IG Index Thread

[Paulds11]

maybe....but your language is not too impressive either

And this is a public site and we want to know his feelings and his opinion, regardless of how eloquent you think he is....

 

[Paulds11]

IG Index has introduced another variation on spreadbetting - Bracket Bets. The company say they have applied for a patent

Has anybody placed any Bracket Bets?

LOADED QUESTION PEOPLE (HIDDEN AGENDA WARNING

 

[Paulds11]

If we were allowed to download the platform and they just supplied the data feed-like IB,there would never be a problem. I suggest this is deliberate policy to give them an extra edge, and I challenge them to prove me wrong!

Correct you need to know the following basic things

Spreadbetting does not mean you are betting against the markets. you are in fact gabling with IG.

Thier Cash markets are not real markets, they are fabricated and weighted versions of the real market. they have the ability to change at anytime not only the spread but the volatility profile even during opening hours mid session, they are the market. this means you are not using your skill against the market you are in fact simply gambling against IG as the market maker. FACT

Watch out for posts from several members hear, they have hidden agendas relating to IG.
I'm currently reading thier pdf online from start to finish to verify if this information I have learned is contained within it. If not I'm going legal to get my money back as I feel strongly misled. I believed I was pacing trades with the market through IG not gambling against thier toy market.


regards
Paul

 

[Paulds11]

I've been with IG Index for about 4-5 years & I'd have to say in all that time they've been completely fine.

That said, I'm convinced they've changed their Dow/FTSE/DAX price quote algorithm of late. In the past, their mid price of a daily indice was always *very* close to the related cash market price (I'm fortunate enough to have a live price feed from a vendor), but in the past few weeks, I've seen IG's mid price out of kilter somewhat. For example on the DAX (2 point spread) I've seen IG's mid price FOUR points consistently higher than the live market ALL day long! Equally, with the Dow (today for example) IG's mid price has been consistently about 2 points higher than the market.

This extra couple of points can make all the difference between closing a position at no loss or small profit or perhaps deciding to roll & then getting a kicking!

I emailed them, but just got a load of vague waffle back, which had the overall feel of "the price discrepancy you're seeing is because we want it to be like that but we couldn't possibly say that so we'll waffle on about premiums, mkt close times & tracking futures price"

You need to understand that all their CASH markets are fake markets, despite the claims in the manual about how they are a great way to take positions in the stock market...NONSENSE.. these ,markets are IGs and you are not trading when you place your money, you are gambling, pure and simple..you are crossing your fingers because they change the weighting to improve the volatility profile at will to entice you to play and lose. I was foolish to believe this is a good strategy to build ones wealth with so naive I was about the whole process . You can see this on issues like market opening when their markets mysteriously seem to only jump up say 1/3 of the true market movement at the opening of markets like the Australian ASX200 .

Doesnt that tell you something people??? Why should a spread(your time and energy until you get frustrated and lose it all with us )betting company be afraid of the true market? Its because the true market is far more beneficial for traders.

There are a lot of strange issues and I believe that few people are making any real money using the platform, how can they when the goal posts move so much. You are dealing with a bokkie not a broker, you are a gambler not a trDER APPLYING NEWS REASON AND PROFIT LOGIC TO COMPANIES AND MARKETS, YOUR INTERNAL VOICE WILL TELL YOU IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE, and you should listen to that part of your conscience

If you want get rich quick with odds loaded against you and a self belief that you can beat a bookie.. enjoy spreadbetting
If you want to grow your investments sensibly, compounding at a steady rate of around 12% (starter) to 40% per trade!!! or per month avaerage!! then trade properly with a broker or using direct access.

Today I made a sensible 340% return by purchasing a simple few of low cost, just out of the money call options with Apple computer knowing in advance others will likely boost the stock price come today when Steve jobs announces iPhone without any system lockout, market weightings and with encouragement from AJ.Monte as a mentor (He made millions from the stock market and advises everyone to stop spreadbetting immediately). Id rather trade like that than be misled that gambling is a way to sensibly grow my portfolio..

just my 2cents worth warning for you to be careful with your money on that platform if you are new and confused with investments

Start here first with brokers or direct traders: Remember thier is no holy grail Im afraid, but some of the best are included below (and I do mention IG, but not thier spreadbetting arm as the indices's are skewed against you.

