Frequently asked questions - stockbroking

How do I start trading with CMC Markets Stockbroking?
You can open a stockbroking account by taking a few minutes to fill in an application form online. Print and sign it, then send it back. If you can provide a driver’s licence number, you may not even need to provide additional identification.

Once I complete my application, when can I start trading?
When we’ve confirmed your ID, we’ll process your application and open your stockbroking account the same day. You can begin trading over the phone or online immediately (you’ll need funds and/or shares in your stockbroking account in order to place orders).

How can I change my address/contact details?
Use our Change of Details Form , which needs to be signed by all account holders. Fax it to +61 (0)2 9221 9365 or mail to CMC Markets Stockbroking, GPO Box 5351, Sydney NSW 2001.

I trade over the phone with CMC Markets Stockbroking. Can I see my CHESS holdings and CMC Markets Cash Account balances online?
Yes. Just call our Helpdesk on 1300 360 071 to arrange access to the website.

What type of securities can I trade?
All exchange-traded securities. These include ordinary shares and warrants listed on the ASX, as well as Listed Managed Investments (LMIs) traded on the ASX such as Listed Property Trusts (LPTs), Listed Investment Companies (LICs), Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Infrastructure Funds, Pooled Development Funds and Absolute Return Funds, and Interest Rate Securities (IRSs) like bonds, floating-rate notes and convertible notes.

Can I trade options online?
We don’t take orders for options online, but you can place orders with our Options Dealers by phone on 1300 136 323.

How do I pay for my shares?

• Online orders
You need to have enough funds in your CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest or your St.George or Suncorp Margin Loan before you place your order.

• Telephone orders
Discuss payment with the dealer taking the order.

Who can trade on my stockbroking account?
Only the account holder, or account holders if it’s a joint account, can trade on your stockbroking account unless you’ve authorised someone else to trade on your behalf. If you’d like to nominate another person to trade on your stockbroking account, you need to complete the Authorised Agent (Authorised Person) Form and send it to us.

What are the fees for accessing news, research and market information?
All news and research information on the website is free for customers. There are nominal fees for SMS and email alerts.

You have a choice of three market-price data plans for viewing ASX prices:

1. Free Delayed Data (20-minute delay)
2. Live Data for $10 a month, or
3. Dynamic Data for $41.25 a month, or FREE with $235+ monthly brokerage

Click here for more details about fees and charges.

Where do you get your research and business news?
Our company research is supplied to us under licence by Morningstar. Our business news and market updates are provided by Dow Jones Newswires and Interactive Data.

What can I trade online?
All exchange-traded securities. These include ordinary shares and warrants listed on the ASX. We don’t take orders for options online, but you can place orders with our options dealers by phone on 1300 136 323.

What’s the minimum value of shares that I can buy?
The ASX requires a minimum parcel of $500 to be traded if you don’t currently hold that particular security. Once you have $500 worth of an individual security, you can purchase any value of shares you like.

Do I have to trade in round lots?
In Australia, you can trade any quantity as long as it’s a whole number. For example, you can buy 100 shares, 10,000 shares or 10,321 shares.

To what extent can I buy and sell shares online through CMC Markets Stockbroking?
We’ll accept an order of any size as long as it’s either covered by cleared funds in your cash account (for buy orders) or covered by CHESS Sponsored Holdings (for sell orders). You will need a CMC Markets Cash Account held by Bankwest or a margin loan with St.George or Suncorp. When you sell shares online, the funds from the sale are available for purchases immediately after the trade is completed. We offer Australia’s lowest online brokerage of $9.90 or 0.10%, whichever is the greater.

What is straight-through processing?
Straight-through processing (STP) is where your order is sent directly to the ASX market without any human intervention. Some online brokers use a system where orders are sent to a dealer who then has to approve or reject them and manually enter them into the market. If the market is volatile, any delay could have significant consequences. Our computer system approves or rejects the order and places it directly on the market, typically in under one second.

In some cases, however, even we need to have an order approved by a dealer before it is sent to the market. This may happen when the order price is too far from the market or there has been little trading activity in the stock. This system protects you by ensuring an order that may have been entered incorrectly is prevented from trading (for example, if you’d mistakenly placed a price of $10.00 instead of $1.00).

How fast are orders entered?
Our straight-through processing gets your order to the market typically less than one second after it’s received by our website. However, other factors such as the speed of your computer, your modem, your connection to your ISP, and your ISP’s connection to the internet itself may play a part in determining how long it takes for an order to reach our system.

