Finspreads are good both on the phone and via their excellent trading platform and I can certainly recommend them to you.

If you need a contact at Finspreads please use Angus Campbell by email acampbell@finspreads.com) or by phone (call the trading desk 08000 969625 then ask to speak to him. He is very helpful and by all means mention my name if you wish.

The great thing about Finspreads is that you can place an order to open on-line and at the same time you can place your stop order which will become active if the trade opens. You MUST remember to cancel the order if the trade does not trigger.

The second thing that is REALLY useful is that you can place orders 24 hours a day so no matter which country and time zone you are in, or whether you work during trading hours etc, you can please yourself when you do your chart work and still get on line to place your orders.

The final tip I have for you is an important one but please do not say the I told you to do this. It is perfectly reasonable but I don't want to become a thorn in Finspreads side! So here it is: Occasionally you may feel you have been stopped out and it is a real close call or it is within the first 20 minutes or so of the trading day or you just don't understand how you could have been stopped. If this happens
take a look at your chart and allowing for the difference in spread price versus chart price, see if the chart suggests that the stock did indeed trade at your stop level. If you feel it didn't - PHONE THEM!

Tell them the level you were stopped at and the fact that according to your charts the stock did not trade at that level. They will check it out properly according to their very accurate records and let you know if you were stopped correctly. If you were not they will reinstate the trade for you (or a
similar arrangement).

This tends to happen with "Quote stops" and not "Market stops" and the reason this can happen is that your stop can be triggered simply by an abnormally wide spread which happens from time to time and particularly when the market opens and before the first real trades go through. Usually the Finspreads traders re-set those triggered stops which are not "genuine" but occasionally forget. That is why it is worth questioning it when you feel it has happened to you.

If you haven't already read it I urge you to read my book "All you need to know about Financial Spread Betting". It is not expensive and could save you a great deal of money by preventing mistakes. To take a look please go to: www.shortswingtrading.com/fsb

I am afraid I simply do not have time to support traders with questions about spread betting and how different trading platforms work but the book together with the tips on the spread betting page of the Members website should give you the vast majority of what you need to know. Any other questions you have please give the Finspreads traders a call. They are very helpful particularly if you catch them at a quiet time. They often appreciate it if you ask them if they are busy and is there a better time to call them if you need to discuss something that could take a while.

Finally, if you do open an account with Finspreads, as part of the account application you will be presented with a dropdown list for the "Where didyou hear about us?"question.

Please answer: "Tradelogik"

Tradelogic promote spread betting in the UK and Europe and I work with them on certain projects. If you select Tradelogic in your application I will receive a very small commission - but every little helps. Thank you.

Good luck with your trading, I wish you huge success!

David Graeme-Smith