Best Thread CMC Markets owner answers your questions

[PC at CMC Markets]

Good morning 6am.

Good questions and the answer is no simply because terms and conditions for spread bet are different from cfd. However, there might be an opportunity to let you offset cash in your cfd account against say a liquidation position in spread bet account. will look into that and get back to you. excellent question. seems getting up at 6am does not cloud the brain. well it does when you get to my age. ha ha

cheers pc

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your answer.

Is it possible to trade spreadbets and cfds from the same account?

If not is it possible to have one spreadbet account and one cfd account and link them for margin and financial charges purpose? For example I open one trade in spreadbet account and another in cfd account. Spreadbet trade went terrible wrong but cfd trade did well. Under normal rules you will liquidate spreadbet position but in this case you do not because spreadbet loss is offset by cfd gain. Is it possible to do that?

Regards,

6am

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Good morning Ross hope you had good weekend.
No not a workaholic at all, just love my job, love running the company and love to research things over the weekend. My kids have grown up, just the wife and I so instead of watching telly tend to look around the web and competitors etc. Keeps the mind active. We already have Heikin-ashi difference study on the charts but I asked the boys to look into candles.

On another note I know not every body likes the dark back ground but we made it dark because when you apply various studies we have coloured in some of the studies with brighter colours and they work better across darker back ground. Most people are used to white back grounds so it takes some adjusting. I think in the future charting will have more darker back grounds with lots of colours to pick out patterns. you heard it here first.

cheers pc

Peter, you must be some kind of a workaholic to be answering our dumb questions on a Sunday, but while you're there could you put in a request for Heikin-Ashi candles, please, preferably on a white background so my failing old eyes can have an easier time. Thanks.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

hi pster

for now yes but in next couple of weeks they are going to be erased and taken out of charts. tks

peter

No, you still misunderstand my question. I'm asking about when markets are open, but there is nothing at all moving. Will you see candlestick charts with multiple dashes in a row? Like that: _ _

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi Montmorency

Ashraf does very well for us and has a big following. He sits right outside my office in fact I can see him now. Not a pretty site on a Monday morning. Think spreads have been covered.
thanks for blogging

regards Peter

I'm a big admirer of Ashraf Laidi, who puts out a lot of free information on the web (as well as the occasional chargable seminar), and I've often thought I should at least have the courtesy to give CMC Markets a try, in return.

However, the spreads have always put me off. I haven't looked lately, so perhaps that's changed. I'm not sure if this has already been covered in the early part of the thread, but if not, perhaps you would like to comment.

EDIT: I've now looked through at least some of the earlier postings, and I see it has been covered ("done to death", one might almost say), so no real need to reply to this aspect Peter).

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi montmorency

we created the charts with black back ground because a lot of the studies have different colour codes and lots of patterns and break outs have been coloured in. The different colours just work better across darker back grounds. I know it sounds like we dumbed down charting, we have the easy to click buttons, the coloured patters just high light better across darker back grounds. This makes the whole process a lot more intuitive and easier to follow. Have to say we have had more compliments than complaints about our charts. I guess it depends what level you are at for charting but the idea is to make charting quick and simple and to see patterns visually much quicker. not everybody has time to study the charts.

I guess most charting packages out there are across a white back ground but I believe that in the future you will see more chart packages across darker background with lots more colours etc. Especially with the advent of ipad and android etc. Charts just do not look good on ipad with white back ground. believe me because I have seen our ipad verions and charts look fantastic.
tks for your blog pc

tks pc

cheers pc

Me too, and it's not irrational. Causes me eyestrain.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Come on gle101 have been doing this for couple of months not couple of weeks. I know it is early days but will stick at it.
should also say moderators have done a good job in keeping it all sane.
thanks pc

Well this is maybe too much, he has been here a week or so, Simon from Capitalspreads stayed on for many years. This under severe press to answer all kinds of allegations, from members with terrible language, who at that time really didn't care for a fair discussion.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi montmorency
really enjoy this blog. It helps me connect to the real clients or potential clients and it is always good to get feed back. Wish I had done it earlier.

cheers pc

Peter,

I am amazed at your stamina for sticking with this thread so long, and answering so many questions already. I promise this will be my last question for a while. (Even I go to bed eventually).


Would you care to comment on what extent, if any, you lay off your customers bets (or net bets) in the underlying market?

