Financials Acquisition Share Discussion Threads

[yoda999] 13/1/2002 19:45

Hi guys, Not really a fins/d4free ques. but I guess you know me from dtt so be kind. Far from a computer whizz so help appreciated. Moving to Bangkok and going to buy a lap-top there, got the price list, etc. What's good? Looking here at Compaq Presario 1200, Celeron 850 MHz,128 MB, 10 GB, 13.3" XGA screen. Costs about £935 there, 59,900 Baht...but the way I know the Thais should get between 10-20% off depending what trades been like...oh, get a printer thrown in as well but won't want that. Price is actually from about 5 months ago so with the speed computers specs are upgraded should be much cheaper. Basically, does anyone know price in Uk for similar model and would this be high enough spec to trade with fins whilst having a couple of other windows open, such as this site and quote.com...Cheers guys

[farmer george] 13/1/2002 19:27

mulligatawny,

have you looked at GNI?

[mulligatawny] 13/1/2002 17:32

Deal4Free.....any of you regular spreadbetters....just how much more money could have been banked !!
All that time watching a share go into the spread then ....eventually through it..then closing for 10 points on a 20 point plus movement !!
Reverse of which....closing a bad pick quickly for maybe less than five points!!
My only concern would be ..extolling D4F's advantage too much,certain to read this thread ??
The way I see it.....IG..Not even trying to be the best
Fins..trying to be the best
D4F.....the best.................time will tell
Within a few days all three bloody a/c's will be open !!

[farmer george] 13/1/2002 14:35

Wolf,

Try www.meshplc.com They have a showroom just off the North Circular near Staples Corner. They also have showrooms in other cities. Most computer magazines carry their ads eg PC World or Computer Shopper. If you are on a budget you could pick something up for £600-£700 that would be more than sufficient. Go for at least 512Mb of memory.

[djlungi] 13/1/2002 13:57

Btw, Barc Spread can be as little as a penny, of late it seems like money for free at D4F.

[djlungi] 13/1/2002 13:54

I've just upgraded to an XP1600 with 256DDRAM.
All I can say is fantastic.
D4F software runs so smoothly. I can open many windows and use sharescope all at once - no problems.
The O/S is totally stable, I cannot recommend highly enough.

I Bought at pcworld, Medion 1600XP Base Unit for £630. It offered the best vfm money that I could find. I did extensive research online since my pc is such an important tool. I noticed that store didn't even have them on display, they were happy to sell lesser machines for more money - crooks.


I've been trading barc of late, the moves post 430pm are well worth watching, you can earn a good few extra points if your timing is right.

[taximania] 13/1/2002 01:33

Wolf - me too ,it just does not make sense if i want to buy 1k barc via a stockbroker it will cost me the eqivilent of maybe 10p with s/duty and commision on the sale and purchase , yet i can buy via d4free for 2p - where's the catch ?
boring git that i am i got my pc from pc world !! Simple reason that if i got a problem i wanted to be able to throw it at a human and say 'fix that now'.Also checked all the usual sites and could not find anything cheaper (plus the wife said it looked 'trendy' ) :-)))
No problems making money in these markets though i'm glad to say , although my bearish nature helps!

[wolf] 12/1/2002 23:28

farmer george,

thanks,

do they have a web site?

what sort of spec, price & where are you buying from?

thanks, wolf

[farmer george] 12/1/2002 23:23

Wolf,

I've always had a Mesh machine. No problems. Also, you now get 3 years on site warranty. I'm going to buy a new one in the next month or so.

[wolf] 12/1/2002 23:12

taxi,

i agree, suprised that i can trade barc at 2p spread with no tax implications - there has to be a catch... i guess the catch is to trade it in the right direction at the right time:-)

so, if i've got to buy a new pc for d4f what should i be looking for? any suggestions?

my thoughts are:- windows xp - consensus is it's good, or should i go win2000 as it's been around longer with more drivers?

i'll buy as much memory as is possible, - what make and speed of processor?

reliable & cheap! - still recouping losses from 2000/1. traded only very little over the past 18 months, but not very well!. I've always bought Dell 2nd user systems in the past but if anyone knows of any reliable, cheap systems i'm interested. but reliability & support comes 1st.

[jeffmack] 12/1/2002 22:56

I opened a deal4free account to use from my PC at work. Unfortunately the software wont work where there is a firewall, unless you open a specific port, which my network team would not do.

[sirgary] 12/1/2002 21:47

Hi Mob
I just upgraded to 500k ram and d43 is much better but wished I bought 1 500 chip instead of 2 250s, so I could upgrade further.
I run d43 and d43lite and a few charting sites together and seem to need 500
minimum as I still get a bit low on memory, but not crashing now at least.
Good luck all.
GS.

