Buy Prices

[Guest amackie]

Just starting, can someone please explain why I can't buy at the price I want to? 

I have to wait for it to reach that price before I can buy - I want to buy earlier to allow for a greater margin of profit. 

I know on other platforms you can. In comparison to the US, the UK platforms are fairly ****. Best is IG apart from the fixed prices - or is that just my settings/ because I'm doing a demo? 

Please help, thanks! 

[Caseynotes]

Hi @amackie, this needs breaking down a bit,

'why can't I buy at the price you want?' … Because no one wants to sell it to you at that price.

'I know on other platforms you can.' …

At what price? All prices on all platforms are 'indicative', so what is the spread, the commission and even what is actual 'price'. I have seen many US brokers, and their platforms, and their 'prices', and they are not really any better at all, for example the FXCM derivative of Trade Station is nothing to write home about. 

You are correct, demo is never actually the same as live but happy to try to help so tell, what assets are you looking to trade and on which IG platform, the web based, MT4 or Prorealtime?

[JamesIG]

Hey - are you referring to placing an order rather than being able to deal immediately at market price? First, make sure you're on the 'deal' tab rather than the 'orders' tab. Also, which market are you trading? If the market is closed then obviously you can't deal at current market prices and you have to place an order for when the market opens...

[Guest amackie]

Thank you. I will learn eventually! 

I'll try and re-word my question using an example - if the current market value of the stock is £60 and is showing an upward trend, I want to buy asap to allow for the greatest margin of profit. However, I can't buy until say £64, which is basically the top of the resistance, so isn't worth it. 

 

Is IG the best UK platform? I like the look of TD ameritrade and Lightspeed but they're for Americans only. 

 

I hope that makes sense now! 

[JamesIG]

which market specifically are you looking at please @amackie ? If you could also post a screenshot of what you are looking at then that may be helpful... 

[Guest henryatkin]

There is no such thing as the best platform. I have four accounts on different platforms which all have features some of which are better or worse than others. IG for instance don't trade unit trusts. I can't imagine why you can't get an instant quote on any platform, its not in the brokers interest to make you wait or deter you from trading. You usually only have a few seconds to accept the quote whoever you trade with. So you have two options, deal at the quote or place an order & hope it gets filled within your limit. Maybe you are talking about when the market first opens and spreads can be wider or are you talking about illiquid stocks. Some stocks like XPP can be highly valued but still have occasions of very low liquidity (buyers & sellers).

[Guest PandaFace]

5 minutes ago, henryatkin said:

There is no such thing as the best platform. I have four accounts on different platforms which all have features some of which are better or worse than others. IG for instance don't trade unit trusts. I can't imagine why you can't get an instant quote on any platform, its not in the brokers interest to make you wait or deter you from trading. You usually only have a few seconds to accept the quote whoever you trade with. So you have two options, deal at the quote or place an order & hope it gets filled within your limit. Maybe you are talking about when the market first opens and spreads can be wider or are you talking about illiquid stocks. Some stocks like XPP can be highly valued but still have occasions of very low liquidity (buyers & sellers).

Agree. Think this is inaccurate or lost in translation maybe. 

You can deal at current prices. Don’t forget there is also the bid/offer spread and charts are probably showing mid price.

[Caseynotes]

1 hour ago, amackie said:

Is IG the best UK platform? I like the look of TD ameritrade and Lightspeed but they're for Americans only.

Is IG the best platform is a good question. Firstly IG is a UK based broker so look to compare brokerages in UK if wishing to deal from the UK (though IG does have international branches).

Secondly, is IG the best platform could also mean does IG have the best charting and dealing platforms in which case look to compare those separately.

Noticed that the US based brokers you mention are either very heavy on fees or on required account minimums.   

[Guest amackie]

I am definitely showing my beginners ignorance. Allow me to try again.. 

I am looking to initially trade the UK Small Caps. I would like someone to explain/ elaborate as to why the deal or order buy price is so much higher than what the stock is currently trading at - Does the difference between current stock value and buy price vary between platforms? 

I'll re-post my earlier example: if a stock is currently trading at £60 and is showing an upward trend, I want to buy asap to allow for the greatest margin of profit. However, my only buy option is only at £64 (when choosing deal), as given by the platform, so I've missed out on that margin of profit  as the stock then pulls back. I want to know if it's possible to buy at say £60.10 when I want to? 

 

[Caseynotes]

Hi @amackie, it would be easier to elaborate if you could name the stock you are referring to and what type of account you are using eg; share dealing, spread betting or contract for difference (cfd), thanks.

Small caps are often very illiquid and have very wide spreads, the assumed 'value' of a stock is somewhere between the bid price and the ask price. Bid and ask prices do vary between brokers and market makers (IG is both) but comparison is easy so finding the best broker for the market you are looking to trade is relatively easy. 

[Guest amackie]

Hi @Caseynotes, thank you for being so helpful! 

I am spread betting - both day and swing. 

The picture below is just used as an example to try and explain my misunderstanding, i'm not actually trading this stock - So, the current stock is priced at £122.00, I wish to buy at say £122.10 and sell at say £122.30, yet I cannot I have to buy at £122.51 and hope that stock continues to rise past that point? Or am I completely getting the wrong end of the stick - The buying is meant to be the easy part.

I asked if this varies between platforms as I saw a video using Lightspeed trading app, for example, where the stock was trading at £6.00 and the bloke bought in at £6.05. 

[Caseynotes]

Just looking at your pick the limit is your close trade (take profit), the value you have put in is a price but beside the box is marked 'points away'  so that's 122.35 points ( not the 0.25 you intended ) change that by clicking on the drop down arrow and check 'price' rather than points.

[Caseynotes]

Was distracted by the orange error box, to answer the first question the price on the chart is the mid price, on the deal ticket to get into a trade you can either buy at the ask (122.51) or sell the bid price (121.50) and to get out of the trade you do the opposite. The difference between the bid and ask is the spread, that is the cost of the trade.