Etrade US account for options and stocks, you really do want to learn about options.(not their spreadbetting arm please)
Charles Schwab, very professional but minimum deposit required
Tradestation complete strategy system including backtesting potential
Tradesignal. new and good broker online if you like euro products especially like German markets
You can try CFDs this is highly highly leveraged .. if you get caught out here using big numbers placing large trades and you get called for margin or fail to set stop loss your losses can bankrupt you.. be warned,, IG have a platform and can even allow you to go direct.
For direct trading check out interactive brokers or Tradestation
Bloombergs quoting tools if you need a quotes package or even Proquote (UK)

Hope that helps you. Good luck freshers

 

[platypus_8888]

most futures markets have the same characteristics.

I'm afriad you are just going through a learning curve - for better or for worse it never completely ends.

It helps if you consider such things opportunities and work out ways of usign them to your advantage.

 

[Paulds11]

Sure, that goes without saying really... I was misled by much of the information I gleaned earlier from them only now do I realise after a call yesterday (no doubt in response to my postings here) that I have an account manager who duly informed me of all these issues I raised, If that conversation was had earlier Id be up by £3K. and that a very accurate figure..

I wont be confusing brokers for bookies again thats for sure..

PS
Tradestation is a wonderful platform which has my interest, you can trade your strategies and backtest through it, although it isnt cost effective for small time trades.. ah well .. need to make more money.....

 

[Phil Mibbutz]

Not strictly relevant to the above, but did anyone else find IG's site impossible to log onto or use for an hour or two yesterday afternoon (GMT)?

 

[The Pear]

Not strictly relevant to the above, but did anyone else find IG's site impossible to log onto or use for an hour or two yesterday afternoon (GMT)?

not sure because did not have it up but City and Fins were both down for periods last Thurs and Fri - including the close

 

[Pippppin]

Deal or No Deal?

I had an interesting experience when trying to buy a US stock on the IG platform last Friday. I received a message along the lines of "closing bets only", even though the green deal button was available.

I called IG this morning, and was told that the stock in question is not available to trade because the market cap. is around $250K, and their minimum is $500K.

Irritating, since I had performed considerable analysis of the stock last week, having checked that it was available on the platform.

So, beware...
Just because it says DEAL, sometimes it means NO DEAL

 

[fxwinner22]

the traders poem
dedicated to Paulds11



They slipped me again,i couldnt get out
it went the wrong way, the news was leaked out
the broker is bent, the prices are wrong
they took all my rent, i'm short - it went long

Its not down to me, its me that they shaft
it isnt my fault, the brokers? - they laughed
when i took the trade i Knew i was right
but didnt realise that my broker was shytte

I am a good trader, i know what to do
but my money is gone now - like crap down a loo
i know that i'm right - im right all the time
its the brokers who screw me, now i dont have a dime.

Next week will be better, i'll know what to do
i'll go the right way next time, my broker is new
IF i can just get and win a few days
i'll be back on top with my superior ways.

And here i am now, ready and able
i'm long in the market, lots of cash on the table
its going my way, i cannot fail
but oh no, it's turning (i begin to wail)

It looked like a long - the news was all good
but it's going down, my guts feel like mud
I took the chance and its starting to rain
and I know it's those Barstard brokers again!



hope you like

 

[Pippppin]

a spreadbetters lament.............

excellent stuff

 

[fibonelli]

What everyone's view of IG Index's new "Tradesense" Databank?

 

[Pippppin]

"Trade(non)sense" would be a better term...

Seriously, the information looks quite basic for seasoned traders, but it could be useful for less experienced traders

 

[fibonelli]

The hourly chart for the Sweden OMX market looks very weird.

 

[Phil Mibbutz]

Another thing that's weird/annoying about IG is the way their prices on indices and FX change every second, and always seem to flip backwards before going forwards, or vice versa. Meanwhile, their tickcharts don't reflect the change.