How do I pay for my shares?
You must have sufficient cleared funds available in your CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest before placing your order.

Can I send orders via email?
No. We don’t accept orders sent by email.

Can I place an ‘at market’ order online?
Yes. We can accept at market orders online, which will be placed at three price steps above (for buys) or below (for sells) the last sale price.

What is a limit order?
A limit order is when a trader places a set maximum price on a buy instruction or a set minimum price on a sell order. If the market doesn’t reach the set price, the order won’t be executed.

When will my order expire?
Orders can be submitted with a specific expiry date up to 8 months in the future, or can be marked as ‘Good Till Cancelled’, in which case the order won’t expire unless the stock is purged by the ASX, which may happen when the stock goes ex-dividend. If an expiry date falls on a public holiday or weekend, the order will be purged on the evening of the previous trading day.

Can I amend or cancel my orders, and will I be charged extra?
Any order that hasn’t been filled can be amended or cancelled at any time. You won’t be charged for any amendment or cancellation. However, if you amend an order to a higher quantity, the order may split into two separate orders. In this case each would attract a brokerage charge.

What is a split order?
All orders on the market at the same price level are queued in the order they were received. If you amend the quantity of an order to a greater quantity, and there are orders behind your original order in the queue, the amendment will create a second order at the end of the queue for the increased quantity. This splits the order, and is an automated process within the ASX’s market systems.

Why was I charged brokerage twice on a split order?
The ASX market treats split orders as entirely separate orders. For this reason, standard brokerage charges apply to both orders.

Why can I sometimes increase the quantity yet not create two orders?
If there are no orders behind your original order in the queue, we submit the amendment in such a way that the original order is not split. But, if there are orders behind your original order, we can’t avoid creating the split order.

How can I avoid splitting an order?
To avoid splitting an order, you can cancel the original order and submit a new order for the new quantity. Note, however, that if the original order has already partially traded brokerage would still apply to both the old and new orders. Alternatively, amending the price as well as the quantity will ensure that an order does not split.

What happens to my shares once I’ve bought them?
Online share traders with CMC Markets Stockbroking must be broker sponsored with CHESS. Your shares will be entered into your portfolio and will be available for you to trade in the future. The shares will also be registered with CHESS under your Holder Identification Number (HIN) and a statement will be sent to your registered address. See the CHESS FAQs for more information about CHESS.

How will I be notified of an order’s progress or any problems?
We’ve built a sophisticated messaging system that lets you know exactly where your order is – from placement on the market, through to partial fills and to a final fill. The messaging system also advises if an order is rejected and gives you the reason. You can access the messaging system from your share trading platform (click the ‘Messages’ link towards the top of every page).

If you choose to be notified of trading events by email, then you’ll also be emailed at each stage. You can turn this notification on or off by choosing ‘Preferences’ on your share trading platform, and changing the email setting.

Will I still receive trading confirmations?
Yes. Trading confirmations will be emailed or posted for each trade. You can also view and download confirmations from the Confirmations page.

How long is the settlement term?
For most ASX securities, settlement is T+3(trading day plus 3 trading days) unless stock is trading a deferred settlement which may happen when companies reconstruct capital. or a new company that has listed on the market. Your trade confirmation will include the settlement date for all trades.

How do I receive my proceeds from share sales?
Proceeds from online share sales will be credited to your CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest.

If I sell my shares, can I use the funds immediately to buy more shares?
Yes, but the funds aren’t available to withdraw until the sale is settled.

Why is a buyer offering more than a seller is asking?
The market is in ‘pre-open’, which means that buyers can overbid sellers in order to have their bid at the top of the market. When the market opens, all the bids are compared and a formula is run by the ASX to trade those shares that are overlapping, until a ‘normal’ market is established.

Why was my order rejected?
The most common reason for an order to be rejected is an invalid quantity or price value. The minimum purchase quantity is $500 and the price must be a valid price step.

Another common reason orders are rejected if an incorrect price has been entered, for example, $1000 instead of $10.

Orders may also be rejected or forwarded to a Designated Trading Representative (DTR) for compliance reasons. CMC Markets Stockbroking has obligations under the ASIC Market Integrity Rules and Corporations Law to prevent false and misleading trading and help facilitate an orderly market. Every order submitted to us is checked against certain criteria to ensure we’re meeting our obligations. These criteria may include:

• checks to see whether the customer has two or more orders in a stock and whether these orders are trying to raise, lower or maintain a stock price, and
• orders that materially affect the market and don’t reflect the current trading history of that stock.

