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Spread Betting Opportunities in UK Housing Sector

mosesbet — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:33:57 +0000

The nearly 2.5% dip in house prices in the U.K. over the month of April is not good news for real estate agents and home owners alike.

However, this fluctuation may actually spell good times ahead for spread bettors. If you have a fair idea of the real estate market, this may be a life time opportunity to make hay even while the skies are overcast.

Why Prices Slumped?

Of course, before taking a new position in the housing market, it is critical for you to understand exactly what is happening here at the moment. A 2.4% housing price dip in April was revealed by a survey by Halifax. Just in the previous month of March, a brief increase was witnessed in this sector. This quick silver change is what makes the housing sector such an ideal area for spread betting.

The slump was attributed by many analysts to the fact that the stamp duty break offered to first time home buyers came to a conclusion by the end of March. This ‘discount’ of sorts was helping the housing sector witness some reasonable activity. Once it came to an end, buyers have less incentive to invest a huge sum in a home right now.

Spread bettors should remember that the U.K housing sector is already struggling to hold its own and keep from collapsing. A sudden withdrawal of interest may just seal the fate of this segment.

Pressure Bound to Bear Down on Housing Stocks

If this situation continues there is sure to be immense pressure on individual stocks in this sector, pushing their prices down. Making a move in this segment, keeping this possible future occurrence in mind, will give the spread bettor a good chance of emerging from the slump with a profit.

Spread bettors should also remember that the current situation will affect the entire housing sector and not just individual companies within the segment. Sector wide changes are easier to predict and pre-empt since they reflect the broad trends impacting the industry as a whole.

Given that demand for housing is not likely to witness turnaround overnight, the spread bettor also has ample time to pull out of his position if it begins to seem that the tide is turning against him.

Next First Quarter Report Leads to Heavy Spread Betting Action

mosesbet — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:44:31 +0000

The shares of Next, one of the leading retailers in the UK, saw heavy spread betting action after the company came out with its first quarter results.

Next ranks second in the UK’s list of largest clothing retailers. In the last four years, the company has experienced tremendous growth. In 2008, its share price was as low as 780p, and now in April 2012, it has touched 3000p. This track record encouraged traders to expect a further spurt in its share price, with many of them opting for the spread betting route to make bets on the company’s results.

Just before the opening of the stock market, many investors were waiting for Next to declare its first quarter results of this year. Even though the company’s sales in the first quarter went down by 3.9%, its share price went up by 1.4%. Traders clearly have faith in the company and are expecting it to recover lost ground in the next quarter.

Spread betting becoming extremely popular

One reason why so many investors chose spread betting to place bets on the company’s announcement is that it allows investors to earn 100% tax-free profit. Moreover, they can take a call on the result of an event going in either direction.

Some traders have been cynical about Next’s achievements, but many believe that its success will continue. The unique thing about spread betting is that whatever the result – whether shares go up or down – an investor can still earn a profit on the trade. Success in spread betting does not depend on the success of the underlying asset.

Lower margin requirements a big draw

Major spread betting platforms like City Index have a margin requirement ranging from 1% and 10% of the total value of an investor’s position in the market. It should however be kept in mind that with leveraged trading, an investor can easily lose more than his or her total initial investment.

With a low margin requirement, investors only have to deposit a small percentage of the total position that they want to take. This gives them the opportunity to earn a lot more compared to traditional trading, with just a small investment.

Financial Spread Betting a Good Option in Current Economic Climate

mosesbet — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:04:58 +0000

With the economy in the UK entering another round of recession, many traders have started monetizing big swings in price by using financial spread betting.

This option gives spread bettors an advantage over others who use only conventional trading options. Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics released a report that revealed there was a 0.2% shrink in the economy in January, February and March 2012. This was a carry over from a 0.3% drop in 2011 first quarter.

