ftse all share tracker

moneylover

I have a HSBC ftse allshare tracker with H-L for £3000 which I am thinking of selling to avoid £2 charges a month.
I was looking for an ETF alternative but can only find Lyxor ETF all share (LFAS) or Dbx All Share (XASX) and these are swap based not fully replicated and the charges are .4%
Does anyone who has either of these comment on them - I dont know what the spread is normally like for example. I cant understand why there isnt (according to Motley Fool anyway) a fully replicated FTSE all share ETF - is it not a very popular index to track?
My main bone of contention of course is the £2 I have to pay HL...
Thanks!

Linton

You are not going to get a FULLY replicated All Share tracker - the large number of small companies would lead to very high fees. Also many of the small companies are illiquid - difficult to find a seller when you want to buy and v.v, especially in the large quantities that a popular tracker may need.

moneylover

Oh, thank you Linton, yes what you say makes perfect sense.

So can anyone comment please on the ftse all share etfs that do exist?

dunstonh

is it really worth it?

The cost involved in moving to an ETF and being out of the market are likely to mean that an ETF costing 0.4% will be more expensive than an OEIC costing 0.2x% even with a £2 charge that HL have.

psychic_teabag

Are you sticking with HL ? Holding an ETF on there would attract an additional 0.5% pa fee IIRC.

moneylover

psychic_teabag wrote: »

Are you sticking with HL ? Holding an ETF on there would attract an additional 0.5% pa fee IIRC.

Thanks - Is that if its in a ISA or across the board
I use x-o and iii as well so wasnt thinking of getting an ETF with HL

psychic_teabag

That's in an ISA (capped at £45) or SIPP (capped at £200). Possibly not in a taxable account.

There are platforms that (currently) let you hold an HSBC tracker fund in an ISA with no fee. eg Best, Fidelity.

rockitup

psychic_teabag wrote: »

Are you sticking with HL ? Holding an ETF on there would attract an additional 0.5% pa fee IIRC.

I think that 0.5% charge applies only when held within an ISA at HL.

I prefer ETF's for trading on an index, but spreads can vary a bit. But you do know the actual buying or selling price before you confirm on the trade rather than the forward pricing used with OEICS.

moneylover

rockitup wrote: »

I think that 0.5% charge applies only when held within an ISA at HL.

I prefer ETF's for trading on an index, but spreads can vary a bit. But you do know the actual buying or selling price before you confirm on the trade rather than the forward pricing used with OEICS.

Yes, I am thinking of selling my ftse all share with HL. But you have got to guess the index I think that I will have to look at how the Dow closed and I subscribe to the city briefing from the Telegraph which arrives in my email about 7.30am and indicates how FTSE may open (but dont know where info is sourced)

How have you built up your knowledge of ETFs? There are some weird ones out there. I would like to start with maybe one that tracks ftse and S&P . Can you see them on Yahoo Finance for historical performance? Thanks

rockitup

moneylover wrote: »

Yes, I am thinking of selling my ftse all share with HL. But you have got to guess the index I think that I will have to look at how the Dow closed and I subscribe to the city briefing from the Telegraph which arrives in my email about 7.30am and indicates how FTSE may open (but dont know where info is sourced)

How have you built up your knowledge of ETFs? There are some weird ones out there. I would like to start with maybe one that tracks ftse and S&P . Can you see them on Yahoo Finance for historical performance? Thanks

I have traded indices for a number of years, starting through buying HSBC index trackers, then moving to spread betting on the futures (can buy index bets with IG Index through till the end of the year). Then I started using ETF's for trackers in March last year, I don't pay too much attention to the slightly higher annual charges with these, I look more at the spread and either buy with Alliance or HL.

If you open up a demo spread betting account or even a demo MT4 account you can have up to the second prices and have a good idea of where the FTSE or S & P is likely to open.

If trading Dow Jones or S & P then check to see how much cost of currency conversion is being charged. Some ETF's or funds may be priced in UK Sterling but there is likely to be some FX cost included.
To trade US indices or US denominated contracts like Gold, Oil etc I use spread betting and trade per point, but beware of the leverage. If you use too much your account could be wiped out very quickly. I been there and done that... but still survived

With spread bets the Futures will have spreads of between 10 and 22 points as opposed to one point on the Daily Funded Bet (here interest is added each night to open positions) So if you too a yearly bet on the Jan 2013 FTSE spread bet then the 22 points spread will cost you about 0.4% as a finance charge. Dow spreads would be larger because of the index being roughly double the point size...

Hope this helps

rockitup

Sorry, I forgot to paste links for the FTSE100, DJIA and S & P 500 so here they are.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EFTSE

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EDJI

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EGSPC