any successful spread betters here?

[Parish]

Are there any courses that are worth the money??

Also you can "play" with spread betting on a virtual simulation with real time prices on tradindex.com.

This is where i have my account until i learn the ropes a bit more. I'm thinking of moving to finspreads because of the platform they have.

I can't really believe that you need thousands to get started. But then i'm a newb so what do i know.

PS
Anyone know any good books to start me off. I seen some on amazon for about £60.00 and i don't really wanna pay that much for a book i'm only going to refer to now and then

Cheers

 

[andrewmooton]

swing trading by mark rivaland is supposed to be good, although i've never read it myself.

 

[BeanCounter]

PS
Anyone know any good books to start me off. I seen some on amazon for about £60.00 and i don't really wanna pay that much for a book i'm only going to refer to now and then

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications by John Murphy is referred to in TA as the Bible. I got it around a week ago and it is excellent.. pretty comprehensive view of everything you'll need to get you started (its around £50: but you'll be able to pick up a second hand copy for less).

Get the study guide if you can as well.. gives you a methodical way of working through it.

But if your really on a budget, read through this thread first:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=4629

Its an excellent thread to get you into the basics:I found it quite good to read as it demonstrates that even when people know a lot of TA methodologies, theres more than one way of looking at things

 

[MysticalTrader]

A question

I have arrived at the conclusion that of all the Spread Betting companies in UK, the best oine (so far) is Capital Spreads. I have seen a nunber of threads which recommend going through a direct dealer (FXCM, Forex.com, Oanda are the 3 I have been looking at) rather than SB companies.

I have wondered what benefits I could get by going thorugh (for example Oanda) which I do not get using (say) Capital Spreads. So far as I can see, they are:

24 hour trading
No minimum trade size (in case of Oanda)
Better trading platform (esp in case of Oanda)
Possibly faster filling of orders.

It seems the margin I have seen on Oanda (typically 5pt for cable on their demo system) is comparable with CS, so my question for you guys is: what other benefits are there from dealing with Oanda over CS?

All comments and advice welcome.

MT

 

[dailydow]

i reguarly frequent forex chat rooms the best one being global-view there are some great posters there and not so great ones.
When a big news inspired price spike occours then they are all complaining that there companies stopped them didnt fill them took ages to fill then slippped loads and lots more complaints. They do not use spreadbet companies but companies like cms and onanda.

so i think you will find that all companies are up to the same supposed tricks.

a few months ago the price on everything reversed dramticallly 200 plus points and i had a stop and reverse order in for 20 pounds on chf euro and gbp about 40 poiints from before the news my orders were all filled perfectly by deal for free all be it after a 10 minute delay.
but in the chatroom there was blue murder being called.

I have never had a problem with them and my trade size averages 20 per point spreads are even a little smaller than most of these real companies and follow them perfectly. so i sometimes struggle to see why there is so much complaining here is it because 95 % of people lose in spreadbet so lots of disgruntled customers losing there life savings and wanting to blame someone apart from them selves hmm

and i must agree here with jonnyt forex really does rule

 

[dailydow]

mystical

cmc spreadbet
24 hour dealing
£1 minimum
great platform
never had a slow fill
no tax
3 points spread on yen euro gbp
4 on the chf
forex is a great trending market with some nice 100 pip moves relatively easy to take with a few sloping support resistance trend lines drawn on an hourly chart. people should stop struggling against d4f with shares and indices and join the forex train.
i can honestly say that i havent looked at an index since i strted trading succesfully forex.

 

[andrewmooton]

mystical

cmc spreadbet
24 hour dealing
£1 minimum
great platform
never had a slow fill
no tax
3 points spread on yen euro gbp
4 on the chf
forex is a great trending market with some nice 100 pip moves relatively easy to take with a few sloping support resistance trend lines drawn on an hourly chart. people should stop struggling against d4f with shares and indices and join the forex train.
i can honestly say that i havent looked at an index since i strted trading succesfully forex.

would you care to share any of your strategies with us?

how many pips on average are you getting per day?