When can I place orders?
You can place orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Orders placed outside market hours are queued and sent to the market on the next trading day (ASX markets generally allow orders from 07:00 AEST/AEDT). Orders placed between 07:00 and 16:10 AEST/AEDT on trading days are sent directly to the market. The market trading hours are generally between 10:00 and 16:10 AEST/AEDT, although these hours do change from time to time.

The status of my order says ‘Waiting’. What does that mean?
Your order has been received outside market hours and is waiting for the market to open before being sent to the market.

What is CHESS?
CHESS stands for Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System. Instead of issuing a physical share certificate, CHESS records an account’s share ownership via the ASX’s computer-based share and settlement transaction system. An account’s security holding is recorded against its HIN and a statement is sent out to its registered address.

What is a HIN?
HIN stands for Holder Identification Number. It is the number CHESS uses to identify an account and register its holdings. It also identifies the broker it holds the securities with. You’ll be provided with a HIN when you request to be CHESS sponsored with CMC Markets Stockbroking.

I have a HIN with another broker. Can I trade these shares through my stockbroking account?
You’ll need to transfer any stock held under your HIN with another broker to your HIN with CMC Markets Stockbroking. We can arrange this on your behalf – simply complete the Transfer CHESS Holdings form.

How long does it take to transfer my securities from another firm?
Your broker is required by the Australian Securities Exchange to transfer your securities in two business days. There may be delays if the spelling of your name or other details don’t exactly match, so make sure you provide the information exactly as it appears on your CHESS statement.

I have some issuer-sponsored shares. How can I transfer them to my stockbroking account?
If your shares are sponsored by the issuing company, you may wish to transfer them to be CHESS sponsored by CMC Markets Stockbroking (in order to sell shares online they must be CHESS sponsored by us). Simply mail or fax your issuer-sponsored holding statement with a letter asking us to transfer them into your stockbroking account.

You can only transfer into an account of the same name as the issuer-sponsored statement. Transferring into a different name is treated as an off-market transfer and may be subject to fees and/or government charges. For example, if the holdings are in the name ‘Mr J Smith’, you can’t transfer them directly into the account ‘Mr and Mrs J Smith’. Call us on 1300 136 323 if you have questions about CHESS transfers.

What is a CMC Markets Cash Account?
A CMC Markets Cash Account is an interest-bearing account with Bankwest operated by CMC Markets Stockbroking under your instructions. It’s a convenient way of settling share purchases or sales. Share purchases are debited from your account on the day of settlement and proceeds from share sales are credited to your account on the day of settlement.

Bankwest offers a competitive interest rate calculated on the daily balance of your account and credited monthly with monthly statements. There are no account and no government charges.

Why should I open a CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest?
The CMC Markets Cash Account is the easiest way for us to deposit the proceeds of your sales and for you to pay for your purchases. Benefits include:

• no government fees or bank charges
• higher interest than normal savings accounts, and
• the ability to trade online – at Australia’s lowest brokerage rates of $9.90 or 0.10%, whichever is the greater

Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly. The rate is variable and depends on your account balance.

It is possible to open a stockbroking account without a CMC Markets Cash Account, but you won’t be able to trade online.

Is there a minimum balance required for the CMC Markets Cash Account?
The minimum balance required is $2.00.

What is the interest rate?
The interest rate depends on your balance. See our Cash rates page for current interest rates.

How do I withdraw funds from my CMC Markets Cash Account?
Contact CMC Markets Stockbroking. If we receive your instruction to withdraw funds before 11:00 AEST/AEDT, we can draw a cheque on the same day. If we receive your instruction to withdraw funds after 11:00 AEST/AEDT, we can draw a cheque on the next business day. We can also transfer funds to a nominated external bank account. You can use our Direct Credit Authority Form to set up this facility.

How do I deposit funds into my CMC Markets Cash Account?

1. BPAY®

See the Cash Balances page on your trading platform for Biller Code and Reference Number.

2. Direct deposit

See the Cash Balances page for Account Name, BSB and Account Number.

3. Cheque

Make cheque payable to ‘CMC Markets Stockbroking’. We can only accept cheques in Australian currency. Write your account name and account number on the back of the cheque and mail it to:
CMC Markets Stockbroking
GPO Box 5351
Sydney NSW 2001

How can I find out more about the CMC Markets Cash Account?
You can find more details in the CMC Markets Cash Account PDS.

