New To Spread Betting

[GParthen]

Hi, i am new to spread betting and have been using a demo on Capital Spreads for a few days now. I want to start small say £1p/p, what websites do people recommend and how do I know which market is best for me and find information on which way the markets/companies may be likely to move?

Many Thanks

George

 

[gle101]

Hi, i am new to spread betting and have been using a demo on Capital Spreads for a few days now. I want to start small say £1p/p, what websites do people recommend and how do I know which market is best for me and find information on which way the markets/companies may be likely to move?

Many Thanks

George

Try to get an account with a small stake. £1 sounds a lot to me for a newbie. Read up thoroughly on money management, this will save you a lot of hardship.

1. Money Management
2. Always have a stop loss in place

 

[the blades]

Try to get an account with a small stake. £1 sounds a lot to me for a newbie.

just a quick comment on the above, but obviously £1 per point an a company priced at 50p per gshare is somewhat different to one priced at £50 per share.

You can bet at 50p per pt with Finspreads, but the coverage is maily FTSE350.

IG will cover the tiddlers (lots of companies at pennies per point too), but with a min £5 per pt for them.

As for the best website to learn your way around the markets - you're on it, IMO.

UTB

 

[GParthen]

thanks, also is it best to look at charts as to where I think the market will go? at the moment i seem to be just guessing either up or down on the demos.. I want to know how i would research for example whether the FTSE100 will move down or up....

 

[the blades]

I want to know how i would research for example whether the FTSE100 will move down or up....

well that's the holy grail and there's clearly no easy answer. Like I say, i think this site has all the info you need. But for you top become proficient in determining the direction, you'll have to put in an awful lot of work. Without wanting to sound too negative, most people fail, at the end of the day.

Cheers,
UTB

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Hi bud,

The markets run purely on speculation then settle down to the price they should be trading at. This is mostly true in most circumstances.

Picking on one market index(ftse100), you'll notice its comprised of 100 of the uk's top companies, these represent over 82% of the country. If you wish to know the direction then you have to have timing and speculative reports, ie, vodafone being one of the major constituents are selling more phones than usual so you can hazard a guess at when they release their profit/loss accounts it will(if the home work is done right) drive the market upwards due to better than average earnings. However, theres another 99 companies to watch out for and millions of people buying and selling shares all day that will have negative/positive effects to this value.

As the ftse 100 is a weighted index which basically means the bigger the market cap of the company the more it moves the market(weight). Ones to look out for are:

In order of market weight which = influence

1)BP represents around 10% of the index.

2)HSBC represents around 7%

3+4 are glaxo then vodafone weighing in around 5% each.

As you can see this is just the tip of the ice burg but for an example of power, if BP's share price moves just 3%(possible daily average) then the ftse would move 15 points.

To make it easier, start with these top 4 movers then when you know these companies and can speculate on their movements with better than average success then you can look at the others by weight first. This in time will give you an indication of speculation on the ftse 100.

Or failing that, do what most do and take a gamble on gut feeling or one peice of information. Be aware that most jump in and dont make it over a period of time, so, use a period of time before jumping in and make it.

Your future....Your hands.

thanks, also is it best to look at charts as to where I think the market will go? at the moment i seem to be just guessing either up or down on the demos.. I want to know how i would research for example whether the FTSE100 will move down or up....

 

[GParthen]

thanks lee. Do u think Finspreads is a good place to start? They offer a trading accadamy and let you trade for 10p a point to start with?
And where can i look at charts and movements of the top four companies you listed above?

Many thanks
George

 

[the blades]

thanks lee. Do u think Finspreads is a good place to start? They offer a trading accadamy and let you trade for 10p a point to start with?
And where can i look at charts and movements of the top four companies you listed above?

Many thanks
George

if you open a spreadbetting account you can look at their charts, realtime (or the spreabet companies prices).

Fins is a good starter with the small bet size.

If you want to look at EOD charts, there's lots of sources online;

iii.co.uk, yahoo, digitallook, etc etc.

Also, the software prorealtime offers free EOD charts.

UTB

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Hi, I have used Finspreads for almost 4 years. For this matter I would like to reserve the right to comment as I wouldn't like to appear biased in any way shape or form.

I will add however that with Finpsreads one can open an account with £100 to access there platform and graphs. You dont have to trade this balance and it can be withdrawn for any reason at any time. This will of course give you as much time as needed to paper trade and get some records up to date.

As always shop around, it's a highly competitive market and it's crucial for you to do home work in this area before trading soley with one firm. This should come after whether trading is for you and of course whether you can master it.

Good Luck.

 

[davidnmfarrell]

Hello and welcome,
If you're simply guessing up and down then don't put any money in the market! I would recommend that you start doing some light research: This book is one of the best out there for an introduction to spread betting: Amazon.co.uk: The Financial Spread Betting Handbook: A Guide to Making Money Trading Spread Bets: Books: Malcolm Pryor

As far as I know, there is no time-limit on the Capital Spreads demo account; so I would use that as a sandpit for your strategies until you find something that works.

Good luck

David

 

[GParthen]

Thanks for all helpful feedback! I know this is obviously a common question, but what is the earning pottential for a person spread betting, and for some1 who has a fair understanding of the spreads? I know some days are better than others, but is it possible for people to earn a decent income from this, and do people on this forum earn as much as some of the success stories i have read? or do you need a serious ammount of money to start to begin making big money

Thanks again

 

[Lee Shepherd]

These are questions that will vary from person to person.

What is "a decent income"?

How much is "serious money"?

In comparison to the amount of money that you think is good then in retrospect to the earnings potential, is good.

Just like being self employed or running your own company. It's good money the higher up you are, just most people are scared of heights or cant be bothered to climb the ladder, for others they're content being at the bottom.

As for people earning decent money from this and not knowing your financial set up, go to London Stock Exchange and look at all the young guys driving round in their fancy sports cars spending money like the currency's just about to crash.

Theirs alot of money in the markets but the basic fundamental question you have to fill to understand before moving on is , Where does all that money come from?

 

[Splitlink]

These are questions that will vary from person to person.

What is "a decent income"?

How much is "serious money"?

In comparison to the amount of money that you think is good then in retrospect to the earnings potential, is good.

Just like being self employed or running your own company. It's good money the higher up you are, just most people are scared of heights or cant be bothered to climb the ladder, for others they're content being at the bottom.

As for people earning decent money from this and not knowing your financial set up, go to London Stock Exchange and look at all the young guys driving round in their fancy sports cars spending money like the currency's just about to crash.

Theirs alot of money in the markets but the basic fundamental question you have to fill to understand before moving on is , Where does all that money come from?

Why do you have to ask yourself that question, Lee?

 

[Lee Shepherd]

If new traders dont understand the basic fundamentlas to how the market works then they've no chance.

This is one of the most basic of questions you'll find that many newbies dont know the answer to, instead just want to trade in any direction and dont understand why they made money, or lost it.

Why do you have to ask yourself that question, Lee?

 

[GParthen]

well obviously thats why i need to learn