So, what do you trade?

[samills70]

Hey everyone again!!

Sorry, I'm going to be asking a million questions here cause I'm "fresh meat" (ah I miss diablo 2). Anwyayz, I was just wondering what you guys personally (on a trader to trader basis) trade? Of course I'm sure there exceptions but from what I've been reading people normally start to trade certain stocks because it fits their personalities. Personally I'm all over the show at the moment, can't decide what to trade exactly. I have read on the web that if you're going to take trading seriously you have to start only trading in a couple of areas like say gold and oil and get to know the personality of the stock. Is this the best idea or is it just better to stream through the charts scanning for doji's like an eagle? And of course, the original question, what do you guys personally trade and why those particular areas? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SvenFoster]

hi again

I trade retail Forex through a forex broker, did stock, spreadbetting, fx and settled on FX.

If your starting out i'd say sit down and have a think about; how often you will trade, when, how long will you hold positions, do you have interests in anything particular; programming, maths, economics, poker, news?

If you look at these questions that will help you choose. The worst thing you can do is randomly jump here there and everywhere chasing the gold. Think before and then stick with it long enough to learn/master it or decide its not for you.

hey i'm feeling generous today.

 

[samills70]

tnx again sven, you seem to insighting me to the extreme, keep it coming

Yeah I see what you mean, I do come from an IT background so I might look at technology but one thing I'll definitely stay away from is brent crude, yikes, got stopped out, 19 points in 1 tick. That's definitely the heavyweight division, not for juniors like me

As far as trading I would like to do it full time so I'm spending every spare minute reading and learning about the markets and playing with my demo account. I really don't see spreads being profitable over time, more likely to get stopped out depending on circumstances. So my idea is basically keep an ear out for bad news like the grim reaper, so really that for the fundamentals, and then stick with trades that swing just enough to be profitable but not erratic. I'm really liking the ftse so far, no major surprises and it follows text book trends pretty well

Slow and steady wins the race!!

 

[ffsear]

I spreadbet on Fx. Before fx i tried trading UK shares, but I came to the conclusion that if you are not on a city trading floor, plugged into the rumor mill, then its pointless. I just could not get Technical Analysis to work on UK Shares.

Saying that, I had more sucess trading US shares, but when it comes to spread betting, the spreads are just to wide for a day/swing trader.

 

[andy101]

Hi Everyone, just found this forum and been reading a lot of the posts, and I must say it's got some great advice and a really friendly vibe. I've been trading the FTSE on technical analysis alone and I found that if you study the charts, over time you get more success.

It's getting used to the ebb and flow. Of course I still get surprised. Remember the market is never wrong.

What I'm trying to say is the more you work with a security, you get to know it's mechanics and your percentages go up.

 

[newward]

I'm trading the daily FTSE through IG, mainly off of the back of news, and looking for upward, and downward trends. My TA needs to develop. Made nearly £300 from £50 this week, without being stopped out any day. I'll find my feet through spread betting because of the low costs on start up, then I intend to move into DMA/level 2 access, if I attain the level of £2000 profit, by end of June, that I have set myself. I nearly got stung badly on Friday. Went long ahead of the non farm figures, with the thought markets would go up,because of a better figure than last month. Market tanked, and everyone was selling off of the highs.. valuable lesson learned. This week is all about TA, and developing a trading plan for myself. Made redundant from a middle office in a massive Swiss bank, and the job market doesn't show any signs of opening up soon. For me, its shi* or bust!

 

[samills70]

scuse my ignorance newward but you said "Went long ahead of the non farm figures", what are these farm figures you speak of? (lol sounds like I should be in a lord of the rings movie with that question )

 

[newward]

non farm payroll is a monthly US figure for unemployment. Its a key figure at any time, but even more so this month. 7.5 m unemployed since the beginning of the US recession in 2007ish. I believe its like the white collar/retail type workers registering as unemployed. Its been around 650k new each month for the past few months, but it was under 600 this month, so I figured that would be good for sentiment in the market, and the index would go up. But it looked like everyone had already factored it in, and the market got sold off, instead of going up.. hard week to trade, what with the BofE interest rate, the ECB rates, the stress tests etc.. I called it right every time this week, without doing much TA.. more of a gut feeling..not necessarily advisable, but it worked for me. Should the market settle this week, I realise I will have do much deeper analysis in terms of looking for retracements, and indicators etc.

 

[forexhardtrader]

UK banking sector shares were down in Tuesday trading, following on the back of sharp falls on Monday.

 

[CityMasterTrader]

Hey everyone again!!

Sorry, I'm going to be asking a million questions here cause I'm "fresh meat" (ah I miss diablo 2). Anwyayz, I was just wondering what you guys personally (on a trader to trader basis) trade? Of course I'm sure there exceptions but from what I've been reading people normally start to trade certain stocks because it fits their personalities. Personally I'm all over the show at the moment, can't decide what to trade exactly. I have read on the web that if you're going to take trading seriously you have to start only trading in a couple of areas like say gold and oil and get to know the personality of the stock. Is this the best idea or is it just better to stream through the charts scanning for doji's like an eagle? And of course, the original question, what do you guys personally trade and why those particular areas? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

I have got few stocks that I look at , which are mainly banks and miners (they tend to be to most volatile) and I try to focus on these as much as I can as you tend to get to know levels that could provide decent long and short opportunities. And the fact that I am a short term trader (1 day to 1 week) so need the stocks that move. Also by following only a few stocks in a few sectors you get to understand what moves them . Obviously the downside here is that you may miss opportunities elsewhere! I do keep my eyes open for other opportunities that jump out at me away from the few stocks I look at but having too many stocks, for me, can be a bit counterproductive.
I also trade the index itself, mainly FTSE100 but have been known to trade the Dax and Dow, however these are pretty damn volatile and you can get hurt if things go against you – and quickly!
Well that’s my personal preference, I’m sure others will have many conflicting views.
Good Luck!