® Registered to BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518

What is a managed fund?
A managed fund, sometimes called a mutual fund or managed investment, is a pool of money from many individuals that is managed by a professional fund manager and invested in a range of investments. Each individual investor holds a number of ‘units’, which change in value depending on the value of the fund as a whole.

What sectors are invested in?
Each fund is different. It may concentrate on Australian shares, international shares, property, cash, bonds and fixed interest investments, or a mix of several of these areas. The product disclosure statement (PDS) for each fund details what sectors are being targeted.

Some funds choose stocks that closely resemble the All Ordinaries Index in order to achieve a return comparable to the total market. Others choose specific stocks based on their underlying potential, aiming to outperform the market.

Each PDS may contain information about a number of funds offered by the fund manager, each of which covers a different mix of investments.

What costs are involved?
Entry fees are waived when you use us to invest in managed funds for you. Managed funds generally charge entry fees of up to 4%, which are applied to each dollar you invest.

1. Alerts system
What is the alerts system?
The alerts system will allow you to create alerts based on price, volume, status and news. Alerts can be delivered via email or SMS, as well as being displayed in the Messages area of the website. Costs are involved for each type of alert delivery method.

Does it cost extra for alerts?
Yes. Alerts sent to email and SMS have a cost component. These costs are in the form of alert credits, which must be purchased prior to any alerts being fired. You can set up alerts, but without available alert credits the alert will not be sent to you.

How do I purchase alert credits?
Alert credits can be purchased by BPAY® or by debiting your CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest. See the Buy Credits page on your share trading platform for full details.

® Registered to BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518

How is an alert fired?
When an event occurs that matches the parameters you have selected, the alert is ‘fired’ and you will be notified by your chosen action/s – you can select more than action for each alert.

2. Key terms
Actions
The various delivery methods by which you can elect to be notified. These include email, SMS and Browser. Costs apply for some actions.

Alert credits
Pre-paid credits that are used to pay for SMS and email actions. Each action has a ‘cost’ expressed in credits. Alert credits can be purchased by BPAY® or by debiting your CMC Markets Cash Account.

Alert type
The category of alert you have selected. You can choose from alerts based on price, volume, status or news.

Disabled
A disabled event will not fire when an event occurs. Disabled alerts can be enabled by checking the box on the My Alerts page.

Enabled
An enabled alert will fire when an event occurs.

Event
A condition that matches the parameters of your alert.

Fired
An alert is said to have fired when an event occurs that leads to an alert being sent to you by one or more of your chosen actions.

Fire every time
A ‘fire every time’ alert will send an alert to you every time an event occurs. News alerts are ‘fire every time’ alerts by default as you may wish to be notified for all news announcements that are released for a company.

Fire once only
A ‘fire once only’ alert will only fire once, and then be disabled. It will remain disabled until you manually enable it if you wish it to fire again. Price alerts are ‘fire once only’ alerts by default.

Parameters
The conditions under which your alert will be fired.

3. Manage My Alerts page

How can I see My Alerts?
The My Alerts page allows you to see all of your configured alerts. It shows the stock code, the type of alert, the parameters of the alert and the action/s selected. You can also see whether the alert is currently enabled, and can edit or delete the alert if required.

What does Enabled or Disabled mean?
Each alert can be marked as Enabled or Disabled. A Disabled alert will not fire when the event occurs, but it can be marked as Enabled or edited if desired.

How can I see my actions?
Icons for each alert represent the action that has been selected. Moving your cursor over the icon will display the email address that the alert will be sent to or, in the case of SMS, the mobile phone number.

What is Once Only or Every Time?
You can select to have an alert fire only the first time an event occurs, or you may wish to be notified every time the event occurs. So, if a company released 10 news headlines in a day, you would receive (and be charged for) 10 alerts unless you select the Once Only option. Price alerts are always set to Once Only.

4. Alert credits

What are alert credits?
Alert credits are purchased in batches and are then redeemed for alerts. For example, you might buy a package of 100 alert credits at a cost of $11 (11 cents per credit, including GST). Each type of alert delivery channel would then have a cost in alert credits. For example, SMS messages might be charged at two alert credits, emails at one alert credit. The actual cost in alert credits will be displayed on the Add Alert pages.

How do I purchase alert credits?
Alert credits can be purchased by BPAY or by debiting your CMC Markets Cash Account held with Bankwest. See the Buy Credits page on your trading platform for full details.

Will I receive an invoice for purchasing credits?
You will receive an invoice by email when alert credits are purchased. You will also be able to view past invoices from the Usage page.

