Today has been a flurry of spread betting activity. I’ve moved some stops and made one new trade. Ok so not quite a flurry but certainly better than yesterday. The new trade is in Devro. I know what your thinking, never heard of them, well at least that’s what I thought anyway. I have no idea what they do all I know is the entry criteria matched my strategy (well one of Vinces strategies.) So I’m long £1 per point. I brought at 291.542 with a stop at 255.04. I know what your thinking the stop distance of 36.5 points at £1 per point gives me a risk of £36.5 way above my 1% max risk tolerance. Well let me explain, or at least give my excuse. The strategy I’m using here doesn’t rely on the stop to exit the trade. It has it’s own exit criteria so I will exit the trade manually when said criteria is met. The stop is merely a safety net should the worst happen and the company goes bust over night.
Exiting trades manually is not something that I have been a fan of in the past. In fact I prefer to leave trades alone and let the stops take care of the exits. However I must be changing/growing up or maybe it’s because I’m nearly 30 but exiting a trade manually doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m that used to making profits and losses (mostly losses) that manually exiting a trade at a loss has become second nature. It’s like walking the dog or feeding the cat these are part of other daily routines, exiting a position at a profit or loss is just part of the spread betting routine.
I have to say If you had asked me two years ago would I be saying that in two years time I would’ve probably said no. I think I’m settling into more of a routine with my spread betting and I quite like it. There once was a time that I would login to my spread betting platform four, five, six maybe more times a day. Sometimes I would leave it open in the background while working and check it at every opportunity. Not any more. I usually check it once a day now, if that. If I don’t get time I sometimes go all day without checking it. I think this new routine is the right thing to do. Fine if you day trade then you need to check your positions several times throughout the day buy that’s not for me. Even if I do make it past the finish line of financial spread betting for a living I would still like to only check my trades once a day. Otherwise what’s the point? I want to have my money working for me, not the other way round. I sit in front of a computer screen 8 hours a day now so why would I want to do that if I don’t need to? Yep that’s right I’m still dreaming that one day I’ll be doing this for a living. I have no idea if it will pan out that way buy I’m more than willing to try and find out.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
