Ok well today I had quite a few trades planned as I'd received alot more tips than usual for the pro tips account. Thing is a lot of the share tips are low value AIM shares, which is actually pretty good for the account as it means I can keep my risk within levels I find acceptable. But.. I ran into a bit of a snag today on my IG Index account when I tried to establish positions - most of the AIM index shares now seem to be a minimum of £5 per point! Which means that I can no longer afford to trade these share tips on this account. I don't know when they changed this, as one position I wanted to open in 'President Petroleum' was one I already had once in this account for £1 per point. In fact if I look back quickly this position only closed a few days ago. Why IG have done this is beyond me, maybe they dont want small players' business anymore? Anyone else out there notice this?
It kinda sucks, as in order to run the strategy properly and fairly I need access to the AIM shares market. So if anyone out there can recommend an alternative to IG and they know for definite that I can establish positions of £1 per point then give me a shout. I hate the fact I may have to switch accounts as I was very happy with the IG interface and their range of markets is superb. From many reviews I have read on other spread betting platforms there are not that many good alternatives out there. *sigh*.
So now the bad news is out the way I may aswell list the couple of trades I did manage to setup on there today. I established new positions in UK Coal @41.85, CVS Group @105.51 and Dominion Petroleum @5.11. As I stated in yesterdays post I had already received 3 stop notifications from IG. Thankfully I didnt receive anymore and so far today no others have stopped out. All 3 trades were a loss as none stopped out for a profit, these were:
St James Place @240.50 for a £2.22 loss
Segro @279.72 for a £4.10 loss
Hampson Industries @26.43 for a £3.30 loss
No stops and no trades on account 2 today, not through lack of looking though. Just nothing at the moment that is ready for buying.
Trade well guys!
Hi
ReplyDeletejust a quick word regarding IG and minimum bets as I have the same problem: not enough funds to justify opening certain contracts.
I'm not sure why IG specify £5/point on the smaller companies; what difference does it really make to them? Anyway I have opened a few bets like this at £5 - the only consolation is that because the SP is so small only a few points or so are usually required for a stop loss distance.
eg XYZ company SP = 30, min stop distance specified by IG 10%, so stop has to be min 3 points which, at £5/point, is just £15.
In very broad terms I tend to use 7-10% as my stop figure anyway so I ocasionally bet £5-10/point on smaller companies, providing it keeps me within my max amount per trade (2% or so).
Anyway just a few random thoughts before I have to go to work....
Cheers, Alan
Alan,
ReplyDeletethanks for your comment. Part of my trading means I like a slightly larger stop loss on a lower value share purely because the account can afford it. If I set up trades at 3 point stops then my guess is they will be triggered alot more often than they are now and the only people benefitting from that will be the betting company with their spreads. I dont really want to close the gap on my stops just so I can bet £5 per point. Thanks for the suggestion though, I did look into it.
I might email a couple of new companies today if I get the chance. I'm out on site this afternoon then out for a meal with clients, so doubt I will get any trading done today.