 

[MysticalTrader]

well, the experience with D4F differs from mine but hey, if it aint broke why fix it?

I agree it would be useful to learn if you feel able to share strategies...

MT

would you care to share any of your strategies with us?

how many pips on average are you getting per day?

 

[dailydow]

forex is a great trending market with some nice 100 pip moves relatively easy to take with a few sloping support resistance trend lines drawn on an hourly chart.

keep a 2/3 day hourly chart running and connect the highs and lows and you will be amazed how perfectly forex markets rise and fall to hit these lines and reverse . set a stop 30 pips above the line to stop the breakouts cleaning you out and run the profits for 100+ pips.

anyone who wants to learn forex should foprget all the indicators that are talked about even mas as they all lag price leads so study these hourly charts and see the reaction at the sloping support resistance lines and when you have a good feel for them then trade.

i use limit sells and buys a lot to enter what this does for me is gives me patience something i think a lot of people lack. i will wait for the market come to my limit buy or sell position and not chase the market and entering at places with have no importance.

previous levels of importance to wacth for are previous major lows and highs and horizontal support resitance double tops and bottoms.

anywaythis is all i do and i look to take 250 pips per week i trade 8 pairs

 

[dailydow]

mt you seem to be on the right track with some of your posts and charts on the other thread i would say though that the 1 min chart is not such a good forex chart and you will never be able to leave the screen .
hourly and 4 hour charts are the way teaching you patience and lowering the amount of trades you make.

a major account cleaner in this game is overtrading have done it myself .
also raising your stake level
was short the dow 2 years ago with a position that was to big for my account but i was being cocky and had had a good run then green span raised or lowered interset rates unexpecdely between meetings i think the first one he done and dow shot up 400 points in less than 30 minutes no stops credit account wiped me out for the whole year.
lesson leanrt the hard way

 

[MysticalTrader]

Thanks, that is very encouraging. I also bear the scars of no stops. Gold dropped $17 with me holding ridiculous amounts on long. Not a good day. One other disastrous day when the bottom fell out of CDWC, I panicked and took the hit, only to see CDWC regain the losses the next day! A real ******* of a day. Apart from those 2 though I am only about £6k down in a year and a bit so I think I am lucky really, I understand a good education in this game can be much more expensive!

Uncannily, your strategy is almost exacty the strategy that has been emerging for me as well. I think it suits me psychologically because I get fretful when I cant see what is happening, and I am even mor fretful holding an overnight position. So I am encouraged even more by knowing someone is using the strategy to make money!!!. I have to learn not to be too mean and miserable with my limits and stops though, that is the last remaining thing I need to get right I think.

MT
QUOTE=dailydow]mt you seem to be on the right track with some of your posts and charts on the other thread i would say though that the 1 min chart is not such a good forex chart and you will never be able to leave the screen .

hourly and 4 hour charts are the way teaching you patience and lowering the amount of trades you make.

a major account cleaner in this game is overtrading have done it myself .
also raising your stake level
was short the dow 2 years ago with a position that was to big for my account but i was being cocky and had had a good run then green span raised or lowered interset rates unexpecdely between meetings i think the first one he done and dow shot up 400 points in less than 30 minutes no stops credit account wiped me out for the whole year.
lesson leanrt the hard way[/QUOTE]

 

[Dave1971]

anywaythis is all i do and i look to take 250 pips per week i trade 8 pairs

DD
Sorry if this is a silly question but I have heard reference to it before and can't quite understand it. What do you mean by 'pairs'? I spreadbet at the moment just running a single long or short based on some of the forex ideas I have gained from the generous johhnyT and others on T2W amongst my other trades.

Many thanks

Dave1971

 

[Parish]

is it a fair assumption tha the FTSE100 nearly always drops in the first half hour of every day.



#PJ#

 

[Buk]

the "pairs" are the terms used for the Forex pairings traded...ie : euro/dollar...gpb/dollar....

they're referred to as pairs or crosses.

