Options Broker London

London Based are proud to introduce the newest website for the Financial services in the London area. Options trading.

Providing a forum and up to date information for those looking for the services of an options broker, and in turn coupling this with a forum for brokers to introduce themselves to prospective clients and build solid relationships.

London Based will keep this site updated with news and projections from the trading floors as well as taking a more granular look at individual issues that could affect options trading with a particular emphasis on the City of London.

While designing the site, we were asked many times to explain the concept of options trading – so here is a brief guide to what an option actually is;

In financial terms, an option is considered to be a derivative financial product which sets out to specify a contract between a buyer and a seller regarding future transaction on an asset at a price reference price known as a "the strike" (The price when the deal is "struck")

The buyer of the option then has the right, but not the obligation, to complete that transaction, the seller on the other hand is obliged to honour the contract.

It is common for the price to be set on a sliding scale related to the time between "the strike" and the time that the option is fulfilled. The cost of the underlying assets involved and any changes to them is also considered.

This is the most common for of option trading, however it is possible to trade on any asset class and include any number of caveats and provisos

The contract itself is executed with the phraseology "put" and "call" which reference the buyers agreement to go ahead and the vendors honouring of the agreement respectively.

In return for assuming the obligation, called writing the option, the originator of the option collects a payment, the premium, from the buyer. The writer of an option must make good on delivering (or receiving) the underlying asset or its cash equivalent, if the option is exercised.

An option can usually be sold by its original buyer to another party. Many options are created in standardized form and traded on an anonymous options exchange among the general public, while other over-the-counter options are customized ad hoc to the desires of the buyer, usually by an investment bank

European Growth Reflected in Asian Downturn

March 6, 2012 by admin in Financial News, Options Broker | Leave a comment

Almost as proof that the Asian markets are now in counterbalance to those of Europe and the USA, the good news regarding growth in Europe and personal economies has been met with a second drop in Asian stocks. The regional benchmark index had its sharpest two-day drop since early 2011 as the US in particular seemed to take initiative in fulfilling its own domestic marketplace with increased manufacturing output.

The steady decline in metal prices which have been at an all-time high since 2009 continues. Although still more than 20% above their ten-year average, they are now 13 points below the high they reached in the second quarter of 2010.

Gold prices in particular have taken the biggest hit as the industrial use index reports that gold alloys containing large percentages of gold are being used less and less in industry and this trend is likely to continue going forward. Investors in precious metal scene bullish regarding the future as trading remains steady throughout the markets.

UK Fashion Industry Boosts Export Economy

February 23, 2012 by admin in Financial News, Options Broker | Leave a comment

With fashion week expanding in the United Kingdom in 2012, this is the first year we will see a men’s fashion week and this represents a major step forward in the Haute Couture economy of the UK.

Fashion in the form of home sales and a strong export market is responsible for a staggering £21 billion of generating revenue for the United Kingdom. Making it the fourth largest export commodity for the country. In real terms UK fashion exports have now exceeded the income that was generated by the motor industry for the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Certainly not a sum of money to be sniffed at.

While the TV reports will show high-fashion events taking place in the capitals of Europe showcasing British talent, the real money is made with the mass export of high-street fashion at affordable prices, often to destinations outside of the European economic union.

Russia, China, many of the more affluent African states and South American countries are huge importers of UK goods.

Of course, the trouble with fashion is that by its very nature it can be quite a temporal.

But by diversifying in terms of the cost structure and retailing both high-fashion as well as affordable classics the UK fashion industry looks well placed to provide a good source of export income for years to come.

10 Year Share Retrospective. Winners And Losers

February 21, 2012 by admin in Financial News, Share Prices | Leave a comment

With the return of some level of positivism in the market, it is time to take a little retrospective and see what stocks and shares have done in the past 10 years. Which ones have been winners on which the losers.

It will come as no surprise to learn that banks in particular have had their share prices hit the hardest. In the Republic of Ireland IAB has had its share price reduced from €22 to around 70c and, out of all the major institutions affected, it could be the biggest drop we could find for any industry that is actually still trading.

On the other side of the coin, in 2002 Apple’s shares were trading at less than one dollar and are now worth almost $25. Roughly a 3000% increase.

It’s fair to say however, that despite all the gloomy financial news that has been around, certain shares have carried their value in a remarkably even manner. Surprisingly pharmaceuticals, normally one of the most volatile share market have remained surprisingly stable during this time if you look only at the main 25 pharmaceutical companies. SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo have rarely wandered more than 5% above or below their mean price average for the last 10 years.

