Widened Bid Price in Trade

[Guest pipmum]

Hello,

I thought I had found a good trade -

At the close last night I was £8 in profit  (trading at 10p /pip).  

 

This morning the spread has widened 63 pips and where I should be seeing a profit on 400 pips I am down -£15.

400 x 0.10p  = 40.  I should be up £40.   

 - How can I be 400 pips away from my entry point in the right direction, but £15 down?

 

I had always assumed that the Bid/Selling price on entry stood, even if the spread did widen afterward?

 - will the spread size reduce through the day?  

- should I close the trade, and cut my losses?

 

I will be grateful for any insight / thoughts and experiences.

 

Thank you.

[CharlotteIG]

On 25/10/2019 at 10:32, pipmum said:

Hello,

I thought I had found a good trade -

At the close last night I was £8 in profit  (trading at 10p /pip).  

 

This morning the spread has widened 63 pips and where I should be seeing a profit on 400 pips I am down -£15.

400 x 0.10p  = 40.  I should be up £40.   

 - How can I be 400 pips away from my entry point in the right direction, but £15 down?

 

I had always assumed that the Bid/Selling price on entry stood, even if the spread did widen afterward?

 - will the spread size reduce through the day?  

- should I close the trade, and cut my losses?

 

I will be grateful for any insight / thoughts and experiences.

 

Thank you.

Hey @pipmum, 

Thanks for your post. The spreads for different markets can tighten and widen throughout the day. When you open a long position you're opening on the Ask price, when closing you're using the Bid price and have to base your profit/ loss off that. 

The spread size for shares, for example, would be the underlying market spread plus IG spread. So, if the underlying market widens, then we have to reflect that on our side. You can change the prices on the platform to bid and ask by right clicking the chart> Prices> Ask/ Mid/ Bid. 

 

If you have a market in mind, let me know so I can investigate the spread at that time.

[dmedin]

On 25/10/2019 at 10:32, pipmum said:

- will the spread size reduce through the day?  

- should I close the trade, and cut my losses?

 

I will be grateful for any insight / thoughts and experiences.

 

The spread will eventually become more favourable if you hold on - an extreme spread is usually temporary ...

[Guest pipmum]

Hi,

Thank you for your replies.

The screenshot below shows my SELL trade - placed 24 Oct 2.50pm.

The measurement 154 pips is my +£15 at close Thurs; and 213.3 beneath is the opening Fri 9am. I was in a loss of -£40,  as the Spread was 63 pips wider. Price was volatile and stalled for 3 hours Fri morning.

The red line shows my entry and exit.  I closed out at -£11 eventually - cut my losses. 

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one!

 

[CharlotteIG]

12 hours ago, pipmum said:

Hi,

Thank you for your replies.

The screenshot below shows my SELL trade - placed 24 Oct 2.50pm.

The measurement 154 pips is my +£15 at close Thurs; and 213.3 beneath is the opening Fri 9am. I was in a loss of -£40,  as the Spread was 63 pips wider. Price was volatile and stalled for 3 hours Fri morning.

The red line shows my entry and exit.  I closed out at -£11 eventually - cut my losses. 

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one!

 

Hey @pipmum, 

Thanks for your response. All US stocks trade in the pre, main and post markets. The main sessions is between 14:30- 21:00 (UK time) (*due to the clock change it's 13:30-20:00 for this week).

We offer 'All sessions' for some stocks on our platform. In the pre and post market you will see that the spread is a lot wider than in the main sessions because there are less buyers and sellers trading at this time. We have to follow the underlying market so the spread you see is the market price (with our spread wrapped around if you're trading on a spread betting account). 

I hope this helps. 

[Guest pipmum]

46 minutes ago, CharlotteIG said:

Hey @pipmum, 

Thanks for your response. All US stocks trade in the pre, main and post markets. The main sessions is between 14:30- 21:00 (UK time) (*due to the clock change it's 13:30-20:00 for this week).

We offer 'All sessions' for some stocks on our platform. In the pre and post market you will see that the spread is a lot wider than in the main sessions because there are less buyers and sellers trading at this time. We have to follow the underlying market so the spread you see is the market price (with our spread wrapped around if you're trading on a spread betting account). 

I hope this helps. 

Hi CharlotteIG,

Thank you for your reply, yes it helps.  

I will try not panic if the spread widens outside the trading session next time  - all part of my learning curve!