Trading the stockmarket (NO Referrals)

silversurfer · 21 Sep 2017 at 22:49

Try Halifax if you are starting out just to compare others with. It has a cheap regular buy option in there so its reasonable enough.

Ignore chris above he should be banned. I thought Tesla was with Nvidia tbh, I guess they like competitive prices and AMD is wanting to break into this developing sector and deep learning etc.

Dollar breaking out upwards would be a game changer

Richeh · 22 Sep 2017 at 01:03

I use Interactive Brokers, it's a US based company but they are backed by Lloyds here in the UK, and they have been around for ages.

Cheap commissions but depending on what kind of trading your doing there may be more costs involved, inactivity, market data etc but if you are a regular trader then I haven't found cheaper for commissions. Plus they tend to have most shares shortable if you're that way inclined (I am

).

Probably not the best for a beginner though, their TWS system is very functional but not the easiest to get to grips with and kinda ugly. Also if you want to use margin or trade more than 4 times a week (think its 4 and buying and selling is 2 trades) you need a minimum of $25k in the account.

Richdog · 22 Sep 2017 at 07:59

Richeh said:
I use Interactive Brokers, it's a US based company but they are backed by Lloyds here in the UK, and they have been around for ages.

Cheap commissions but depending on what kind of trading your doing there may be more costs involved, inactivity, market data etc but if you are a regular trader then I haven't found cheaper for commissions. Plus they tend to have most shares shortable if you're that way inclined (I am ).

Probably not the best for a beginner though, their TWS system is very functional but not the easiest to get to grips with and kinda ugly. Also if you want to use margin or trade more than 4 times a week (think its 4 and buying and selling is 2 trades) you need a minimum of $25k in the account.

On top of the complex user interface, if you're an infrequent trader or less than a certain amount you also generate monthly charges which can outweight any trading savings, and the minimum amount of £10'000 will be a lot for some people I guess. It's designed for more serious and experienced traders.

IG Group gets good reviews.

QlimaxUK · 22 Sep 2017 at 17:49

been looking into CFD trading but seeing a lot of mixed messages, looking at 2 providers Trading212 and Plus500 but some say that Plus500 is a scam as they don't always work when trying to withdraw and will sometimes ban the account when the trader contacts support yet other site say that it is very reliable and trustworthy and is the UK's most trusted provider for this and 1 site says it is better then trading212 as it has lower fees..
I have even found one site that is preparing a class action law suit against Plus500 and is asking for people affected by the 'scam' to contact them so it's difficult to know who's right.. I have NOT found anything against trading212 so they would seem like the best one at this time with the info that I have

I NEED ADVISE!

I should also add that I am new to this whole trading CFD stuff so will accept any info at all, everything I know so far is from demo accounts from both of these sites, I have tried others but only these 2 stand out for me in terms of ease of use, I also want to know what the best way to transfer funds would be, are there options that are safer then others for example?

inferno · 23 Sep 2017 at 06:13

I used CMC markets, added funds, circa 40,000 USD and withdrew them no problems. CMC markets used CFDs and are a FTSE250 company

dowie · 25 Sep 2017 at 01:02

QlimaxUK said:
been looking into CFD trading but seeing a lot of mixed messages, looking at 2 providers Trading212 and Plus500 but some say that Plus500 is a scam as they don't always work when trying to withdraw and will sometimes ban the account when the trader contacts support yet other site say that it is very reliable and trustworthy and is the UK's most trusted provider for this and 1 site says it is better then trading212 as it has lower fees..
I have even found one site that is preparing a class action law suit against Plus500 and is asking for people affected by the 'scam' to contact them so it's difficult to know who's right.. I have NOT found anything against trading212 so they would seem like the best one at this time with the info that I have

I NEED ADVISE!

I should also add that I am new to this whole trading CFD stuff so will accept any info at all, everything I know so far is from demo accounts from both of these sites, I have tried others but only these 2 stand out for me in terms of ease of use, I also want to know what the best way to transfer funds would be, are there options that are safer then others for example?