Uncertainty can Lead to Drop in Prices

Recession can create uncertainty in traders, as it can bring about a drop in prices and a negative GDP growth. With financial spread betting, traders can cash-in on the shift in prices. According to traders, a good way to do this is to use trading platforms that offer spread betting options. Finspreads, a spread betting platform based in the UK, gives prices on numerous financial markets. Some of them are commodities, shares, indexes and currencies. Traders in the UK have an advantage over those in several other parts in the world. They don’t have to pay capital gains tax or stamp duty.

Spread Bettors can Land Profits if Price Movement Prediction is Correct

While traditional forms of trading limit the extent to which traders can make the most of both rising and falling prices, spread betting allows them to take a position on both. This will give the chance to profit irrespective of the direction in which the prices shift. All that a trader has to is find out is which outcome has a strong likelihood – a rise or fall in prices. Based on this, he can take a position. In case the price movement is in the direction he predicts, he will get to land a good profit.

Finspreads is one of the leading providers of spread betting services online. One of the factors that has helped the trading platform gain this position is it offering of tools that enable all traders use its services. This includes a Trading Academy Course, that serves as a guide on spread betting. The education program can be availed by customers new to Finspreads. In it are different aspects related to spread betting (financial) at Finspreads, like tactics and tips.

City Index Adds Charting Package to CFD and Spread Betting App

mosesbet — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:32:57 +0000

City Index added a new tool, a charting package, to its CFD trading and spread betting app for mobiles. The tool, developed for beginners and professional traders, can be used via Blackberry, iPhone and Android devices. Called the City Trading app, it allows traders to securely and easily trade on the go. All that they require to use the app is a good internet connection.

City Trading Provides Complete Access to Accounts

City Trading was launched in 2009. It was the first CFD trading and spread betting app traders could use on their mobile devices. The mobile trading platform, can be downloaded free. City Trading is a secure trading platform via which traders can gain full access to accounts. In the past three years, the app has undergone big developments to provide traders complete access at all times to the trading platform.

One of the benefits of using City Trading is that trading can be done any time when a good opportunity comes up. With the app, traders will be able to access information about markets and make moves that can net big profits. Traders’ accounts at the trading platform are secure even when used on mobile devices.

Award Winning City Trading Offers Access to More than 12,000 Financial Markets

In 2010, City Trading bagged award for being the Mobile Innovation of the Year from the Financial Times and Investors Chronicle. That year, and the following one, the app got the Money Am award for the Best Trading Platform for Mobile.

Spread betting serves as an alternative to standard forms of trading. It gives traders easy access to close to 12,000 financial markets. At City Index, they can access the markets for a small price – an initial deposit in the range of 1% to 10%.

Speaking about the increase in accessibility of details of a financial market, like indices, commodities and equities, City Index’s chief marketing strategist Joshua Raymond stated that people can now view all this on their mobiles. Traders are no longer limited by lack of options, as mobile trading apps like City Trading have opened up several of them.

As one of the leading platforms for spread betting, City Index provides traders tools like the charting package, with which they can benefit. City Index’s forex trading, CFD trading and spread betting accounts are approximately 25 years old. In that time, the trading platform has expanded its reach to more than 50 nations like Australia, China, UK, US, China and Singapore. In a month, traders carry out several million trades.

InterTrade.com Offers Free IT-Finance Advanced Charts to All Clients

mosesbet — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:03:34 +0000

InterTrade.com, a CFD and spread betting service provider has brought out IT-Finance Advanced Chart, which is included in the company’s trading services. On March 29^th, the charts were integrated completely to the internet trading platform. Charts will be provided as icons beside the market listings on the site. All that customers have to do is click the icon next to a market of their choice and the chart for it will be brought up. It will be based on the dealing quote at InterTrade.com.

The new chart is provided in addition to the current package the platform has. Customers can use both the basic chart and the new one, which will serve as an advanced feature. Both charts are offered free. Unlike InterTrade.com, most service providers charge customers for either the advanced feature or both if they don’t meet minimum requirements in usage, like trading volume.

