which provider, page-18

Re: on providers

Hi all,

Well, I have used first prudential for 4 months now and have no real complaints including their customer service. However, not too keen on the webiress platform, and fees amount to $97 a month or so for live data. This is waived if you generate more the $100 in commission in a month. Got lots of friends on IGMarkets and had another look at the demo now i am a little more experienced, did demo them a year ago but went with fp as I wasn't comfortable with the Market Maker model, such as some comments made on here with regard to sl's being hit etc

Must admit that have enjoyed the demo, especially the advanced charts platform, which is a cut-down version of prorealtime, love the concept of deal-thru charts. Compared to the charting in webiress its streets ahead. Lke the way I can setup multiple charts within multiple layouts, so I can have templates for CFD Shares, Sectors, Indices, Commodities etc

Fees are very good value as only 4 trades (2 buy 2 sell) of min. commission of $8 each covers charting for free (no trades then $60 a month), and ASX live data is also free if 4 trades.

Pros of moving to IG for me (all imho)
- Charting much better than webiress
- Dealing platform in general is superior
- Variety of instruments to trade, particularly attracted to the idea of realtime trading DJIA, FTSE in the evening.
- Even if not placing trades, gives me time to learn develop techniques in TA in live charts. (full time job makes this hard)
- Can also move to DMA CFD trading if account funded with $5k, can do both
- Following ASX prices on IG Demo platform and L2 live data from webiress, ASX spreads mirror actual market spread at time

Cons that I have found so far
- I don't think (and please correct me if I am wrong) charts show final share price at EOD, i.e. last price as market closed might be 5.70, but actual final close after CSPA would be 5.73. The charts in IG do not show this final close at 5.73. Can be significant particularly in terms of candlestick analysis
- There is quite a few bad stories about Market Makers and IG Markets is no exception. Such as price manipulation, spikes to deliberately fire SL's, platform unreliability at times. There seems to be a fear that IG monitors your account and manipulates market if you are winning too much ? With them being so popular, you would think less people would use them if the majority lost money.
- The fact that all IG charting apps all state 'Data is indicative' is a worry :-0

So interested to hear more opinions on CFD and Indices trading. Have done quite well on DJIA, ASX 200 and FTSE swings in the evening on the demo platform, others being just this. Looks quite possible to scalp for a few hours in the evening ?

For me, its really a struggle between the comfort of CFD DMA trading and being able to put orders direct to market depth, compared to cheaper fees, better platform and larger variety of instruments to trade on MM platforms.