Meant to reply to your previous post, not really sure what the 'scam' is that is being referred to so can't comment on that as you've not given any details. Re: claims on being the cheapest etc.. that is easy to compare yourself quite objectively.

In terms of advice - don't do it, you're most likely just going to lose your money. These sorts of CFDs providers stack the odds against you quite heavily, you're trading against their two way quote - a market they create and they know your positions, your history with them etc.. there are inherent conflicts of interest as they're not just acting as a broker but as your counterparty.

QlimaxUK · 26 Sep 2017 at 05:55

Is there a general investments thread on here? Just that I need 'something' to invest in right now as ISA's and General savings are going nowhere, looking for low risk really I was only looking at CFD trading as I was told about it and it seemed to give a level of control over profit/loss unlike other risky investments where you just 'put money in a box and hope' so looking now at more low risk investments where capital is protected?

The_Abyss · 26 Sep 2017 at 08:26

Richdog said:
If you think AMD stock is now $14, Intel is $37 and Nvidia is a whopping $180 then clearly there is a lot of headroom for AMD if it can deliver the goods and get in on the AI game.

You do understand that those share prices do not reflect relative performance and value?

Irish_Tom · 26 Sep 2017 at 13:29

QlimaxUK said:
Is there a general investments thread on here? Just that I need 'something' to invest in right now as ISA's and General savings are going nowhere, looking for low risk really I was only looking at CFD trading as I was told about it and it seemed to give a level of control over profit/loss unlike other risky investments where you just 'put money in a box and hope' so looking now at more low risk investments where capital is protected?

You could look at mutual funds like the Vanguard LifeStrategy 20. This is a fund made up of other Vanguard ETFs (a mix of equities and bonds).

In the case of Life Strategy 20, it's 20% equities and 80% bonds, so while there is still risk involved, the risk is reduced compared to say Life Strategy 80, which is 80% equities and 20% bonds. The rate of return is also lower but that's the price you pay for the relative 'safety'.

Nick_7 · 26 Sep 2017 at 15:07

Looking to try a UK based demo account to begin learning how to trade forex with a view to opening an full account after I have mastered the basics.

just wondered if anyone could suggest the best company and also tell me what id/documents id need to provide to open just a demo?

Thanks.

dowie · 26 Sep 2017 at 16:46

Nick_7 said:
Looking to try a UK based demo account to begin learning how to trade forex with a view to opening an full account after I have mastered the basics.

just wondered if anyone could suggest the best company and also tell me what id/documents id need to provide to open just a demo?

Thanks.

I'd go with the same answer as per the person asking about CFDs - don't bother... the idea that you're going to start from being clueless to mastering some 'basics' and suddenly getting an edge on global FX markets to the point where you can profit from short term trading is more than a bit unlikely, add on to that that a lot of the 'brokers' come with the same caveats highlighted re: the CFD providers and you've got another hurdle to overcome.

Still, with that negative opinion out of the way, these are the ways you could perhaps trade FX as a retail trader without getting ripped off:

trade FX futures on CME globex - you'll need to open an account with a US based FCM or with interactive brokers' UK subsidiary... you can't do this on a shoestring budget

use LMAX: https://www.lmax.com

also interactive brokers provides spot FX trading too: https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/index.php?f=759

In each of these cases it is a third party(multiple third parties) you're trading against and not your provider, you don't have the conflicts of interest and your costs are at least kept low...

Lastly if you're poor and still want to potentially waste all your money even though you can't really afford to do so and are unable to open an account to access any of the above then Oanda is probably one of the least **** of the firms that trade against you:

http://oanda.com

you could also try one of the big spread betting firms i.e. IG or CMC

(again these are bad for the reasons mentioned earlier but they're probably the least bad of the bad choices out there)

Yucca · 27 Sep 2017 at 10:27

Anyone have any thoughts as to why Boohoo shares have dropped so much this morning when they have just announced great results?!

