Day Trading & Forex Forum

bluedental

I have recently started spread betting having spent months studying the subject. I started with £300 and within 1 week had lost the whole lot! My best position was £5 in profit. The rest just ran at losses even though I studied the charts for ages. I am concerened about putting more money into this without knowing if it really is as good as the companies say. I read on msn a recent survey of the spread betting firms that said 90% of traders lost their money and that companies such as IG index are seeing massive growth in their profits. Is there anybody out there actually making money spread betting?

wasp

Give it a couple more years and you may get the hang of it.

eagletower

£300 isn't enough to get you started in my opinion, i think a lot of people try trading with out doing adequte research and preparation. as the saying goes - fail to prepare , prepare to fail. I think there are porbably far more losers than winners, but what's most important to me is how I'm doing. I have more of a discilpined approach now and my trading is getting better, I tend to use more CFDs than spread betting, but use spread betting for positions i am holding for a few weeks, overall i am up but a fair bit on my account.
Good luck

gamma

Studying charts mean nothing if you don't know what you are doing, no amount of studying charts will help.
It would be worth your while to let us know what exactly you study in these study in these charts,
look at captain currency's thread or newtrons system it might help you.

wasp

I beg to differ.... looking at someone else's charts will teach little other than how they trade and possibly give you some ideas.

I cannot think of anything better for a newbie than spending 6 months studying charts. The only way imo you can truly lean and understand what it is you are actually watching is by, well, watching them, thinking about what is actually happening, who is behind it, why and where and how it moves etc is more important than someone elses methods.

Understanding the market and the players is the most vital first step imo.

Lee Shepherd

Bluedental,

Lets start off with the fact you say 'you've studied the markets for months'.

You know extremely little or next to nothing about trading. Sorry bud, if you did, you'd know that £300 just isn't enough. Also, if your reluctant to put more in because of rumours about people not making any money....why put any in at all?

You mention also, 'the rest just ran losses'......traders dont run losses, they run winners and cut losers.

At this moment in time you are in the majority that lose money by believing they've 'cracked it' or 'it aint that hard, the market only goes up and down' ect, hence why you gambled your dosh.

If you wish to change this and not be on the opposite side to a winner then you need to join them and have the experience they do. Trading takes many, many months to understand, let alone know enough to be successful, this takes years.

Good luck with your studies and research if this is the career you wish to succeed in.

Trading is easy....keeping your balance profitable is when it gets a little tricky.

0007

Is it spreadbetting that's your problem or could it be that you haven't yet developed a satisfactory trading system? If you don't understand how to trade then the vehicle you use is immaterial. If it's cost you only £300 to learn that then you have done well!

Plenty of good stuff on this forum to get you going in the right direction. Good luck (though good traders work on probability and luck shouldn't come into it).

__________________
0007 -
"A Gentleman should not be seen before mid-morning unless he is returning home from the night before"

bluedental

This is how I lost my money. I would look at FTSE 100 shares that had crossed their 40 day moving averages. Then I would look at the MACD to confirm the movement in that direction. I would then look at the candlestick chart for confirmation and also a guide to where to put the stop loss. Then the trade was placed and hey presto, it goes the other way and I lose!!

A friend of mine has been trading for years but will not spread bet, he says it is safer to actually buy the stock and then sell at a higher price and reckons the best way to lose money is to spread bet.

Any thoughts on this and my useless chart analysis method?