# Who is the best CFD provider?



## sam76

CFD's have been around for a while now and I'm pretty sure everyone has seen the explosion of providers.

Can people share their experiences?

Ta,

Sam


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## ozymick

*CFD's --*

Hi all

I am interested in some feedback from anyone trading CFD's with regarding who they are using to make the trades, and what they think are you happy etc


Thanks

Michael


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## Bobby

Me too,

I'm still looking for the best CFD provider, have read all the on surface stuff by the big ones.
Notice how they cancel out each other on certain critque   

Bob.


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## mit

I started out with CMC and now use Macquarie. CMC gave me premature grey hairs as their software is pretty shoddy. Phantom trades etc. etc. CMC also constantly change the goal posts (Most recently they changed the fixed spread on the indexes to variable). You get the feeling that their business model is to get people in and burn them up.

I still use it for playing with indexes (spx500 and aussie200) more for pocket money (although percentage wise I do better here than my bread and butter trading)

I use Macquarie for shares. DMA is a dream compared to the spread stuff with CMC. The brokerage might seem higher but is small when you compare the cost of paying for the buy/sell spread in all but the most liquid stocks. I found Macquarie's software a bit clunky as well.

The last thing I look at is margin. My CMC account, the margin required is usually around 8% of the money I have in the account. With Macquarie I rarely go over using 40% of the margin requirements.

MIT

ps Macquarie CFDs are currently only for Aussie shares, while CMC also do international shares, indexes, commodities and forex.


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## mattlach

*CFD Provider - are CMC anygood?*

Hey,

I've just signed upto CMC to trade my CFD's from.

Does anyone have anything good/bad about them?

I went with them as they are 'apparently' #1 and were recommended in a book i am reading.

Let me know.


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## waza1960

I went with ig markets as I thought their platform was the best and I have no complaints so far.They transfer funds back on request promply and they are helpful


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## Adventure Always

Hi Guys,

I have been trading CFD's since late 2004 and did a lot of analysis on the different providers and their services.

At least 2 of the major Providers began life as betting houses and unles they have changed recently still act in the role of a bookmaker, these being CMC and IG Markets.

The last time I spoke to IG, they were hedging around 30% of their positions but CMC were hedging none, and hence were assuming 100% of the risk and payout. With this in mind, for a CFD trader to be successful, they would be taking money directly from the coffers of CMC or IG.

The other privdors I spoke to all hedged their positions, thereby passing the risk on.

With this in mind, who do you think would be happier for you to be successful, a provider which made their money from the fees and interest or a provider who makes their money from the trader losing?

I have also had feedback from some traders who have used the CMC & IG platforms, that there seems to be a lot of slippage at times which has cost them a significant amount of money.

I have personally been using the SAXO Platform since December 2004 through Global Electronic Trading - GET Futures and since mid 2005, Sonray Capital Markets.

I have found that the execution of the orders occurs when I want it to occur and there is very little slippage, Cash returns are very fast, the service is backed by an International Bank rather than a private company, and I have never had a problem with the SAXO platform.

An important thing to remember with CFD's is that you do not own the asset (share), all you own is a contract over the share, essentially this is a synthetic transaction with a private company in an unregulated market, so it really is situation of "Caveat Emptor" - Buyer Beware.

It has been proven statistically, that the average CFD trading account is depleted within a few months and the trader has lost their capital, so risk management is a vital consideration within the leveraged environment of CFD's.

I hope this has been of benefit to some of you.

have a great day

Pete


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## hil

I started with CMC in 2003 and lost all money because of their tricks on software and “price” (the CMC canceled my orders and snatched my money, and after two years dispute through FICS, the CMC won the case because 1. there was no regulations for online trading, 2. “the prices that the CMC quoted on screen for me to trade were ‘incorrect’ therefore, my orders were subsequently canceled and money was gone). I was scared! Then I changed to Comsec but very often, they made you hard to get profits because “not shortable” through the Comsec is always the case. I am looking for a good CFD provider too.


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## Trembling Hand

hil said:


> I started with CMC in 2003 and lost all money because of their tricks on software and “price” (the CMC canceled my orders and snatched my money, and after two years dispute through FICS, the CMC won the case because 1. there was no regulations for online trading, 2. “the prices that the CMC quoted on screen for me to trade were ‘incorrect’ therefore, my orders were subsequently canceled and money was gone). I was scared! Then I changed to Comsec but very often, they made you hard to get profits because “not shortable” through the Comsec is always the case. I am looking for a good CFD provider too.