 

[Paulds11]

Remember people

We all start somewhere, but shocking it is to finally realise that Spreadbetting is not trading.. you are gambling against a machine that can and will use every trick in the book to skew the markets in their favour even the figures itself. Im astonished they even talk about markets and indexes implying they are the real thing e.g. FTSE CASH Daily should be noted FTSE Cash Daily (IG generated Market) at least.youd think. Would you really bet on a race if you knew the horses were doped according to the whim of a bookie before and even during the race?

It took me 1 month to get to the truth despite constantly seeking answers to my questions about these issues and problems vis-a-vis the discrepancies I noticed. Be warned I cant understand how they get away with all the allusions to trading, as such the tradesense tool is ridiculous... what good is it when the markets can be weighted mid session ad hoc?
You can only trade market openings when they choose to allow you to?
The graphs do not tally with the real markets? I get position lock out so I cant amend my stop loss? Thier platform doesnt operate properly on my high end system? nd they are the only JAVA based application that does not... including thier CFD product L2 which is worse in that i cant even log in..just as well though now... Spread betting is a mugs game in my opinion ane a terrible way to introduce yourself to the markets unless you take extended positions > 1week.

what a joke, what a sly con, what a charlatan of a company, a bookie posing a a broker.. stay well clear of anything to do with them.. time to look into Etrade CFDs/Saxo/IGN/IB

 

[dan921]

Ive had a look around the site and can't find a thread on ig index so i thought I would start one.

i would like to hear of peoples experiences of ig index - both good and bad.

to test out the site ive opened an account with 1k and im playing my strat - so far so good my entries have triggered flawlessly.

some of the subjects i would like covered are:

at a certain account size / bet size does ig start treating you differently?

if so how?

do they suffer from much slippage?

that will do to start with, im sure more will come as we go along.

Hi guys
I've been trading with IG for a few months now with good results. At first I was getting a lot of "sorry the price has moved" So I upgraded my computer and found that this solved the problem. I only trade major news events in forex, my average trade lasts around 10 - 30 seconds. So far I've had no problems getting in and out of the market although the spread on the cable widens from 3 to 10 pips at news time, I don't mind so long as I get a good entry and most company's do the same at news time. like fxwinner22 I would like to find out at what point if any do they put you on manual trades. At the moment I'm at £25 a pip but I want to keep upping it. is anyone trading large amounts without problems?

Nice to find a forum that talks abouts SB companies most only talk about brokers.
Dan

 

[Paulds11]

I just dont get it,
Your gambling at £25 per point and accepting those ridiculous spreads when actually what you could do is reduce the spread and the risks inherent with spreadbetting companies and go direct with IB/ or similar. If your good enough to make money spreadbetting occasionally you will be ok in the real market

PS I have closed my IG accounts and Im taking the whole sorry mess to court. I will not be hoodwinked out of my money like that

 

[platypus_8888]

I just dont get it,
Your gambling at £25 per point and accepting those ridiculous spreads when actually what you could do is reduce the spread and the risks inherent with spreadbetting companies and go direct with IB/ or similar. If your good enough to make money spreadbetting occasionally you will be ok in the real market

PS I have closed my IG accounts and Im taking the whole sorry mess to court. I will not be hoodwinked out of my money like that

I think the important thing is to watch for a while and see what you are getting involved with. Work out a plan and then test it for a while.

Then risk your money in increasing amounts as you win.

I don't know exactly what you have done but it sounds like you have not done that.

 

[dan921]

I just dont get it,
Your gambling at £25 per point and accepting those ridiculous spreads when actually what you could do is reduce the spread and the risks inherent with spreadbetting companies and go direct with IB/ or similar. If your good enough to make money spreadbetting occasionally you will be ok in the real market

PS I have closed my IG accounts and Im taking the whole sorry mess to court. I will not be hoodwinked out of my money like that

Thanks for your comments Paulds. The reason I don't want to go anywhere else is because I get great fills with IG at news time, which is very hard to find and as I said before all SB companies and brokers widen there spreads just before a major news release. I only trade on strong deviations which will give me 30-50 pips in a few seconds so the 10 pip spread is no problem. my main concern is how much I can increase my pip size before they stop me.