If I receive several alerts, am I charged for each one?
This depends on the frequency you have chosen for the alert. If a company releases 10 news headlines and you have chosen to be notified ‘Every Time’, you will be alerted (and charged) 10 times, unless you have selected the ‘Once Only’ option when creating the alert.

If I choose several delivery channels for a single alert, am I charged for each?
Yes. A single alert could be created to alert via email and SMS. Applicable charges for each would apply.

When are charges applied?
You must prepay for alert credits. Your balance of credits will be displayed on the Alerts pages. When an alert is fired, and a message sent, the applicable number of credits will be deducted from your balance. There is no charge to create an alert, only when the alert is fired.

Is it possible to get alert credits for free?
Yes. When you subscribe to our Dynamic Data package your Alert credits balance will be topped up to 100 credits every night.

What if my phone was turned off, or I didn't receive the message?
The length of time an SMS message will wait for your phone to be turned on is dependent on your provider. We have set our messages to stay in the SMS system for up to one week, but this may be overridden by your mobile phone network. We consider a message sent when the mobile phone network acknowledges it has been received and is ready for the user to collect. Charges will apply when we have that acknowledgement.

What happens when I run out of alert credits?
When you run low on alert credits (at or about 20 credits), an email message will be sent to you reminding you to purchase more credits. There is no cost for this reminder email.

How can I see how my credits have been used?
By selecting the Usage page, you can see where your alert credits have been spent, as well as viewing your past credit purchases.

5. Last Price Alerts

What is a Last Price Alert?
A Last Price Alert allows you to be alerted when a selected security trades at or above/below a price you have selected. For example, you might wish to be alerted if stock XYZ trades at or above $2.50. As soon as a trade occurs at or above $2.50, the alert will ‘fire’ and you will be notified by your chosen delivery method/s.

How often will Last Price Alerts fire?
Price Alerts will only fire once. When the price has reached your target level, the alert will remain in your ‘My Alerts’ page, but will be marked as Disabled. You can re-enable it by ticking the Enabled checkbox.
6. News Alerts

What is a News Alert?
A News Alert allows you to be alerted when the selected company releases an announcement to the market. You will be notified of the headline that was released. Note that for SMS alerts, a limit of 160 characters for the whole message applies, so you might not be able to see the entire headline in the message if it is too long.

How can I see the full news story or company announcement?
Once a headline is released, you can view the entire story by selecting the News area of the website.

How often will News Alerts fire?
News alerts are set to fire Every Time by default, but you can change this to Once Only when adding or editing the alert.

7. Status Alerts

What is a Status Alert?
A Status Alert allows you to be alerted when the status of the security changes. The status is provided by the ASX.

What status types are included?
The types of status that you can be alerted about are:

• Reconstructed (includes share splits, capital reductions, etc.)
• Ex Bonus Issue
• Ex Return of Capital
• Ex Dividend
• Ex Entitlement
• Ex Interest
• Ex Equal Access Buyback
• Ex Rights Issue
• Notice Received
• Under Offer of Takeover
• Trading Halt
• Suspended
• Pre-Open (when this occurs during trading hours)
• Normal (when this occurs during trading hours)

Can I monitor a single status type?
You can select to be advised when any of these status types change for your selected security, or you can select one status type of interest. For example, you may only wish to know when a particular security goes ex-dividend.

How often will status alerts fire?
Status alerts are set to fire Every Time by default, but you can change this to Once Only when adding or editing the alert.

8. Volume Alerts

What is a Volume Alert?
A Volume Alert allows you to be alerted when the selected security trades above a given volume on a single day. For example, you may wish to know when stock XYZ trades more than 1,000,000 shares in a single day.

How often will volume alerts fire?
Volume alerts are set to fire Every Time by default, but will only fire once per day (when the volume you have selected is exceeded). You can change the frequency to Once Only when adding or editing the alert.

9. Email action

What is the email action?
If you select to be notified via email, you can choose the destination email address for each alert – it is possible to have different alerts going to different email addresses if required.

How do I change my default email address?
The default email address for alerts is the same as the email address you used when registering for the site – the same address any trade information is sent to. You can change this default address by using the ‘Default Settings’ link on the Add Alert pages, or from the ‘Account Details’ screen.

I don't want to change my default email address. Can I still get alerts sent elsewhere?
You can overwrite the default email address for a particular alert. For example, you may wish to have all trading messages going to a home email address, but you may wish your price alerts to be sent to a work email address. You would need to enter the alternate email address for each alert you create.

