Best Thread Capital Spreads

[jezza888]

Exactly,

Dodgy executions = more money for them... keep saying it will get better to keep people using them.

24 hour trading = people who swing/position have to deal with overnight slippage = more money for them... keep saying you will be implimenting it to keep people using them.

As long as Simon comes along every so often with some spin a large number of clients keep on going and waiting, meanwhile they all sit around enjoying the profits...

 

[mombasa]

Oh great, they've just blocked CS at my corporate !

 

[DaveJB]

Midas,
if that's your experience when trading small amounts on shares and indices then I sympathise - I sympathise with people suffering whatever they trade of course - my point is that the "dodgy fills issue" seems to be largely a problem on forex and when trading larger amounts. Given that every other SB company has detractors then the individual needs to balance the particular horror story against the good points to decide whether the company under scrutiny gets the account or not.

A company that doesn't refuse trades etc but has a wider spread is automatically deducting points for example compared to a narrower spread outfit - so the question becomes 'is that extra spread worth paying to avoid the dodgy fills'... yes in some cases, but no in others. The vast majority of my trades have gone through at the price I expected, I have had very few rejections, I put this down to the fact that I am trading indices or shares and I'm too small to bother about. Meanwhile I'm getting a good spread.... I know I'm not the only customer experiencing this, so for this type of customer it is sensible to still consider them.

That doesn't mean I like what I hear from others, I would probably go elsewhere to trade forex, and if I started to experience rejection etc to a noticeable extent I'd be off also. Commonsense dictates that you trade with the company who give you the best return - you don't have to like what others experience.

Dave

 

[Hoggums]

mombasa - you at barcap by any chance?

 

[capitalspreads]

well i'm back again

i see that the 24 hour question is being raised once more.... in reality i am not sure how anyone can claim that not quoting overnight makes us money as the exact opposite is normally the case. When clients see profits they generally take them but when they see loses they run them.. not rocket science .. it is why SB companies make more money than would at first appear to be possible.

When we are closed, clients who have winning positions have no opportunity to trade out of them (fine maybe they would miss a profit opportunity as well) which forces them to run the positions into the next day. In reality whether we win or lose overnight in currency markets is literally a toss of the coin. If clients are long of Cable and the market goes up we will lose money if the market falls we will make money.

As I have continually stated we are working on a 24 hr solution.. it is not as simple as people seem to think otherwise everybody would do it. I might note that CityIndex, Tradindex, Cantor Index, Spreadex Finspreads etc all bigger companies than us who have been around for much longer than us and also do not have 24 online trading. If it was easy we would all do it! The only two SB companies that do, currently, give 24 hr FX access are D4F and IG and they are approximately 20 times bigger than us. We will have the systems ready soon but not just yet.

I assume that clients are now slightly happier with the trade fills as we appear to have very few rejections at the moment. But as I have mentioned many times if FX trading is your life blood then you may get a better service elsewhere (but then again maybe not!).

Our dealing numbers are getting higher and higher by the day and our clients are generally migrating from other SB providers so I have to assume that we must be doing something right.

Simon

 

[zuke]

IG have just reduced their spreads on euro/dollar and cable rolling bets to 3 pips, and they offer 24 hr trading. Nice platform, too, comparatively speaking in my opinion.

No argument whatsoever for sticking with CS now....(again, in my opinion).

dont they stick a "market spread" on top? So effectively its 5 pips?

 

[Jyde]

Simon, two quick questions regarding your live charts:

1. You mention you would look into 24 hours charting (not needing it live but would like to know what the asians have been up to overnight). It does feel as if something is missing - which it is.

2. Why ask-price and not mid?

All the best...
CJ

 

[FXNEOTRADER]

dont they stick a "market spread" on top? So effectively its 5 pips?

IG are now on a 3pip "all in" spread for Euro and Cable ( i.e. the 3 pips encompasses the market spread so there is no other charge). They're also 24 hours and dealer intervention is minimal ( it generally doesn't get referred to a dealer unless your deal size is > £250 a point) which as has been stated so often on these boards is obviously preferntial to a dealer getting in the way and accepting deals when the price is against you and rejecting it when it is for you which essentially means you're paying a 5pip spread anyway even though the price advertised may be 3pips or even 2.

 

[capitalspreads]

Jyde

for fx charts nearly all charts you see will be from the bid point, this is just market practice.

the normal market practice for other charts is to build them from actual trades.

Our other charts are all on our bid side because we are alive to the fact that our prices are based upon exchange data and we are not allowed to give too much information such that a client can easily work out the exact bid or offer in the 'real' market because that is information that you would have to pay for. So we ensure that the prices are from 'our' bid which gives enough technical information for charting purposes but not enuf to reveal the current exact bid/offer in the market.

Simon

 

[nodga2000]

dont they stick a "market spread" on top? So effectively its 5 pips?

I love this thread! Amazing that it has been around since CS launch...

FS have been as tight as D4F in currencies for a while now (3 pips sterling/dollar, 3 pips euro/dollar) and I have been told that they are going 24 hours in March - never been rejected either! 😀

 

[jimmy1jag]

I love this thread! Amazing that it has been around since CS launch...

I have to say that this thread amuses me sometimes. For me CS, and spread betting in general, is a good learning platform and serves a purpose and using SB in general has a number of benefits, the major one being low levels of capital required to start trading in the markets.

The tax thing is, for the vast majority, irrelevant as you have to make £6500 ish clear profit before CGT kicks in and even then there are ways round it like using your wife's allowance etc etc.