On the international stage it will also come as no surprise to learn that heavy industry based in the far east and the Asian subcontinent has also progressively and aggressively increased in value as traditional manufacturing and industrial output is zoned to these areas. India for example has an industrial growth index of almost 12% per annum. Such a figure in the Western world would almost definitely lead to allegations of an overheating economy, but for the burgeoning new industrial nations this is exactly on track to put them as the leading industrial power by around 2040.

We would need a crystal ball to predict where you should put your cash now if we did the same retrospective in 2022. However, banking is an eternal requirement of civilisation. It is fair to say that those banks that have restructured sensibly and provided good value for their current share prices will probably be an excellent medium to long-term investment. The fear here of course is that any individual institution could have some skeletons in the cupboard so a cross-stock option and mixed portfolio may be the way to go.

Energy Companies Face Profit Squeeze

February 2, 2012 by admin in Financial News, FTSE News, London Based | Leave a comment

Despite the change in anti-competitive laws, energy companies are finding that national governments are playing an increasingly big influence on their gate prices.

Today’s shares in Shell dipped slightly for the third time in a week, a trend that looks likely to continue as pressure for both domestic and commercial gas prices to fall is exerted by national governments.

In United Kingdom the office of fair trading for energy has regulated in law and by recommendation with rules and guidelines for those supplying energy to domestic customers. There are also “guidelines only” for commercial outlets.

In the cut-throat world of energy production many producers are finding their profit margins squeezed and their share prices over a period of time are beginning to reflect this.

In general UK energy companies have enjoyed a relatively calm time over the recent period of depression. They have been allowed to pass on their cost increases and margins to end customers be they domestic or industrial. With a 3% drop in share prices over the last three weeks, perhaps this period of “riding above the waves” is coming to an end. We will keep an eye on energy share prices in general and keep our readership informed.

Eurozone News Dampens City Trading

January 31, 2012 by admin in European News, Financial News, Options Broker | Leave a comment

Equities have closed lower today and near their worst levels of the session. That on the back of the negative news-flow regarding the Eurozone crisis and ahead of this evening’s EU summit. Casinos group Rank led the rise on the second-tier index after confirming speculation that it is in talks with Gala Coral about the potential acquisition of Gala’s casino business. Healthcare firm BTG wasn’t far behind after successfully completing the first phase of the US-based trial of Varisolve, a varicose vein treatment. Meats and ‘foods-to-go’ producer Cranswick rose after seeing sales growth accelerate to 10% in the third quarter ended December 31st, from just 3% in the first half. FTSE 100 down 62 to 5,671.

January 2012 Real Estate Stock Figures For UK

January 30, 2012 by admin in FTSE News, Options Broker | Leave a comment

As was expected, the deflationary pressure currently operating in United Kingdom as had a deadening effect on the housing market. Hometrack Ltd, who track the average house price have reported no change in house prices for January 2012.

Overall, there was a dip in demand for houses of more than 10% in the last quarter of 2011, and most analysts expect this trend to continue well into 2012.

With large-scale housing construction and renovation firmly on the government’s agenda, raising private finance for these schemes may well prove more difficult than the chancellor George Osborne originally envisaged.

Seen as a long-term investment, property stock is likely to still offer the best return. However many investors are looking to recoup losses in the short and medium term and are trading shy of real estate. Added to that the increasing skill shortage for home build and larger commercial building projects will be a worrying factor in the long term.

Regionally, house prices in London increased by more than 0.1% in January, this seems to have been due to a large number of overseas buyers and at a more granular level it seems that certain boroughs of London have increased by well above this percentage while others, perhaps the majority of London’s footprint area have actually decreased by as much as more 0.25%.

No matter what key performance indicators or applied to housing stock at the moment there seems to be lethargy and uncertainty. The gap between original asking price and acceptance price for properties has grown to an all-time record of 7.5% of the gross property value. And while the number of sales and enquiries has decreased by 14.3%, the amount of time taken to actually complete a sale has increased by 4%.

Economically, this is akin to Boyle’s Law. With agents simply filling the vacuum of time by taking longer over the business that they have to do. Or perhaps that is a pessimistic point of view.

Those with stocks and shares in the building and construction industry though seemed to be holding on to them, with their value on the FTSE top 100 remaining steady. There seems to be a perception that they have bottomed out, and the future will see a marked improvement.