10. SMS action

What is the SMS action?
If you select to be notified by SMS, you will be prompted to enter a mobile phone number. You must ensure your phone is capable of receiving and displaying SMS messages. We are able to send SMS messages to mobile phones on the major Australian networks (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone).

Can I receive SMS alerts while I am overseas?
This would be up to your mobile phone provider. We will send the SMS message to your mobile number, but delivery is dependent on your carrier. We may impose an extra Alert credit cost for international SMS if your provider charges us.

How do I change my default mobile phone number?
You can use the ‘Default Settings’ link on the Add Alert pages to change the default mobile phone number, or you can override it for a particular alert.

11. Browser action

What is the Browser action?
The Browser action is the Messages area of the website. All alerts will be sent to this area by default, regardless of which other actions you have chosen. In addition, if you are logged into the website at the time the alert fires, you will see a notification near the top of the screen advising you of the alert.

Do Browser messages cost anything?
There is no charge for Browser messages. No alert credits will be deducted.

What are conditional orders?
Conditional orders are instructions that you give us based around a set of criteria or market conditions (referred to as a ‘trigger’) that must be met before your order is actually submitted by us to the market for execution. When the trigger criteria specified by you is satisfied, we will submit your order to the market, subject to the CMC Markets Stockbroking Terms and Conditions (Terms and Conditions). However, there is no guarantee that your order will trade. Please refer to ‘What are the risks of conditional orders?’ and ‘What does processed mean?’.

Conditional orders have two components. The first is the criteria you specify as the trigger criteria. The second is the price at which the order is to be submitted to market, once the trigger criteria are satisfied.

A common example of a conditional order is a stop loss order, which is a conditional order to sell a stock if the market falls below a particular price level.

We let you know when your order is triggered and/or executed by sending you an email.

What terms and conditions apply?
All trading through us is subject to our Terms and Conditions, including the provisions that specifically relate to free conditional orders. You should read and ensure you understand our Terms and Conditions and the provisions which relate to conditional orders. Our Terms and Conditions include provisions which cover placing conditional orders, varying and cancelling conditional orders, what happens when the conditional order is triggered and our rights to refuse to place orders and to cancel orders and transactions in certain circumstances.

What are the risks of conditional orders?
Market conditions may result in a conditional order not being triggered, or being triggered in circumstances where you would prefer the order is not triggered. Some examples are set out below.

Short-term price fluctuations either upwards or downwards may cause your order to trigger and trade before the price recovers to its previous level. For example, in the case of a stop loss order, while this limits your downside risk it may cause you to miss out on the upside profit gain.

Also, in the case of a stop loss order, when a stock price falls rapidly the limit price of your order may be higher than the market price being offered when your order, having been triggered, is placed onto the market. This may mean your order will not be executed at the price you have set. Of course you can amend your order just like any other order.

Finally, even if the market conditions specified in the conditional order are met there is still no guarantee that your order will be executed, for example there may not be adequate liquidity in the market for your order to be executed completely, or an order may be rejected in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.

How do conditional buy orders work?
A conditional buy order enables you to specify a price at which you wish to enter the market.

For example:
You may wish to place a buy order when there has been upward movement in the stock price. For example, XYZ trades in a range of $2.30 to $2.60 and although you expect it to appreciate above $2.60 you don't wish to hold the stock while waiting for that upward trend. You can set a market condition that when XYZ trades at or above $2.70, place an order to buy XYZ at $2.75.

How do conditional sell orders work?
A conditional sell order helps you limit any losses or protect any gains. For example, you may have an unrealised profit on certain stock that you don't want to lose should the price fall. You can set a conditional order to sell the stock if its price drops and your profit starts to erode.

For example, you may have bought stock XYZ at $10.60 and be unwilling to hold it if the price fell to $10.00. You may consider placing a conditional order to Sell XYZ at $10.00 if XYZ trades at or below $10.01.

What is an Inactive conditional order?
A conditional order can be marked as ‘Active’ or ‘Inactive’. A conditional order will be marked as Inactive if the market for a stock is purged by the ASX due to certain corporate actions in respect of a stock.

For example, when a stock goes ex-dividend, the ASX purges all orders from the market. Often, the stock is expected to trade at a lower price immediately after going ex-dividend (this is where the issuer of the stock will pay a dividend or distribution only to those who are registered holders of the stock as at that ex-dividend date), so any conditional orders will be marked inactive in this case to prevent them triggering on a price that is lower due to the stock going ex-dividend. You will be sent an email notification when this occurs, and can then amend and re-activate the order, or cancel it and resubmit with a different trigger price, if appropriate.