 

[Parish]

I believe this to be where investors are trying to free up capital

#PJ#

 

[stevet]

Parish

if you make assumptions - you will lose when you trade - unless you have a few years full time profitable trading behind you

 

[MysticalTrader]

Haven't had any thoughts on my post earlier today. I need to make a decision, can anyone tell what benefits I would gain by going to Oanda instead of continuing with Capital Spreads?

Advice/thoughts/comments very welcome.

MT

I have arrived at the conclusion that of all the Spread Betting companies in UK, the best oine (so far) is Capital Spreads. I have seen a nunber of threads which recommend going through a direct dealer (FXCM, Forex.com, Oanda are the 3 I have been looking at) rather than SB companies.

I have wondered what benefits I could get by going thorugh (for example Oanda) which I do not get using (say) Capital Spreads. So far as I can see, they are:

24 hour trading
No minimum trade size (in case of Oanda)
Better trading platform (esp in case of Oanda)
Possibly faster filling of orders.

It seems the margin I have seen on Oanda (typically 5pt for cable on their demo system) is comparable with CS, so my question for you guys is: what other benefits are there from dealing with Oanda over CS?

All comments and advice welcome.

MT

 

[darrenf]

Haven't had any thoughts on my post earlier today. I need to make a decision, can anyone tell what benefits I would gain by going to Oanda instead of continuing with Capital Spreads?

Advice/thoughts/comments very welcome.

MT

Just caught up with this thread and thought I would comment.

Firstly, I would agree with dailydows comments re cmc/d4f. I have used them relatively pain free and yes their spreads are low, even compared to "real" fx brokers (cmc also offer "real" fx trading with identical spreads I think). However, their spreadbet dealing platform is not a patch on the likes of fxcm who I have also just opened an account with.

The problem with cmc really is apparent if you can not spend a lot of time in front of the screen as you must manually enter all your stop losses etc to positions one opened. Also, it can take several minutes sometimes to confirm a trade and you don't know if you've actually been filled which can be just a tad frustrating, particularly for shorter term trades.

A platform like fxcm (or many others including oanda) allows you to set your entry positions to the market, attach stops and limits to orders and walk away until such time that you would wish to check on any open positions. Also, customer service at fxcm seems much better than cmc who just seem uninterested and leave you feeling fobbed off most of the time. That said, these problems do not seem to exist at capital spreads.

All in all, I would continue to trade with cmc if I could spend more time monitoring positions as spreads are tight and profits (sb) tax free. Never really had a problem with fills etc.

FXCM are a real fx broker and allow much more flexibility on orders which I can set for the day and walk away.

That said, capital spreads say they soon will have "if done" order capabilities which will provide this sort of flexibility. I will also be giving them a try when this is available.

Overall, I would suggest opening accounts with a few and see how you like each one. You may find that you like one for certain types of trades and another for the rest. I have two accounts now, probably soon to be three. It's taken me over a year to take the plunge and open a 2nd though!

 

[JonnyT]

FXCM is not a real broker, it is a bucket shop.

They make their own prices so are more like a market maker. There are threads on moneytec and elite trader that suggest that FXCM don't honour stops etc around news times.

They also apparently don't let you trade frequently during a day.

A real broker doesn't take the opposite side of the market to you.

That said they do have attractions for swing trading or a single trade per day.

JonnyT

 

[MysticalTrader]

many thanks for that, very valuable and I hadnt realised they are market makers (probably because I am a newbie).


I am probably going with Oanda. Anyone have experience of them? Do thy behave as one would expect with stops etc and at volatile times?

MT

FXCM is not a real broker, it is a bucket shop.

They make their own prices so are more like a market maker. There are threads on moneytec and elite trader that suggest that FXCM don't honour stops etc around news times.

They also apparently don't let you trade frequently during a day.

A real broker doesn't take the opposite side of the market to you.

That said they do have attractions for swing trading or a single trade per day.

JonnyT