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How to Use

This Level 2 dealing system allows you to view the full live order book for any stock. When you deal a CFD is created at exactly the same level as if you had dealt directly into the order book; at the same time we trade in the market in order to hedge the CFD. If you place an order with us to create a CFD, we will work an identical order in the market.


This section provides a brief overview of the main dealing features. For more detail, please see the Dealing section

First you need to find a stock to view and trade on. There are three main tools you can use to locate Level 2 prices for a specific stock, each available from the main menu bar:

Dictionary
Trigger Pages
Portfolios

There are also a number of Other Tools that are available from the menu bar.

L2 Screen

Once you have selected an L2 Screen for a particular stock you are ready to trade. The top half of the window contains comprehensive market data for this stock. The bottom half of the window gives you a full list of live and available Level 2 prices. Right-click anywhere in the window for extra choices, including the option to aggregate orders at each price level.

Prices are listed differently according to whether the stock is traded through SETS (the Stock Exchange Electronic Trading Service) or SEAQ (the Stock Exchange Automated Quotations system):

Orders for SETS stocks are listed by price and volume, with the latest best Bid and Ask prices highlighted by the yellow strip at the top, and the total bid volume and ask volume given at the head of each column.

For SEAQ stocks an alphabetical list of market makers is given, along with the price and size each is offering for the stock in question. The yellow strip contains the best Bid and Ask obtainable from the full list, and indicates the relevant market maker(s) for each price.

To trade at any of the prices you see in the bottom half of the window simply double-click with the cursor over your selection - this will generate a Deal Ticket. For SETS stocks the ticket will automatically give the relevant size, price and direction of trade, although these can be changed before you place your CFD order.

Note: If you are timed out of the order book at any point simply click Request Level 2 to restore live prices.

Use the tools on the menu bar at any time to view another stock. You can have multiple L2 Screens open simultaneously.

Deal Ticket

Once you have generated a Deal Ticket you are ready to place your own CFD order. The ticket will automatically indicate the Buy and Sell prices for the stock along with the available share volume. All you have to do now is either place your trade or close the ticket to cancel.

In addition to the SETS order book you can also see the prices and volumes available from a selection of Retail Service Providers via the Deal Ticket. You have the option of placing a CFD at your required size based on any of these prices.

For a CFD based on the SETS order book you must:

  • Flag Buy or Sell as appropriate
  • Specify the Order Type (the default type is a Limit Order)
  • Enter the Quantity of shares to be traded
  • Enter the target share Price for your trade

After clicking Place you will receive a confirmation message verifying the deal details. The CFD order will also now appear in your Order/Trade Book.

Note: You can also select to 'iceberg' your order, in effect dividing the overall quantity into several separate orders. You will be asked additionally to specify the 'peak' size of the order which will determine the maximum size displayed on screen at one time. To qualify as an LSE iceberg order your peak size must be at least 10% of the NMS for the stock concerned.

For a CFD based on an RSP price you must:

  • Flag Buy or Sell as appropriate
  • Enter the Quantity of shares to be traded
  • Select Request Quote to route your order

Provided the requested size does not exceed the displayed RSP size (the size displayed is indicative only) you will then receive prices from the participating RSPs. A time counter will appear next to each price indicating how long the price remains firm. You must make your trade before the counter runs down.

Trade Book

All your live and completed orders are displayed in your Order/Trade Book, accessible from the main menu bar. This provides a comprehensive real-time picture of your Level 2 trading account.

The top half of the window contains your Order Book, displaying those orders still being worked. Orders are listed by the time they were placed, and the size filled and the size remaining are indicated. Accordingly each order is given the status of WORKING or PARTIAL FILL. Once an order has been filled completely it will disappear from the Order Book and appear in the Trade Book.

The bottom half of the window contains your Trade Book. This lists all orders with the status: FILLED, PARTIAL FILL, DELETED, REJECTED or EXPIRED. Note that a PARTIAL FILL order appears in both the Order Book and the Trade Book.

You can view the full details of each separate trade completed for a FILLED or PARTIAL FILL order by double-clicking on the order (or right-clicking and selecting View).

You can cancel or amend any WORKING order by right-clicking on the order and selecting Delete or Amend respectively. You will be asked to confirm before the order is deleted.

At the bottom of the Order/Trade Book window there is also a filter menu, via which you can view the listings for a particular day or a particular stock. To select a stock simply enter the appropriate EPIC code in the Symbol field, or launch the Stock Finder. Whenever you are using the Stock Finder you can right-click over a stock to give the option of filtering the Order/Trade Book for that stock.

You can also narrow the Order/Trade Book down by Status, Exchange, Book or Client, or flag a Summary View: this displays the net position and average price for each stock in your Trade Book (that is, by aggregating all the separate trades on a single stock). Finally, you can click Create Report to generate a spreadsheet file of all your trades and orders to date.

Other L2 Dealer Tools

Click here for help on using tools including: Time and Sales, the Limit Minder, Indices, the AFX newsfeed, the Stock Ticker, and Spot Rates.

Working with L2 Dealer

With L2 Dealer you can open any number and combination of windows from the main tool bar, and arrange the windows on the screen to suit. For instance, you could keep the dealer running in the background with just the Ticker and the Headline news on your desktop to keep you informed. Once you have a screen set-up you are happy with use Select View to store it.

Select View

You can save and recall multiple different screen set-ups according to your trading priorities. To store the current set-up enter a name in the Select View field and click Save. To restore a saved set-up simply select the appropriate name from the drop-down menu and click Load.