Other corporate actions that will cause a conditional order to be automatically marked inactive include when a listed entity starts trading; ex-bonus, ex-capital return, ex-entitlement (rights), ex-interest payment, ex-rights, ex-priority, reconstructed, a name change or warrant rollover.

A conditional order in respect of the stock of a listed entity could also be marked inactive under the following circumstances:

• the listed entity goes into a long-term trading halt
• the listed entity becomes subject to external administration (for example, if an administrator or receiver is appointed
• a takeover for the listed entity is announced
• where the stock code of the listed entity changes

For more information on circumstances in which ASX will purge unexecuted orders, refer to the ASX education website.

Conditional orders will not be triggered when they are marked as inactive.

What do conditional orders cost?
It’s free to place a conditional order with us. The only charge involved is brokerage on any order that is executed as a result of a conditional order being triggered.

How can I cancel a conditional order?
Provided the conditional order has not triggered, you can cancel the conditional order online. Click on Open Orders, select the Conditional Order and click the Cancel button. Then enter your Trading PIN and submit the cancellation.

If the website is not available, you may contact a dealer who can cancel the conditional order for you.

What does ‘triggered’ mean?
Whenever the conditions specified for a conditional order are satisfied, the conditional order is triggered and will be sent to our straight-through processing (STP) system. Our order processing system uses a series of automated filters. Orders arising from the trigger of conditional orders are treated in the same way as any other orders and are therefore subject to our automated order filters. Orders which pass all of these filters are sent straight to market without further human intervention. Orders that do not pass all filters may be rejected or may be sent to one of our dealers to consider. The dealer may submit the order to the market or may reject the order, in accordance with our trading terms and conditions.

In other words, it is important to note that merely because a conditional order triggers, an order will not always be submitted to the market. Orders arising from conditional orders may pass or fail our system's filters, as with any order.

Are funds for a conditional buy order reserved?
No. If you have a conditional order to buy stock, we do not put a hold on the funds and you can use them to buy and sell other stock. We will, instead, check your funds at the time the conditional order is triggered, as explained in the next section.

What happens if I don’t have enough funds for a buy order?
When a buy order is triggered, the system will check your available funds. If you do not have enough to cover the cost of the order, the quantity being bought will be adjusted so that we will spend around 90% of your available funds, excluding brokerage. Note that we will never buy more than you originally requested.

For example, you have a conditional order to buy 1,000 XYZ at $10.00 if the stock price reaches $9.99. When you placed the conditional order, you had $20,000 in available funds in your account. After placing the conditional order, you can still use these funds to buy other stock. Several months later, you now have $8,000 in your account and the conditional order triggers. The value of the conditional order is $10,000. The system will look at your available funds ($8,000) and will buy up to 90% of this value (in this case up to $7,200, or 720 shares at $10.00).

If you had enough in your account to cover the full order plus brokerage, we would have placed the order for the full 1,000 shares.

Are stock holdings for a conditional sell order reserved?
No. If you have a conditional order to sell stock, we do not put a hold on your stock, and you can still sell your stock as normal. We will, instead, check your holdings at the time the conditional order is triggered, as explained in the next section.

Note that at all times you will need to comply with the short selling regulations as set out in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (and regulations made under it) and also the ASX Market Rules, as those regulations may be amended from time to time. You will be taken to have represented that any sell order submitted as a result of a conditional order constitutes a Long Sale for the purposes of Australia's short selling laws.

What happens if I don’t have enough stock for a sell order?
When a sell order is triggered, the system will check your available stock. If you do not have enough to cover the order, the volume being sold will be adjusted to whatever is available to sell. Note that we will never sell more than you originally requested.

For example, you have a conditional order to sell 1,000 XYZ if the price reaches $8.00. When you placed the order, you had 1,000 XYZ shares. After placing the conditional order, you asked a dealer to sell 200 XYZ shares for you. Now, you have 1,000 registered shares, but an open sell order of 200, so will have 800 ‘available to sell’.

When the price of XYZ hits $8.00, your conditional order will check your available holdings, and will recognize that you only have 800 shares available, so will place an order to sell 800 shares. This will be the case whether your later order in respect of the 200 shares has been executed or not. However, if it has not been executed, you may choose to cancel all or some of the later order in respect of the 200 shares, in which case any shares remaining after such cancellation will be available to fill the conditional order (i.e. if you cancelled the entire later order to sell 200 shares, you would then have the full 1,000 shares available for the conditional order when it is triggered).

