IG Markets are an option. They trade contracts for difference rather than spreadbet. The principles are similar, but it's more tightly regulated. The downside is that gains (and losses) are subject to CGT, whereas speadbetting is CGT exempt.
How do I 'day trade' stocks?
- Thread starter neo2210
- Start date
IG Markets are an option. They trade contracts for difference rather than spreadbet. The principles are similar, but it's more tightly regulated. The downside is that gains (and losses) are subject to CGT, whereas speadbetting is CGT exempt.
That's a key difference between trading and investing imo. It's one thing to understand the fundamentals, but the markets are a fickle beast, and volume is a decent way of following sentiment.
People move in herds...
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 3,833
- Location
- London
I'm using Self trade at the moment for shares and investments.
Does anyone know of a comparison site between all the available sites / brokers?
Does anyone know of a comparison site between all the available sites / brokers?
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 16,008
- Location
- Fareham
Well day trading is the art of opening/closing trades within the same working day, which means you need a lot of capital to make it worthwhile. fact: most people lose on day trading.
I also much prefer investing, even if it's a short term investment of only a few weeks or so.
I also much prefer investing, even if it's a short term investment of only a few weeks or so.
Do you really though? I mean you need to do high value transactions to make money out of the small margins. But do you need the equity to back it up nowadays? From what I hear you don't.
Obviously when the **** hits the fan you are up the creek with **** all over your face.
Agree with Eulogy. If you are new to the stock market, jumping into day trading will likely end in your money being lost. As has been said, after buy/sell transaction costs are factored, you really are struggling to make a profit.
I think it is fair to say that day trading does to a large extent, require large funds in the first place, and the ability to lose those funds and not be up **** creek. The problem with day trading, is that you are trying to beat the market; you are part of the market. Therefore you are trying to beat yourself, which is rather illogical.
Investing on the other hand can be far more profitable even with 'small' amounts of cash like £1000, IF done well though of course. Pick a good company, with good management and a good/necessary product(s) and let your investment grow. The market will fluctuate up and down all the time, but the general direction will be up over the course of so many years if you have chosen well.
The likes of Warren Buffett got to an estimated value of $50 billion through intelligent investing, not risky day trading.
I think it is fair to say that day trading does to a large extent, require large funds in the first place, and the ability to lose those funds and not be up **** creek. The problem with day trading, is that you are trying to beat the market; you are part of the market. Therefore you are trying to beat yourself, which is rather illogical.
Investing on the other hand can be far more profitable even with 'small' amounts of cash like £1000, IF done well though of course. Pick a good company, with good management and a good/necessary product(s) and let your investment grow. The market will fluctuate up and down all the time, but the general direction will be up over the course of so many years if you have chosen well.
The likes of Warren Buffett got to an estimated value of $50 billion through intelligent investing, not risky day trading.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 31 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 16,338
- Location
- Plymouth
- Stay away from spread betting and CFDs unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing
- Don't bother with any of the "hot tips" magazines, the only effect they have is causing a share to gap up 20% on the next day's opening allowing existing holders + owners of the magazines to cash in at your expense
- Don't bother day trading unless you have enough £ to cover the fees which is lots of £ and if you have lots of £ you shouldn't be asking basic questions and if you do need to, you'd be better sticking it in a bank or fund.
KISS: Invest in companies after doing your own research, look for good boards, good fundamentals, and good prospects. And NEVER invest more than you can afford to lose.
- Don't bother with any of the "hot tips" magazines, the only effect they have is causing a share to gap up 20% on the next day's opening allowing existing holders + owners of the magazines to cash in at your expense
- Don't bother day trading unless you have enough £ to cover the fees which is lots of £ and if you have lots of £ you shouldn't be asking basic questions and if you do need to, you'd be better sticking it in a bank or fund.
KISS: Invest in companies after doing your own research, look for good boards, good fundamentals, and good prospects. And NEVER invest more than you can afford to lose.
I day trade US stocks from the UK.
