I want to start day-trading.

StephenInsane

I have an interest in finance, and want to start trading to see if i can get lucky and earn some money. I have about a grand to play with.

I want to start an account with an on-line uk brokerage like etrade.co.uk

Can anyone tell me what fees such as comissions and taxes will i have to pay. Also will there be extra hassle for me to start up, because i'm living in ireland? I would like to hear what peoples experiences have been.

nesf

A grand?

Bluntly, you'll be very lucky to not lose it if you jump straight into day trading. I'd start with something more long term tbh. Working down from long term to short term seems to be the best way to get into it as painlessly as possible.

Or if you're set on day trading, paper trade for a month or two. Then look at CFDs or Financial Spread betting.


(The above assumes no experience btw, so don't be insulted if you have some )

defiantshrimp

Day trading on a grand? You must be joking with etrade for example the minimum yearly charge (before any trades) is something like 80 pounds, that is like 10% of your capital. Then there is the fact that day traders on average make much worse returns than the indexes because of their high transaction costs. The only people who consistently make returns from daytrading are etrade! Try something more longterm and passive since you only have a grand. Like Quinn Life's tracker funds or else a few blue chip shares.

StephenInsane

eh? Yearly charge of £80? It said nothing of the sort on the web-page.

defiantshrimp

They do indeed have a hefty charge of £4.85 per month (i.e £58 I was a bit high on my estimate) plus there is then a £14.95 commission on every trade plus .5% stamp duty on UK shares. If you use the day trading service there is no monthly fee buy you must spend £298.5 every quarter in commissions, a hefty £1194 per year. Which is far beyond what you have to trade with. There are also currency exchange commissions and other sundry expenses….. All this can be found on the website under rates. Also on a side note i was told by Etrade i'd need a UK bank account to trade with them.

nesf

Tbh, day trading using a traditional stockbroker with only a grand to play with is just silly. It really is.


Look here, this might suit you better: IG Index

They are one of the many financial spread betting online companies. Perfect for day trading with such small amounts.

Very easy to set up too.

There are plenty others, and I'm not saying these guys are the best. But, I have used them myself for a number of years, and have never had any problems with them. Very professional and very clear.

SouperComputer

www.deltaindex.ie

also worth a try.

karltimber

with ameritrade in the US - a daytrader has to have a minimum of $100K in the account.

A normal cash account cannot execute more than 5 daytrades in a week (I think) and equities sold have a 3 day cash holding on them.

A grand would be gone in jig time.

Squiggle

StephenInsane wrote:

I have an interest in finance, and want to start trading to see if i can get lucky and earn some money. I have about a grand to play with.

I want to start an account with an on-line uk brokerage like etrade.co.uk

Can anyone tell me what fees such as comissions and taxes will i have to pay. Also will there be extra hassle for me to start up, because i'm living in ireland? I would like to hear what peoples experiences have been.

Mini forex is probably your best bet as it is a geared instument but as with all geared instruments it is risky. I mainly trade futures myself but 1k gives you very little flexibility and to be honest very little chance as undercapitalisation is one of the main reasons for failure at trading .

Beta2

SouperComputer wrote:

www.deltaindex.ie

also worth a try.

These are a shower of cowboys. Its a small Irish setup that doesn't have the tech know how to keep their system running. There are lots of alternatives, choose a well established bookmaker.

I used these for a while and it was a disaster!

Squiggle

Beta2 wrote:

These are a shower of cowboys. Its a small Irish setup that doesn't have the tech know how to keep their system running. There are lots of alternatives, choose a well established bookmaker.

I used these for a while and it was a disaster!

You will generally find that spread bet companies are totally unsuitable for short term trading because of the wider spreads. Additionally, in my experience, you are rarely if ever quoted the true underlying market price of the instrument . At the end of the day when you spread bet or open a CFD position your contract is with the spread bet company - how many of them do you see going broke? To my mind you can't beat a direct access trading platform for futures or currencies.