Just some comments, gripes and suggestions

[Merly]

I've been actively trading for a while now and this is just a couple of gripes, comments and questions.

Disappearing positions - quite often I'll have a trade on with the details on the chart (stops, limits etc) and it just disappears from the chart. I can see the position is still on from the positions tab but the chart is just blank. The only way to fix it is to log out and back in again (closing the browser) to make the open positions available on the charts again, very frustrating.

Ghost trades - closing trades that then refuse to go away. Usually just comes back with a useless generic error message when trying to close the position. Sometimes they go away on their own, other times it's a browser reboot again. The positions are gone/closed, but they still show as active on the charts.

Crypto spreads - getting the impression that crypto is only included as an asset so that IG can be 'cool and down with the kids'. Bitcoin spread of $40 while other platforms have a spread of $1 or less ?  Absolutely useless, just use IG to monitor or use indicators, but trade it elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

Orders with trailing stops - not possible, why ?? Seems like a very basic function...  Same with OCO orders, which I'm sure were available once but now removed. The whole point of having orders is to trade 'hands free' and not need to monitor charts constantly. But because you can't OCO then you need to monitor the charts constantly to delete unfilled orders...

Margin on orders. Why do unfilled orders count as margin ?  Say I have 5 orders on and as soon as the first order is filled I want to cancel the other 4, well I can't because I don't have enough margin to have 5 (unfilled) orders at once ! Why is margin counted on 'potential' positions that aren't even opened and may never get opened ??  Margin should be calculated on open, active trades only as they happen.

10pm stop hunt - Why does a very liquid forex pair with a 0.7 pip spread suddenly jump up to 15+ pips and jump around randomly for absolutely no reason ? It's not the underlying market causing it because it doesn't happen on your competitors platforms. Be honest IG, you're just stop hunting and it should be illegal, funny how it always happens the same time every night as well (before you start blaming the underlying).

Minimum stop distance - Why ???? you know that stupid grey area that stops you from putting your stops wherever you want to ? You any idea what a pain it is having to put on opposing orders on every position just to use them as stops because you insist on this minimum distance thing ? If I want to have a stop one pip away, I should just be allowed to do it rather than having to put on an order one pip away instead. Using orders completely defeats whatever you're trying to achieve with this minimum distance thing, so why even have it ?

50% line - A lot of common systems have 50% crossover strategies, so would it really hurt to have the 50% line drawn as standard on indicators ? It's a pain having to drawn it on every indicator. A bit more flexibility on all indicators would be good, like being able to change 20/80 lines etc...

Settings memory - very often doesn't remember anything. Have to keep switching on 'one click' for example, or alert sounds. Every chart, I switch off 'show HLOC'. Next day, have to do it again as it never remembers from one day to the next. Very annoying...

Minimum size - Now that our betters in the EU have made it almost impossible for small traders to trade on margin, how about reducing the minimum size on something like Forex from $0.50 per point to £0.10 or even smaller ?  To trade one single position on Forex needs hundreds and hundreds of margin at the very minimum, so virtually anyone who hasn't got £1000+ in the bank can't trade it. Especially with the ridiculous margin being calculated on unfilled orders (see above). 90% of trades lose money, so encourage people to trade ffs !  better to take a small amount off someone than none at all ?  Instead you've chosen to freeze people out the market and make it impossible for them to open positions... seems like a kinda stupid business model you got there IG...

Trailing stops size - Why does it have to be stupid restrictive numbers ? why can't I put a trailing stop on at 7 pips away and stepping at 2 pips or whatever value I chose ?  Why does it have to be 12 pips minimum and only steps in 5, or whatever the random number generator has spit out for that particular asset ? Another very basic thing that doesn't have any rhyme or reason to it. It should be minimum distance 1, minimum step 1, for every asset !!!

Countdown timer - been asked for a few times over the years, a simple clock at the top of the page showing the current time, so people can see when the next candle/bar is going to open. Or even a countdown timer next to the price line like a lot of other companies have. I have to sync my desk clock to the charts every day and use that, it would be nice if there was just a clock on the chart though...

Disclaimer - I'm definitely a rubbish trader, one of the 83% or whatever it is now. I make my money from passive income on investments and only spread bet for fun with disposable income (and I've disposed of a lot of it with IG lol :-). But there is no way I would commit serious capital to this with all the problems listed above. I don't expect any offical response from IG on any of this, but would be interested to hear from other users if they have similar gripes / problems ?
 

[trade247]

to be fair the crypto spreads have been discussed in detail a load of times and whilst large I can see it's reasonable given all the other factors.

[Msim224]

Wish I had seen this earlier, was wondering why there weren't more posts about it. 
The Minimum Stop Distance is ridiculous, I'm surprised so few are bringing it up, defeats the whole purpose of trading and risk management. No wonder 80% lose money if your risk reward ratio is forced to be 5:1!! (random number but just to paint the picture). 
If you're trading on minutes putting in opposing orders isn't really a fun thing as you might miss the move completely. I just don't understand.

[Guest Daniel Stevens]

Did you get any answers on these questions, as most of them if not all still exist!?