Best CFD provider

[Fab]

I am new to CFDs and I have currently got all my shares holding with CBA they sent me the CFD forms to apply for CFD trading with them, that is tempting as everything I have got is with them nevertheless I don't know much about CFDs and how they compare with the rest of the providers can anyone tell me why I should join or not CBA CFD trading and why ?

Cheers

 

[barney]

I am new to CFDs and I have currently got all my shares holding with CBA they sent me the CFD forms to apply for CFD trading with them, that is tempting as everything I have got is with them nevertheless I don't know much about CFDs and how they compare with the rest of the providers can anyone tell me why I should join or not CBA CFD trading and why ?

Cheers

Howdy Fab, I know Coyotte uses IG Markets, and he trades a lot. (I have just opened an account with them myself ..... Still have my current account with Green CFD open .... they are good to deal with, but I seem to get a few drop outs on their platform, but that could well be my internet connection) I think you'll find IG are the best value if you are doing trades under $10,000 (total share value ............. eg 1000 CFD's/(shares) bought at $5 per share at will have a transaction fee of just $5 .............. most CFD providers have a minimum fee of $10 regardless of position size) I dont know what CBA's fees are, but I imagine they would be more expensive (as Comsec is!!!) Hope that helps, Barney.

 

[Fab]

Howdy Fab, I know Coyotte uses IG Markets, and he trades a lot. (I have just opened an account with them myself ..... Still have my current account with Green CFD open .... they are good to deal with, but I seem to get a few drop outs on their platform, but that could well be my internet connection) I think you'll find IG are the best value if you are doing trades under $10,000 (total share value ............. eg 1000 CFD's/(shares) bought at $5 per share at will have a transaction fee of just $5 .............. most CFD providers have a minimum fee of $10 regardless of position size) I dont know what CBA's fees are, but I imagine they would be more expensive (as Comsec is!!!) Hope that helps, Barney.

Thanks for your feedback what do you mean by "as Commsec is !!!" as for share trading I have not found better value than commsec. Do you know other broker cheaper than commsec for share trading ?
Is IG market a market maker ?

 

[barney]

Thanks for your feedback what do you mean by "as Commsec is !!!" as for share trading I have not found better value than commsec. Do you know other broker cheaper than commsec for share trading ?
Is IG market a market maker ?

Hi Fab, Commsec is great for shares, but their rates and conditions on CFD's are not so great (imo) ............... IG is a DMA CFD provider (as is Green), so what you see (prices) is what you get so to speak ............... Coyotte would give you a better rundown on them, but I think he's gone on Xmas holidays atm ........... Cheers, Barney.

 

[Fab]

Hi Fab, Commsec is great for shares, but their rates and conditions on CFD's are not so great (imo) ............... IG is a DMA CFD provider (as is Green), so what you see (prices) is what you get so to speak ............... Coyotte would give you a better rundown on them, but I think he's gone on Xmas holidays atm ........... Cheers, Barney.

Barney,

Thanks for that. What is so different about rates and conditions let say between IG and Commsec ?

 

[barney]

Barney,

Thanks for that. What is so different about rates and conditions let say between IG and Commsec ?

Fab, The basic charge from Commsec for CFD's is at 0.125% They have a minimum of $14.95 per transaction (even if you only buy one CFD , whereas IG charges 0.1% .... ie $1000 worth of shares will cost you a commission of $1, so if your are buying smaller parcells the commission costs could work out substantially less over "bulk" transactions. It really depends on how much leverage your are going to employ ...... My advice is start small and work your way up (IG is a better scenario for that concept) Perhaps others can shed their opinion as well, but I dont know of any other CFD providers who offer DMA at those rates. All the best, Barney.

 

[Fab]

Fab, The basic charge from Commsec for CFD's is at 0.125% They have a minimum of $14.95 per transaction (even if you only buy one CFD , whereas IG charges 0.1% .... ie $1000 worth of shares will cost you a commission of $1, so if your are buying smaller parcells the commission costs could work out substantially less over "bulk" transactions. It really depends on how much leverage your are going to employ ...... My advice is start small and work your way up (IG is a better scenario for that concept) Perhaps others can shed their opinion as well, but I dont know of any other CFD providers who offer DMA at those rates. All the best, Barney.

