Spread Blogging – Spread betting tips

Hi all,

If you think the trend has changed and the USD is going to be stronger or even if you think the opposite, you want to find the best spread out there.

for daily most of the companies offer 3 points spread but for September or December there is a difference. Again IG Index are not competitive and offer 12 points spread. City Index and Paddy Power trader offer better – only 8 points spread.

You may think that it is not a big difference but you will be surprised how much the spread is eating your profits. So shop around!

I don’t know with other companies how it works but with IG Index you do get dividends. And if it is quarterly spread usually the dividend is priced in. That’s why the quote is lower than the actual price.

For example I opened a trade on Royal dutch shell for September when the share price was 1500 but I bought the future at 1479. When the ex-dividend was arrived the price has been balanced.

Hi all ,

I was checking Astrazeneca maybe to open a short position on the stock. While I was checking (and decided not to) I found that Paddy power Trader offers 7 point spread for September while IG Index offers 21 points spread. This is 300% more!

It is not the first time that I found that IG Index is not competitive at all. My advice as always is to open several accounts and shop for the best spread.

Having said so I opened an account with ODL Market and got an iPod as gift. They do offer very good spread on indexes but not so good on shares.

Hi all,

I compared the spread between Paddy Power & IG Index and Paddy Power are winning by far.

S&P 500: Paddy: 0.5 IG: 0.7

Dax: Paddy 1 point IG: 2 points

Most of the shares are half price with Paddy Power. The only place that IG are winning is on the Dow. Paddy charges 5 points spread while IG only 4.

Shop around before you put a trade!

Hi all,

IG Index has a new website and from first impression it is a big improvement from the old one! There is a new section about market update so you can get the news in one place without searching for it on the net.

The design of the site is nicer. They didn’t change the platform deal though. As I always say it is one of the best platform out there but also the ugliest! I don’t know what about you but I really don’t like to sit in front of it more than 10 minutes.

Interesting results from IG Group:

Spread-betting firm IG Group saw group revenue for the three months to February rise 33% but said the overall growth of the business has been hit by tough comparatives. Group revenue for the quarter was approximately £62m compared to £46m. The shares crashed by 25%.

Hi all,

I’ve sent David Jones from IG Index 5 questions and here are his answers:

1) What is the difference between FTSE 100 daily and FTSE daily future? Isn’t it quite the same?

DJ: The FTSE 100 daily spread bet is the one that closely reflects where the FTSE 100 cash index is trading. If you run that position overnight a financing charge will be applied to take into account margin costs and any ex dividend days for FTSE stocks will be applied.

The FTSE 100 future is similar to the futures contracts that trade on LIFFE. The cost of financing and dividends is already taken into account so no adjustments will be made if the position is held overnight.

2) Do you get dividends using spread betting?

DJ: Yes, you will receive an adjustment to reflect dividends paid when spread betting – assuming you are using the daily contracts. For the quarterly contract this is already factored in usually but may need to be adjusted if a company’s dividend policy changes

3) Can you explain a bit more how your Bungee product works?

DJ: Read this page here

http://www.igindex.co.uk/spread-betting/bungee-bets.html

4) Why on Options you can’t set alerts, stop loss and orders?

DJ: Don’t know…

5) And last general question – Do you see more activities or less due to the credit crunch?

The credit crunch has made markets more volatile which has traditionally been good for our business.

Have a great weekend!

Hi all,

I was looking for a quote to buy some shares in Tesco and I was amazed to see the difference between IG Index and Paddypower. The spread for March at IG Index is 1.6 with Paddypower it is just 0.7! so you pay more than double with IG Index.

This is a real difference and it may sound pennies if you just put 1 pound but if you bet £100 per point you already give £90 more!

Always shop around to see who is offering the most competitive spread.

This week I opened a CFD account with IG Index and their client service was very good. There was a problem with transferring money from my spread betting account to the CFD and they solved it quickly.

On the other hand I sent to them lists of questions last week and I am still waiting for answers.

I’ve also noticed that they don’t offer the best spread around. On shares Paddypower offers better spread on a random check. But IG Index platform is better…