I thought I’d write a few words to round off the week. It’s been fairly quiet for me trading wise. I’ve been moving stops when I’ve had the chance and no new trades since Monday which was RBS. Today I had two stop outs they were punch taverns and Lloyds bank. Both making a loss. Lloyds lost me £7.19 and punch lost me £1.56. Not massive sums but losses never the less. Still losses are a fact of life in the trading world and I’m not disheartened. Sure I’d love to make a profit on every trade but if I did I think it would be dangerous. I’d get cocky and overconfident thinking I can’t lose, bet £100 per point and get wiped out in one trade. Nope not me, losses are fine as long as they are small, controlled and don’t happen all the time.

I want to respond to Spread betting traders comments about Northern foods. I know what your saying about the price tumbling if the share price falls through, I guess it depends on how worried you are about it. You suggest moving your stop tighter in case of a big price gap one morning. Well I would think if the price did gap from say 75 to 50 one morning then you will get filled at 50 irrespective of whether your stop is at 51 or 74. It will just mean you’ll suffer 24 points of slippage rather than 1 point of slippage. If you’re using guaranteed stops then slippage is not an issue and moving your stop closer is not a bad idea. I don’t know what to suggest for the best on this one, and even if I did know what to suggest for the best I can’t suggest it as that would be me giving you advice which I can’t do! I can tell you what I am going to do. I’m going to leave my stop as it is trailing at the super trend price which is 3xATR(10) away from the median price. If it gaps down so be it, it’s out of my hands, the same as if any of the other companies I have spread bets with go bust over night and I suffer massive slippage as the price drops to zero. If it happens it happens, it’s a risk we take. The only way to insure against it is use a guaranteed stop. We can also keep an eye on the news surrounding said stocks but who knows what’s going to happen. It’s for these reasons that I tend not to place too much emphasis on news stories. I used to try and trade the news like results etc but it was just too hard. I mean if a company reports good results why does there share price drop the day they are announced? Who knows? I know I don’t. That’s why now I try to stick to technical analysis an keep half an eye on the news but not too much. When I brought into Northern foods I didn’t know there was going to be take over talk and it’s turned out to be a bonus as it’s lifted the share price considerably.

I wanted to update you quickly with where I’m up to with the site speed issues etc. Well I think they may be fixed. I’ve made some changes and thinks seem to be going ok. I’ve not had any of the issues that I was having before so I’m hoping it’s fixed, and even without switching provider, woo hoo! ( I hope I haven’t spoke too soon there!) You may have noticed the forum members had been steadily increasing over the last few weeks. Unfortunately most of them were just SPAMMERs trying to advertise stupid things so I’ve been going through and deleting said offenders. I would be nice to have more forum members but I want people to join because they want too and have something useful to add.

We do have a new member who needs some help. Engulfing trader needs some help with proRealTime I will try and get some time over the weekend to help out but if anyone else can help him please do.

I think that’s about all from me. Hopefully next week I’ll post a bit more than twice as I’ve had a really busy week. Still I rather post less with more interesting stuff than more often with a load of drivel.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner

I’ve been busy with work yet again today but I did find a little time to research and made one new trade. It’s a super trend buy in Lloyds bank. Buy £1 per point at 69.164 with a stop set at 62. That now gives me a total of 9 £1 per point positions open. Not a massive amount but hey I’m happy enough with how things have been going recently and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. Sure I’d love to trade more but to do that I need a bigger bank so maybe one day you’ll be reading this blog and I’ll be listing the numerous trades that have taken place that day. Until that becomes a reality I’m afraid you will have to put up with me trading the opportunities that I feel are right for me and fit all my trading criteria. Hopefully you can live with that.

I had a phone call from CMC markets today. A nice chap named Jamie called me to answer the various questions I had. I’ve listed them below as mini a questions and answer session with CMC markets.
Question: “What happens to my position in Northern Foods now they are merging?”
Answer: “The position will be closed out on the day the merger takes place. If I want to open a position in the newly merged company I will have to do this manually.”
I guess when you think about it this seems really obvious. Still it’s that question cleared up.
Question: “Why did I suffer slippage in the new CMC account and not the old CMC account?”
Answer: “The new CMC platform takes into account the volume of stock that is available when the trade is made. At the time my stop was triggered trading volumes were very low which is why I was filled at a worse price than my stop level. The old CMC Market Maker platform does not take volume into account when making the trade therefore I was actually filled at a better price than was available in the market place”

I did speak with him more, mostly about charting and asking why they didn’t hold off launching the new platform until had more features. He answered all my questions well and reassured me that more features were coming in the near future and that the back end of the new system is much better placed for constant improvements and enhancements. I think it was Big Al that said he was put off opening an account with them because of the limited number of instruments that are available. I think he said that they may be adding more instruments in the new year but I can’t remember for sure.

I’ll be keeping my new CMC account for a while longer yet to see how it progresses. The spread and margin requirements in the new account are certainly better than the old marker maker account which is definitely a plus. I’ll keep you posted with new developments from them as and when I learn about them.

Right that’s about all from me today. I think I’ve rattled on enough. I’m working on some new features with some new spread betting companies which I hope to bring to you shortly. So keep checking back for the latest additions.

Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Spread betting beginner