RE: IG and Plus50024 Jan 2018 13:54
IG came up with great results yesterday. Bombastic RNS! You would expect that the market would leap for joy and send sp skyhigh. But ney! It says 2 things: 1. The results were factored in the recent price rise. 2. The Market doesn't believe pompous boasting about immunity from the new regulations.
Going forward, IG can still be a profitable sble business, but as I said previously, they have to break clean from the current bucket shop business model. If they become a true broker, they would prosper. Otherwise, tough. At least within n EU and UK.
Going to other geographical areas like Asia may prove beneficial for a short while, before China et al close the loop with their own regulations. And make no mistakes, Chineese chop off heads literally, for non compliance.
I see IG suffering losses in the short to medium term. IG were the only ones to admit their distress at the new regulations. Plus500 and CMC were a lot more upbeat and they have made a number of changes already. IG has only done some cosmetic alterations and if you read between the lines, you will realise that they a s*it scared, planning to push retail investors into the 'professional' category.
Lower leverage means a number of things: lesser losses for punters, hence less profit for IG; lower overnight charges, 5-10 times less, hence 5-10 times less profit for IG from those charges; other implications that I may not know...
Plus500 and CMC offer much better trading software than IG, likely that some customers will migrate.
In my view, and this my unqualfied view, you all do your own research, IG price as it is , is very high. Plus500 is very expensive too, but they are better positioned economically - much more flexible than IG on account of necessary changes as demanded by regulators, open and honest policies, they can even relocate outside EU altogether.
CMC however is the best value for money, imv. Low sp with a potential to grow. cMC were the only ones who changed their terms well ahead of the others and are ready to do more as required.
Ultimately, it's your money, you decide.
GLA