Simon from the competition has written about this from time to time, and I think I have a reasonable idea of how it works for them. I guess you must be doing something similar.

Many thanks.

 

[gle101]

Come on gle101 have been doing this for couple of months not couple of weeks. I know it is early days but will stick at it.
should also say moderators have done a good job in keeping it all sane.
thanks pc

Time flies when you have fun. No really I do appreciate your contribution and hope it will continue. Great way to get a good start for the next-gen SB platform and polish up the reputation of CMC. Which at the moment on this thread is definitely going in the right direction. The really interesting period will be, when traders are starting to report on their live trading experiences on this thread.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi gle101
thanks for your blog appreciate it.
I agree would be good if we could get some live trading guys on here to give their feed back. not sure why they have not blogged. maybe they have and havent told us they have live accounts.

definitely have no plans to stop blogging. I really enjoy it and look forward to it. cheers
pc

Time flies when you have fun. No really I do appreciate your contribution and hope it will continue. Great way to get a good start for the next-gen SB platform and polish up the reputation of CMC. Which at the moment on this thread is definitely going in the right direction. The really interesting period will be, when traders are starting to report on their live trading experiences on this thread.

 

[Ross Spur]

The really interesting period will be, when traders are starting to report on their live trading experiences on this thread.

IMO there'd be plenty of people on here doing that, a) if existing clients didn't have to sign up for a new account, or b) if there were some sort of tempting account opening deal to convince us that CMC has the confidence to believe we'd want to stay with them after trying next gen.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi Ross

Your blog is exactly the mentality in spread betting that I want us all to think above. What I mean is that if you want special offers why not go to Tescos there are some great deals on a the moment. There is too much of this type of mentality in spread bet markets. I admit CMC Markets have been guilty of the same type of behaviour in the past. Spread bet has to begin with a trading mentality not a bookies mentality with special offers. Spread can and should be a serious way to trade the financial markets.
But any serious spread better has to decide what they want from their spread bet counter party.
If you want automated execution, no requotes, precision pricing. then we are your shop.
If you want head line rates, special offers then there are others.
What I am trying to say is that together we have to lift the spread bet industry. now is the time for change. Next generation is about a new way to bet on the financial markets so stop thinking old gen and lets get this industry moving together.

please Ross stop banging on about opening new account. I have been over this enough. It is not valid. come on Ross start thinking next gen.

thanks for your blog
Peter

IMO there'd be plenty of people on here doing that, a) if existing clients didn't have to sign up for a new account, or b) if there were some sort of tempting account opening deal to convince us that CMC has the confidence to believe we'd want to stay with them after trying next gen.

 

[jesteruk]

I totally agree with the last post. Opening incentives are of complete inconsequence to anyone who is serious. Would much rather see more kind of added value services such as the additional data feeds discussed before or even level 2 data. After all whats a £100 bonus in the grand scheme of things when you think of the stakes as risk in most trading accounts. As you say the service is the important thing and the level of facilities available. If all you say here is true then it sounds like you might have the service part sorted (if you practice what you preach). Just need some work on the platform for it to be really considered a serious alternative to the 'real' market.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

hi jesteruk

Thanks for your blog. It is up to you the spread bet clients to set the standards. not an easy task because there are many different levels of trading expertise but the more professional spread bet client should demand service, execution, platform. These headline special offers are in my opinion not making the spread bet industry in general more professional. if you were investing some money with a bank or hedge fund and they offered you a two week holiday in Majorca you would run a mile so why put up with it in spread bet industry.
You are 100 percent right. what spread bet firms need to do is offer high level of service and execution. We are doing this, so far we have ploughed our money into the platform, execution and pricing with a lot more to come. in time you will see more add ons that will take spread betting to a more institutional, financial execution level. that is our goal. we will get there. I say it again, that is why we called our new platform next generation.
In the meantime we will not get dragged into the special offer, cash back, shopping vouchers type environment. Maybe I am in the wrong industry I should have stayed in banking but I happen to really believe that spread betting is the ultimate way to trade financial markets with all its benefits, providing of course you execute at market prices and get institutional execution. I believe we offer that to our clients.

thanks for your time
regards Peter

I totally agree with the last post. Opening incentives are of complete inconsequence to anyone who is serious. Would much rather see more kind of added value services such as the additional data feeds discussed before or even level 2 data. After all whats a £100 bonus in the grand scheme of things when you think of the stakes as risk in most trading accounts. As you say the service is the important thing and the level of facilities available. If all you say here is true then it sounds like you might have the service part sorted (if you practice what you preach). Just need some work on the platform for it to be really considered a serious alternative to the 'real' market.