70 Indictors Preset for Easy Technical Data Analysis

70 technical indicators have been preset in the IT-Financial Advanced Charts. They will allow users to analyze technical data, even those from a while ago. Users can modify indicators to suit their requirements. To facilitate this, InterTrade.com has provided ProBuilder language, an easy to use feature. The indicators will help clients manage and set alerts which are activated by multiple or single criteria. They can also track the status of the alerts with the indicators.

Advanced Back-Testing a Reality with New Charts

With the advanced charts, InterTrade.com has added features that allow clients to carry out advanced back-testing against old data. Clients can conduct a full simulation that will display the virtual trades and orders they place. They can also view equity curves and a complete breakdown of virtual capital return.

For this, clients will have to set a combination of activation conditions based on how many functions they want performed. They will also have to state the rules they want to use for money management. With features that allow these functions, the advanced package is best for traders who require detailed analysis of price. Traders will benefit from the tools as the features allow them to customize the package to meet specific requirements.

Best Spread Betting Markets for Beginners?

mosesbet — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:45:55 +0000

Spread Betting Markets for Beginners

So you have taken the plunge and opened a financial spread betting account, you have a good knowledge about how this method of trading works and are ready to jump right in, but what are the best markets to bet on if you are just starting out.

Before we answer that question though, let’s make sure that you are betting with a stake size and a betting bank that you are comfortable with. That is a far more important factor to take into consideration, not just for a novice financial spread bettor but also for anyone who is involved in this form of trading.

If you are using a stake size that is too large you will be under enormous pressure to ensure that a trade goes the way in which you expected. If it doesn’t, you’ll be tempted to exit the trade too early and the result of spread betting in this way, over the long term, is that you will lose money; it really is as simple as that.

Before you start, especially if you are a beginner, it would be advisable to put in place a guaranteed stop loss, this will give you something of a safety net should the trade move against you and when coupled with stake sizes that you are comfortable with it will give ant financial spread bettor a head start in their quest to make consistent profits from financial spread betting.

Which Markets To Avoid

When you have some financial spread betting experience under your belt, the more volatile markets are ones that you will more than likely embrace but there are other options which are far more suited to a financial spread betting beginner. The main ones to avoid in the beginning would have to be the forex markets as well as trading in general when an important announcement is being made. If you need any further persuasion to leave forex for a later date, open up a chart for the GBP/USD for example and take a look at the price movements over the past 24 hours. Movements of 200 or more pips are not at all uncommon and quite often for no apparent reason.

Which Markets To Trade

At the other end of the spectrum. If you were trying to get your feet wet by spread betting on share for instance, which has hardly moved over the past few day, you could very well find yourself getting a little frustrated by the lack of movement and you may be tempted just to get out and look for something more interesting, losing money from the spread in the process.

If push came to shove and you are looking for the best market to trade on when you are just starting out, I would advise that you take a look at trading in an individual share in the FTSE 100. Don’t just choose one willy nilly, carry out a little research, what is happening in the news, is a trend forming which could have an impact on a particular share price? Buy a copy of the financial times to see if you can pick up any nuggets of information there.

When you have come to a decision, the same thing applies with regards to stake sizes, keep them small, set a stop loss and also know exactly what point you will be happy to exit the trade. Keeping it nice and simple like this will ensure that you are still in the game whilst others who jumped in with both feet, not really knowing what they were doing and trading out of their comfort zone, have decided to call it a day.

Vulnerable Precious Metals Prompt Spread Bettors to Tread Carefully

mosesbet — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:23:22 +0000

Spread bettors who have a lot at stake on precious metals should tread carefully in the coming weeks. While wholesale market prices of gold have risen even as stock prices remain at previous levels, silver has not fared as well. The price of this metal has dipped slightly this week and continues to remain subdued. According to analysts, gold is vulnerable as well and only time will tell if its can consolidate its position in the coming weeks.

