CMC Markets – have you got any confidence in them...?

[peat]

George
Aussie trading costs $40 a month... I checked with them and you cant trade Aussie stocks unless you pay that - even over the phone...
You can trade the Aussie index tho and while that will allow you short or long of course you wouldnt be able to hedge too well unless you eg contra;d that with an S+P position

If you have a computer the main thing it will need to run Market Maker is more memory- which is really cheap these days. It cost me less than a hundred to bung 4 gb (the maximum unless you have 64bit computer and Operating System ) into my oldish PC and this helps enormously with running MM. Even if its an older/slower CPU it should still work with a bit of patience. Though there is a limit to that.
New PCs are really cheap these days so theres not really any excuse for hanging onto a dunger if you want to trade the markets.

[George]

Thanks Peat
I thought ASX was free with 5 or more trades a month ie. $50
brokerage in total.

[Dr_Who]

My broker at Macquarie charges me minimum of $100 per trade.

$10 is cheap. lol

[miner]

Just buy anything and go play a round of golf and make "lots of money".

[peat]

Thanks Peat
I thought ASX was free with 5 or more trades a month ie. $50
brokerage in total.

yes you're right there I'd forgotten about that ....so yeh thats okay if you're active enough.
You're commiting to a fixed cost either way tho.

[Jay]

Just buy anything and go play a round of golf and make "lots of money".

That's how they advertise themselves, must be that easy then.
Otherwise it is false advertising

Think I will throw a dart at the share page and start trading with them.
Will be rich in no time at all.

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Question are you dealing with actual ASX market prices or their Market Maker prices which may be different. Please read this thread in its entirety.

[beacon]

Thanks for this thread it has been interesting reading. Ive been trading cfd's for a long long time but have made very few posts, so even though I may have newbie status I may have actually traded more than most people. I have been with CMC since they first appeared in NZ (must be about 2005 or 2006). I remember they were still setting it all up anyway. Point is I have made literally thousands of trades with them (mostly in AUS as NZ market is too small and you will really get your bum kicked if you try). Do I trust them? No. Do I have confidence in them? No I think they are confidence tricksters. Would I recommend them? No way, never never never. Why? Read on...
There is an excellent book which is one of the top traders books ever written, its called Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and its about legendary trader Jesse Livermore. Written in about 1924. Anyway these CFD things are not new. They were around in the 1900's US and were known as 'bucket shops' where most people actually lost money (Livermore was the exception so they banned him). So that is the aim of the CFD provider? Pure and simple its to profit from its customers in its own virtual world that it can manipulate itself. Think about that before you open an account. So stop hunting, not filling orders, requotes, incorrect prices etc. etc. yes it all goes on. Ive been around too long to think otherwise. I even got one of their punk traders to admit it. He said 'its our market so what you going to do about it?' I may still have that dialog (which you can only screen print they wont let you cut and paste - eh strange that) - also the transaction logs which are supposed to be on your pc are not there so if you think you placed an order and it didn't get filled there is no way of checking.
Anyway, stay away! Be warned. If you've got a spare 10 grand sitting around take the kids to Disneyland. Do not give it to these b*stards.
By the way. Your probably thinking oh he's just bitter and twisted cos he lost all his money. Not quite. You'll be shocked to know I still have an account and still trade. I have never put any more money into my account. I am just extraordinarily careful now and focussed. I've learned the hard way what works and what doesn't (I've tried just about everything). I'm not into giving tips but if you do still go ahead bear in mind 100:1 leverage is poison, esp. in these volatile times.

Grrovejet has hit the nail cleanest with CMC experiences. They are neither transparent nor trustworthy, full stop. But regardless of their bag of little tricks, you can lose a lot of money before you know it. And some pretty sharp operators in the market have lost big time with CMC. For most of their losses though, they have themselves to blame. These operators are MBAs and manage millions. They work with leverage all the time, and yet they lost. You think you are smarter. Try it at your peril...

Delaying redemptions, even disallowing them, insider trading like activities, stop hunting, spread arbitrage, suddenly increasing required margins to killing proportions without appropriate notice periods, non transparent fees and related bank accounts transactions, dividend as well as DWT cheating, cheating on intt rates, hidden ledger transactions and non-transparent fees, order slippage, requotes to disadvantage regardless of volume, inaccurate volume information to clients, false advertising, unfair trade practises, mass marketing without proper disclosure or education about risks - it is all happening as we speak.

Because they are not a bank, you can't go to Banking Ombudsman, and the time and red tape their internal dispute resolution process takes will see you on the street sooner than you think. You can go to disputes tribunal, but they won't take cases greater than 10k, civil court fees will see you sell your house to try and get justice. NZX won't regulate them as they create liquidity. Once you get sucked in, the odds are loaded against you as you increase your portfolio sizes.

To the smart alecs who think they can still beat the house, good luck. Off course, money can still be made with CFDs as well as with CMC.

[Dr_Who]

How can CMC markets quote and trade stockmarket shares on behalf of the client if they are not NZX member registered?

[George]

Well, have read their disclosure document, rang for it and they
posted next day - good service or not??
Seems similar to warrant market makers so nothing new there.
Most importantly, one should watch their leverage and factor in
a worst case scenario, whether using stops or not.
If they really do rip off the customer, it would become apparent
and it's goodbye CMC - as long as one is not over-leveraged when
it may be goodbye customer.
The main problem with CFD's as I see it is simply the fact you
have so much leverage available - very dangerous if you don't
know what you are doing or get a little greedy.
Interested in any comments on this subject.
George