Wondering whether I should sell at a loss or double up while they are falling!!

peterwalkley · 27 Sep 2017 at 10:42

Yucca said:
Anyone have any thoughts as to why Boohoo shares have dropped so much this morning when they have just announced great results?!

Wondering whether I should sell at a loss or double up while they are falling!!

Depends on whether you think they can grow profits and by how much. From the RNS today, earning per share was 1.25p, so a share price of 250p would be a PE ratio of 100 (assuming same earning for second half of year). A typical blue chip is circa 20 PE, so on that measure its over-valued by a factor of 5. Obviously they're not a blue chip and still growing, the question is how much and how fast can they grow to justify that valuation.

Yucca · 27 Sep 2017 at 10:49

I got in at 241. Im tempted now to buy more at 235 to reduce my average cost.

Is it not likely people are selling to take profits and run hence the drop? Should it not recover by the end of the day/week?

Irish_Tom · 27 Sep 2017 at 11:47

Yucca said:
I got in at 241. Im tempted now to buy more at 235 to reduce my average cost.

Is it not likely people are selling to take profits and run hence the drop? Should it not recover by the end of the day/week?

It’s never usually that simple and doubling down can often turn into an expensive spiral of doom. On the other hand, shares often dip following an RNS and then recover over the following few days - if we knew the answer we’d all be millionaires.

dowie · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:26

Yucca said:
I got in at 241. Im tempted now to buy more at 235 to reduce my average cost.

Is it not likely people are selling to take profits and run hence the drop? Should it not recover by the end of the day/week?

trying to invent some narrative around why the market did what it did (aside from perhaps really obvious big moves around figures/interest rates) is generally not going to be too constructive - of course people do it all the time, especially when they're in the business of selling you stuff

I'm not really sure why you want to increase your exposure to a stock after it's not done what you expected - if you were going to risk twice the amount on it then why didn't you do so previously? Is it just some psychological thing with not wanting a loss? Unless you've got a better reason to invest twice what you anticipated investing other than to 'reduce my average cost' I'd not do it.

Russinating · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:33

Yucca said:
Anyone have any thoughts as to why Boohoo shares have dropped so much this morning when they have just announced great results?!

On top of the above, as a basic guide a share price will already be valued on the assumption that a company will exceed a forecast. Unless they absolutely blow the forecast/investor predictions out of the water then they often tail off a little. When I used to spread bet whereby you can profit on a fall by shorting I always kept an eye on weekly result releases as the inevitable drop can make a regular quick buck.

Fusion · 27 Sep 2017 at 12:37

Yucca said:
Anyone have any thoughts as to why Boohoo shares have dropped so much this morning when they have just announced great results?!

Wondering whether I should sell at a loss or double up while they are falling!!

Give us some reasons why you bought the stock in the first instance.

QlimaxUK · 27 Sep 2017 at 18:29

On the CFD question I forgot to mention that I was looking to invest ONLY in bitcoin and maybe other crypto currencies as these markets show the most movement and don't require long-term risk that stocks have with lower price changes, looking at Trading212 if I did go for this my only concern with these sites are the legal issues regarding withdrawals as these sites can 'hold' the funds and refuse to withdraw or they simply give you your original investment back and keep any profits, so how far do the regulations go and whats my legal position with them, I have tried to read through the T&C's but its difficult to understand and I have read that if a company like this has systems outside the UK then you get limited protection under UK law so thats a worry for me with this.

EDIT: https://www.trading212.com/en/client-agreement-uk

sections 7, 8 , 12 and 13 talk about liability and unfair gains from the service not being able to withdrawn profit from funds

Dave · 27 Sep 2017 at 21:06

Yucca said:
I got in at 241. Im tempted now to buy more at 235 to reduce my average cost.

A good rule of thumb is to only average upwards, not downwards. As folks have mentioned above, if you think the stock is going to rebound then wait for confirmation of the movement before buying.