Lack of Drivers Keeping Prices Subdued

Analysts believe that the lack of drivers in the market is impacting precious metals quite significantly right now. This is the primary reason for metals, including gold to stay low after recent price dips. The physical market has not reacted to the price fall either. Normally, a fall in price would be immediately followed by an increase in market activity centering around improving demand. This would shore up prices once more bringing the balance back into the market segment. This has not taken place in adequate measure yet.

Silver in a Downtrend

Silver, which is another popular precious metal for investors is in a definite down trend. The metal is clearly faring poorly when compared with gold which is still holding its own as of now. Analysts describe the silver downtrend as being a short term one but only time will tell for sure.

Government Toeing a Cautious Line

The U.K. government appears to be toeing a cautious line under these circumstances with the decision to leave interest rates at the same level as they have remained since early 2009. Apparently, the decision makers have no intention of sparking off any change in the economic conditions owing to how precariously the country is poised right now. Predictions of a second recession in the U.K are still making the rounds with unfortunate frequency.

Spread bettors banking on the U.K. economy should also know that the country’s deficit is now £12.9 billion, more than twice what was predicted in the consensus estimates. Lower tax receipts have been the main cause for this mismatch, it is believed. While a shaky economy does translate into strong demand for precious metals, the recent dips in gold price are giving mixed signals as of now.

Greek Swap Success Shifts Spread Bettor Attention to Portugal

mosesbet — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:01:48 +0000

Greek officials have been quick to point out the seeming success of the bond swap deal that is expected to give the nation a leg up from the red. In fact, official reports state that the 95% participation target has been met and a good number of private creditors have given their willingness for the bond swap.

The import of this statement is that the participation is voluntary. Given these happy tidings, spread betting traders are switching attention to Portugal as their new hunting grounds.

Why Portugal?- The Million Euro Question

Why is Portugal drawing all this attention now, is a question that some traders may have. After all, there are other Eurozone nations in trouble too. In Portugal, zooming borrowing costs are forcing the government and the public to wonder whether this country can trigger off a second crisis in the entire European Union. The Greek problem may have shifted to the back burner for now but this country has not regained enough stability to hold its own if Portugal weighs things down in this region of the world.

Banks Looking for More Funding

The fact that European banks are looking for more funding from the ECB emergency funding program show that the financial situation is far from being healthy. Reports have been floating around that the banks hope to ask for twice as much as was supplied last month. Clearly banks are severely lacking liquidity as of now. Borrowing is only going to become more expensive and more difficult to get as time goes by.

Hard-line Stance by Germany Adds to Fears

To add to the growing fears about the financial fate of Portugal, Germany’s hard- lined stance asking for a European austerity commissioner to be in charge of the Greek budget has not helped any. Although this demand does not directly involve Portugal, the shocked reaction from other Eurozone nations to this stance has undermined cooperative efforts. According to Jacques Cailloux (RBS), any such aggression that forces Greece to exit the EMU will have a chain reaction that will impact other countries such as Portugal too.

Compare Spreads for Wall Street

mosesbet — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:17:17 +0000

Wall Street

Financial spread betting on Wall Street or the Dow Jones as it is more commonly referred to is one of the most popular indicies to bet on. It is more volatile than the FTSE 100, with large price swings not being out of the ordinary.

It consists of the shares of the top 30 companies in the US which are weighted so that a fair cross section of industry is represented. The 30 companies are chosen by a specialist team at the renowned Wall Street Journal and these 30 companies very rarely change. A question that is often asked is how an earth can only 30 companies represent the whole of the US but the Dow Jones has been in pace for over 100 years and has always been a reliable bench mark.

Number One Company For Trading Wall Street

Being one of the most popular indices for financial spread bettor’s, all of the spread betting brokers are trying to compete in offering the most favourable spread but the industry seems to have settled on an average of 2 points with the exception being City Index who offer a very generous 1 point spread on Wall Street Trading.

City Index are one of the old school when it comes to financial spread betting but don’t think for one moment that they are not at the cutting edge of the industry because they most definitely are. It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced trader or an absolute beginner, City Index will be able to accommodate you and provide a service which really is second to none.