SB in general, if you are trading using even moderate amounts, is not the most cost effective way of trading in the markets. Direct access is far more cost effective and you have far greater levels of control. You can trade 24 hours if you want. There is very little whinging on these boards about DA. People just get on with it. If you trade the market price then your fill is your fill- end of story and if it isn't what you wanted, then tough. If you use a limit order, then if someone fills your order, all well and good. If not tough. That's life. In fast moving markets you don't get the fill you want because things change in the time it takes between your brain saying press the button, you pressing the button, the message going from your PC to eg CS, the order being processed and accepted/ declined. Now CS may not be the best provider for Forex trading because of the human intervention aspect. But that's the way it is. I don't trade Forex, so I'm not fussed anyway. However, if you are not satisified with what you get at CS then go elsewhere eg D4F (and I've seen enough complaints about them elsewhere too). It is entirely up to you.

If you trade stocks and you don't like the spread, then use DA. Incidentally I've worked out the spread model CS uses on stocks. It isn't rocket science and they aren't messing with the spread as the market develops over the course of a day to suit themselves, although I guess they must have some kind of review process in place to make sure that the overall yield they are reaping from individual stocks is in line with their overall targets and making adjustments accordingly. In running any business you should be looking periodically at the profitability of your product range. This is good business practice. If you as a punter you don't like it, go elsewhere and use an alternative platform eg DA. It's your choice. In my experience I've never seen the trade boxes switch to "phone trading only" (or whatever it is) on DA!! This the thing I don't like about SBing. But it doesn't really matter to me as I have a choice. It is up to me to either get up and do something about it (i.e. move) or put up with it.

I'm off. I need a wee!

 

[Jyde]

1. You mention you would look into 24 hours charting (not needing it live but would like to know what the asians have been up to overnight). It does feel as if something is missing - which it is.

Simon, this one?

To clarify, I don't aks the charts available and updated to me 24 hours a day, but rather that, in your operating hours, when pulling up a chart, I have all the data, including night data, where applicable.

All the best...
CJ

EDIT: Simon, I just realised that you did answer, albeit in a circument way. It still leaves me with part of the curve missing (night data). I guess I will have to go elsewhere for that. Thanks for the reply.

 

[nodga2000]

I have to say that this thread amuses me sometimes. For me CS, and spread betting in general, is a good learning platform and serves a purpose and using SB in general has a number of benefits, the major one being low levels of capital required to start trading in the markets....

As you say, it's down to personal preference. I don't know of any DA brokers allowing you to trade FTSE, Dax etc at 9.30pm 😕

For me SB is the only way I will ever access the market. I never have to deal with an accountant, work out my tax returns etc etc and if I do start making the sort of money many of the top SB clients are making, I will get a 100% return 😛 .

Good luck!

 

[mombasa]

Well, CS have been unblocked at work no so i can start using them again.

However, I've just heard from Fins who say that they will have a new flash based trading platform (like CS) in 2-3 weeks. They recognise the current java one is a nightmare behind corporate firewalls and so if they go 24hrs, I may switch back to them.

But, CS's 2 pip spread on Euro is ace so will stick to them for the time being.

 

[mombasa]

mombasa - you at barcap by any chance?

No, but used to be - why are they blocked there? Was there 3 years ago and Fins used to work (well, it wasn't blocked at any rate).

I'm at JPMorgan now.

Rgds

 

[Hoggums]

No, but used to be - why are they blocked there? Was there 3 years ago and Fins used to work (well, it wasn't blocked at any rate).

I'm at JPMorgan now.

Rgds

Yep at barcap - CS got blocked monday morning - grr. Can seem to get fins working here either.

 

[starspacer]

I have read many of the posts here and can only say that imho Capital Spreads have been a better overall provider than any of the others. I use DA for quick trades and that way don't have any problem with fills. My main providers are D4F, IB and CS and overall return last year was 127%.

I use SB co's for strategic trades only (holdings over 1 day) and would advise others to do the same.Constructive criticisms are justified, but please cut out the excessive whinging.

 

[mombasa]

Yep at barcap - CS got blocked monday morning - grr. Can seem to get fins working here either.

Very strange, CS got blocked here last week for 2/3 days. I closed my account and just went back to check and it had been unblocked !! Re-opened account.

As long as Fins isn't blocked, then their new flash platform in few weeks should do the trick. Also try IGIndex - I opened up an account and that works fine here. Otherwise FXCM is ok too.

 

[capitalspreads]

I would like to mention here that we do quote the eur/usd on a 2 pip spread and fair enough some deals get rejected (not many) but many of our clients have never had a deal rejected and trade quite happily on a spread which is 33% less than 3 pips mentioned here or calculated the other way they are 50% greater than us.

simon

 

[capitalspreads]

jimmyijag

the benefits on capital gains tax is not the only advantage .. there is also the fact that there is no stamp duty on equity trading.

On RBS for instance at a price of around 1750p with stamp duty of 0.5% you would be paying 8p of premium to 'our gordon' . Our rolling price is generally only 2.8p wide (on a market price spread of 1p) which is an immediate saving of over 6p price value on each trade. If you also include commissions in the calculation the benefits become even greater.

I take your point over the benefits of DA as in general the traders in that environment realise that if they try to make a trade at 'x' and they dont get the trade they just accept that they have missed the price. In SB the feeling is that (especially with FX traders) that they should get the trade no matter what. On a platform with 2 or 3 pip prices (effectively almost bank interdealer prices) at low margin costs in the most volatile markets in the world sometimes you just dont get the deal.

Simon