Newbie, where to start?

[Dave_yd]

hello,

Im Dave i live in North-east england.

Ive just joined upto IG index on a limited risk account. Ive put a £70 in my account to start off with,

Im just looking for some advice on where to start, I understand the basic principles.

I tried putting a few £0.10p deals on FTSE100 and i just seem to lose...

so any good advice for a beginner?

Thanks
Dave

 

[shadowninja]

That's lucky!

Imagine what would happen if you'd won every trade. You'd have put £1k in then you'd take the losses at £5 a pip. Been there, done that.

Anyway, check out my sig, below.

 

[Dave_yd]

Some good links there. i think i should go away for a while and research the markets etc,

but would i be right in thinking the basics are:

If you go onto to IG index and look on the graphs for the past few months, and if theres a significant dip there it would be wise to " buy"?

and if theres a a significant peak it would be be wise to sell "sell"

 

[shadowninja]

In theory. But what is significant? Where do you enter and how big should your stop size be?

How do you identify a pullback vs a trend change?

 

[RedGreenBen]

Some good links there. i think i should go away for a while and research the markets etc,

A good approach but also pick a market (e.g. FTSE if that is what interests you) and study the chart (in real-time and historically) for as long as humanly/humanely possible.

However much the gurus like to dress it up, this is just a pattern recognition game and you need to see the patterns.

Ben

 

[shadowninja]

I might trade pork bellies for irony purposes (I'm not fat).

 

[Black Swan]

Here's a few words that you may find useful:

The speadbetting firm makes money if you lose. They are a bookmaker after all.

The vast majority of spreadbetters lose.

This is attributed to a variety of reasons, the main one being that they haven’t got a clue what they are doing.

And that's not meant in a horrible way.

They spreadbet too soon without understanding the mechanics of how spread betting works.

They trade with stakes that are too high, they wrong types of market at the wrong time.

They don’t take profits, run losses, the list goes on.

But the main pitfall is inexperience.

These factors contribute to the vast profits the online spread betting companies make.

Many spread betting companies offer 'demo accounts'.

This is a good place to start if you are really new.

You can get used to the way the prices are displayed, how theymove and different types of order you can execute.

It's a good idea to open up a couple of accounts and find one that you like the look and feel of.

All spread betting companies are competing with eachother for your hard earned cash.

They will offer cash incentives(cashbacks), gimmicks(mobile phones), and other types of sales bumpf to get you with them.

You can move up and open a 'real' day trader account with as little as £100.

It's more advisable to open one up with more than this, like £500.

Keep in mind. It should be money you can afford to lose. Yes I know that nobody has money they can afford to lose, but make sure it isn't 'allocated' for something serious....like your childs birthday.



Online spread betting firms

 

[shadowninja]

What do you mean by a real day trader account?

PS That link is odd. It's selling absolutely nothing (or is my ad blocker working really well?).

 

[Dave_yd]

Black_swan

Thankyou fro spelling it out, advice appreciated.

I think i will forget about spreadbetting for a while until i have researched a few markets

 

[gle101]

Black_swan

Thankyou fro spelling it out, advice appreciated.

I think i will forget about spreadbetting for a while until i have researched a few markets

Well meant by Black_swan and some good advice, but I think he scared you away from real trading. Start with CFDs and try getting an account trading with micro lots to minimize the losses. Regard the initial losses as payment for a learning experience. Read up on stop loss and money management to understand the concept of risk management before going live, then you are well on your way. Yes, most traders lose, but that has nothing to do with it being SB, about the same numbers apply for trading direct market access (DMA).