Hello traders!

In the US tonight, the Dow fell 97.41 to 11,076.18 after having risen as much as 77.25 early in the session. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.57 to 2,060.28, though the index had gained 1.8% in early trading on the strength of Cisco's earnings. The large-cap S&P500 lost 5.53 at 1,265.95.

See you in the morning with the latest....

G.

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 29.91 points at 17,316.67, while the Nikkei was recently down 33.62 points at 15,622.97.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, was at $76.25 a barrel, down 10 cents from its close of $76.35 in US trading overnight.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all.

Good morning all

I'm not sure that I shall spreadbet today.

News about the higher security alert means too much uncertainty.

The market could go either way from here

Morning All,

Point taken LW, but some great buying opo's today and tomorrow depending on what happens when the dow opens at 2.30 today. IMHO.

Just wish i had more cash to play with at the moment.

Stan - have you got 100?

You can open a spreadbet account, and "short" shares (selling first, on the basis they will drop and then buy back later at the lower price).

Some accounts let you "play/bet" with only 1p!

Not much profit but great fun, and a good learning experience

Short DJI and UKX

Looked at S/B, CFD's but always shied away becuase i don't like the principle of being in debt.

Take your point about pennies but as i say debt just turns me right off.

...There you are thats me LW.

Stan - I don't understand - being in debt?

I'm not in debt in my spreadbet account. (Harder on a CFD account, which is why I don't trade CFD's)

I always make sure I have spare margin so if a bet goes against me, I have enough spare cash to cover it and never leave positions open which can "wipe me out" when I am not watching.

My mistake LW, i thought that debt was a feature of S/B.

Another thing is the speed of movements in these things and again the principal of betting.

I don't actually like betting on the stockmarket I prefer risk taking where the stockmarket is concerned.

..Again it's just the way I'm built -o)

That ok, I understand.

I must admit, I just use it to have some fun, and learn more about the market in a way I could not just buying shares. If I make money, its just more to play with. If I lose - I try to learn form it.

If I was risking more than my original 100 stake, I'd most likely not do it at all.

Depending on a email i'm waiting to get i may be attending a S/B seminar tonight in Birmingham.

Like you i am always looking at ways to learn about these things.

Thats great stan

Make sure you ask lots of questions. And get them to actually show you everything in action.

I made a few silly mistakes in the early day. I didn't realise about the difference between the "rolling" positions and the actual dates fixed positions where to - and then theres what happens when a share goes ex div....

OK Thanks LW, will try and understand things tonight if I am still going.

Stan. you don't need to go into Debt to operate a Spreadbet
or CFD account.

The ability to use margin is available in either account, but you don't
have to use it, it isn't mandatory. :-)

This is why most new traders using Spreadbets or CFD's come unstuck.
Instead of treating the accounts as an alternative investment means,
and trading the same as they would with Real shares through
a standard broker, they act like kids in a sweetshop, change their investing
style, and margin themselves up above their fighting weight.

They don't calculate the Real exposure of their margined positions,
and either they get wiped out on a sudden correction, or they slowly lose
their pot in a form of chinese water torture, because they have to tighten
stops up, (to limit exposure), that invariably get hit during normal market
fluctuations, thus slowly bleeding their pot away by being taken out of
positions that would go into profit if given room to breathe.

Don't take position sizes above your normal comfort zone. Either the above
will happen, or you will find your self freezing, unable to take trades, because
you are frightened of the level of exposure.

Trade the same as usual, with the added ability to go short if you wish to.
You can build on your normal strategy by, say, buying your stocks as usual
via your normal broker, and in bearish times you may choose to hedge your
long stock positions by using a suitably sized Index short position via a
Spreadbet or CFD position.

Bottom line is, don't change a winning method/strategy just because you
are trading using a Spreadbet/CFD medium and always be aware of your
Real exposure, not just your margin requirement.

Thanks MB, further food for thought.

Midday Market Roundup

End-of-day Market Summary

Greystone, It's good to see Croc's 'spirit' is still watching over us all! A great guy...

So, after all that is Spread Bet or CFD's better?