Hi every one i am new to this bb and fairly new to trading could do with some help on aspects of trading is it better to buy a stock when the spread is narrow or wide ? and what internet dealers provide limit orders in their services? thanks for any help offered.

so does hoodlessbrennan, but for shorter periods - they are also cheaper per deal than comdirect! (hoodlessbrennan are doing a special offer of one month free dealing at the moment) take a look at the directory above!

One thing to bear in mind on the subject of costs - the broker with the cheapest dealing fees is not always the cheapest to trade with. Whatever 'bid' and 'offer' prices are quoted on the market, your dealer will often be able to give you a quote within these (i.e. a lower offer and a higher bid). (Research the 'yellow strip'!). ComDirect have been very competitive in the past in this respect compared to some other brokers I have used, and this can more than offset the difference in cheaper headline dealing prices. To extent it will depend on how much you're trading with.

It can also depend on personal choice - I like ComDirect's trading platform. I've hated some of the others I've used.

Another thing about brokers and costs - if you're planning to trade within a self-select ISA account (so you don't pay capital gains tax on your profits), watch out for ISA administration charges. ComDirect are much cheaper than some of the other providers in this respect. Though not all brokers offer self-select ISAs.

I currently have an account with both, as I opened my account with comdirect first - but I prefer hoodlessbrennan for dealing purely because it is cheaper, and they give the same 15 seconds to make up your mind if you want to accept the price or not! (I use this time to confirm the prices by looking at the trades & L2 info, which I also did with comdirect.)

Unless you are making more than 7,900 a year after taper relief in gains you don't pay Capital gains tax your profits so don't need a ISA.

There is nothing to stop you from having more than one account with more than one broker!

thank you to every one thats replied to my questions, on the subject of more than one broker from (little woman) having more than one account wont affect your crest account or will you now have 2 crest accounts?

little woman

ISA's can be useful for protecting divi payments if your investing is income focused. Might be something to bear in mind.

Al

janick, just posted this on syed 22's thread - and btw I use ComDirect - not the cheapest, but I also like their platform, and they get well within the spread usually, wouldn't change to anyone else now. Their limit orders usually work very well - more difficult with small cap stuff though - but that's not their fault - all online brokers have this problem.

syed, just a word on penny shares - don't be lulled into thinking they're cheap. A company whose shares cost 1 with 1 million shares in circulation has exactly the same value as a company whose shares cost 10p with 10 million shares in circulation, same for 1p share with 100 million in circulation.

A share whose value goes from 20p to 10p will do the same to you as a company whose shares go from 2p to 1p - a dog is a dog!!!

Sorry if this sounds very negative. All I mean to say is do your homework before you start. Trade on paper first, then trade with money you can afford to lose. I always work out what my breakeven price is before I buy after taking into account the buy and sell commission and 0.5% stamp duty. Then work out my target price, and my stoploss and how much I would lose I it went down.

My formula is:

(Using ComDirect @ 12.50 per deal, who I use and am very happy with - not the cheapest but usually very reliable)
Say 1000 worth of stock. Using your example. Buy @ 65p
So, 1000 less 12.50 commission = 987.50. Stamp duty of 0.5% means divide by 1.005 leaves you with 982.59 for your stocks.
982.59 divided by 0.65 (pence per share) means you will get 1511 shares
You now need to know your breakeven. The shares have cost you 1000
You will have to pay 12.50 to sell them, so your total cost is 1012.50
Divide this by 1511 gives a figure of 67.001p to breakeven. So, your 63p bid price needs to rise to 67p before you even make any money. Patience required. And, timing your entry to get the best buy price is crucial. Having said all this, on a 63/65 spread, you could probably have got the shares within the spread at (say) 64.8p depending on the stock.

One final negative, most traders lose a lot of money before they get it right, I did (edit and still often do) and most of the well known names on these boards did as well.

I hope this isn't simplistic and grandma / sucking eggs approach. Just trying to help. And good luck.

THanQ Seymour

This is exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking to for answers - I can C-more clearly now (:-)>

Now I can quickly put together an Excel macro based on your recipe - brill! Ya just lead me to the eggs & I'll keep learning to suck 'em!