French Front Runner Promises End To “Toxic Finance”

January 27, 2012 by admin in European News, Financial News | Leave a comment

Just when it seems there is an element of control, at least in principle being attempted in the Eurozone financial crisis, another major event on the horizon promises to shake the barrel again, possibly on doing a lot of work that has been put in primarily by France and Germany over the previous 15 months.

François Hollande, the Socialist front runner for winning the French election in May of this year Is running on a ticket of “tax the rich and reduce the deficit”.

However, for those with an interest in the French stock market, he has said on more than one occasion that he plans to ban (note the word ‘ban’, not ‘control’ or ‘regulate’ but to ‘ban’) the

“…toxic financial instruments which caused the crisis in the first place”.

Make no mistake, by “toxic financial instruments” he is talking particularly and specifically about the futures market, leverage buying and various other financial transactions which are absolutely integral to the smooth running of a 21st-century economy.

Were this the manifesto of a minor party and likely “also-ran” they would probably be taken with a pinch of salt. But Hollande and is by some way the front-runner, and there are only four months left to election date.

The long and the short of it is, should he, as expected, win the French presidency in May 2012, and then furthermore make good on his promise to “ban toxic financial instruments,” the future for those of us who trade with French partners or have any financial interest in French companies will be very uncertain. In the short term this could have an immediate damaging effect on companies such as EDF.

While we are talking about the French energy giant, another manifesto promise is to heavily tax companies and EDF was singled out.

Given that they are possibly France is biggest large-scale economic success story, and contribute massively to the gross domestic product of our European neighbours, this seems an entirely strange route to take.

Of course we will keep you in touch with this situation as it progresses.

PCS Strike Offers Flexibility For Tax Deadline

January 26, 2012 by admin in Financial News, Tax Issues | Leave a comment

The PCS union strike scheduled for 31^st of January this year has posted a statement from the UK Inland Revenue Re: the late submission of tax forms – that ostensibly due on the same date.

With almost 3,000,000 individuals and companies still to file taxes for this financial year, and the deadline now only five days away, it seems this may be a bumper year for “late filing”, and the fines that this normally incurs.

However a spokesman for HMRC has stated that due to the strike there may be some leniency offered to late payers.

Normally, there is a £100 fine for late filing a tax form, and, of those who opted to submit their details in writing on 31 October deadline, Some 34,000 have been deemed late by HMRC and have been served penalty notices.

With approximately 180,000 people is per day queueing up to fill in their tax forms, it seems very likely that there will be an even higher number of penalty notices due February 1st.

Also, this reporter notices that it is only a spokesman for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs who has stated that there will be some leniency. The law, as it is written is that you will be late if you do not file by 31st January. I’m not sure how much the well-meaning expressions of a revenue spokesman will count should anyone decide to enforce the law to its fullest extent.

Our advice is to get your tax form in as quickly as possible. Remember also, that your best paying any outstanding tax by the same date to avoid being charged interest on the balance.

Stocks Down After UK Growth Figures Released

January 25, 2012 by admin in FTSE News, Options Broker | Leave a comment

What does the current news regarding the possibilities of a 2012 recession mean to the UK economy at the moment?

The markets opened with an index of 5778, but are now well below the 5720 mark with the news that the UK economy shrank by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011. At the time of writing this article the FTSE 100 was down 49.49 points, and the FTSE 250 was down 12.62 points on the day.

Trading on the stock exchange has been frenetic if not particularly well organised. High street stores such as WH Smiths in Tesco’s have remained to be buoyant, and of course there is the news from Apple who have released record profits for the last fiscal year.

However, with the building industry reporting an expected decline of 1% per year to the next five years, we could see that it is once again in the infrastructure and manufacturing that these losses are being felt the most. The service sector, or more specifically the private service sector will need to generate an extra 3 to 4% of revenue in the next 18 months just to keep the UK economy on an even par should continue decreasing manufacturing and infrastructure continue.

It goes without saying that a second fiscal quarter of negative growth will officially mean that the UK is in its second recession in five years.

Options and Binary Options

January 24, 2012 by admin in Binary Options, Options Broker | Leave a comment

Options trading is adding an extra layer of activity to this already fast moving market. Binary options trading is becoming more popular because of the unique advantages not found in other forms of trading. Options trading is ultimately underpinned by several key theoretical and pricing principles that are startlingly simple. Options trading is also likely to be permitted shortly on exchanges. Binary options trading are cash settled options where the payoff is exercised on the expiration date of the trade.

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