Hi hfx, if my SB provider (IG) were actually trading with me (i.e mirroring my positions) they would make much more money out of me in the long run.
I spend half my time checking the dma price quotes compared to theirs & when it wanders off too far I stay out, because I am aware of the subsequent price manipulation.
If the SB's realised that not all retail guys are numptys & some of us have actually developed genuinely good trading skills, they might change their approach.
What is the use in churning over small beer accounts (& I obviously do not include the swiss debacle in this) to eventually have decent traders go elsewhere in the end, because they end up totally mistrusting the SB quotes.
My point is, if I thought the SB would mirror the decent traders, (I'm not talking about A book guys with large accounts), I'm talking about mirroring someone that shows their entry/exits are actually well planned, (they can obviously see this through a simple re run of the past trades), if the barrier of price manipulation were removed it would in the long run yield the SB more money in a win win situation over a much longer timeframe with guys who actually learn this as a skill, not just taking pot shots, but who have ebbed & flowed & become seasoned traders.
hi Joe
When you take a trade from someone its important you know who you're dealing with and all spreadbet firms are very analytical about all of their clients. IG are no different and if you are a profitable trader IG would be aware of that.
s/b firms will move clients from the B book to the A book for 3 reasons:
1. the client is acting in a manner that has alerted the dealing desks attention
2. the client is dealing in such big size that he will breach the risk limits and need to be hedged to bring the firms limits back in to line
3. the client is a net winner and the s/b firm can't capture any loss from him so they capture small commissions each time he deals instead
IG may be hedging you but you may not be aware of it. if they're not hedging you its because theyre not bothered about your trading prowess, but that doesn't mean they don't instantly know to the penny what your lifetime pnl is.
If a client is making regular profits he will be hedged. Your point about s/b firms mirroring profitable traders is true to an extent. these profitable traders will be hedged a maximum of 100%, often only part hedged if the dealing desk is not totally convinced the trader is the real deal, but they wont be hedged more than 100%. in other words even if you're the best trader in the world and you sell £50 a point of USDJPY, the s/b firm will only sell £50 per point of USDJPY and not any more.
Dealing desks at s/b firms are not prop desks. they manage the exposure given to them by their clients and not their own personal sentiment.
no one thinks you're numptys. what we think is a lot of retail traders are very inexperienced and that gives us experienced guys an edge. when you factor in the spread advantage the dealing desk has then it becomes even harder for a noob to make money. tiger woods would kick my ass at golf but that doesn't mean i'm a numpty, it means he's better at that game than me.
A lot of our clients have disposable cash to speculate on because they are very successful in their own field - we don't think of these people as numptys at all, we think we're more experienced and with the spread we think that makes us a big favourite to win.