Living from Spreadbetting

[JimboH]

Hi guys!

Just out of curiousity, is there anyone out there who makes a living from spreadbetting alone?

The reason I'm asking is because I've been trading shares and spreadbetting on a small scale for just over a year now and I'm looking at a potenital career. I'm still on a steep learning curve and enjoy the intellectual challenge (even though it feels at times like I'm trying to decipher the meaning of life! )

Also can anyone give me a realistic starting capital too? I'm 20 years old and don't have alot of savings but I'm planning on working a few years first to get enough money to start up properly.

Just a bit of extra info, I've got a trading plan and follow it strictly (it's not that good, but its a start) and since I'm young I've decided I can have quite a high risk tolerance to try and amount money faster in the early stages.

Thanks in advance!

 

[malaguti]

Just out of curiousity, is there anyone out there who makes a living from spreadbetting alone?

Yes, my wife. I work, but she makes a living out of the trading strategy I came up with. She earns more now than she did when she worked as an interior designer

Also can anyone give me a realistic starting capital too? I'm 20 years old and don't have alot of savings but I'm planning on working a few years first to get enough money to start up properly.

You dont need alot. we started with 300. I had a trading strategy that I had tested and was comfortable with. When that doubled, we added the bet size, that doubled again etc etc. Then lo and behold you have built up a trading capital. Its simple rubbish that somebody might say you need £'000s. If your strategy is good enough, 300, 100 even should be enough.

Just a bit of extra info, I've got a trading plan and follow it strictly (it's not that good, but its a start) and since I'm young I've decided I can have quite a high risk tolerance to try and amount money faster in the early stages.
I

I had a trading plan, it was strict, and it was very good based on backtesting and then forward testsing. if I had lost that initial 300 I would have realised very very quickly I needed another one. I have tolerance to risk, but only to the extent my backtesting and then demo trading confirmed. Nothing more.

Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

 

[BeginnerJoe]

Don't gamble, get a job. Even the guy above who is making money non-stop, left and right, in demo and stuff have to work. When you have little and gamble it away, you could very quickly be living under a bridge some place. Of course if you have a nice mum, she may keep you under her protective wings until you are 45.

Also consider becoming a trading trainer. You can make 7k+ per student.

 

[malaguti]

Of course if you have a nice mum, she may keep you under her protective wings until you are 45.

Talking from experience Joe :cheesy:

 

[JimboH]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Glad to hear that it is possible to be successful at spreadbetting, thanks malaguti. I've been trading on a similar scale to what you had started with although I have only recently applied my trading plan, so I'm yet to see how it performs. Having said that, I believe even the worst trading strategies when combined with good risk management can give a trader an advantage against the markets.

Do you mind me asking malaguti how your wife manages the capital she makes, i.e. does she take a regular wage, or does she let it amount, etc?

Thanks too Beginner Joe, I appreciate the word of warning and I suppose there is really no substitute for a job. However, where I live there are very little opportunities for a career with promising prospects and I've recently dropped out of university so I'd just like to see how far I can make it trading since it's something I'm passionate about.

 

[Shakone]

You dont need alot. we started with 300. I had a trading strategy that I had tested and was comfortable with. When that doubled, we added the bet size, that doubled again etc etc. Then lo and behold you have built up a trading capital. Its simple rubbish that somebody might say you need £'000s. If your strategy is good enough, 300, 100 even should be enough.

Depends on circumstance. If you have someone else to pay for all your bills and living costs while you trade, then you can maybe start with a small amount. Otherwise you do need thousands. 50k and plenty of skill and experience and you might be able to live comfortably from it, IMO

 

[malaguti]

Depends on circumstance. If you have someone else to pay for all your bills and living costs while you trade, then you can maybe start with a small amount. Otherwise you do need thousands. 50k and plenty of skill and experience and you might be able to live comfortably from it, IMO

Granted, my wife had someone to support her..but it didn't take that long to become sustainable. We started for real having done alot of homework first. There is that period which every one of us (traders) needs to go through. So whilst anyone is learning, they are living off their own means. My wife was no different.
Do you start with £000s thinking you will learn along the way? possibly not And where did you get these £000s to put down in the first place that you are willing to blow it all away..surely you must be self supportive to afford to risk these thousands in the first place?
Im not negating however what you say Shakone, but I question anyone who really has to start with 000s. of course just my opinion.

 

[malaguti]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Do you mind me asking malaguti how your wife manages the capital she makes, i.e. does she take a regular wage, or does she let it amount, etc?

Hey Jimbo, no she doesn't take a regular wage. As Shakone quite rightly points out, she is supported. What we do might seem a little strange, but its never been to try and make millions, it was always a second income.
Very often we take out of the broker, and start from scratch again in another. This makes sure that the strategy is still performing OK, and that we dont start getting "blacklisted" from brokers doing weird things..we found this with IG especially and learnt that lesson quickly. So we take out a bit for her to live off, we invest a bit more with ISAs etc and build a little more that way. So we try and build as we go along, rather than attempting to do £00s per point on the FTSE for example. I just dont trust "Service providers" and then the internet can and will drop off and thats not a risk Im willing to take.
Hope this helps.

