Help and advise before I blow £2k

I posted the below on the introduce yourself subforum, but since I would appreciate some advise that relates to spreadbetting, though I would repost it here
I am eager to learn and willing to devote time.

Hi all,

I have just got into spread betting quite recently.

I received in February what appeared to be a rather generous offer from paddyypower to cover my losses up t0 £400 for opening their trader a/c. (fyi I previously had a very small betting a/c with them....total losses to date £80, it just was a fun Saturday football bet a/c I used when they had good odds as I noted on betbrain and oddschecker)

Anyway after being up and down for a few weeks, I had to call in the £400 loses from paddypower and they refunded it in minutes from the time of my request.
Well I set off again and I have now ran up £1800 of profit in 4 weeks, mainly on US indices.

I came across this forum by accident searching for info and education on spreadbetting.

From reading many threads on this forum over the last few days (which I have really enjoyed and also very thankful for all the advise of experience), I now realize.
1. I have no strategy and was trading on hunches and effectively gambling.
2. Made mistakes of setting stop losses too close
3. Did not cut loses in time...moved stop loss to give losers "another chance/time"
4. Was way overtrading v my bankroll...but got lucky
+ probably other mistakes that have not registered with me

So thanks to this forum I am certain I need to get a strategy and gameplan together before I blow the almost £2k.

I have read all the threads and posts on Mr Spreadbettings system, trader333 and trader_dantes review plus others, and I am thinking of buying it from my gains. However I am unsure if I should just buying the original package, which is now £89 or go the whole hog and get the PDP as well. Any advise here would be appreciated.

Also I am looking at moving away from paddypower, as tighter spreads appear to be on offer elsewhere...I am considering twowayspreads and Shortsandlong. At the worst I get another freeroll from their introductory offers.

Finally I have rarely posted on any forum before, so if this misposting is misplaced or I botch posting protocal in some way please bear with me.

TRIPLE YOUR DEMO ACC TWICE before trade with real money... i guess.. you wont listen to my advice anyway..

everyonerich said:

TRIPLE YOUR DEMO ACC TWICE before trade with real money... i guess.. you wont listen to my advice anyway..

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It's not bad advice although he could do that in just 2 trades if he gets lucky so I would add "while applying strict money management rules".

The market has a habit of teaching very expensive and humbling lessons especially to newbies. I just wonder whether you are ready to bet the type of money you are trading with. You mentioned 400 pounds of losses and then 1800 pounds win. Unless you have a proven trading methodology, you may be closer to that 2k loss that you dread about than you think.

Trade small size over a considerable period of time to achieve:
1. Priceless experience
2. Statistically significant results.
3. Build self-confidence.
Richard

Mr Spreadbetting's system may be very good for all I know.
However, for no money at all, you could read Trader_Dante's "Making Money Trading" thread.
It wouldn't cost you any money but it would cost you many hours of time and effort,as you will want to re-read it several times. Best not to actively trade while studying it; paper trade or demo by all means.

See how it works out for you. If it does not work out for you, you could always then look at Mr S, or something similar. But what you will have learned from T_D will stand you in good stead, and probably help you to use any future system you might come across with more knowledge and confidence.

All,
Thanks all for the advice...so here is the plan.

1. Put the real money a/c on ice for the moment.
2. Finish trader_dantes Making Money thread and understand and paper trade.
3. Read Malcolm Pryors book on spreadbetting
4 Trade only at 2% risk level on any trade on my demo a/c to eliminate variance. I recognise looking back I got my real money a/c gains on some home runs
5. On charts....I downloaded Stockfinder as a trial...but struggling with using it. I need to sort this out and improve my technical understanding. Is this a good product or should I demo anything else?

Trade small at first stick to a strategy and a maximum loss limit.
You really need more time trading dummy money.
Imagine for one week that the dummy money is real and see how it goes ?
Then decide.

A demo account is good for getting to know the platform. Too much paper trading will definitely hurt your trading on an emotional basis, when the real trading starts. I would say the best thing is to get a real account, smallest stakes possible, maybe in another currency besides the sterling pound or a CFDs account with micro lots.

gle101 said:

A demo account is good for getting to know the platform. Too much paper trading will definitely hurt your trading on an emotional basis, when the real trading starts. I would say the best thing is to get a real account, smallest stakes possible, maybe in another currency besides the sterling pound or a CFDs account with micro lots.

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gle 101

i agree with you. Because trading on a simulator dosent hurt you when you loosing/or when your position goes against you. Its when you really learn.