 

[Ross Spur]

Hi Ross

Your blog is exactly the mentality in spread betting that I want us all to think above. What I mean is that if you want special offers why not go to Tescos there are some great deals on a the moment. There is too much of this type of mentality in spread bet markets. I admit CMC Markets have been guilty of the same type of behaviour in the past. Spread bet has to begin with a trading mentality not a bookies mentality with special offers. Spread can and should be a serious way to trade the financial markets.
But any serious spread better has to decide what they want from their spread bet counter party.
If you want automated execution, no requotes, precision pricing. then we are your shop.
If you want head line rates, special offers then there are others.
What I am trying to say is that together we have to lift the spread bet industry. now is the time for change. Next generation is about a new way to bet on the financial markets so stop thinking old gen and lets get this industry moving together.

please Ross stop banging on about opening new account. I have been over this enough. It is not valid. come on Ross start thinking next gen.

thanks for your blog
Peter

You'll not be surprised to learn that my take on this is different. As I've also banged on about in the past, over about the last ten years I've had accounts with most of the SB providers. Maybe two-thirds of these have been prompted by some sort of offer (inc CMC, many moons ago), which allowed me to trade enough with virtually no risk to find out if the platform/client service was any good.
As you say, sometimes the ones with the most generous offers were the worst, but not always. Whatever, if I had problems, I just stopped using them (even if I made a profit). As it happens, the SB I use most now didn't have any 'free money' offers when I signed up, and at that time turned out to be one of the worst. Things change, and nowadays they seem to be the best in my experience, yet they give new clients a £100 safety net.
The point I'm rambling towards is that no matter how good next gen may be, you still need to convince ex-clients to come back and new ones to sign up. That might not happen for a while if they're tempted to try the opposition first and stick with them because they're also very good.

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Hi montmorency

we created the charts with black back ground because a lot of the studies have different colour codes and lots of patterns and break outs have been coloured in. The different colours just work better across darker back grounds. I know it sounds like we dumbed down charting, we have the easy to click buttons, the coloured patters just high light better across darker back grounds. This makes the whole process a lot more intuitive and easier to follow. Have to say we have had more compliments than complaints about our charts. I guess it depends what level you are at for charting but the idea is to make charting quick and simple and to see patterns visually much quicker. not everybody has time to study the charts.

I guess most charting packages out there are across a white back ground but I believe that in the future you will see more chart packages across darker background with lots more colours etc. Especially with the advent of ipad and android etc. Charts just do not look good on ipad with white back ground. believe me because I have seen our ipad verions and charts look fantastic.
tks for your blog pc

tks pc

cheers pc

Many thanks for your replies Peter. Much appreciated.
(You did not comment on the bet lay-off issue, but perhaps that's a trade secret ).

Backgrounds and colours: I should not judge too harshly until I have tried your actual charts (and I will), but, as I am sure you are well aware, people's sensitivity to colours can vary enormously. I find some people's web pages almost unreadable for this reason.
I'm not getting any younger (and I guess most traders/spread-betters are a lot younger), and eyesight tends to deteriorate with age, and it's more than just the close-up reading thing. I'm not saying don't use colours, but if technically possible, it would be great if the user could be given some options. I realise that it may not be as easy as it sounds on a web interface (still less on an iPad or whatever).

It would be a shame to scare away a section of your potential marketplace because staring at your charts gave them a headache.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi Ross

Thanks for your blog and taking the time.
I have to say that if you need £100 to convince you to try out a new platform then you are not doing yourself justice. we give you a demo platform the execution is the same as the live system and really if you need an incentive to try something new then maybe you should stick with your existing provider. if you like headlines and gimmicks then sorry we are not the shop for you but good luck with your trading.

we are completely focused on delivering a new improved and exceptional trading experience. my point is that we as a company and preferably as an industry want to move away from special offers and gimmicks. this industry should be about the best execution, the best pricing, no head line spreads, no requotes etc. I am not saying it will be easy but we are not going to take a step backwards. we want to offer institutional type execution to the retail markets. I know it will be hard for you to convert to us and I guess the best way to attract your business is to offer you someincentive but you know what I prefer to stick to our guns, deliver a first class service and attract clients based on service, execution and platform not on special offers.

