Incredible. The lengths some people will go to save on "commissions", taxes, etc. Do you think alot of profitable traders have gone from trading on regulated exchanges to these firms for that advantage alone?
You think pros don't use SBs in the UK? You are mistaken. Off course no major firm will use them, but individuals/small partnerships do and will continue using SBs as long as there are tax benefits. And they are huge. You profit $1m this year, would you choose to keep $400k or not? Obvious choice comes to mind.
Can you post a Fin's chart with one of the spikes that you refer to and we'll try to find same chart from another source. Thanks.
That's why I asked the question. If you say that many professional traders have moved from futures exchanges and other venues to spread-betting firms who make their own markets, and that the 1m is just as easily attainable at these firms as with the major market centers, then hey, I've no reason to disbelieve you. Would I ever move from trading futures over to say an FXCM or Oanda for the tax savings if it were available? Not a chance. But then again the difference in the states would be around 22% -- not really the point anyways.
SBs ARE regulated in the UK. SBs create spread round quotes, difference being is that you can trade either a future market or cash FX, miracles happen in cash FX, not so much in futures as they are regulated. You can be looking at a quote on EUR/USD on SBs chart and marking it against another provider that does not show same LOD, but that hardly ever happens with futures quotations.
DrEvil, have you checked out TwoWayFutures? the provide direct market access as a brokerage, but they add the commission on as a spread and thus fall under SB, even though you deal direct on the futures. Best of both worlds - real market prices and tax free advantage with no skew or "wrong" quotes or stops. obviously you can only trade in full sized futures lots, which aint no help if you only deal 50p per point with Fins
Finspreads are a bunch of low life criminals. They stole thousands from me. They also run ETX. Beware of both. Here is my story : https://www.trade2win.com/threads/goodbye-finspreads-jan-4th-2007.22860/ Here they are again, this time with names. They are mostly Pakistani's or perhaps Indians. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/insider-dealers-ordered-pay-£32m-confiscation I'd love to find them all......
Trade Micro Futures via the Futures market and get real market prices: https://www.ampfutures.com/trading-info/margins/ There are lots of other brokers to choose from but AMP is shown as an example. Visit the CME site for more information. https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equity-index/us-index/micro-e-mini-futures.html