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GNItouch - An Insider Review
Gnitouch were kind enough to let me have one of their trading platforms with live prices.
Gnitouch's platform doesn't let me do demo trades but does show their system as their demo version is in the process of being updated.
I'm running the Gnitouch's platform on two 19" screens with a dual head graphics card on broadband with Win2000. You need a decent PC to run the software; they recommend Pent 4, 1.4GHz on Win2000 or Win XP with 256 MB of Ram with 50MB free hard disk space.
Like most platforms you are given a blank screen to set up to suit your trading styles.
You can bring up as many level II boxes as you want but they will start to take up bandwidth. Charts come with a host of tools to set to what you want and do research.
I had running FTSE100 in 1min candles and 1min candles on a stock I'm following. There is a limit of 4 charts and you can only have one chart per stock. Futures charts were not available on this platform; I did find that the FTSE100 was enough to key off for UK general market direction.
You can create your own watch lists or use the systems from the various sectors including indices. There is a Forum, similar to cybertrader chat room, but this one has the advantage in that GNItouch themselves will make comments on stocks such as BT+3/4, ICI +12 or Lehman ups Abbey National target 540p. There is also a live news feed.
A variety of information is available on stocks, market watch, financial diary and GNItouch's research is instantly available. There is a SETS Trigger page that lists all the SETS stocks with bid/asks and change. It's very useful for scanning the markets and from instantly loading charts, Level II, news headlines and stock information.
Orders are sent directly to Level II by an order entry box. Partial fill policy is only one ticket fee including if you move off the price, providing you remain on the same side. In the USA if I move off the price they charge me another ticket fee an example would be when I was trading SINA options with a bid for 100 contracts, I was filled with one @ 1.10 then when I moved up to get more fills @ 1.20 & 1.30 this incurred more ticket fees.
There are other boxes to accompany your order entry box such as CFD balances, Order Consolidation and an Order Pad with working orders, Completed Orders and Current Position details with open and unrealized P&L.
The futures trading platforms offered by GNI touch are risk managed on what is called a 'position limit' basis. Clients can only hold a position they can afford - i.e. within the balance they have on deposit with GNI.
In addition to limit controls, the platforms also offer a Daily Loss Limit facility. The Daily Loss Limit is set by GNI at a percentage of the account balance decided between GNI and the client, typically around 25-30%. Should a client breach his daily loss limit, the platform will prevent him from increasing the current position any further and will only allow it to be reduced or closed to reduce or close out until he has contacted the broker.
Apparently, GNI touch is also psychic. Its CFD platform risk-manages every trade before it actually takes place. That risk engine calculates a client's buying power before trading and will not allow a client to place a trade which could see them in the red.
'Thanks to the real-time streaming price feed, all positions and account balances are constantly updated,' says Ben Probert at GNI touch. 'We also check that the stock is acceptable for a CFD to be written and also check it against a list of stocks we know are difficult to borrow and are thus short.'
GNItouch's platform has the advantage in that it is direct access into sets and I can instruct a SIPP administrator to open an account with them now, at a price. They also do regular seminars.
'Place order ticket' for all markets. You can toggle between a buy and sell, change stocks and set price limits
Click on the image to see it in more detail. |
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Level 2 UK market depth screen, real time price updates and the ability to open an order ticket at the prevailing price or above/below the market.
Click on the image to see it in more detail. |
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This is a personalised portfolio of stock created and maintained by the user. The watchlist shows live process and indicates auction periods and news information.
Click on the image to see it in more detail. |
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Snapshot of the company fundamentals provided by Digital Look for all UK and US listed stocks
Click on the image to see it in more detail. |
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A chart for Vodafone (VOD.L). We offer real time charting for UK, US and German stocks. This includes the ability to use over 25 different types of analysis e.g. Bollinger Bands, MACD.
Click on the image to see it in more detail. |
Lastly a curiousity - last April 2004 Gnitouch were involved in the Eidos takeover 'incident':
Bonnier linked to 'raid' on Lara Croft publisher Eidos
Eidos, the computer-games publisher best known in the City for its "Lara Croft" game, has demanded that a leading broker reveal the identity of a secretive investor who has amassed a £12m stake in the firm.
Rumours of an imminent takeover bid for Eidos are widespread, as is speculation that Robert Bonnier, the controversial former chief executive of Scoot.com, is building a stake.
Lara Croft: hotly pursued
Last week GNItouch, the London-based derivatives broker, announced that it had acquired 7.2m shares shares in the computer-games company.
Eidos has now demanded that GNItouch reveal on whose behalf it owns the 5 per cent stake. Under Section 212 of the Companies Act, companies or individuals holding stock in a company must confirm the identity of beneficial owners if served with a "212 notice". Brokers say that GNItouch may have bought the shares to hedge a position possibly taken by Bonnier via a so-called "contract for diff erence" (CFD).
Bonnier, a former investment banker at UBS, has used CFDs to take major positions in a number of companies, including Regus, the property company, and The Innovation Group, a financial software firm.
Confusion last year over the size and nature of Bonnier's stake in Regus led to an unprecedented rebuke from the Takeover Panel and sparked an ongoing Financial Services Authority investigation into whether a "false or misleading" impression was created about the value of Regus shares.
Shares in Eidos rose by 5p on Friday to close the week at 170p
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