No new Spread bets for me today. Again there were a few opportunities but none that match my trading and risk criteria. My Amlin position is ticking over nicely, although it’s reflected the FTSE 100 movement today, up a bit, down a bit and then up a bit again. Maybe I’ll be looking to tighten my stop loss again soon.
If you read yesterday you will know that I am making a start on getting my trading plan in place. I thought that some people might like to have their say or share ideas about what should be included in a trading plan so I have started the topic How to develop a trading plan over on the spread betting forum. Feel free to all get involved.
I aim to spend a bit of time each day on it so there should be plenty of time to comment on it as we go along. Hopefully we will all find it a useful exercise. I am hoping that we can develop a template that others can download and use to write their own trading plan. I want to get as many peoples input as possible as others will think of things that I don’t and Visa Versa. So what are you waiting for? Get involved and share your thoughts.
Part one is a broad over view of what is required to develop a trading plan. The list I have complied is by no means complete and feel free to add whatever you feel is necessary.
On a completely separate note I was watching “Million Dollar Traders” again the other day. It was first shown on BBC2 back in early 2009 (I think) right about the time when I started to get into spread betting myself. It got me thinking about my own trading and the fact that they were essentially running a hedge fund. I was thinking that for every long position I take out I should look for a short position in the same sector. This way I should essentially be “hedging my bets” so to speak i.e. if one position goes down, in theory the other should rise, therefore one should make money while the other loses. The ideal would be for both to make money so I would need to find stocks that are in the same sector, one that looks like it’s going to rise and another that looks like it may fall. It’s certainly something to think about. I think my current strategy will come good when we see a trending market but when we have a sideways market such as now it does not perform as well. I think a “Hedging” strategy could be a good solution to this problem. It’s certainly something to think about. As always if you have any thoughts feel free to share them.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
Well the markets put in there best day for quite some time. The FTSE has rallied over 140 points which is probably the best day it’s had in the last month or so. With it my position in Amlin rose by 12 points breaking through it’s 20 day high in the process. Maybe this will be a sign of things to come as we enter the Christmas period. I was hoping to move my stop on Amlin on Friday but the chart didn’t tell me to, so I had to leave it where it was. Today however is different. I’m notching up my stop in my Capital Spreads spread betting account by a whopping 4 points. Still it’s 4 points less risk which is always good. Hopefully the upwards move continues.
I had a look for new trades earlier but none came along that met my trading criteria. Maybe tomorrow things will be different. With no new trades there isn’t much else to share. I’m going to start developing my trading plan, something that I have been putting off for far to long. It’s time I got things written down to help me out when I need it. The only problem is I don’t know where to start. Anyone have any ideas? If you do please do share them. I’m thinking that a good idea might be to start a new topic on the form that everyone can pitch in with. This way we all have a voice and can all chip in our own ideas. If you’re not already a forum member and want to joint then please do get in touch. I’ve changed the forum registration process to stop the wrong people registering. I now have to manually approve your registration and without me doing it you wont be able to post anything e-mail me at the following address and I will approve your registration forum@spreadbettingbeginner.com.
I’ll probably also write about the trading plan development in my blog posts so I have something to write about on a daily basis, and you never know your luck it might even turn out to be quite interesting.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
Today things are all quiet with my spread betting. I’ll be checking later to see if it’s required that I move my stop on my one open position in Amlin. So far my stop loss level is still at the original level but I think with the recent drop in volatility and price rising slightly today I may be looking to notch up my stop, even if it is only by 1 point, it’s 1 point closer to a profit.
I took a look for new spread bets earlier and while there were some that fit my moving average cross and super trend strategy the risk was far to high for my account size so they are best left alone. The FTSE 100 ended its 9 day decline with a modest 40 point or so gain today. Hardly surprising it hasn’t moved much with the US markets closed for thanks giving. I wonder how the FTSE will fare next week when the non-farms payroll and un-employment figures are released in the US. Could it be the nudge it needs to drop below the 4950-5000 resistance level of old? Could it be the stimulus that’s needed to get the FTSE back into winning ways. As always I have no idea what the FTSE will do but I suspect we’ll be in for a bumpy ride until Christmas is out of the way.
Well that’s about all from me for this week. Hopefully next week will be full of fruitful spread betting opportunities that will make me some money. I could do with a boost after the losing trades I’ve had recently. Still if I stick with it a nice trend should emerge which I can ride an pyramid into to make me my millions. Ok so maybe that is wishful thinking but it’s a nice though to go into the weekend with.
Oh I forgot to mention that I have been making some changes to the site which I’m sure you’ve noticed. The buttons at the top have changed. I need to sort them out and add more content to some of them but I’m hoping it makes navigation quicker and easier. Let me know what you think about it if you like. I’ve also started a Technical Analysis section. At the moment it has articles from Offthelip in there but I’m working on a few which will be added in the next few weeks. Hopefully you’ll find them useful and informative. Anyway that’s all for this week.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
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
Finally found the cat. I went back to Bracknell at the weekend to continue my search for Kitty. I had a phone call around 2ish on Saturday from a veterinary nurse who though she seen a cat fitting kittys description wandering round near where she lived(which is just round the corner from where we used to live). So I rushed straight there and she was no where to be seen. I looked all round and still nothing. I was looking like it was another false alarm. I widened my search and ended up coming back to the same street where she was originally spotted only to see her sitting next to a car. I called her and she came running towards me straight away. She decided to pause for a minute and decided to sit in the middle of the road. Fortunately the passing cars saw her & me in the road and I managed to coax her out of the road. Now with kitty being a former stray she is still pretty untrusting of people. I tried to pick her up and failed, and as soon as she knows you want to pick her up she doesn’t want to know you. Fortunately she didn’t run off and stayed close to me. I decided to call the veterinary nurse to ask for help and she came straight from her house with a cage to put her in. She called kitty how went to her then she grabbed her, kitty tried to escape but she grabbed her tail and then her before she could escape. Then I went and got my car with my cat cage in and went to pick her up. Surprisingly she went straight into her cat box, which she usually hates, I assume she was just glad to be back somewhere familiar after four weeks two days of fending for herself. With us no longer living in the house she was used to I decided to take her to my parents. She’s been there before and would be in familiar surroundings before bringing her to the new house. She was a little thin so I took her to the vet the next day and other than hungry, thirsty and exhausted she was in good health.
So that’s why I’ve been unable to update for the last few days. Still with the cat now found and us almost settled in the new place I should start to have more time to update the blog and get back into the business of spread betting.
To be honest that’s about all I have for now. I did check today for any new trades which was the first time I have for a good few weeks. There were none that fit with my strategy so I’m playing the waiting game. I have been keeping half an eye on the FTSE over the last few weeks and it seems to still be all over the place. With no good trend in place I’m still looking for both long and shorts. It seems as if the FTSE bounced of the 5400 mark today which was the old resistance level of a few weeks ago. It would seem that resistance has now become support, the only question is how long will it last?
One thing I didn’t do in my last post was thank everyone for the comments and e-mails while I have been away (from blogging). It always means a lot to receive an e-mail or comment and it spurs me on to continue with developing the website and blogging along the way. There’s still more to come from Spread Betting Beginner.com so watch this space for future updates and developments.
Until next time,
“May the markets be with you!”
Harry,
The Spread Betting Beginner