Thanks Barney, IG markets sounds good. Are there any other CFD providers out there worth talking to and can I trade shares as well as cfd's with IG markets ?

 

[Fab]

Barney,

I understand you can use stop loss and IG market will charge a fee for doing that, is this fee trigger by setting up the stop loss or only when the share price triggers the stop loss ?

 

[barney]

Thanks Barney, IG markets sounds good. Are there any other CFD providers out there worth talking to and can I trade shares as well as cfd's with IG markets ?

Hi Fab, No shares as far as I know. Just CFD's or "spread betting" on Indices (I think), but I know nothing about that.

There are quite a few CFD providers, but some charge you to "use" their trading platform. Have you checked whether Commsec require you to set up a different account for CFD's, or is your same account balance used for both (that could get messy, considering CFD's are traded on margin) I would suspect a different account may be required to keep the "book keeping" under control, but I might be wrong there, just a guess.

 

[barney]

Barney,

I understand you can use stop loss and IG market will charge a fee for doing that, is this fee trigger by setting up the stop loss or only when the share price triggers the stop loss ?

Fab, Standard stop loss is no fee, but guaranteed stop loss will incur an up front fee as far as I know. (I have only ever used standard stop losses with "Green") . You could open an account with IG (free setup, and no money required in your account until you start trading with it) That way you can check out their platform, and see whether it suits your needs.

PS Neither IG or Green charge to access their platforms ...... some providers charge a monthly fee!! (I assume Commsec will not charge a fee either cause their commission rates are higher for a start) Cheers, Barney.

 

[RichKid]

Check out MacquarieCFD's, they have GSL's and high interest paid on available funds, may or may not suit you, see their pds. GSL's are not cheap and you can't short some stocks that IG offers shorts over, maybe other differences as well.

From what I last read of IG Markets on their website they don't pay interest on available funds so I would assume that you would at least have to save the amount you lose in interest on your cash by way of their lower trading fees- this is a matter to be resolved by reference to your particular trading profile. Compare the margin interest charged by IG on long positions too to other providers and the GSL costs.

My personal opinion from a cursory glance is that the Commsec CFD's are a stop-gap measure til the ASX exchange traded CFD's get going in mid-2007. I don't think Commsec CFD's are as price competitive as its share brokerage when you compare each product to its competitors- I suppose the tactic is to convert share trading clients to CFD clients as well based on brand loyalty and familiarity.

These are just some personal observations based on some recent reading of various CFD sites rather than advice; note that CFD provider terms are always changing so what I have said above may be wrong.

 

[Fab]

Check out MacquarieCFD's, they have GSL's and high interest paid on available funds, may or may not suit you, see their pds. GSL's are not cheap and you can't short some stocks that IG offers shorts over, maybe other differences as well.

From what I last read of IG Markets on their website they don't pay interest on available funds so I would assume that you would at least have to save the amount you lose in interest on your cash by way of their lower trading fees- this is a matter to be resolved by reference to your particular trading profile. Compare the margin interest charged by IG on long positions too to other providers and the GSL costs.

My personal opinion from a cursory glance is that the Commsec CFD's are a stop-gap measure til the ASX exchange traded CFD's get going in mid-2007. I don't think Commsec CFD's are as price competitive as its share brokerage when you compare each product to its competitors- I suppose the tactic is to convert share trading clients to CFD clients as well based on brand loyalty and familiarity.

These are just some personal observations based on some recent reading of various CFD sites rather than advice; note that CFD provider terms are always changing so what I have said above may be wrong.

Thanks Richkid,

Which CFD platform do you currently use? What do you mean by "Commsec CFD's are a stop-gap measure"?

 

[MichaelD]

I trade real shares with CommSec and CFDs with IG Markets, so consequently have been courted by CommSec when their CFD offering was launched.