Come on!! Sounds like you were trading too big.


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## Bobby

hil said:


> I started with CMC in 2003 and lost all money because of their tricks on software and “price” (the CMC canceled my orders and snatched my money, and after two years dispute through FICS, the CMC won the case because 1. there was no regulations for online trading, 2. “the prices that the CMC quoted on screen for me to trade were ‘incorrect’ therefore, my orders were subsequently canceled and money was gone). I was scared!  I am looking for a good CFD provider too.




Check out ... 
http://www.pacifictrader.com.au/home


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## lester_wilson

I used to use CMC Markets until they changed their charting software a few months back, then I moved on to IG markets. In my opinion IG Markets have a far richer trading platform, albeit a bit buggy. 
I have since moved to Go Markets as I had the uneasy feeling my stops had a big red target on them, this uneasy feeling has disappeared with GO.


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## kam75

MF Global


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## Lachlan6

I used to trade with CMC and I am sure I will never, never, never (is that enough emphasis?) do so again. Have been trading with FP for a while and no complaints. The only blemish was a setting in the Contingent Orders screen which needs to be reset to 10:00, the default is 10:10. 

However I am still unable to short quite a number of stocks which is a little bit annoying. Apart from that I am happy with them. IB is not CFD's but a very similar offering in the form of Margin lending and this service is 10 out of 10 brilliant, from Platform down. Thanks to Nick Radge for getting me on to IB.


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## Bobby

Lachlan6 said:


> I used to trade with CMC and I am sure I will never, never, never (is that enough emphasis?) do so again. .




Wow another CMC fan !


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## seachanger

Would like to talk to you more re CFD providers.  I am also from the South Coast of NSW am an interested talking to like minded people about trading.


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## Nero64

I have tried a few:

*CMC Markets*:

Archaic platform. 
They wiped out my account before I could go into negative equity which was good when $#@! hit the fan in Oct/Nov  
Seem to be genuine. No sudden spikes or computer programmed stop loss seeking tricks.
You talk to Aussies, no pesky pommies. 

*IG Markets*:

Best platform for graphs and quick trading. 
I had a Low risk guaranteed stop account, but one of the pommie numb skulls opened a non guaranteed stop futures contract. I realised later when I went into negative equity  Luckily I partly got out of the loss due to their mistake. 
You can open postions on foreign indicies using AUSD.
One mini contract on the SPI is $5 which is steep on small account. 
Spread on the ASX 200 cash is only 2 points. 
Stop losses are wide, which is a painful . I remember being up $8K on the CBA then an hour later it falling to 1.5K to hit my stop loss. 


*City Index*:

Easy to use. 
Nice platform. 
Can use Guaranteed stops
Can trade small amounts on anything, unlike IG. 
Stop losses can be narrow for quick exits.
Bad - Will let you go into negative equity, and then let it rack up before they margin call you. 

*Marketech*:

They used to allow you to open and close any position at $5. It then went to $10.
you could hold speculators, using no margin or comissions, like Commsec. 
They have closed down their brokerage business and transferred their clients to First Prudential so it no longer exists. 

*Commsec*:

This is what I soley use now for just plain old share trading. 
It is simple and easy to use. You can keep track of your portfolio and the site is full of info. 
They provide CFD's but I have not used them.
Money is backed by the gov guarantee and they have a Cash Management account which will earn you 4.75% interest.


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## Hank Moody

has anybody tried GFT.com.au?

I am looking at CFD's primarily, a friend of mine said he was having good experiences with them.

What about Bell Direct? I am looking to open a new trading account for both CFD's and everyday stocks....


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## Daycorp

Don't use IG markets. They closed me out of a number of positions without making a margin call. The latest close was when my account was not even in margin call territory for most of the day it closed. I had every intention of meeting any margin calls, as I would exit from my long positions to meet them.

They changed their policy to make it not necessary to make any contact whatsoever. Maybe there business has been hit by the GFC and they need to somehow make more money.


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## Wysiwyg

Daycorp said:


> Don't use IG markets. They closed me out of a number of positions without making a margin call. The latest close was when my account was not even in margin call territory for most of the day it closed. I had every intention of meeting any margin calls, as I would exit from my long positions to meet them.
> 
> They changed their policy to make it not necessary to make any contact whatsoever. Maybe there business has been hit by the GFC and they need to somehow make more money.



I think you will find they close positions at their discretion if the stop loss is gapped or you are in a margin call. At the worst of a spike from my experience. Lotsa dirty tricks but they cover their ass.


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