Well what a week it has been since I last updated. Firstly there’s the FTSE dropping below 5400 again, more on that later, then there is the turmoil in my personal life. Just when I thought things we’re going to settle down a bit BOOM, chaos hits like a slap in the face on a cold winters morning. Basically my dad had a phone call from the doctor on which he interpreted to mean that my nan didn’t have much longer to live. So I went back home on Saturday and we went to the hospital in Sunday where they essentially said everything is ok for her age. The problem was my dad and nan essentially thought she was on her death bed and the end was just around the corner so to speak. Basically the doctor that phoned my dad is almost as old as my nan and probably thought he was doing what’s best by phoning him but it really scared my dad. Anyway after going to the hospital all her tests came back clear and she has to go for further scans at a later date. She’s not out of the woods yet but I think my dads and her mind are a little more at ease about the whole situation. So I’ve been at my parents for the first half of the week and didn’t really have much time to be posting any updates. This should start to change now and I need to get back into posting in a regular basis so I might try and do it every day for a little while.
So here’s my update on my latest spread betting activity since the October. If you take a look at my latest trades page it says it all really. Since I lost the cat most things have been closing out at a loss. To be honest I think this is symptomatic of me not concentrating and making the same old mistakes I’ve made in the past. I also made a trade in Meggitt based on a hunch which as we all know is a school boy error, it just goes to show old habits die hard. I have one open position which I opened earlier in the week. If you do look at my trade history you will notice that I’ve made two trades in Amlin. The first trade I must have set the stop position wrong, I made the trade and five minutes later I was stopped out, therefore I made the trade again this time with the stop set in the right place. It was a mistake which cost me £1 but it could have cost me so much more. Again it shows that I wasn’t fully concentrating which as we all know is a sure fire way to lose money.
At the moment I am licking my wounds from the losses of the last month but I know now I should not trade when I have a personal crisis going on. I need to exit my positions as soon as possible and wait until I have the time to dedicate to trading. I should take my own advice and know that there is no such thing as a missed opportunity, todays missed trade may lead to tomorrows even better trade. Ok so the quote needs some work but you get the general idea.
I’ve been keeping half an eye on the FTSE 100 over the past few weeks and it’s a bit all over the place to say the least. When I last passed comment on the FTSE it was in the 5000-5400 trading range, since then it has broken free of this range creating a new range of 5400-5750 but now we are back below 5400. The question is will it continue to fall back to the 5000 mark or will it find support before then? Looking at the chart I would think it’s heading for 5000 but as we all know this is the FTSE and it can and will do whatever it want’s. To paraphrase Tony Loton, the only thing we can be sure of is prices will fluctuate. Speaking of Tony Loton I see he has started a new trading trail over on the community pages at www.financial-spread-betting.com. If you get the time go and check him out, he always writes some useful information in a way that everyone can understand, and if you don’t understand anything you can ask him questions which he will happily answer. I know from personal experience I have learnt a lot from his trading books. Just don’t forget to come back here once you have finished reading what he has to say.
Speaking of communities since October I’ve had some 125 people trying to register for the spread betting forum. Now I suspect that most of these are naughty people trying to spam the forum however there may be some genuine applicants. If you have tried to register please do let me know via e-mail forum@spreadbettingbeginner.com. If you e-mail me I will be sure to activate your account. I really need to get more activity going over on the forum as I would like it to be a place for all traders to hang out, much like the trade to win forums. So if you have any ideas or can help me out in anyway that would be much appreciated.
Ok so that’s my long rant over and done with. More tomorrow.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
