curioustrader

I am a UK-based freelance journalist and write for various newspapers and recently wrote a long article on trading for one of the UK broadsheets. I’ve started looking into another issue and would appreciate any input – on or off the record – from people on this forum. During my research into the last trading story I wrote I spoke to a lot of people about financial spread-betting. It’s a fast-growing business, and now has lots of players. The spread-betting platforms look like the real market. And feel like the real market. But are of course clever simulations. The spread-betting companies claim they’re transparent mirrors of the market. And I’m sure some of them are. But some people see them more like casinos – where the house has an advantage. I’ve heard rumours of some spread-betting companies playing tricks, tweaking the spreads, changing the stops, or locking people out of a trade – when someone makes a lot of money. My question: Is this really true? Can anyone prove it? (There are obviously lots of spread-betting companies out there and some may be better than others) Please get in touch with me if you have any views on this and maybe we can have a quick email exchange or even a skype/phone chat about your experiences? I look forward to hearing from you David david.c.robinson@hotmail.com