DMA for shares possible in an ISA?

[Guest EdMiller]

As I understand it, Direct Market Access for shares with IG does not allow me to place orders directly onto the London Stock Exchange electronic order books. Instead with IG, I would actually be buying (assuming I qualify as a 'Professional client' and am granted DMA) a CFD based on the underlying price of the share itself. Therefore I would not be able to use DMA in a stocks & shares self-select ISA (though I would be able to see the Level 2 price data if I paid the L2 data fee) because CFDs are not allowed in ISAs.

Have I understood this correctly?

[JamesIG]

Hey @EdMiller - just to confirm, when you are in your CFD account and executing DMA you are buying and selling directly on the LSE (or whichever exchange you are looking at). We hold the stock as a CFD on the back end, but for the execution side of things you are dealing directly in the market. As stated above, for ownership rights you wouldn't be eligible. 

If you are in a share dealing or ISA account type then you can also deal DMA. The stock is then held in your account via a nominee account format. 

[Caseynotes]

42 minutes ago, EdMiller said:

As I understand it, Direct Market Access for shares with IG does not allow me to place orders directly onto the London Stock Exchange electronic order books. Instead with IG, I would actually be buying (assuming I qualify as a 'Professional client' and am granted DMA) a CFD based on the underlying price of the share itself. Therefore I would not be able to use DMA in a stocks & shares self-select ISA (though I would be able to see the Level 2 price data if I paid the L2 data fee) because CFDs are not allowed in ISAs.

Have I understood this correctly?

Hi @EdMiller, that doesn't sound right, as I understand it DMA can be used with a cfd account and/or a share dealing account. A cfd account is leveraged while a share dealing account is non-leveraged so with share dealing you are buying the underlying while on cfd you are buying a derivative of the underlying.

Also you do not need to qualify as a 'professional' to use DMA, I think to only requirement is to have at least £1000 in you account. 

https://www.ig.com/uk/l2-trading-platform

https://www.ig.com/uk/shares/shares-dma

[Guest EdMiller]

Hi @Caseynotes, thanks for your reply. Though I hope you're right, I think I'll call tech support or send them a message then because on the 'Dedicated DMA platform' page: https://www.ig.com/uk/l2-trading-platform if you scroll down the page it says this:

"How does DMA work?

Our DMA service allows you to trade on underlying market prices and depth, but what you’ll actually receive on placing a trade is a CFD from us. It works like this:

• DMA displays the best bid and offer price available for a particular market, plus further prices on either side of the order book
• You place an order, and we instantaneously conduct a margin check to ensure you have sufficient funds to cover the margin on your proposed trade
• If the margin check is satisfied we place an order in the market and, at the same time, create a parallel CFD between you and us

So while you’re trading at market prices, you won’t gain any ownership rights over the equities or currencies that form the subject of your CFD." --------------------------------------------------------------

But there is no mention of you just owning a CFD (which are not permitted in ISAs), rather than the underlying share when you click the 'Shares DMA' page, as you have seen.

Thanks again.

Ed

[Caseynotes]

Hi Ed, of course you should speak to IG but if ever margin is mentioned you are automatically talking about a leveraged account (cfd) and not a share dealing account. If you have a share dealing account you can trade on DMA but will never have access to leverage. The link in your post is the link I sent you, the second link I sent was specific to shares DMA and there is no mention of cfd or margin.

 

[Guest EdMiller]

Thanks for clarifying @JamesIG, the 'How it Works' section on the L2 trading ('Dedicated DMA Platform') page:

https://www.ig.com/uk/l2-trading-platform

left me with the impression that DMA for share accounts would not involve buying actual shares but only trading in their underlying prices via CFDs (I understand some trading platforms offering 'DMA for shares' operate this way) and hence DMA would not be available in IG's self-select share ISA (since CFDs are not permitted in ISAs). You have confirmed that this is not the case: actual shares CAN be bought via Direct Market Access and held in such an ISA in nominee format. 

Many thanks,

Ed