cate

Hi, I see that the blog shows a 9.3 point adjustment for stocks going ex-div tonight. Can I just check that's right? Normally I would expect the adjustment on Wednesday afternoon, but I'm wondering if the long bank holiday weekend coming up has made this week different. Thanks! Cate

Thanks, Anda. It's puzzling. I've written to the helpdesk as you suggest, just to check I haven't been moved to a professional account without realising it. Best wishes, Cate

Hi Anda , Thanks very much for the reply. The grayed out button was what I remember from last time I looked at crypto, but what I'm seeing now is if I put "bitcoin" into the search box I get a lot of small contracts where the buttons aren't grayed out. For example Bitcoin ($1), Bitcoin (£1), and the same for Litecoin, Ether, Ether/Bitcoin and a few others. If I pull up a deal ticket for Bitcoin(£1) for example it shows me that the minimum contract size is 0.01 contracts and the margin requirement is £308.27 . I can't see anything that would stop me trading. I just don't want to enter into the trade if I'm going to be automatically closed out because I shouldn't have been able to do it in the first place! Do you think these are new special instruments - not like the spot - that retail can use? Thanks again, Cate

Hi, I was having fun trading crypto and then the regulations changed a couple of years ago and only professional clients could trade them. But I've just noticed that I can open deal tickets on Bitcoin and Litecoin and a couple of others. It looks as though the margin requirement is 100% so I'm wondering whether we're back to being able to trade as long as the positions are unleveraged. Just wanting to check, so that I don't open a position and then find it forceably closed at a loss when the system realises I'm not a professional client. Any other retail traders dabbling in this again? Happy trading everyone! Cate

Thanks very much @AndaIG!

Hi, I haven't been charged any FX funding costs on my CFD account for the last 2 nights. That was particularly surprising last night because 10pm Wednesday is usually a 3x charge. I'm wondering what has changed and when the next charge will be. I try to avoid holding positions with heavy negative carry on a Wednesday night, but if that's changed it would be good to know what the new schedule will be. Wouldn't like to be long the EUR/MXN and discover Thursday is now 5x overnight funding, for example! Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. Will try tagging @CharlotteIG! Thanks, Cate

@eastside Thanks so much for that! I'm a step behind Sam because I didn't know that was possible. More bizarrely, when I wrote to IG help a few weeks ago they assured me it wasn't on the new platform! So I'm particularly grateful for the help.

Hi, I'm late coming to this, but I've just spotted the post. Would like to echo the request for a column that shows the profit/loss on a position in GBP. I trade FX and so often have trades in several currencies and find it much easier to get an intuitive sense of where I stand when I see them all brought to the same currency. In fact it's such a deal breaker for me that I'm still using the old platform, just because it has that option. Thanks for raising the issue, Sam.

Thanks, @CharlotteIG. And I'm hoping that will include those of us who have limit orders set even if they haven't been triggered into actual positions yet. (Actually for now I've deleted my order, until the position is clearer.) Have a good day! Cate

As I understand it, after a bit of googling, the wheel option strategies that @AbsurdK is experimenting with depend on taking delivery of the underlying when the option expires. Google tells me "The process starts with selling a put. After selling the initial put, the put either expires or is assigned. If it expires, they keep the premium. If they are assigned, they take ownership of 100 shares." I believe that this would work with single stock options, but index options are generally cash settled - in other words there isn't an underlying that you can "take ownership of". As far as I can see the only options on indices which are different are on the S&P, where you have the choice between SPX options (settled in cash since the underlying asset itself is not traded) and SPY options which are settled in shares since the underlying asset itself is traded on the exchange. Thank goodness for demo accounts to experiment with, so that we can try to get our heads round all these details before putting real money at risk. 😀

Thanks @CharlotteIG ! That's reassuring. I'm sure IG have already seen this, but someone on twitter linked to this Policy Statement from the FCA, saying that it will come into effect on 6th January: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/policy/ps20-10.pdf "Prohibiting the sale to retail clients of investment products that reference cryptoassets" Incidentally the trader on twitter who linked to that, was commenting on the recent drop in bitcoin and said "Crypto exchanges started announcing liquidation of UK customer accounts ..not surprising BTC sold off." Best wishes, Cate

Hi @CharlotteIG, I wonder if you could give some guidance on this? At the moment I have some limit orders in my account to buy various crypto instruments (like ETH) but I'm worried that any positions I take may be forcibly closed out at some random point when the ban on crypto trading comes into effect. I don't want to find I've closed (well, been closed) at the low of the year... I haven't seen anything from IG about the rules changing, so maybe it's just a rumour that the FCA are banning crypto trading, or for some reason it doesn't apply to our CFDs on IG... (I hate the way the regulators get heavy handed with this stuff!) Best wishes, Cate

Hi @AbsurdK and @CharlotteIG, I'm also playing with the options on demo with the occasional foray into a real trade on my live account, so I may be completely wrong here, or have misunderstood the original question. But isn't this just the behaviour you would expect with a cash settled option - on expiry you wouldn't receive the underlying A200 ETF or future. (I believe most index options are cash settled (apart from the S&P where you have the choice), and looking at the info tag on the A200 it seems that they definitely are.) And now @AbsurdK you've got me googling wheel strategies... They're a fascinating asset class, aren't they? Cate

Hi, I was wondering how the ban the FCA are planning on crypto trading from the beginning of 2021 will affect IG? Specifically will we be forced to close our CFD crypto positions at the end of this year? Given how volatile they are, I don't want to find my positions being closed out at some arbitrary date. 😟 I haven't seen anything from IG about this, but maybe I've missed it. Hope everyone's having a good trading day. Cate

Good advice! Thank you!

