The Naked Trader

[Churchill]

Ok folks I've bought...

"How anyone can make money trading shares"
"The Naked Trader's guide to Spread Betting"

And I fully intend to read them.

What next?

[Jog On]

Are you looking to trade on fundamental or technical analysis or a bit of both?

As a technical trader I thoroughly recommend 'Pring on Price Patterns' by Martin Pring.

I also recommend - "Trade your way to financial freedom" by Van K Tharpe which is about developing a set of rules and money/risk management

Also the "Market Wizards" books by Jack Schwager which is a load of interviews with some of the world's most successful tarders. I like to listen to the advice of people are good at things as oppsoed to people who haven't cracked it.

[Churchill]

Spoken like a true 'never done it, don't know the first thing about'.

On a serious note - are you looking to trade on funcamental or technical analysis or a bit of both?

As a technical trader I thoroughly recommend 'Pring on Price Patterns' by Martin Pring.

The truthful answer is I don't even know if I am going to give it a go.

I know absolutely nothing about spread-betting so I thought I'd buy a book or two and find out.

When I say "Nothing" I mean nothing apart from anecdotal "I've made thousands" and "I've lost my house" comments.

Thanks for the recommendations.

[Board Game Geek]

I'm not going to lecture you on the risks and gains of spread betting, as I surmise that you've figured that out already. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, as essentially the whole of the world's financial systems are based on trading, selling and buying.

All I will say, is that whilst a book will help get you familiar with the terminology involved, and the theory, it can't teach you the learned practice. (And there are a lot of dodgy courses out there that for 2K a pop, you will sit with experienced traders and learn the secrets in a week..yeah right).

Start small, play with online test systems to get a feel of how things work, and be mentally prepared to lose money. As long as it's money you can afford to lose, then it's fine.

[Jog On]

The truthful answer is I don't even know if I am going to give it a go.

I know absolutely nothing about spread-betting so I thought I'd buy a book or two and find out.

When I say "Nothing" I mean nothing apart from anecdotal "I've made thousands" and "I've lost my house" comments.

Thanks for the recommendations.

No worries - just because it's called spread betting it's just a different (tax free) financial format of trading. The markets, charts and methods of chosing entries/exits are exacly the same as if you were trading using CFDs.

Another good source of basic technical analysis is babypips.com. It's geared to forex but the introduction to technical charts and indicators applies to any market - forex, commodities, shares, stock indexes etc. They all have the same chart formats (candlesticks/OHLC bars/line charts). What's more important is things like money management (how much you risk per trade) and rules.

Anyone who blows a stupid amount of money on one or a few trades fully deserves to. I risk 2% of the account on a trade and if the account goes down by 10% I reduce that to 1% risk. If it drops to 20% I stop trading live and go back to demo util I'm profitable on that again.

The key is to treat it like a business and not a casino

[PAH]

Personally I'd choose a form of gambling that you at least know something about.

Mugs get fleeced in any form of gambling so to avoid being one of them will take some thorough getting clued up beforehand. As such, this forum may not be the best place to start! There must be forums dedicated to spread betting where you can hope to get a better introduction and pointers to it all.

[Churchill]

Personally I'd choose a form of gambling that you at least know something about.

Mugs get fleeced in any form of gambling so to avoid being one of them will take some thorough getting clued up beforehand. As such, this forum may not be the best place to start! There must be forums dedicated to spread betting where you can hope to get a better introduction and pointers to it all.

Hence my original question.

With regards to this being the wrong forum to start, why? There are plenty of people on here who work in the financial arena, have a few quid to spare and by their own admission play the markets.

Thanks though.

[DimPrawn]

Flamboyant market trader who became millionaire with Joe Bloggs jeans declared bankrupt | Mail Online

[Jog On]

Just demo trade until you are making money on that before trading any real money.

The plan I'm following is:

1. Demo trade until profitable for 3 months in a row - done
2. Live trade a small amount of money until profitable for 3 months in a row - doing now
3. Go fully live with the amount of money i want to trade with - Soon I hope!

I'm currently stuck in stage 2 and down 7.5%. Learning to follow rules and be picky with trades is proving to be very difficult with real money. Still that's why I'm doing it this way..hopefully I'll be fully live by the summer if I can learn to control my demons..

I need to learn to pay attention to the % gain/loss and ignore the £ behind the profit/loss column. So much easier said than done..

At least my 2% risk/trade rule (which I never stray from) has kept my losses very minimal and the 10% rule of halving my risk/trade then 20% rule of stopping altogether means I will never blow an account (again..)

Like BGG says the most learning you will get from experience - I say start demoing now and reading some books. I'd check out some other forums as well like:

babypips.com (do the school avoid the forum though)
forexfactory.com
trade2win

[Churchill]

Just demo trade until you are making money on that before trading any real money.

The plan I'm following is:

1. Demo trade until profitable for 3 months in a row
2. Live trade a small amount of money until profitable for 3 months in a row
3. Go fully live with the amount of money i want to trade with

I'm currently stuck in stage 2 and down 7.5%. Learning to follow rules and be picky with trades is proving to be very difficult with real money. Still that's why I'm doing it this way..hopefully I'll be fully live by the summer fi i can learn to control my demons..

I think I'll probably play with the demo trades. CM will probably put the kybosh on me doing anything too serious.

Thanks again for the pointers.