I use www.thinkorswim.com as my broker and follow www.timothysykes.com for my trades. Works very well for me
He has a great strategy of shorting pump and dumps. Pretty much nails it 80% of the time.
I use www.thinkorswim.com as my broker and follow www.timothysykes.com for my trades. Works very well for me
He has a great strategy of shorting pump and dumps. Pretty much nails it 80% of the time.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 4,184
- Location
- London
I day trade US stocks from the UK.
I use www.thinkorswim.com as my broker and follow www.timothysykes.com for my trades. Works very well for me
He has a great strategy of shorting pump and dumps. Pretty much nails it 80% of the time.
they dont appear to like UK residents opening accounts? did you know this?
do you have any other suggestions for a broker?
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 16,008
- Location
- Fareham
Friend of mine uses http://www.x-o.co.uk/ - seems OK, but can't comment on it too much. seems a lot cheaper than my H-L account though!
Edit - this question is probably pertinent to me as well, going to close my H-L share account and open up one elsewhere using the money from that. Will probably leave my ISA account open with H-L though.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 4,184
- Location
- London
Unless you have money to burn, dont do it... and by the sound of the first post you aint got a clue and neither do i!!
Jay
no one should ever be discouraged from, at the very least, paper trading. the OP just wants the bare essentials and there is nothing wrong with that.
learning the mechanics of this business can go a long way to helping you decide if it's right for you.
One simple fact i know is this: to make day-trading work you need to spending hours everyday researching and to be frank, the majority of the time i see a poster on here discouraging people against this kind of activity, they have their own full time job. So i take what they say with a pinch of salt - Like the OP i want to at least see what the fuss is all about.
that said - if you play with money you can't afford to lose you're a moron - but christ i dont need to read that in an internet forum to know it's true lol.
Just to stress that Money Week isn't a 'tipster' they provided commentary on the economic climate and suggest good places to put your cash, what to look for and how to keep what you make. They only make a few 'calls' each week, my personal favourite is their 'gamble of the week' which usually works out pretty well actually, particularly for quick gains.
If you want some sound advice, analysis and commentary on a weekly basis then for £17 a quarter I'd definitely recommend it - I also like reading paper rather than electronic material, much better for long loo trips.
To reiterate what others have said, only 'play' with cash you're comfortable losing, that's a given.
Supposedly ~95% of private/retail traders lose their money or fail to make gains. I'm not sure how accurate that figure is but from reading a large number of forums over the past few years I'd say it's not too far from the mark!
In fact one of the largest forums out there has active threads on trading the Euro and Cable, I like to read it just to see how wrong many people are... that sounds arrogant but I never listen to other peoples advice. Yesterday a case in point, on one large thread they were all talking up Cable but I went short, I just knew from my experience there was a ~60-70 pip adjustment due south, I was right. God knows how many of those guys were long, but there were many talking it up!
Oh and finally we can be a Buffet, after several years of trying I had a 'eureka' moment, tried my need trading style and turned $2,500 in to a 1,000% profit a matter of months.
You need to realise that all successful traders lose trades, that's perfectly normal, I'm only currently 68% accurate but with a reward that's 2-3x my risk, it doesn't matter.
If you want some sound advice, analysis and commentary on a weekly basis then for £17 a quarter I'd definitely recommend it - I also like reading paper rather than electronic material, much better for long loo trips.
To reiterate what others have said, only 'play' with cash you're comfortable losing, that's a given.
Supposedly ~95% of private/retail traders lose their money or fail to make gains. I'm not sure how accurate that figure is but from reading a large number of forums over the past few years I'd say it's not too far from the mark!
In fact one of the largest forums out there has active threads on trading the Euro and Cable, I like to read it just to see how wrong many people are... that sounds arrogant but I never listen to other peoples advice. Yesterday a case in point, on one large thread they were all talking up Cable but I went short, I just knew from my experience there was a ~60-70 pip adjustment due south, I was right. God knows how many of those guys were long, but there were many talking it up!
Oh and finally we can be a Buffet, after several years of trying I had a 'eureka' moment, tried my need trading style and turned $2,500 in to a 1,000% profit a matter of months.