@Caseynotes Thanks for mentioning that you'd posted about this on another thread. That led me to @CharlotteIG 's worked example. Yes, that's the email I received and was questioning. By now, my only real worry is what changes they've made to the code that will kick in at 4pm! Just hoping whatever variable is being displayed in the "margin" field (80%) isn't the same one that'll be picked up by the new calculation! I've had odd things happen on occasion like a minimum stop distance that I'd expect to be about 5 points suddenly expanding when the market gets illiquid to something bizarre like several thousand followed by about 8 decimal places. I have every sympathy with what a nightmare this must be for anyone trying to keep the system functional through all this - just don't want to get on the wrong side of the changes!

Hi @CharlotteIG, I've just found this post. The calculation is really helpful, but my question is what number should I put in these formulae for a 0.25 position (the minimum size) in the US Crude 1 euro contract. If I replace $10 with .25 euro I get (1) .25 x 1800 (roughly, at present) x 5% = 22.5 euros and (2) 80* 0.25 = 20 euros. The dealing ticket asks for 45 euros margin which is double (1) and so I'm assuming that calculation is wrong and should use 10% not 5%. BUT, why does the "information" tab say the margin requirement is 80%? Is it about to go up 8 times at 4pm? Because the numbers don't seem to be consistent I'm feeling nervous about what logic has actually been put into the computer system, and what will actually happen to my free capital at 4pm.

Oh, and incidentally that 80% margin is for tier 1 - it goes up to 480% on tier 4! Needless to say I'm never going to have to worry about anything beyond tier 1, but still a potential jump from 10% to 80% at 4pm is worrying. @CharlotteIG, is that really what will happen?

Thanks for the reply, @Caseynotes. I can see that would make sense, but it's odd because there was nothing in the email to suggest it was intended for professional clients (and I'm not one). And then there's the "information" on the contract which now shows 80% not the 10% it used to, even though (at present?) that isn't being used to calculate the margin on the deal ticket.

Hi all, IG sent an email yesterday about the new margin requirements for trading oil. Existing positions will have the new charge applied this afternoon, and it will be "the larger of 80 points multiplied by your trade size or 5% of the notional value of your trade, based on the opening level". I trade the CFD 1 euro contract, at the minimum size which is .25 of the full contract. Does anyone know how to apply the new formula? For example what is the "trade size" and what is the "notional value"? What makes it more confusing for me is that the email said that new positions would already be subject to the new charge, but I don't notice any change, although looking at the "information" for the contract it shows margin required as 80%. But the dealing ticket gives the margin on a .25 contract as about 44 euros, which doesn't look like 80%. Just anxious to understand what changes are going to come in, since I have several positions open and don't want to be hit by an 80% (of several thousand pounds?) charge at 4pm when the change comes in! Perhaps I should tag @CharlotteIG on this. Hope everybody is keeping safe! Cate

I use the old platform, with its Flash based charts. They just aren't working this morning - I try to open a chart, do the usual thing of changing Flash from "ask" to "allow", and absolutely nothing appears, just a blank window. I've tried asking IG Client Help on twitter - by tweet and by DM - but no reply. Is anybody else having the same problem? Thanks, Cate

That's really helpful. Thanks so much! I used to use that site, and then lost the link, so I'm particularly glad to have it again. I like the fact you can sort by yield if you're on the hunt for high yielding stock.

Thanks, 247trader! I'd be grateful to know where you found the info, because my usual sources (LSE, Reuters) failed me this morning... I thought IG would have the info somewhere but haven't been able to track it down. Anyway, it's good to know what it was. Thanks again.

Hi all! I have a fairly substantial dividend adjustment overnight for my FTSE positions. I understand that Xmas will have changed the days around a bit this week, but Reuters don't list any stock going ex-div and the IG dividends tab is blank for the FTSE. Wondering if anyone knows which stock went ex-div? Thanks! Cate

Hi, I seem to be asking a lot of boring questions recently! Sorry. But I notice that I had FX charges applied to my USD/JPY position overnight as normal, but nothing for the other pairs (USD/NOK, EUR/NZD and EUR/USD). Is there a reason for that? As you know there've been a few oddities in the overnight funding costs recently - all resolved during the next day - but I'm just watching in case they're a warning sign of something becoming illiquid in the market, or some change in the environment that is making trading a bit more risky. Thanks, and happy trading to everyone. Cate