If you want to spread bet Irish shares, then you will find that you have a great choice of companies with many spread betting providers. SiliconRepublicreports that Irish Spread Betting clients are showing a lot of interest in spread betting on Ryan Air and other airlines as the prices of oil have fluctuated. This is a great example of how intricately linked the different world markets are, it also highlights some great ‘outside of the box’ thinking from spread betting clients looking to take advantage of the recent dips in oil prices indirectly. With a bit of planning a lot of similar opportunities can be available to the average spread betting client.
For instance, IG Index are quoting 355.1 – 355.9 on Ryanair Holdings plc for a daily rolling bet. If you think the shares are going up, you might bet £8 per point on this one, at a starting price of 355.9.
Let’s assume that the share price takes off, and that within a few days you see a quote of 393.6 – 394.4 and decide to take your profit. You close your bet at the selling price of 393.6. The calculation of your winnings is simple, and goes like this: –
- The starting price for your long bet was 355.9
- The closing price was 393.6
- That means you gained 37.7 points
- You bet £8 per point
- You won 37.7 times £8
- So your total winnings are £301.60
Share prices can go down as well as up, and you will not always have a winning bet. Say in this case that the price dropped after you placed your bet, and you decided to close your bet and cut your losses when the quote was 342.6 – 343.4. Once again, a long bet closes on the lower (selling) price, in this case 342.6.
- The starting price for your long bet was 355.9
- The closing price was 342.6
- That means you lost 13.3 points
- You bet £8 per point
- You lost 13.3 times £8
- So your total loss is £106.40
CRH PLC is the other big company on the Irish stock market, and it is in the building products field. The current price is 1255.1 – 1257.6. Perhaps in this case you will decide to place a short bet, which is betting that the price will drop in the next few days to make a profit from that. A short bet would go on at the selling price of 1255.1, and say you staked £4.50 per point on the bet.
A few days later if you are lucky the price has fallen, and you might decide to close the bet when it dropped to 1206.3 – 1208.8. The short bet will close on the higher, or buying price, which is 1208.8. Here’s how you work out how much you won: –
- The starting price was 1255.1
- The closing price was 1208.8
- As you bet on the price falling, the difference in points is the amount you won
- Which works out to 46.3 points
- Your stake on this bet was £4.50 per point
- By multiplying, you can see that you won £208.35
Once again, the share price could have gone in the wrong direction for the bet that you placed, and you could have to face closing the bet and accepting your losses. Say the price went up to 1272.7 – 1275.2. Your bet would close at the buying price of 1275.2.
- The starting price was 1255.1, and the bet closed at 1275.2
- That means you lost 20.1 points
- For the given stake, that amounts to a loss of £90.45.
How to Spread Bet Irish Shares
You may have heard how the Irish economy has been suffering in recent years. Whether it goes up or down from here on out, there are many companies on the Irish stock exchange which you can bet on through your spread betting provider. You’re not limited to the companies included in the Irish stock market index, the ISEQ 20.
At one stage the Irish stock market, which is more than 200 years old, joined with the London Stock Exchange, but it became independent again and switched to an electronic trading platform which has allowed it to attract many international customers. Perhaps because of this relationship with the LSE, you will find some spread betting providers offer parallel quotations, with some listed through the ISEQ and others through the LSE. If you’re interested in spread betting on Irish shares, you should check out the prices quoted on each version, as they can differ, and this would make a difference to how much profit you make.
The tabloids recently noted how Irish Spread Betting clients are showing a lot of interest in spread betting on Ryan Air and other airlines as the prices of oil have fluctuated. This is a great example of how intricately linked the different world markets are, it also highlights some great ‘outside of the box’ thinking from spread betting clients looking to take advantage of the recent dips in oil prices indirectly. With a bit of planning a lot of similar opportunities can be available to the average spread betting client.
For instance, the daily rolling bet on Ryanair Holdings PLC is quoted at 355.1 – 355.9 on the ISEQ, a spread of 0.8, and at 354.61 – 356.39 through the LSE, a spread of 1.78 points. These figures come from the spread betting company IG Index Limited. The size of spread can make a big difference to you if you place many spread bets. Ryanair is one of the major constituents of the Irish market, with only CRH (Cement Roadstone Holdings PLC) being larger.
The Irish economy in general has lagged during most of the two centuries of the markets, picking up mainly in the 1990s just in time to suffer from the world economic collapse. This means that you need to look carefully at the historical levels of any shares that you are considering spread betting on, and use long-term charts to support your findings on the support and resistance levels. Remember that support and resistance levels can sometimes be found some years previously, and don’t restrict your technical analysis to the previous year.
When you are spread trading on Irish shares, you need to pay careful attention to what the charts are revealing, and not necessarily follow the advice of friends or so-called pundits. You can determine more from technical analysis than you can from reading about the feelings of experts. You have to bear in mind where the Irish markets have been recently, and remember that you are able to profit from share prices falling as well as from increases – in fact, as share prices usually fall more quickly than they rise, if you see a shorting opportunity it can be very profitable.
Subject to provisos expressed here, spread betting on Irish shares can be worthwhile. You can use a conventional trading strategy, one that you are familiar with, and paper trade for a couple of weeks to see how well it works on Irish stocks. You may need to adjust the amount that you allow for volatility so that you protect your capital but still get stopped out with minimal loss if the trade goes against you.