Hi All

Looking to gain a small following for an experiment, gonna spreadbet 1,000 of my own hard earned with a view not to stop until I hit 25,000 or lose the lot!!

It'll be across a range of Index, equity & FX trades starting small and building the pot (or lose the lot) will be using flat stops and running profits with trailing stops.

If you want to follow every trade and watch the spiral up or down feel free to follow me on www.twitter.com/eyetrader - where I'll be simply be posting each trade as I click the mouse

BTW this is not spam, I'm not selling anything, I dont want any donations, more of a personal challenge that I'm going to conduct in public!!!! I'm hoping to see a few tips on here as well as my own strategies and ideas.

Lastly I'll be donating 5,000 of the profit (if/when I make it) to charity

May the slaughter commence :)

Eyetrader

LOL same old cyners dryer than ever but he makes a valid point.

Can you make a living from 14 grand starting pot...... yes but you have to be able to goth both ways in the market ie, short aswell and I would probably stick to stocks only.

Strict discipline aswell more than anything, easier said than done.

Big problem coming up with stops, ie do you use them or do you risk being wiped out totaly if we get a terrorist attack.

My rules are something like this.....

- dont touch oilys and miners plus biotechs...too risky

- try and stay away from volatile stocks unless you are intraday trading

- never play a stock with a beta of one or higher

- make sure stop if used is far enough away from morning spike

- go for a target of 20% profit or higher if resistance is further away

- use level 2 for entry but if you havent this buy a stock when the spread is tightest and probably when a bout of selling has just taken place, try to get off to a good entry start, this helps to not play catch up later.

- dont go for a big spread stock where the bet size entry is bigger than your acceptable loss. you wont catch up in most cases

- never use more than 2% of your whole pot on one single bet, ie, thats as much as you are allowed to lose on your stop loss so position it accordingly

- make sure you dont overtrade and risk a margin call

- be carefull which 1/4trly bet you go for. If theres only a few weeks to go before expiry pick the later quarters bet even though you pay more in spread

- make sure you have a grasp of charts and TA

- always use ATR average true range on your charts..... this gives you idea of volatility

- read up on the companys results dates, ex divi dates trading statement dates etc etc.

- flog a stock before the news comes out day

- stick to a system and tweak it if needs be

- take a few days break and close out entitre portfolio every now and again

- dont get caught up in data watching or you will be panicked out of some positions

- cut losses fast and let winners run

- use trailing stops after a profit is established and move the stop in tighter , not too tight though

- at all times try to preserve capital base, your still in the game that way

- read as many books on trading as possible but dont over do it or youl end up with hyper tension and producing too much cortisol

- last but not least follow all goldfingers tips...... they are ace.

ps, keep an eye on inter market relationships.

remember we are a global economy now.

Goldfingerthats one hell of a rule bookmine is a little less complicatedback more winners than losers.lol

oooooooooops sorry yep forgot about that.

cheers.

Why do you need to have more winners than losers?

You dont do you.

Sometimes 2 or 3 will be enough if you cut losses quickly. (out of 10)

Goldfinger- Spot on! By the way take a bow acted on your HGM tip @ 100, closed @ 162, excellant call :O)

Exactly. As an example, you could average 40% winners and you would still make money overall if the average win size was more than 1.5 times the average loss size.

Yep spot on.

Probably missed other points in that list aswell hilary.

Im finding now that paying attention to intermarket relationships is a big big biggy.

more seriously .... because it is human nature to avoid biting the bullet so losses continue to mount .... also, stocks fall a lot quicker than they rise, so it's easy to be caught out ..... and finally, it's a truism that we take profits too early - even if, as i often say, no one ever went broke taking same

Yep excelent points cyners could you please add that to the char thread.

First time you have ever taken me seriousyou plonkers!!!

Probably a no brainer but also take into account spreadbetting companys spread and charts on entry and exit points from real time.

And avoid Tabbys horse tips

tab. i knew were you were coming from.

Cheers.

Goldfingerfrom my own perspective...I believe the key to success is research[risk accessing]conviction and disciplineI have nothing against trading as I have done it many years as a Bookmaker[when Jeff understandshe might make money on my selections] you also have to do your research but the conviction and discipline are totally differenthow many times do I hear on these bbs that a profit is a profitobviously true but you need that every time you are posed with constant changing circumstances that involve very small %squick decisions for a fast bucknearly all my investments are long termeither property or stocks or other collectables I use the same systemit has made me luckyI am not clever just follow a clever systemI have had a large punt on blnx @12p thanks to two peoplenow a full grown idiot could not have lost money on blnxbut? I know a trader that has achieved this on several occasionsits a tough game and one that I am not sufficiently smart enough to attemptI will stick to being a lucky thicko

Dont look a thicko to me tab, looks like you know what your doing well done.

Must say I have both a short term and long term portfolios and my investing methods are far different to my spreadbet metholodgy.

Now trading full time rather than investing part time after retiring at 50 a couple of years back.

Keep up the good work.

cheers.

Post from across the road at scrazie from sister thread re- to 14 grand trading account.

GF, I don't think 14k is enough to live off. Would be too much pressure for me to "get it right", to much pressure to over trade, I can't bring consistent returns throughout the year.

For me it would depend largely on other factors: does he have other income sources to cover food and living expenses, is he single, accommodation sorted, if so, then yes, I think 15k is plenty.

Personally I would want to own my own home and be running some other business on the side before going full time.


I would add to GFs list:

- Don't blindly follow tips, DYOR

- Tight spreads are crucial, esp when spread betting

- Get comfortable with charts

- Get comfortable with cash flow, reading general accounts etc (you might as well if this is going to be your job).


Possibly controversial and counter to GF:

- don't worry about beta, lots of money to be made on certain oilers, miners etc, esp when markets fall through support

- always use guaranteed stop losses for spread bets

- always use price alarms for stock positions, never trust the stop loss in your account

- always have a mobile device that can trade, use price alarms(!)

- never be 100% long

- if your fully leveraged and invested, stay very close to the screen and start taking profits

- don't invest everything in stocks

- set your entry, stop loss and profit targets before trade entry, make sure minimum 1:2 risk/profit ratio, use trailing stop loss

- don't overtrade, if you like a trade, use price alert to only buy at support and sell at resistance

- if the profit on your account looks too good to be true, it's probably time to take it, immediately!

- keep a record of trades, reasons opened, give the trade a rating betweem 1 and 10 how sure you are, give reason for closing, evaluate your trades some days later

- make sure the majority of your trades are with the market (trend is your friend)

- don't read individual stock threads,

- do read international press- int herald tribune or my preferred is FT

- use sentiment indicators to help spot turning points and qualify what you read and where you interpret the general market going

- never bet more than 2% of your account: except when the no brainers come along

- bet big on the no brainers (but remember they will not come around more than once maybe twice a year, it will likely be due to a macro trigger)

- don't be scared to get out of the market for weeks or months at a time

- another opportunity will always come, so don't worry if this one doesn't happen

Why does it need to be so complicated with loads of fancy rules? Whatever happened to kiss?

Well it is Spread betting with more risks than your normal broker account hilary.