As another example, imagine that after you placed the conditional order to sell 1,000 XYZ shares, you then bought another 500 XYZ share, so you now hold 1,500. When then conditional order triggers, we will only sell 1,000 XYZ shares– we will never sell more than the volume specified within your conditional order.

What is a login code?
Your login code is the code, or username, that identifies you on the website. You can select any login code when you open an account, as long as no one else on the website is already using the code you have selected.

What is a login password?
Your login password is used with your login code to enter the website. When you first open an account, we’ll email you a random password that you can change using the ‘Preferences’ page – there is a link to ‘Preferences’ on your share trading platform. Make sure no one else knows your login password.

Can I change my login password?
Simply use the ‘Preferences’ page. There’s a link to ‘Preferences’ on your trading platform.

What is a Trading PIN?
Your Trading PIN is used when placing orders on the platform. When you first log into the platform you will be asked to create a Trading PIN, which you can also change using the ‘Preferences’ page – there is a link to ‘Preferences’ on your share trading platform. Make sure no one else knows your Trading PIN.

Can I change my Trading PIN?
'Simply use the ‘Preferences’ page. There is a link to ‘Preferences’ on your share trading platform.

How can I update my email address?
You can change your email address for the website using the Preferences page – there’s a link to ‘Preferences’ on your trading platform. This will update your address for website messages but not for alerts or emailed trade confirmations. You’ll need to change alert email addresses for each alert, as you may have more than one valid address. To change your email address for trading confirmations, complete an Electronic confirmation authority form.

What operating system or web browser should I use to access the share trading platform?
The platform has been tested with the following operating systems and browsers:

Operating systems for PC users

• Windows 7 (recommended)
• Windows XP (recommended)
• Windows 2000
• Windows Vista

Operating Systems for Mac users

• Mac OS 10
• Mac OS X

Browsers for PC users

• Internet Explorer 7.0 or above
• Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above

Browsers for Mac users

• Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above
• Safari 4.0 and above

If your system doesn’t meet these minimum specifications, we can only offer limited support, and some functions on the platform may not work as expected. We recommend keeping your systems updated with any security releases and run the latest public (non-beta) versions of web browsers.

Can I use the platform on a Smart Phone or Tablet?
We have tested the site on some phone and mobile devices including iPhone, iPad and some Android devices and have found most functionality works as expected. However there may be some areas of the platform that will not work on your device. We can only provide limited support for these devices, and if a feature does not work we will recommend you access it on a computer browser.

The internet seems slow. What’s wrong and how can I speed things up?
Speed problems can have a number of causes. Try accessing different websites to see if only one site is slow, or all sites are affected. If the problem applies to all sites, or more than one, contact your internet service provider (ISP). If it’s only your platform, call our Helpdesk.

Can I access the CMC Markets Stockbroking website when I’m at work?
This depends on your employer’s internet policy and whether they’ve installed firewalls or services that may prevent you accessing the platform.

I can’t access the BUY, SELL, AMEND and CANCEL pages.
The order tickets open in a new window, so any pop-up blockers that are running could prevent the windows opening. Some web browsers have built-in pop-up blockers. To view or change these settings in Internet Explorer, try Tools | Pop-up Blocker. In Firefox, try Tools | Options | Content.

How safe is it to place orders online?
We use SSL Encryption to encrypt your Trading PIN and order instructions when you submit them to us using the website. Don’t share your Trading PIN with anyone else, or use it in such a way it might be discovered by someone else. Good practices to follow for any financial site include:

• Don’t access site from public computers, such as internet cafes, as there may be software on those computers that could discover your passwords.
• Ensure your computer is protected by an up-to-date anti-virus program and firewall.
• Don’t follow links in emails asking you to confirm your login details – we won’t ask you for your password in any emails.

If you’re still concerned about trading online, you can trade with our phone dealers and just use the platform for pricing, tools and research.

How can I keep email from CMC Markets Stockbroking out of my spam folder?
If your anti-spam software is putting emails from us in your spam folder, add ‘brokingservice@cmcmarkets.com.au’ to your email address book, contact list or ‘Safe List’.

Other technical questions?
Our Helpdesk is available from 07:30 to 17:30 AEST/AEDT, Monday to Friday, on 1300 360 071. We can help you troubleshoot problems you may experiencing with the platform. If an issue appears to be related to your computer or internet connection, we can try and offer assistance but may need to refer you to your ISP or a computer support company.