[taximania] 12/1/2002 21:37

Likewise wolf , i have enough trouble with the tax man already , supplying a list of last years share dealing was an absolute nightmare , every single purchase and sale had to be noted and have you seen the space available on the tax form !
Eventually i had to pay someone to write them all down and work it out for me.... so no cfd's for me as i believe u have to keep the taxman informed.
I am mainly short so interest sounds good enough for me but can i really expect to trade barc and only pay a 2p spread , it just sounds too good to be true!
i have looked at the walkthru mulli , looked like tight spreads to me.

Better get this 256 ram installed i suppose , bloody pc's only 5 months old and it's out of date already!

[wolf] 12/1/2002 19:18

H,

thanks for that

have a good one.

wolf

[humanutan] 12/1/2002 19:14

Wolf, for my purposes, spreadbetting is how I take market positions and I have no need/desire to use CFD's. YMMV
& simplest way to clarify the second question is to say that a rolling cash £10 long position held for 3 months (with interest charged daily) will be costlier than taking and holding equivalent £10 quartlerly spread postition until its expiration - as the interest adjustment is more than factored into the spread in the latter scenario. The 'greater than 3 weeks' is just an approximation (made by another) as to when the divergence starts to narrow. Will check this thread later as I'm out for the eve now - HTH

[mulligatawny] 12/1/2002 19:04

Just done the D4F walkthrough & most of the cash/March spreads were the same......little difference.
Does look impressive & zappy..........is it fast ??

[wolf] 12/1/2002 18:52

H,

are you saying that CFD's are better? - not sure I understand you when you say you 'need to hold for longer than 3 weeks to make the quarterly spreads attractive'.

do you have a link to the discussion you mention?
w

[humanutan] 12/1/2002 18:45

Wolf - just to let ynow - there are also overnight interest charges on long positions if you chose the narrowest spreads with D4F Spreadbet. It is a nominal amount (detailed in their dealing guide) and as someone else has suggested you'd really need to be holding a position for longer than 3 weeks to make the quarterly spreads even start to look attractive. Also, on short positions held overnight the interest is actually credited to you. So obviously if you have a mix of longs and shorts the interest question really is of no consequence in the long run.

[wolf] 12/1/2002 18:32

thanks for replies

taxi,

but don't you think that you could learn to like a site with such a better spread - I think I could!

I'm reluctant to go CFD's as I just don't want the bother of the tax return. (sounds great doesn't it - of course I'm bound to be in a position of needing to fill in the tax return :-)). I'm also wary of the overnight interest charges on CFD's. More research to do for me.) don't want to get into the debate of paying Income Tax on spread bets. I just want to turn in a profit first....

wolf

[humanutan] 12/1/2002 18:02

Wolf - Such a spread is indeed for the spreadbetting service. Btw, this can be evaluated on their website for any instrument at:



HTH

[taximania] 12/1/2002 18:02

Spoke to them this a/noon and they confirmed that was the price for spread betting , problem is i do like fins and their website......

[wolf] 12/1/2002 17:31

hi,

I'm also in the process of evaluating d4f v fins - with fins at present.

Can anyone confirm that the 1 - 2 point spread on BARC (for example) is for the spread betting service, not the CFD?

thanks for the info re memory requirements, as I will definatley need a new PC now. I have a laptop with 128mb ram but that's its maximum capacity. so very grateful for that info.

[taximania] 12/1/2002 16:26

Thanks guy's - quality replies as always , just seem to remember something about minimum 128 mb required,
Understand the 25 pt spread bit now , i guess if i can make money trading fins on a 15 point spread then it must be worth considering opening another d4free account.
Will look at the site above although i am not much goood when it comes to techie stuff.
Thanks again.

[humanutan] 12/1/2002 16:05

I should think an individual's pc specification vis a vis their software should firstly be directly addressed to their support team - before opening an account. For the record I've 256mb ram. However, my point is that one's operating system is by far the single most important determinant as to reliability/minimising system slow downs or crashes. Which should IMO be one of the prime considerations if choosing to spreadbet online. Agree that less than 128mb of ram might give problems. Nonetheless extra memory is cheap still and purchasing more would never be a bad idea.

As to the Barclays D4F spreadbet spread example (for rolling cash position): it was 10 points consistently in *after hours* quotes when they first introduced this facility over a month ago. They then increased this spread to a consistent 20 points last week. And just yesterday it was increased to a consistent 25 points eg 2275/2300 in afterhours. Whereas a 10 point spread was useful. A 25 point spread is not.
Nonetheless the spreadbet spread in normal hours 8-4.30 is mostly the market spread. Hope this resolves any doubt :-)