Buy whisky

WhiskyInvestDirect offers different ways to buy (and sell) whisky.

The easiest way to build a portfolio of whisky is to buy a whisky package. Choose the package you want and you'll be prompted to enter how much money you want to spend. Your money will be divided between the lines of whisky in your package. You'll always get the best offers available for those whiskies. Money left over will remain in your balance.

See our whisky packages

For more flexibility in the whisky you purchase, you can select and buy whisky lines that interest you directly on our live markets. Our live markets let you trade with other users in open competition, setting your own prices.

There are three mechanisms for buying whisky on WhiskyInvestDirect's live markets.

1. Investing your money balance in whisky
2. Grabbing an opportunity from the Order Board screen
3. Beating the best buying price

Investing your money balance in whisky

This is a simple way to use all your available cash to buy whisky on WhiskyInvestDirect’s markets.

How to use your cash balance to buy whisky

Step 1.	Make sure you are logged in.  Press  ACCOUNT  and then click the  BALANCE  sub-menu option.
Step 2.	You will see your available cash balance.  Click on the 'Buy at best price' drop down list, and click the line you want to own your whisky in. The order panel will be loaded assuming the use of all of the available cash balance. In a market where other people are currently quoting prices the price and the approximate order value will be set for you at reasonable values.  If these are not loaded there is no current price quoted by sellers, and you will need to decide your price. No cash available?  You cannot proceed yet.  Check out how to fund your account, or if you need to cancel previous orders to release their reserved cash go to  HISTORY > ORDERS  select an open buy order and from the order panel  KILL ORDER  .
Step 3.	Adjust your Price and/or the Quantity as required.
Step 4.	When you're happy with your order press the  BUY/BID  button, and  CONFIRM , as for a normal order entry. Then look below for what happens next.

Grabbing an opportunity from the Order Board

The order board lets you watch and grab available opportunities as they arise.  To do this you'll need both quick reactions and available resources.  You'll need available cash when you wish to buy, and available whisky in any line you wish to sell from.  Otherwise your patience will only be rewarded with an 'insufficient funds' error when your order is submitted!

How to use the order board to trade

Step 1.	Make sure you are logged in.  Press  BUY/SELL  to get to the order board.
Step 2.	Use the filters at the top left to control which lines you see and so focus on the markets you're interested in.
Step 3.	Now watch.  Your order board screen will refresh itself every few seconds.
Step 4.	Spotted an opportunity?  The race is on!  Click an amber brick to buy whisky (or a green one to sell for cash), and the system will load what you've clicked straight into the order panel.  Then press the  BUY/BID  (or  SELL/OFFER ) button, check and  CONFIRM  . Then look below for what happens next.

Beating the best buying price

As a buyer you want the lowest price. You can accept the best offer, to try to buy quickly if you think the market is moving up soon.

If, on the other hand, you are patient, and want to try to save the market 'spread', you can advertise your price to the next seller and wait, hoping that a seller on the market arrives before someone bids whisky higher than you. With this strategy you are less likely to buy quickly, but might buy at a lower price. It all depends on there being a seller of whisky at the price you bid in the reasonably near future.

Following this strategy you will become the market's new best price for sellers, and you will see your bid appear as a green coloured brick on the order board, attracting sellers. This can take a while to get your head around. You are a buyer advertising to sellers, so your advertised price is placed on a green button, waiting for a seller to click it. The more you bid the narrower you make the spread, and the more attractive your price becomes to potential sellers out there.

How to buy at a lower price

Step 1.	Make sure you are logged in. Another thing you may need to do is check on your resources. You will need to have enough currency available to meet your purchase order. Press  BUY/SELL  to get to the order board.
Step 2.	Use the Edit markets button to control which lines you see and so focus on the markets you're interested in. Look at the prices in your chosen line. You'll see a spread between the green button's best selling price and the amber button's best buying price. You want to attract a seller with an attractive price - so you want to narrow the spread in favour of sellers by bidding up.
Step 3.	Click the 'Best Offer' amber brick. This loads the order panel with the details of the best offer, in other words the best terms offered by a current seller, with you as the buyer. Let's try and tempt him by bidding very nearly what he's asking!
Step 4.	So, instead of going on to buy immediately on his terms now adjust your price limit / LPA downwards on the order panel using the arrow key. Pressing it just once leaves a narrow price which may be compelling to many whisky sellers. Each additional press decreases your buying price one mark at a time and deters potential sellers, but saves you a fraction more. Now remember to adjust the quantity to the amount you'd like to buy.
Step 5.	When you're happy with your order press the  BUY/BID  button, check and  CONFIRM  , as for a normal order entry. Then look below for what happens next.

What happens next ?

• You will probably receive a response in the order panel saying either 'Your order has been matched' or 'Your order is now open'.  Other messages are possible, but less likely.
• A part matched order will tell you 'Your order is now open' and the order panel will show what percentage of your order has been matched.
• We send you an email for each execution.  There might be quite a lot of these, because if your order is large there may be lots of smaller orders matching with you.  These emails are supposed to be a courtesy, but can be annoying if you get too many.  We also send a single contract - again by email - when your order is completed or cancelled.  You will only get one contract per order you place, and it will be for the whole amount you traded as a result of your order.
• If your order is to be posted on the order board you may see any unexecuted part of your order come up as a new bid on the green side of the order boards.  Remember, as a buyer you're advertising to sellers. Don't be too surprised if you're not the best bid for long.
• As usual you can monitor the success of your order from the  HISTORY > ORDERS  screen.  Sometimes it's best to monitor what's happening on the  ORDER BOARD  itself, because you'll see if anyone is bidding up against you.
• If you decide you want to push the purchase through you'll need to withdraw your bid by killing it from the  HISTORY > ORDERS  screens and replacing it with one at a higher price.