I use CMC and don’t trade enough (i.e. I buy every 8-10 weeks, I hardly ever sell, via a dollar cost averaging approach) to worry about the brokerage per se. That said, I always ensure I don’t pay more than 1% in brokerage and to put that into context, if I was going to have a $1M portfolio, this would mean I end up with “only” $990,000 (i.e. $1M less 1%).
I guess I ultimately lean to the view that there are so many other factors that will impact my total returns, and a (maximum) 1% brokerage charge is not going to make any material difference. For example, 0.5% brokerage means my theoretical balance above would increase to $995,000 – not a difference, in my view, worth worrying about.
If I was a day trader that may be different but then, you are probably gambling not investing but that is an entirely different topic for another day :)
Another, maybe more technical, noob question.
I lodged a trade request last night. As it was out of hours, I have to set limit rather than at market. I very rarely have time to look at these things during market hours, so set limit it is.
Anyway, order was for 1000 shares. I added a bit to the current market price for a slightly higher opening but didn't add enough because at 10.01 I got a trade for 1 share, then no more as the price jumped 3.5% and closed up 1.8%. So at the end of the day, I get a trade confirmation for 1 share at $3.92 with $20 brokerage. The order is still open for the other 999. Does the brokerage get charged at the end of each day regardless of the quantum of the order filled that day? Could I get a trade tomorrow for 300 shares if the price briefly touches my limit, get charged another $20 with 699 still to go or is the remainder already covered by what I paid today?
I'm getting my head around most of the acronyms used in the financial circles but one that's got me buggered is PCP.
It's used quite a lot but google/investopedia hasn't really been very helpful so hoping the strawpeople can educate me.
Edit: I think I've found it. Previous corresponding period. I thought it was previous something but couldn't get the rest.
Investopedia says Participating convertible preference share which didn't make sense.