For me, there is no good reason to change, as CommSec CFDs are inferior in pretty much every way to IG Markets CFDs. They very much feel to me like a quickly cobbled together solution to get you into CFDs with CommSec before the ASX starts trading them.

What I didn't like about the CommSec offering;

1. No integration with the existing share trading cash management account.
2. Excessive fee structure.
3. No integration with the existing share trading platforms.
4. A host of fairly severe caveats in their PDS (I forget the fine details, but there are some nasty escape clauses in there, worse than IG Markets' escape clauses).
5. Finding out their trading universe defeated me at the time, however it was clearly only part of the ASX and no other markets. If you want to trade commodities or forex, you can't do it with CommSec but you can with IG Markets (albeit not all commodities).

The only thing I liked about the CommSec offering was that they pay interest on your account balance (but the extra transaction costs far outweigh this small benefit).

 

[joslad]

I use First Prudential Markets (FPM) for trading CFD's and have had an account with them for around five months.

I used to use MAN, via etrade, but their brokerage is expensive. Also, etrade would never respond quickly to any queries regarding the cfd account.

Minimum brokerage on a trade with FPM is $10. There is a monthly platform access fee, however, if you trade a certain amount of dollars for the month this fee is not charged to your account. I've only ever paid it once - my first incomplete month of trading with them. I think the platform access fee is about $50. They also charge for live asx news, Again, trade a certain amount per month and it's not charged to your account, so I've never paid it.

In five months, FPM have never had any platform down time, and I have not had any problems with my account trades or balances.

All in all, they have provided a very good service.

 

[hector]

Started with FPM this month. First month platform is free. Largest range of CFD's long or short. Full broker service at no extra charge if required. Can trade equities with FPM and move money between CFD and EQ accounts immediately and no cost penalty. Shares in quality stocks can also be used as collateral (akin to margin lending). CFD's can be converted to shares if desired.
Good to deal with so far, prompt response to queries.
Cheers.

 

[Fab]

"For me, there is no good reason to change, as CommSec CFDs are inferior in pretty much every way to IG Markets CFDs. They very much feel to me like a quickly cobbled together solution to get you into CFDs with CommSec before the ASX starts trading them."


What will it change when the ASX starts trading CFDs ?
I am looking at CFDs to get a leverage better than instalment warrants. At the moment I use instalment warrants as a leverage tool the 2 major issues I find with this type of warrant is that the not DMA but MM as all warrants and I don't like the Time component of warrants otherwise it is great to be able to strip franked dividend.
In what way then would the CFD trading be a better tool for me ? and would it be better to wait until mid year ( I understand) until the ASX starts trading CFDs

 

[RichKid]

Thanks Richkid,

Which CFD platform do you currently use?

What do you mean by "Commsec CFD's are a stop-gap measure"?

Hi Fab

I have an account with Macquarie (as you would have guessed from my post), I found they fitted my needs the best (basically looking to use CFD's to only short stocks if ETO's aren't suitable for me). Once you go through the pds's for each provider and make notes and match those to your needs you may be able to get a better idea if CFD's are suitable for you, then you can decide which one is the best broker.

See Michael D's post in reply to yours, I think Commsec may even be participating in the exchange traded CFD market next year, dunno much else, just a guess, there is a thread on the exchange traded CFD's issue.

 

[vert]

i use sonray capital markets, i found their platform whilst looking for live gold charting sites/platforms, tried their trial liked it and was keen on trying CFDs. they do shares on 20+ exchanges, FX, Futures. have only done a few CFDs on aussie stocks and done allright. cannot compare as have not used any other but am happy with current provider.

 

[Fab]

Hi,

I have just joined IG Market. My first impression is that the interface is pretty basic not as good as commsec I am using for normal share trading also I would like to add a watch list and this is not very easy to do as well as refreshing the screen take a long time.

 

[Simon_2211]

Who is the best CFD DMA provider ?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading this thread.

Can someone please tell me from experience who is the best CFD DMA provider that they are currently using and are happy with their platform stability and support.

Regards

Simon