Question relating to my trade analytics

[Kennzo]

I'm a little confused about a couple of pieces of information coming up on my 'Trade Anaytics' and I wonder if anyone here could expand further on these to help me better understand?

#1: I have a small warning box displaying the following text.
'Your average hold time on indices is less than 1 day. It’s usually cheaper to hold futures contracts after 3–6 days.'

When I click on 'Learn more' it does not really explain anything as to why I am trading incorrectly. At the moment I'm tending to trade in small amounts on indices usually just for a few hours maximum. Very occasionally I have held a couple of spread bets overnight, is this the reason why I am getting the warning?

#2: Gross Exposure
The number here explains that if it's a high number I am at higher risk. However I am only running a basic traders account and using no leverage, therefore my risk can only ever be the approximate capital I have on account, correct?
In otherwords should I simply ignore this number based on my current account status?

Thank you

Ken

[CharlotteIG]

Hey thanks for your post, 

3 hours ago, Kennzo said:

#1: I have a small warning box displaying the following text.
'Your average hold time on indices is less than 1 day. It’s usually cheaper to hold futures contracts after 3–6 days.'

When I click on 'Learn more' it does not really explain anything as to why I am trading incorrectly. At the moment I'm tending to trade in small amounts on indices usually just for a few hours maximum. Very occasionally I have held a couple of spread bets overnight, is this the reason why I am getting the warning?

This is an issues we're aware of. The box should only show if you've had cash/ spot positions open for a long time and we have calculated that it would be more cost effective for you to hold a future/ forward. We are looking to get that resolved so apologies for that. 

3 hours ago, Kennzo said:

#2: Gross Exposure
The number here explains that if it's a high number I am at higher risk. However I am only running a basic traders account and using no leverage, therefore my risk can only ever be the approximate capital I have on account, correct?
In otherwords should I simply ignore this number based on my current account status?

If you're using a CDF or Spread betting account you are using leveraged. If for example you have a position on FTSE100 and you're a retail trader your leverage would be 20:1. Therefore your exposure is 20 times greater than the margin you have to put down (margin can vary if you add guaranteed stops). 

 

If you have any other questions please @ me 🙂

I hope this helps 

 

[andysinclair]

@CharlotteIG Can I make one suggestion for the Trade Analytics screen?

Could option trades be grouped so you could see PL for say "S&P500 Options" rather than the PL for each individual S&P500 option traded? This would make analysis clearer so you could see where you made/lost PL in comparison to other markets traded.

Thanks!

[CharlotteIG]

13 minutes ago, andysinclair said:

@CharlotteIG Can I make one suggestion for the Trade Analytics screen?

Could option trades be grouped so you could see PL for say "S&P500 Options" rather than the PL for each individual S&P500 option traded? This would make analysis clearer so you could see where you made/lost PL in comparison to other markets traded.

Thanks!

Thanks for your suggestion. 

After speaking with the team who own this project they confirmed this is something they're looking into already. So hopefully over the next few months you will see some changes that are better for you when analysing your positions. 

[andysinclair]

1 hour ago, CharlotteIG said:

Thanks for your suggestion. 

After speaking with the team who own this project they confirmed this is something they're looking into already. So hopefully over the next few months you will see some changes that are better for you when analysing your positions. 

Great, thanks for the quick response, I'm looking forward to seeing this improvement.