Broker Spreads For Trading Wall Street

IGIndex.co.uk – 2 points

CapitalSpreads.co.uk – 2 points

CityIndex.co.uk – 1 point

WorldSpreads.co.uk - 2 points

Intertrader.com – 2 points

Etxcapital.co.uk – – 2 points

Tips For Trading Wall Street

When spread betting on Wall Street it is especially important that you set a guaranteed stop loss and make sure that you are comfortable with the stake size that you are using. A move of a couple of hundred points is not at all uncommon, not bad if you are on the right side of a 200 point move at £10 per pip but when you are on the wrong side it can soon result in a margin call from your broker.

If you are trading to a system make sure that you stick to it, the last thing that any spread trader needs to be doing is to change tactics half way through a trade on the Dow because the result will not only be sheer confusion but most probably result in losing money.

This applies to any market but is especially true for the fast moving nature of the Dow, if you are new to financial spread betting or using a particular broker for the first time make sure that you are familiar with the trading interface. A few minutes spent having a look around and watching any instructional videos that the broker provided could very well pay dividends if any problems occur during the trade or if the market moves in a way in which was not expected.

Make sure that you are aware of any announcements that could have an effect on the direction of the market and if you are still finding your feet it may be a good idea to refrain from trading at these times, especially the bid announcements such as the non farm payroll which takes pace every month.

Compare Spreads for Trading Gold

mosesbet — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:11:57 +0000

Gold

The last few years have seen the price of gold go through the roof. As is always the case in time of recession, the uncertainanty of the current economical climate means that spread bettors will see a great deal of opportunities to speculate on the price fluctuation, as buyers and sellers battle it out with each other. Gold has always been regarded as a hedge against inflation, but as inflation is coming down but the recession is lingering on, who knows which way the price of gold will go.

Number One Company For Trading Gold

When it comes to the best broker for trading Gold, it is simply a case of taking your pick from any one of the top companies. They all offer either a 0.4 or 0.5 points spread, so it’s a good idea to look at other aspects of the service that they offer.

One financial spread betting company who have come on leaps and bounds over the past couple of years are Capital Spreads. You can’t go far wrong by choosing them as your broker to trade Gold or any other market for that matter.

Every aspect of this broker has improved, from the stability of the trading platform to the trading tools that they provide, add a competitive spread of 0.4 points for trading gold to the mix and you are presented with a winning combination.

Compare Spreads or Trading Gold

Igindex.co.uk – 0.5 points

CapitalSpreads.co.uk – 0.4 points

CityIndex.co.uk – 0.4 points

WorldSpreads.co.uk – 0.4 points

Etxcapital.co.uk – 0.5 points

Tips For Trading Gold

Before spread betting came along, the only way to speculate on the price of gold was to actually buy it, as you can probably imagine this would immediately price many people out of the market. But with spread betting and the leverage that goes with it, it is now possible for anyone with a spread betting account to profit from the fluctuations in the price of gold.

It should be remembered that when trading gold, you really do need to think ahead, the news that you see in the national press or the television news which announces that the gold price is about to increase or decrease will have already been factored in so you need to have your finger on the pulse so to speak and be aware of anything that will effect the price before the masses get to hear about it.

According to the spread betting brokers, trading on gold is where many of their clients achieve most of their success so it is advisable to take the hint and take a look if you haven’t already. IG Index and Capital Spreads have some really informative training materials which are well worth further investigation.

As with any form of financial spread betting, it is highly recommended to start off with small stakes and a guaranteed stop loss. One thing that can sometimes cause confusion for the newcomer is the fact that the gold price is quoted in US dollars but the spread bets are made in UK sterling. This is one of those aspects of trading which can initially be slightly confusing, but is something that soon becomes easily understood.

Finally, one fact about spread betting on gold that you may not be aware of and that is that the G in that originator of financial spread betting, IG Index, stands for gold, as that was the first product that IG offered when they started up way back in 1974!