 

[JimboH]

Thanks for the info guys.

I think I'll have to continue to trade around my current job for now, which shouldn't be too bad since the style of trading I prefer is trend/swing.

I know that the question I'm about to ask can be compared to 'how long a length of string is', but what is a realistic average weekly percentage return on capital that someone of my experience can expect to make? That is assuming that i'll be making money in the first place!

 

[timsk]

I know that the question I'm about to ask can be compared to 'how long a length of string is', but what is a realistic average weekly percentage return on capital that someone of my experience can expect to make? That is assuming that i'll be making money in the first place!

Hi Jimbo,
These FAQs will tell you pretty much all you need to know in answer to this and a few other related questions:
How Much Money Does a Trader Need To Start Trading?
Realistically, How much Money can I Expect to Make?
How Long Does it Take to Make a Stable Income from Trading?
The key thing to take on board with all these types of questions is that there is no average. At least, if there was, it would be that you're unlikely ever to make a penny and you'll probably lose the money you have! There is a gaping great big chasm between what is theoretically possible (and achieved by a very exclusive elite few) and the reality for most traders.
Enjoy!
Tim.

 

[ZEN archer]

I know that the question I'm about to ask can be compared to 'how long a length of string is', but what is a realistic average weekly percentage return on capital that someone of my experience can expect to make? That is assuming that i'll be making money in the first place!

Hi Jimbo

I would check the performance for the last 6 months and try to find the average. That's what you can realistically expect assuming that your system, way of trading (r/r, stake etc.), your level of performance, broker and market conditions stay the same. If any of them changes (which happens intermittently) you need to change your expectations.

BTW Less than 5% of those who try manage to break even or make profit. Some of the best performing funds manage 20 - 30% per year.

Good luck:clover:

 

[JimboH]

Thanks Tim!

I've read the links and found them very interesting. Appears that I'll have to change my attitude towards trading and nip my 'get rich quick attitude' in the bud and focus more on sustained growth to try and be part of that exclusive 10%! Anyway I suppose any profit, no matter how small, is a success!

Thanks again

 

[JimboH]

Thanks too ZEN archer

I havnt really been able to backtest my trading strategy, most probabaly a recipe for disaster! Since I've been teaching myself trading, I don't have the knowledge or skill to translate my strategy into terms that could be programmed into a computer. Also, I'm not that familiar with the software available to backtest strategies and the fees associated with some of them quite expensive and seem to be a waste of money if I don't know what am I doing.

At the moment too, I've been using a variety of techniques to place trades (numerous indicators, overlays, and chart patterns) and the good old "the trend is your friend".

 

[malaguti]

Thanks too ZEN archer

I havnt really been able to backtest my trading strategy, most probabaly a recipe for disaster! Since I've been teaching myself trading, I don't have the knowledge or skill to translate my strategy into terms that could be programmed into a computer. Also, I'm not that familiar with the software available to backtest strategies and the fees associated with some of them quite expensive and seem to be a waste of money if I don't know what am I doing.

At the moment too, I've been using a variety of techniques to place trades (numerous indicators, overlays, and chart patterns) and the good old "the trend is your friend".

hi Jimbo, you shouldn't need to program anything. its easier, certainly but my strategy I couldnt program as it wasn't based on any indicators. I had to go through each trade as I would have traded it, noted the date. entry profit etc and was able to come up with the averages that Zen talks about.
I then traded that strategy and the expectation were results close to those figures, otherwise you wont know whether your strategy really is any good. Its those averages that gave me the confidence, knowing that I should expect a certain reward:risk. Dont even contemplate doing anything for real until you have a strategy/plan, and thats where you might want to spend your time. Your strategy gives you confidence should you get 4 losing trades in a row etc to continue.
It doesn't take that long.

 

[Knell]

Hi guys!

Just out of curiousity, is there anyone out there who makes a living from spreadbetting alone?

The reason I'm asking is because I've been trading shares and spreadbetting on a small scale for just over a year now and I'm looking at a potenital career. I'm still on a steep learning curve and enjoy the intellectual challenge (even though it feels at times like I'm trying to decipher the meaning of life! )

Also can anyone give me a realistic starting capital too? I'm 20 years old and don't have alot of savings but I'm planning on working a few years first to get enough money to start up properly.

Just a bit of extra info, I've got a trading plan and follow it strictly (it's not that good, but its a start) and since I'm young I've decided I can have quite a high risk tolerance to try and amount money faster in the early stages.

Thanks in advance!

The bad news is that it'll take 5 years (minimum) to learn how to trade profitably on a consistent basis.

The good news is you're only 20, so the best use of the 5 years is to research what degree and grades you need to get into a graduate scheme with a proprietary trading company and take that degree(it'll probably be cheaper than 5 years of trying to master spreadbetting)

Trade on a demo account to force you to analyse major news events to understand the implications while you're studying...

God, wish I was 20 again...

If I was 20 again I'd become a plumber!!:cheesy: