finspreads is simply not wanting to let the punter win, and will actively do everything in it's power to this end.
I was long a share (September contract)-it got involved in the periphery of some bid speculation and it shot up. Fell quite sharply the next day, so I placed a limit order to catch any quick market movements to the upside to lock in profits. Will guess what, the price spike happened, and guess what, the order was not filled, and the market was suspended. Fair enough you might say, and so would I.
BUT!!
The market graph clearly showed this spike had occurred. I reloaded the graph a few hours later and guess what? The spike had disappeared??!! It never happened according to the new chart-price history was rewritten! The price would not have been suspended with the chart that was now showing because there were no fast market conditions!!
After finally speaking to a trader (they were too busy for the first 6 hours to help me)-I got this reason. Sometimes the price spikes, and it is unrelated to real market prices, so the contract is suspended while this is checked. Of course, prices are also susoended when a price moves fairly too, so it's nice to know they have themselves covered in all eventualities.
This pricing issue raises another point. How is it that a share price can swing over 15% on Finspreads system prices, and be completely wrong? Essentially, the market graphs, info and market making conditions that Finspreads were supplying were totally inaccurate, hence I was making a decision on my limit order using totally wrong prices.
So the bottom line is this, Finspreads' system will regularly quote the wrong price. If it is in their favour, it appears that this price will be used to make them money. If it is against them, markets will be suspended so no-one to capitalise on them.
Even if you can argue that there is no bias and order execution is done at random (although the evidence to the contrary certainly mounts up over the years doesn't it?), Finspreads basically quotes incorrect prices, and will act on them as and when they want to.
Putting these two incidents together has meant that I think that Finspreads are, at best incompetent, and at worst, manipulating prices and orders to ensure that punters lose.
Avoid them at all costs.