You need to realise that all successful traders lose trades, that's perfectly normal, I'm only currently 68% accurate but with a reward that's 2-3x my risk, it doesn't matter.
Last edited:
also consider, do you have the ability/time to be sitting infront of a screen/pc all day long? Day trading requires massive amounts of time as the markets can shift against you very very quickly. it's not something you can dip into for 30 mins a day on a lunch break.
Trading US stocks is very difficult to do from UK and requires the following:
The SEC (the US securities and exchange commission) has placed restrictions on the day trading of US stock markets. US stocks can only be day traded if the trader has deposited a minimum of $ 25000 in their trading account, which is not the case for most beginning day traders. Beginning day traders can still trade US stocks, but the positions will need to be kept open for longer than usual (at least overnight).
The SEC considers a day trade to be any trade that is opened and closed within the same trading day, and considers a day trader to be any trader that completes 4 or more day trades within 5 business days. If a trader is classified as a day trader by the SEC, but does not have the required $ 25000 in their trading account, their account will be frozen for 90 days.
Initially, these restrictions may appear to prevent day trading completely, but this is not the case, as these restrictions only apply to the US stock markets, and not to either the futures or currency markets.
The SEC (the US securities and exchange commission) has placed restrictions on the day trading of US stock markets. US stocks can only be day traded if the trader has deposited a minimum of $ 25000 in their trading account, which is not the case for most beginning day traders. Beginning day traders can still trade US stocks, but the positions will need to be kept open for longer than usual (at least overnight).
The SEC considers a day trade to be any trade that is opened and closed within the same trading day, and considers a day trader to be any trader that completes 4 or more day trades within 5 business days. If a trader is classified as a day trader by the SEC, but does not have the required $ 25000 in their trading account, their account will be frozen for 90 days.
Initially, these restrictions may appear to prevent day trading completely, but this is not the case, as these restrictions only apply to the US stock markets, and not to either the futures or currency markets.
Another common misconception. If I had a pound for every time someone told me that...
Unless you work on the floor then you don't need to be sat all day in front of your screen, particularly if you trade busy sessions (London and NY open).
You can also use limit orders, once you've set them you can walk away. That comes with confidence of course.
Oh and another thing, whatever you do and if you only ever listen to one piece of advice, ignore any mailshots or schemes that promise to make you money for a small fee or subscription, avoid bots, indicators and other automated claptrap. It's utter rubbish.
My method/system makes me substantial gains and money, it took me years to develop my own psychology and methodology, no amount of money a private individual could afford would part me from my wisdom.
It's the age old adage of "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach". It's never more truer than in the financial industry.
If 'an ex-trader' from the 'Chicago floor' is that good that he made millions, why the hell would he share it with you for $395? If it's too good to be true, it very much is.
My method/system makes me substantial gains and money, it took me years to develop my own psychology and methodology, no amount of money a private individual could afford would part me from my wisdom.
It's the age old adage of "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach". It's never more truer than in the financial industry.
If 'an ex-trader' from the 'Chicago floor' is that good that he made millions, why the hell would he share it with you for $395? If it's too good to be true, it very much is.
Yes, I have time to sit in front of the computer.
Thanks for the advice guys.
And yes of course I wouldnt trade with any money I can afford to lose, nor would I listen to any advice of the 'hot (usually out of date) tips' emails or any stupid "I'll tell you how to make millions for 199.99! schemes.
Yeah I'm well aware of the limits the SEC puts on day traders that want to trade american stocks without a large starting balance, hence the reason why I want to stick strickly to UK stocks.
I may 'invest' long term in say apple or something.
Someone mentioned earlier that what I'm asking is more akin to simple investing than day trading, and I guess they're basically right since that's what I'll be doing really, although I still may 'day trade' as well as holding longer term investments.
What I'm really looking for is a platform and a way to do this.
Here's a random question, can I simply buy 1 share of say apple, then sell it the next day?
I've watched day traders online and the stock orders seem to be in the thousands, or at least hundreds.
Is that handled by the broker?