Help

[guess121]

Hi,

I think need some help, direction, as I have read loads of stuff on here and pdfs, all good, but I am struggling to get anywhere.

I am looking to open and close at least one trade a week, probably in total do, 2/3 trades per week in total.

Can someone help me with a strategy, or point me in the right direction?

I have read a bit on volume and price and read a few threads on it, don't know whether I should use indicators or not ot what type's as it just tends to throw me after a while.

What kind of time frames should be looking at, to open and close a trade within a week?

Thanks!

 

[JillyB]

Hi Guess,

Welcome to the site.

Quick question for you - what are you looking to trade for your 2-3 trades a week? Equities, Forex, Options?
It would just help us, so that we can point you in the direction of something that will be of use to you.

 

[guess121]

Hi Gill,

I am thinking of going into options/futures side of things (spread betting, CFDs - I take this comes that section - I am kinda new and doing my research as you can probably tell :cheesy: )

Thanks,
Guess.

 

[JillyB]

Hi Guess,

Ok, options/futures - well I suppose to start with you could look at the articles in the Knowledge Lab on options and futures. Hopefully they should give you some pointers and direction.

Are you wanting to trade using Technical Analysis or Fundamental analysis?
Breakout trading, or swing trading?

As far as strategies go for trading - Investopedia have this page as well

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/

However over the few years I've been trading, I've found though that there is no substitute for putting in the hours and getting to know the product that you want to trade. Open a demo account - a lot of cfd companies have them now - and practice various strategies, until you find something that you're comfortable with. It's not just about the trades and the strategy, but it's also about money management. How much do you feel comfortable losing? Not just as a percentage of your account (which should only be 1-2% per trade) but in actual money terms?

I once looked at a strategy that had a really high win rate - over 95% - but the risk to reward was 200 pip risk to 30 reward. Even though overall it would be profitable, I just couldn't live with the thought of the 200 pip risk.

At the moment you probably need to try a few different things - what you think may suit your trading personality, may not be the style you actually feel comfortable trading.

Hope this helps.

 

[guess121]

Hi Jill,

At the moment, I am using Trend Analysis and Volume really and based on this, I am predicting which way the market is going to turn, if I can see anything based a lot on S&R and little on candlesticks, where this can be used.

I have setup a 'play' account on www.bullbearings.co.uk, and noticed something this morning.

If you see below, I did a manual close on the below this morning, though when I look closely and checked the prices, the prices never reach that point on the stock market, am I right in assuming that something is wrong here?

Order # Time & Date Bet Details P/L
3101223 15/05/07 08:16 CLOSE BET £100 per point on BA. (415.08) £2,304.00
3101221 15/05/07 08:16 CLOSE BET £100 per point on BP. (530.06) £2,782.00

3097953 14/05/07 10:21 SELL BET £100 per point on BA. (438.12) £0.00
3097493 14/05/07 09:39 SELL BET £100 per point on BP. (557.88) £0.00

If so, do you know of any good Fantasy Trading sites?

Thanks,
Guess

 

[JillyB]

Hi Jill,

At the moment, I am using Trend Analysis and Volume really and based on this, I am predicting which way the market is going to turn, if I can see anything based a lot on S&R and little on candlesticks, where this can be used.

I have setup a 'play' account on www.bullbearings.co.uk, and noticed something this morning.

If you see below, I did a manual close on the below this morning, though when I look closely and checked the prices, the prices never reach that point on the stock market, am I right in assuming that something is wrong here?

Order # Time & Date Bet Details P/L
3101223 15/05/07 08:16 CLOSE BET £100 per point on BA. (415.08) £2,304.00
3101221 15/05/07 08:16 CLOSE BET £100 per point on BP. (530.06) £2,782.00

3097953 14/05/07 10:21 SELL BET £100 per point on BA. (438.12) £0.00
3097493 14/05/07 09:39 SELL BET £100 per point on BP. (557.88) £0.00

If so, do you know of any good Fantasy Trading sites?

Thanks,
Guess

The Bullbearings site is one I started with, but found it a bit limiting - I don't know where they get their data feed from so - if they could be a bit like Yahoo! with strange high and low values.

Look at IG markets - they have demo accounts available. I'm just trialing their forex one and it has really good chart information. It's free for 14 days - but then you can just re-register. CMC also do cfd's and have a good trading platform with charts.

I find these better than Bullbearings as these are the companies you will (maybe) actually trading with, so it gives you a good idea of what they are like and how you will actually use their platforms.

The charts they provide have a whole array of indicators including volume ( i think) so you can trial different strategies.

 

[guess121]

Thanks for that Jill, I thought that I was going mad, but I am going to look really at Volume, Trend and Price... I don't really look at indicators (may be to confirm what I am thinking - but then again is it just an indication that I want to see, I dunno... there's load to this).

I did my first trade with and made £5 profit, not bad for a couple of hours, I mean I don't think my bank will give me £5 if I lend them £500 for 3/4 hours, doesn't seem much - bit it's a start.

)

What indicators do you use and look at?

 

[guess121]

I need to work on my typing and faces