I'm far from ASIC"s biggest fan but I don't think they are quite as toothless as you think. It's no secret that CFD's are under the regulatory microscope and in terms of risk/reward why would they open themselves up to regulatory action if they can do well playing it straight?
Yes I've noticed those threads. Frankly they mainly seem to involve investing with some conman on the gold coast. Not exactly shocking that those kinds of arrangements turn pear shape. As I've said on here a few times a financial firm been located on the gold coast is a very bad sign.
I finished up around 17& last year solely trading asx cfds (not dma) last year on IG markets and I'm up substantially this year (admittedly we are in a ball market). They may well do dodgy things with forex and indices but the prices on the asx cfds seem to track the underlying market.
I have no affiliation with IG markets.
Thanks for clarifying that for me Banco.
The fact that you're trading different instruments to myself may provide some explanation for our differing viewpoints, so please accept my apologies for the bluntness of my response to your earlier post.
During my years of trading index futures cfd's, my trading strategies were regularly derailed by autoclosure of open trades despite my repeated and concerted efforts to accommodate the rigid margin policies of that particular (major) CFD provider. Upon (finally) trying another provider, I was delighted to discover that my trading results improved dramatically. I was now able to more easily and confidently generate profits most of the time and actually fearlessly attend to life's other necessities (eg. exercise, shopping, sleep etc.) without fear of my positions being autoclosed in my absence. Some might argue that this turnaround in fortunes was just pure coincidence, however, I am simply not that naive.
As for ASIC, all I've seen from them (thus far) are derogatory opinions regarding the sophistry of cfd traders and some rather tepid "if not, why not?" disclosure benchmarks.
I'm sure that all Australian retail traders will sleep so much better at night now that they know that ASIC is committed to ensuring that any ethically challenged financial services provider is now required to make fuller disclosure of the nefarious business practices by which they intend to fleece their prospective clients.
In fairness to ASIC, I did find a few paragraphs within one of their publications that I could (at least partially) agree with. The following excerpts indicate an awareness of some of the issues that OTC CFD traders are likely to encounter:
...
Market maker CFD providers may also hedge the CFDs they offer, but these arrangements are generally less transparent than for direct market access providers. Market makers may not hedge all the CFD trades you place, and so may directly benefit if you lose on your trade.
...
While it might seem good to be able to trade whenever you want, there are additional risks involved if the CFD provider lets you trade when the market is closed. When the underlying market is closed, you can’t check how CFD prices compare to market prices, which could result in price distortions.
...
CFD providers will also usually set a ‘liquidation’ level on your CFD trading account. This is the level at which any open CFD trades will be closed if you do not have enough money in your account to cover adverse movements on your trades...
The full document may be found here:
https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/media/173820/thinking-of-trading-in-contracts-for-difference-cfds.pdf
Although I've yet to read this document in it's entirety, I've already encountered several statements that convey an incomplete, misleading or erroneous impression of OTC CFD products offered in Australia. This leads me to suspect that ASIC is currently too "unsophisticated" to fully appreciate the extent to which "conflict of interest" issues have permeated the industry.
From the aforesaid, I think my concerns regarding the integrity of the OTC CFD industry and ASIC's inefficacy can be readily understood.
In summary, buyer beware and please don't depend on ASIC. (Unless of course you're willing to join the multitudes of other Australians whom are slowly realising that the growing hole in their bank account may have more to do with their OTC CFD provider's actions than they were previously aware.)