thanks
peter

You'll not be surprised to learn that my take on this is different. As I've also banged on about in the past, over about the last ten years I've had accounts with most of the SB providers. Maybe two-thirds of these have been prompted by some sort of offer (inc CMC, many moons ago), which allowed me to trade enough with virtually no risk to find out if the platform/client service was any good.
As you say, sometimes the ones with the most generous offers were the worst, but not always. Whatever, if I had problems, I just stopped using them (even if I made a profit). As it happens, the SB I use most now didn't have any 'free money' offers when I signed up, and at that time turned out to be one of the worst. Things change, and nowadays they seem to be the best in my experience, yet they give new clients a £100 safety net.
The point I'm rambling towards is that no matter how good next gen may be, you still need to convince ex-clients to come back and new ones to sign up. That might not happen for a while if they're tempted to try the opposition first and stick with them because they're also very good.

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

hi montmorency

You know what you are 100 percent right and I agree with you. It would be nice to offer you the choices you want. To be honest getting all this stuff delivered is hard work and we have to prioritise what we can get out there. But in time I know we will be able to offer you the choices that you deserve and we should deliver. It is just not going to happen this week. I know we will have something later in the year. we are really determined to get our charting 100 percent right for our clients. not just colours but patterns, studies, tabs etc all that you need. I just need more time because we are rolling out more and more things on next gen.
in the next year we will have everything, it will look and be fantastic and give you the choices you need.
In the meantime keep faith in us, stay in touch and follow our progress. If you do open an account, keep me informed, any problems let me know and I will do my best to sort them out personally.
best wishes Peter

Many thanks for your replies Peter. Much appreciated.
(You did not comment on the bet lay-off issue, but perhaps that's a trade secret ).

Backgrounds and colours: I should not judge too harshly until I have tried your actual charts (and I will), but, as I am sure you are well aware, people's sensitivity to colours can vary enormously. I find some people's web pages almost unreadable for this reason.
I'm not getting any younger (and I guess most traders/spread-betters are a lot younger), and eyesight tends to deteriorate with age, and it's more than just the close-up reading thing. I'm not saying don't use colours, but if technically possible, it would be great if the user could be given some options. I realise that it may not be as easy as it sounds on a web interface (still less on an iPad or whatever).

It would be a shame to scare away a section of your potential marketplace because staring at your charts gave them a headache.

 

[XEC10]

As I have a CFD account with CMC I scanned through this thread to look for anything of relevance, but it seems that CMC are hyping up their spread betting service while not mentioning their CFD service. So what is really going on? Are CMC intending to phase out their CFD service?

 

[PC at CMC Markets]

Hi XEC10

Thanks for being a client and your support.
No not at all, we would never stop cfds it is very important part of our business.
Next Gen cfds will be launched in the UK in the coming month or so. do not have final launch date yet but we are very very near. it is awesome.
Just adding products etc. and then ready to go.
will let you know when it is out there.

thanks for taking the time to blog.
regards Peter

As I have a CFD account with CMC I scanned through this thread to look for anything of relevance, but it seems that CMC are hyping up their spread betting service while not mentioning their CFD service. So what is really going on? Are CMC intending to phase out their CFD service?

 

[gle101]

Hi Ross

Thanks for your blog and taking the time.
I have to say that if you need £100 to convince you to try out a new platform then you are not doing yourself justice. we give you a demo platform the execution is the same as the live system and really if you need an incentive to try something new then maybe you should stick with your existing provider. if you like headlines and gimmicks then sorry we are not the shop for you but good luck with your trading.

we are completely focused on delivering a new improved and exceptional trading experience. my point is that we as a company and preferably as an industry want to move away from special offers and gimmicks. this industry should be about the best execution, the best pricing, no head line spreads, no requotes etc. I am not saying it will be easy but we are not going to take a step backwards. we want to offer institutional type execution to the retail markets. I know it will be hard for you to convert to us and I guess the best way to attract your business is to offer you someincentive but you know what I prefer to stick to our guns, deliver a first class service and attract clients based on service, execution and platform not on special offers.

thanks
peter

I agree with what is said, but at the same time I think you are a little bit unfair to Ross. New clients cost money, that is a fact, no matter how you try you will have to pay in some way or the other to obtain these, this in order to take market share for your new platform.