rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

how do you know the logic under which they closed all your positions?
is it in writing?
were you given notice of margin requirement - IG always give about 24 hours to rectify?
did your broker close more stocks than were necessary to restore your margin?

your own records will need to be spot on

It happened to me once for one or two deals but everything was put back to normal soon...

Ahoj -as posted on the Costain thread - I'm not sure I see how the consolidation caused a margin call. If you had 10,000 shares @23p pre-consolidation, the cost was 2,300. Post consolidation you have 1,000 shares @2.30 - cost the same - 2,300.

talk about "from doom to zoom" ...... hadn't seen the prequel before either

Hi again,

It was with SaxoBank. They give notice when above 135% and then close everything when crosses 200%.

They give no time to rectify and take 3 hours to pay money in.

Costin consolidated today, but they applied consilidation on Friday by mistake. The difference in my cash position was over 10000 as 45000 shares where removed from my account (10% of 50000= 500 left in the account)

Any suggestion what I should do. They are trying not to accept liability!

1) you'll need to read the agreement you signed - or send it to your lawyer to do so
assuredly you have a responsibility to look after your own financial affairs and cannot expect saxo to do it for you

2) it shouldn't actually take as long as 3 hours to remit TT - it should be pretty much instantaneous

3) do you have a record of when saxo advised you of requiring funds?

4) do you have a record of when you asked your bank to make TT and when it was activated?

5) did you ring your contact at saxo to tell him that TT was activated and en route?

6) if so, do you have a record of that? ..... for sure saxo will

7) do you have a record of the precise time when your funds hit your account at saxo?

8) do you have a record of the exact time when saxo closed your position? - was it just in costain?

9) apart from the fact that you don't like what saxo did, why do you consider that they acted outside their written agreement with you, and can you prove it?
if it's only a case of "ouch!", then i can't see that you would have any grounds

possible/probable collapse of DC/NC talks
quite hard to tell with ftse actually closed for the night, but looking at the currency markets, there seems to be little more than a shrug of the shoulders.

for myself, though i would certainly like to see electoral reform to give a better reflection of the popular vote, i don't care for the version of PR that is being thrown about as the supposed "cure all" ...... that would just lead to perpetual coalitions and weak gov't, as angela merkel has just discovered

quite hard to tell with ftse actually closed for the night, but looking at the currency markets, there seems to be little more than a shrug of the shoulders.

Errr. Cable's off a cent and a half and the FTSE's open till 9pm.

Yep ftse currently 5361/64!

but it's really only tracking wall street which has come off the boil a little and cable has recovered a reasonable amount

DOW
interesting to see that 10780 that should have been a support on the way down, but sadly was not, is now beginning to look like an obstacle on the way back up

ahoj - i can't reply to you as you do not have an e-mail address here .... if easier please feel free to use ranciduk@aol.com (no sniggering from the stalls please!)

Cynic, You have an email. Best, Ahoj

replied

now now...no secret hand shakes here please...

clearly the market is (after all) less than enthusiastic about NC's change of course.

in honesty, if one may apply it loosely to a politician, i suspect NC would indeed have done a deal with DC, but quite possibly is less than certain about carrying his redneck party members with him.

of course, whether or not NC finally cuddles up to GB is also still far from certain, and even if he does, there is still no certainty at all that the tiddlers will obligingly tag along behind to give that coalition an overall majority.

certainly if NC is not careful, he could easily lose a lot of the public support that he picked up during the election campaign, as people in general just want this dreadful financial and economic mess sorted out, with PR or similar, though perhaps being desirable (case unproven) being a long way down the pecking order.

good call earlier this afternoon by the old fart! - see election thread
took out modest ftse long and thank you very much; that can go towards paying for the holiday

stock market is not all that sensitive to election

but Cable is doing well and is proving a better trade

if i could turn such a profit daily, i would be a very happy bunny

Everyone long FTSE tomorrow I assume following DC/NC imminent deal?