BBC2. 9pm. Million Dollar Traders

barrooo

Like you say the the feed is close enough, but I moved to spread betting purely because, as you know, you don't pay income tax or CGT.

I'm tired of giving Gordy my money, and him basically putting it on a bonfire:rolleyes:

tradetime

purch wrote: »

I got meself a 'clever' little options trade going :j

P.S. It'll no doubt go 'pear shaped'..........it usually does :eek:

LOL, I hate options, they tend to be my nemesis, so I use them very spaingly, but funnily enough am considering putting my hand in the fire once more .

tradetime

barrooo wrote: »

Like you say the the feed is close enough, but I moved to spread betting purely because, as you know, you don't pay income tax or CGT.

I'm tired of giving Gordy my money, and him basically putting it on a bonfire:rolleyes:

Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking, I'll get round to trying it soon hopefully, I can't see any glaring reasons why trades can't be replicated on a spreadbet platform, but the proof as they say will be in the eating.

Dooooooooooooooonut

tradetime wrote: »

I'd agree with that, I recently opened a spread bet account to see what they are all about, but have not had time to use it yet. I have looked at the price against a real feed, and it looks close enough for the most part.

As far as I can tell spread betting quotes reflect the real market (or at least they reflect my bloomberg - [the pretty screens you saw in that documentry]) but what they don't show is the order book or trades as they go through - so one needs to question how important this is to your objectives... you couldn't scalp STIR calendars using a spread betting account (to take an extreme example) but for taking a fundamental view on eg forex they're great. On the other hand if you want to scalp for thirty pips as so many idiots seem to want to do the spreads will destroy you... and also you would be handicapped in the extreme by the lack access to order flow you would get working on an fx desk... I suppose you could trade fixings or something.

Thrugelmir

Hedge funds have lost £18bn in two days of trading in Volkswagen (VW) shares that briefly saw the carmaker become the world's most valuable company.
VW shares rose 348% over Monday and Tuesday after it emerged that only about 5% of its shares were available. Funds that had bet on the shares falling desperately needed to buy the shares to close their positions.

At the end of the day, whatever form the trading takes. The positions need to be closed out and for every winner there's a loser.

obsessed_saver

I signed up to IGMarkets demo account on 31st December and was given £100k to play with. I've made £200k+ in this two weeks just from 2 trades.

Short EUR vs GBP, and long GBP vs JPY.

I suggest everyone to try it out.

(Unfortunately, it isn't real money, though real market prices).

FoxtonsRIP

purch wrote: »

Actually you will find that there are hundreds of traders on trading floors all over the City, and elsewhere who have made lots of money for their institutions over the last year.

.

If hundreds have made money, then hundreds must have lost money too. The profits, if they arise, have to result in losses elsewhere

tradetime

Dooooooooooooooonut wrote: »

As far as I can tell spread betting quotes reflect the real market (or at least they reflect my bloomberg - [the pretty screens you saw in that documentry]) but what they don't show is the order book or trades as they go through - so one needs to question how important this is to your objectives... you couldn't scalp STIR calendars using a spread betting account (to take an extreme example) but for taking a fundamental view on eg forex they're great. On the other hand if you want to scalp for thirty pips as so many idiots seem to want to do the spreads will destroy you... and also you would be handicapped in the extreme by the lack access to order flow you would get working on an fx desk... I suppose you could trade fixings or something.

I would / will attempt to replicate futures trades, though not interest rates, primarily index futures. As I said before, the pricing looks close enough to my feeds to be usable [I'm familiar with the pretty screens, I have my own]. Time will tell.

sabretoothtigger

Thing with spreadbet is the price spikes more at open and close so you have to cope with that possible margin call.
They dont charge tax because most people lose money so the company pays extra duty for being a gambling shop.

I reckon its best when used as a hedge, holding a share but you think its going to lose ground over a week, short term stuff

Dooooooooooooooonut

FoxtonsRIP wrote: »

If hundreds have made money, then hundreds must have lost money too. The profits, if they arise, have to result in losses elsewhere

Derivatives are zero sum. Equities are not, thanks to dividends, share buybacks, etc. So everyone, in theory, can make money from stocks.

(Or everyone can lose money if everyone is long and the company folds )