Trading Uk Shares

[orchard]

As you probably know by now I am fairly new to trading and have only been doing it part time up to now. In two weeks I can go full time and really get my teeth into it.
I intend to trade UK shares - mainly the FTSE 100 and would love to have a board to discuss this on a regular basis.
I have been doing lots of analysis and backtesting various theories, and am in contact with another who is also interested. We are bouncing ideas of each other.
A great many of the threads, particularly about Level 11 are way above my head at the moment and I am looking for a simpler route to riches!!!
My thread on the Enigma forecasting system offered by myBroker came to nothing. Am I therefore to assume that no-one on this board is interested in the UK market?
Perhaps is the UK was more prominent there may be even more interest. The more the merrier.
I really love this site and find the postings and advice immensely helpful - but I long for some interaction on the UK market.

 

[Helenqu]

Hi Orchard,

As well as Eurostoxx50 futures I will be trading FTSE100 stocks more actively soon. At the moment I'm just trading the FOFLS strategy but in the next couple of months when I finally get more time for trading I hope to be developing my swing trading strategy. So I'll keep you company and I know that a lot of TMF posters would like to see more stock based discussions here. After all for most "normal" people this forms the backbone of their investment/trading strategy.

Cheers

 

[Riz]

Actually when we first started most posts were on UK shares, then gradually reduced as interest shifted to indices and daytrading got the upper hand... I still do trade a few UK shares, but mainly intraday, they are however discussed in chatrooms when scalped/daytraded... discussions here on position/swing trading them will certainly be useful for those holding longer than intrday...

Riz

 

[Helenqu]

Hi Orchard,

Just run Pfscan looking at candle patterns and bollinger bounces. Can't find any very apealling longs but the following are possible shorts based on a very quick glance:

VOD; GSK; AV.; RSA; HAS; BAY; BNZL; SMIN; HBOS; RIO.

I generally look for trades lasting 2/3 days with this type of scan. From that list I'd probably find 2 or 3 that were worth the risk of a trade.

As always DYOR and this doesn't constitute investment/trading advice

 

[ChartMan]

Mr Mooms is always in the UK chat room and trades UK stock on swing trades/EOD. I'm sure you'll be welcome.

 

[orchard]

Thank all, I was beginning to wonder if UK shares had disappeared. Seems not. Look forward to further postings.

 

[Morris]

I still trade UK shares - for me the hours are more suitable than the US (I would need to move West a few time zones for that I think).

Out of interest, my most frequent trader is RBS (formerly RBOS).

Since March 2001 I have traded it 330 times. I know this is not that many trades when talking Nasdaq level 2 scalpers/chippers, but that's not really my style.

Anyway, including a few howlers, I'm ahead a few thousand pounds (212 profitable trades, 28 flat & 90 losers).

The interesting thing is the price at the time of the first trade and that of the last one:

1404 vs 1476.

So, although not spectaculary profitable, this trading strategy has outperformed buy-and-hold, as well as (obviously) the FTSE 100 and cash deposit.

 

[mmillar]

Morris - do you have a 'system' or are you trading RBS on instinct because you know it?

 

[Morris]

Er... my 'system' is just support & resistance. I also pay attention to the tape.

Nothing fancy I'm afraid.

 

[Morris]

One thing I should add - I watch the UK banking sector index (UB81) together with the other banks, and also trade HSBA, ANL, LLOY, STAN although not as frequently as RBS.

Often RBS is the biggest mover in the sector - not sure why this is - it's not the largest (thats HSBA) or the smallest.

 

[ChartMan]

You guys should get into the UK chat room and get things going. Our Mr. mooms loves the banking stocks and seems to milk them for all their worth He's there every day and would welcome the company.

 

[mmillar]

Morris,

Support/Resistance is as good a system as any other I mainly use S/R as well. I notice your profitable trades are about 64%. Mine are about 60%. I am currently looking at other indicators (RSI, CCI etc) to use on top of S/R to see if I can push this percentage up. Have you tried anything else?



Chartman - when I try to access the Chat Rooms I get 'Connected, please wait...'. I have a NAT box/firewall between me and the Internet. Is there anything I need to do with this to make it work?

Cheers

Martin

 

[ChartMan]

My Norton's firewall makes MIRC take about a minute to connect. However I can quick connect by temporarily disabling the firewall, then enabling it after MIRC connects.Other than that, I don't know.

 

[Morris]

Used to visit the chat room, but found it too distracting, also there are many with ego complexes in such places.

I trade to make £, not too impress others.

Careful.

 

[Morris]

Mmilar, I like momentum indicators, mainly short term RoC.

I also like bollinger bands. I watch 13 bar bands on 5 & 2 min charts.

But my weakness is entering trades too early, before I get confirmation (a higher low/lower high etc). I'm a natural contrarian (in everyday life, not just trading) so this is something I have to curb. What I often do is scale in & out, since the first entry may often not be the best. But there are as many ways to trade as there are attractive women in the world...

 

[ChartMan]

Morris, I think you'll find the ego hunters left the chat rooms a long time ago, myself excepted Want to give it another go? It's pretty quiet in there now and no gold diggers either.

 

[options]

Agree with Mo about being distracted in the chat rooms. Lost count of the number of times I had missed an entry because I was typing or reading someone.

Although it is great to help those below on the learning curve and glean info from those above, it is very easy to lose focus. It has been good though in the effect, that I have ridden on the back of others traders, as I know other traders have ridden on the back of me when posting trades. You get to know who trades what and if they are good or bad, and there is plenty to go around for all.
Another thing I was not happy doing was posting a trade. Possibly have other people follow, then post a get out, and I would make money because I had been trading direct access and the sber's would be locked in a loss because of a bias or a trend change.

I still think however that the live trading room is a good idea and have often thought about a speech/typing head set.

Naz's recent post though on live trading roooms and how the L2 guys used to play them gives food for thought.
To say nothing of other various spies.

Good fortune.

 

[somo]

Hi All
Glad to see the interest in uk shares as that's all I do. Helen, thanks for being specific about a few shares. Maybe it would be a good idea if a bunch of us regularly posted a list of the shares we think are interesting. I am long SCTN at moment
Orchard, you may find onewaybet.com interesting. the tips page doubled it's money last year and it has TA for FTSE
Does anyone know where to get info on when companies are due to release results/trading updates more than 1 week ahead?? I have been tripped up a few times thru. not knowing
somo

 

[Mr. Charts]

I don't go on live chat rooms either. I used to be on a US professional traders one where the imput was very good, but I found myself unable to concentrate on trading at the same time. The latter needs total attention with my style of trading which involves TA, level 2, time and sales.

 

[Morris]

Just one observation on chat rooms - when a trader posts a trade whilst it's still open, he invests some of his ego in the trade, which can make it more difficult for him to exit.

I cannot for the life of me think of a single good reason for posting trades in a chat room (apart from the ego boost for those individuals who need that sort of thing - "hey, look at me, I'm a super trader...")

I don't mind posting trades, but ONLY after they are closed & put away on my spreadsheet.

But all in all, chat rooms are too much of a distraction - trading should be routine stuff IMHO, if one wants to chat/joke etc, then better not to trade at the same time.