Spread Betting Tips and Trading Diary » IG Index

In Search for good charting package

spread bettor — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:16:19 +0000

Ever since I’ve started trading I am looking for good charting package. I tried Sharescope and eSignal and didn’t like the interface. At the moment I am using IG Markets advance charting. It is quite good but there is a big problem. Have a look on this chart of Rio Tinto

See the third candle from the right (where the red line is)? on this chart the high of Rio Tinto on the 4/8 was 3503 and it is outside bar of the candle before.

I am using a lot the inside & outside bar patterns so I would create an order to buy the next day at 3505 or so.

The problem is that this price is fake. Rio didn’t even came close to this price. You can see it on the chart from MoneyAM website:

The high of that day was 3440. Huge difference! So what is going on? From time to time IG and other spread betting providers have some problems with the data they get and the prices jump for a second much higher. This doesn’t affect your positions and orders but it does affect the chart you see. So you can’t really trust them. It is like driving 80 MPH while your meter says you are only 70. Then try to explain it to the police officer.

It is a shame because their charting package is quite good and cheap (£30 a month free if you trade 4 times) but they don’t clean the data and it is a problem.

I am still looking for good package! Anyone?

Where to sell the GBP/USD?

spread bettor — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:46:57 +0000

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!

Do you gain the dividend from spreadbetting

spread bettor — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:17:22 +0000

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.

Paddypower wins again

spread bettor — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:16:20 +0000

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.

Better spread on Paddy Power

spread bettor — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:57:18 +0000

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!