UK Trader's Bible

Dominic Connolly has been at the forefront of equity derivatives and contracts for difference (CFD) trading for nearly fifteen years. In 1990 he joined the index arbitrage and derivatives desk at Smith New Court, London's premier market-maker where the equity CFD product was pioneered in the UK.In 1993, he joined Bankers Trust, one of the powerhouses of the derivatives revolution where he established the European equity arbitrage desk. In 1999 he joined GNI and was instrumental in transforming GNI into one of the UK's premier CFD providers to both institutional and retail clients. He is currently director and head of CFDs at ING.Dominic has written articles for all the industry's major publications, spoken at numerous seminars and conferences and appeared on Bloomberg Television and CNBC.He has recently written one of the few definitive books on short-term trading in the UK stock market, The UK Traders' Bible.Dominic Connolly is currently Divisional Director of Equity Swaps at Macquarie Bank in Sydney.He remains an active investor and in his spare time plays squash, skis and snowboards as well as flies microlights. He plays bridge for his home county, Bedfordshire, a passion shared by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jimmy Cayne and Stuart Wheeler.

• Index of figures Index of tables About the author Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Section 1: How The UK Stock Market Works The Modern Stock Market - The markets - London Stock Exchange trading platforms - Important Listing Rules - Retail Service Providers (RSPs) - Institutional crossing - Stock-lending and borrowing London Stock Exchange Trading Platforms - SETS - SEAQ - SETSmm - SETS and SETSmm auctions - SEATS Plus Share Certificates and CREST Contracts For Difference Spread Betting Other Trading Instruments - Universal Stock Futures - Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) - Covered warrants - Benchmark Certificates - Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) - American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) Portfolio/Basket Trading - Principal portfolio trading - Agency portfolio trading - Futures and index arbitrage - Equity block trades and bought deals Section 2: Trading Notes & Strategies Daily Diary - Basic structure of the UK trading day - 07.00-08.00: Pre-market preparation - 07.50-08.00: Opening auction - 08.00: Market Open - 08.00-16.30: Continuous Trading - Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index (SOX) - 14.30: US markets open - 16.30-16.35: Closing auction - After market trade reporting - 18.30: RNS closes - News Trading The UK Market On Margin - CFD providers' shareholdings Company Watch - Company news - Company statements - Court cases and Cause Lists - Dividends - Share splits and consolidations - Stock buy-backs - IPOs and conditional dealings - Public offers, placings and rights issues - Equity lines of credit - Directors' dealings - Broker upgrades and downgrades Market Watch - Auction imbalances - Following the clever money - Meetings and resolutions - Volatility and VIX Event Opportunities - Lock-up expiries - Index reviews, re-weightings and investability changes - Sector switches and re-ratings - Credit rating changes - Futures & options expiries Market Neutral Strategies - Pairs trading - Balance sheet arbitrage - Convertible bond arbitrage - Dual listed shares and cross border arbitrage Takeovers - The Takeover Code - Offer period - When an announcement is required - Types of announcement - Bid timetable - Regulatory issues - Mandatory offers - Dealings and transactions - Schemes of arrangement - Substantial Acquisition Rules (SARs) - Tender offers - Partial offers - Comparison of offer types - The regulators - Inducement fees and break fees - Due diligence - Transaction types - Risk arbitrage - analysis of a situation - Financing - Competing offers - Event failure - Acceptances - Protection from siege warfare - Greenmail - Offer obligations - Stub equity - Accounting changes - MBOs - Triple net asset value (property assets) - Online M&A resources Appendices - Glossary - Directory of online stockbrokers - Directory of spread betting firms - Trading resources - Stock codes - Trade codes - Market Maker codes - Stock indices - UK - Stock indices - International - Company profile of the FTSE 100 Index - Sector profile of the FTSE 100 Index - FTSE 100 quarterly review - Derivatives dealing comparison table - Cash shells - Shell companies - UK ADRs Index