Spreadbetting Financials

[stevemac40]

For those of you that like a punt or even those that want to get into share dealing but need a cheaper way to do it then have a look here.

No offers or anything like that but I think the system is very good as you can dip in and out of shares very cheaply within day (very useful at the moment).

IG Index - Financial Spread Betting

 

[Munkey]

Never knew this room existed!

Interesting I'll have a read but I doubt I try something new in such a volatile market.

I'm stop betting on a few favourites for that quick 10% and it proved to be very fruitful since the crash but it is not big money as I refuse to gamble big or bigish.

I'm more a gold man, that is my area of special interest. I've been following the gold market for the last 5 years and so far it has been very kind to me. Now if China would hurry their plans for their new banking system I could retire this year.

 

[stevemac40]

You can put your money into gold prices on there too.

 

[pootas]

Can someone just explain in "idiots" terms how this works?

 

[Munkey]

I only buy bullion. Paper gold is a risky bet and that has proven so with the current trends. Paper gold is possibly heading for a default and if it does (50/50) bullion will double overnight. You can get a safety box at your local bank for £15/month. Very exciting times ahead for the gold market. I think it will go down so far as $720 so consider a krugerand to spread your bets.

Anything exciting you keeping an eye on?

 

[stevemac40]

Can someone just explain in "idiots" terms how this works?

Its spreadbetting on financial markets, its the equivalent of buying/selling shares but you don't have to physically buy them (so you make a number of buy and sells very quickly) and your initial outlay only needs to be your stop loss (that is a limit at which point you are guaranteed to back out of the market).

So you can either buy a position or sell a position.

Lets take gold as an example:

You may think gold prices are going down so you may decide to sell gold (you don't physically have to own it). You set the amount you wish to sell at (the amount of money per point).

So for example I couls sell gold at the current rate at £1/point.

Gold is currently at $799 to be cleared in December
You can set a stop loss at $849

Now you sit and wait, if gold goes down in price say to $720 (or at any other value and any other time until december) you can decide to close your position (effectively buy the gold you've sold). So your gain would be $799-720 = £79.

If the price of gold were to go up then you would be losing and you could close out your losses at any point (up until your stop loss). And obviously you would lose the difference in this case.

The benefits are that you would only need to stump up the £50 to cover your stop loss but you would still see the same gains or losses that you would have to do if you went and physically bought the gold. The transactional charges and speed at which you can enter and exit the markets are a lot cheaper and quicker.

 

[Randomist]

I found this site useful when i first learnt about financial spreadbetting:
h**p://financial-spread-betting.com/

Note to any newbie's, do your research before getting into financial spreadbetting!

I think some financial spreadbetting companies have demo accounts where you can practice before actually risking any real cash.