Advice

[willcrook]

Hello,

I've been spread better for a couple of weeks, I was making a daily profit at first. My stratergy being short term trading of companys based on news reports etc.

Recently I was alittle more adventerous with the amount I was placing per point and have pretty much wiped out my account (£900) in a couple of days.

I realise some of my mistakes have been my own in terms of not correctly setting limits and choosing £p/p at levels which wern't sutible.

Not sure whether to stop permenentaly, give it a rest, or use a demo account for a couple of months.

Have any of you managed to sustain winnings week to week?

Do you have any advice?

I'm youngish and willing to dedicate time /effort into this.

 

[rathcoole_exile]

trading on "news" is the fastest way to the poorhouse.

by the time you hear it, the insiders, analysts, journalists knew (and acted) upon it hours or days ago

if they were long, they're just looking for mugs like you (sorry) to offload it to.

 

[willcrook]

ok, what's the best way to go about then?

what about 'insider' subscriptions etc?

 

[rathcoole_exile]

become CEO of a Listed company.

otherwise, wise up and immediately forget trying to trade the "news"

 

[willcrook]

What do you based your trades on apart from past data and news/speculation?

 

[rathcoole_exile]

personally, Pivot Points - which are just a simplified representation of Support & Resistance

 

[Mr. Charts]

It sounds as if you have no idea about reading price behaviour, charts, level 2 pressures, market sentiment and more.
If you trade on news guesswork you will be fried. The answer is not more research into Citigroup, it's understanding the market and what works.
I see you have a badge as a "trading system vendor". If what you are selling is trading on your interpretaion of news.............
If I or anybody here sounds harsh, it's not meant to do so, but you are entering into a world where those of us who trade for a living will eat you alive if you do not know what you're doing.
Be careful and start learning, not trading till you are consistently profitable over a period of time, at least on paper. Paper trading is not the real thing - no emotion for a start - but if you can't trade successfully on paper over a few months there is no way on this planet you could then trade profitably for real.
Richard

 

[MrGecko]

My advice would be to sit down and think about what your trade is trying to capture and how it is going to work. Once you've got an idea about why your strategy has some sort of edge, and about who is going to lose out because of it, you are in a much stronger position to make sound trading decisions.

It is no good trading stocks (or anything else) on holistic ideas about good or bad news, because you don't set yourself a framework for managing your risks. Trading by the seat of your pants is OK for some, a cr@p idea for others - including you. If you understand the how's and the why's of your trading approach, you can then figure out all the what's (as in what to do) that will save you from making cr@ppy judgements and trading your PnL.

A good trading strategy doesn't need to be mechanical, you can still incorporate discretion into the decisions - but it does need to be thought through thoroughly before taken to the market.

 

[willcrook]

Thanks for your advice,

I'm not sure why the label of 'Trading system vendor' has appeared!

It sounds like you trade in a manner thats similar to tradertoms blog (tradertom.com).

I'll be switching to a demo account for awhile.