IG Tool Bar issues - can anyone help me understand this?

[bjb007]

I am new to IG and have just received the invite to enter the competition to post on here and I guess I am shooting myself in the foot for posting something negative but this is something I really do not understand can exist.  

 

In short in the UK we pay Stamp Duty and this adds to our purchase price (0.5%) along with the commission we pay IG.   However, for some reason IG do not include this value in the Book Cost.   Consequently the Profit/Loss on your open position does not take these costs into account and so when looking at your Open Position it shows a better P/L position than actually exists?    

 

When I brought this up I was informed I could edit the Book Cost to include all my costs?   This is is not automation as I know it and really annoying.   On my current position with one stock I have have bought 3 times at different prices and each time I have had to re-calculate the book price in order to get the Profit and Loss calculation to work.

 

Please can anyone out there provide me with a solution to this nightmare?   

 

Thanks

[ClaireL]

Hi,

 

Welcome to IG community. We take the number of shares x the executed price. This is designed to show the real P/L based on the buy and sell price to avoid any potential confusion. The commission and stamp duty are shown on the trading ledger. We are more than happy to take your feedback and pass it on to the relevant team.

 

Thanks,

Claire

[bjb007]

How can that be the real profit and loss when you have not taken into account the full cost of the transaction?   You actually have to still calculate if you are actually making any money.    You are saying you have to go to the trading ledger, add up all the values for multiple transactions and then take a look at what the potential sale figure will be to work out your gain?   I am only here because Barclays completely self imploded and now have a system which can not give me an indication of how well I am doing because apparently people only want to know a figure which only gives part of the picture?   I should add that when I joined up I did report this and was told it would be fixed within 2 weeks.   That didn't happen.   Am I the only person here?????   LOL.   Makes me laugh, a sad laugh.....

[JamesIG]

Hi  

 

I can certainly understand your point of view, however I believe the current platforms layout and logic makes sense. Although factors such as tax and commissions are important to remember when looking at net profits/loses, the layout of the platform supports how we currently have it set up. Let me try and explain the reasoning. 

 

The platform shows the number of shares you've purchased and the direct market average price which you have received. Shares x Average Price therefore = Book Cost. If this book cost figure automatically took into account commissions etc then it wouldn't follow on from the number of shares and average price. Further more it would only include opening commission and taxes and omit any potential closing costs.

 

It would be far more complicated to have book cost = number of shares x average price - commission and taxes on the opening trade, but omit the closing trade costs. 

 

For this reason we quote the book cost as the book cost of the actual asset, and then allow you to take into account the commissions and taxes yourself. You can then edit this forward looking and speculative to take into account potential costs of the closing trade for a true reflection of the net profit / loss of the deal. 

 

I hope that clarifies our reasoning. 

 

EDIT: also don't feel like expressing your own opinion or asking a question would be seen as a negative on IG Community. The whole goal and aim of our forum is to provide an open and transparent area for clients to discuss trade idea, ask questions and submit feedback. All the best.  

[davidrobottom]

How do you edit book costs please? I have just imported a portfolio from another platform and the book cost is currently shown as zero and I would like to put the actual values in.

Many thanks

DR