Hi, I'm based in the UK and am looking to start trading with a starting capital of around £5,000 (part time!). The strategy I'll be applying will require me to place stop orders (to enter and exit) out of market hours, and for these orders to be executed during market hours if the stops are met (I don't want trade out of market hours initially). e.g. An order could be defined by stop in: Buy if the FTSE goes over 4,000 stop out: Close the order if the FTSE falls below 3,900 I'm testing the software from deal4free but - they don't allow stop losses to be placed at the same time as entries. - the products trade out of market hours which I'd rather not do. - stop orders need to be placed an arbitrary distance from the market price. I don't understand the reason for this other than to disadvantage the customer (i.e. me!). A piece of software that I like is Oanda's FX platform, but they don't do Indices which is what I'm after. Could anyone here recommend a broker that will meet my requirements (UK based, trades lots of indices, let's me freely define stop losses at the same time as limit/stop [entry] orders, £5k starting capital, market hours only) given the meagre amounts I have to trade with? Thanks, The Stats Monkey.
Try Interactive Brokers (www.interactivebrokers.com). They offer low commissions, product around the world and bracket orders. I think they will do the trick.
DealforFree is probably not quite free. I don't know any serious UK broker. Spreadbetting is not trading IMO. If you want to trade indices trade futures or ETF's. Why don't you trade the US markets? The hours are great in the UK.
mauzj, We can help you with all of that - automated stops, bracket orders etc on the FTSE futures. Check out www.interactivebrokers.com www.interactivebrokers.co.uk There is plenty of info from other users about IBs on these forums you can also direct any questions to our helpdesk: help@interactivebrokers.com