Tips
1. Some of the offers require trading (with clear instructions from us): that means quickly buying and selling again. Don't attempt this on a dial-up connection or a very old computer otherwise the market may move against you before you can close the deal, or worse, your computer crashes before you can sell.
2. Where the trading platforms are on-line rather than software, use Internet Explorer rather than Firefox if possible, as the plaforms can occasinonally crash Firefox.
3. Don't do your trades either as the market opens (08:00h) or closes (16:30h), as movement can be dramatic at these times. And don't do your trades if the market is plummeting (see Bloomberg.com for the latest reports - but we are referring to the kind of serious market drops that make the general news).
4. Some of the offers require deposits of several hundred pounds (though others require no outlay at all). To do all these offers quickly together, you will need a reasonable balance to play with.
5. Applications for spreadbetting or CFD accounts may incur a credit check. Having several credit checks on your credit record is no bad thing - finanancial institutions would only look upon having many recent credit searches as a sign of stress if your credit record shows current late payments and credit cards up to their limits etc.
6. If you have low salary / savings / investments / equity, you may only be offered a limited risk account. With a limited risk account, a guaranteed Stop Loss order is automatically set when opening a trade, so that you can't tumble too far if you were spreadbetting properly. They charge for this. On the TD Waterhouse deal you will lose £6 of your overall profit for this priviledge. On the Capital Spreads deal, your overall profit will be reduced by around £4. For the City Index deal, The GBP/EUR market is not offered to Limited Risk traders and as you would have to pay the charge each time on 5 trades, an alternative market is not recommended. If you are only offered the limited risk account on the City Index deal, the recommendation is not to proceed.
7. Most of the on-line trading platforms use Java. If you find you can't view the trading area then the likely issue is that Java is not be enabled in your browser. Go here for instructions.
Current Offers
Here is a list of the current offers. There is just over £1250 on offer (though the deals vary: some cashback against losses, some bonuses). There's just over £2000 on offer if you have a partner - "partner friendly" below means the offers are one per customer rather than one per household, and only Worldspreads isn't). Whatsmore, these are returns for around 3 hours of actual labour time per person just on these current deals. Not a bad rate, huh? Full details of how to do each offer can be found in PTS Daily, or if older then Hotspots.
1. Worldspreads Spreadbetting Account: £250 cashback against losses in first 8 weeks of trading, deposit £500 required, not partner friendly, no expiry date on offer (see Hotspot 19/07/07 for full details)
2. City Index Spreadbetting Account: Straight sign up, 1000 airmiles is the bonus, £500 deposit required, 1 trade required at £10 per point, partner friendly, no expiry on offer
3. Paddy Power Trader Spreadbetting Account sign up offer: £75 bonus, £170 deposit required, 4 trades required, bonus can be withdrawn after 3 months, partner friendly
4. Finspreads Spreadbetting Account through Sally Nicholl offer: £50 free bonus credit to your account (not withdrawable for 3 months and forfeited at the end of the 3 months if no trades made), A 120-page Trading Academy manual, to learn the ropes of financial spreadbetting, The first 8 weeks of spreadbetting at just 10 pence per point, rather than their usual 50 pence minimum, allowing you to give financial spreadetting a proper try, but with significantly less risk.
5. MF Global Spreads Spreadbetting Account freebet offer through the Naked Trader: get a free £2 a point spreadbet on the FTSE on a day of your choice. Call the direction correctly (rise or fall) and you stand to make up to £200. Any profit is instantly withdrawable, deposit £100 required, partner friendly, no expiry on the offer (see Hotspot 17/09/07 for details).
6. Capital Spreads are giving a rebate of up to £100 on your net losses from your first financial binary bets with them (fixed risk financial betting). This applies if you are an existing spreadbetting account holder with them (but have not had a go at their binary bets) or if you are a new customer signing up. It equates to a virtually risk-free gamble whereby you can EITHER make over £40 OR get your money back. Partner friendly, no expiry date on the offer. (See Hotspot 20/09/07 for details).
7. Interactive Investor Spreadbetting Account: Free book: "Investor's Toolbox" once you have made your first trade - plus £100 bonus, bonus non-withdrawable, only profits from trading with the £100 are withdrawable. The £100 is effectively a cushion against losses. Offer is partner friendly, no expiry date.
8. Interactive Investor CFD Account: £100 bonus, bonus non-withdrawable, only profits from trading with the £100 are withdrawable. The £100 is effectively a cushion against losses. Offer is partner friendly, no expiry date. (See Hotspot 18/10/07 for details).
9. IG Index Spreadbetting Account: Refer-a-Friend scheme whereby the referrer gets either a bottle of champagne or a Fortnum and Mason hamper (and the referred friend gets nothing) once the referred friend has made one trade. So, open an account for yourself, use the on-line refer-a-friend form to introduce your partner/husband/wife, deposit into their account and make one trade, then expect the champagne or hamper (you choose) delivered within 2 weeks. There is no need to deposit or trade in the referrer's account - just that of the referred.
10. IG Markets CFD Account: Refer-a-Friend scheme whereby the referrer gets either a bottle of champagne or a Fortnum and Mason hamper (and the referred friend gets nothing) once the referred friend has made one trade. So, open an account for yourself, use the on-line refer-a-friend form to introduce your partner/husband/wife, deposit into their account and make one trade (nb: there is a mini FTSE £2 CFD which is relatively low risk), then expect the champagne or hamper (you choose) delivered within 2 weeks. There is no need to deposit or trade in the referrer's account - just that of the referred. You can do both the IG Index and IG Markets offers.