Begining with £150

[Bulletbelt]

Hi folks,

First post here so please be gentle!

As someone who has recently started a (self) education on the markets with a view to opening a spread betting account at some point in the future, I was just wondering what the best way of doubling my initial opening account of £150 would be? I am currently working on a strategy via the demo account on one SB website but the analysis tools and speed are not a patch on their live account which makes the process rather labourious.

Anyway, enough of the waffle - bottom line question is: if you were starting with as little as £150 and wanted to double it ASAP, (risks aside) how would go about it?

Also, if you have any other advice on trading with small accounts I would be very grateful. The one problem of my strategy thus far is that I would possibly have insufficient funds to place a stop loss as low as I would like to take account of the preeceding days lows on a breakout bet.

Thanks for your time.

 

[trader_dante]

Hi folks,

First post here so please be gentle!

As someone who has recently started a (self) education on the markets with a view to opening a spread betting account at some point in the future, I was just wondering what the best way of doubling my initial opening account of £150 would be? I am currently working on a strategy via the demo account on one SB website but the analysis tools and speed are not a patch on their live account which makes the process rather labourious.

Anyway, enough of the waffle - bottom line question is: if you were starting with as little as £150 and wanted to double it ASAP, (risks aside) how would go about it?

Also, if you have any other advice on trading with small accounts I would be very grateful. The one problem of my strategy thus far is that I would possibly have insufficient funds to place a stop loss as low as I would like to take account of the preeceding days lows on a breakout bet.

Thanks for your time.

If you want to do this without losing it all you are going to need something with an extremely high win/loss ratio.

To that end I would say your best bet is to play the outside days in Nat Gas.

That should double your account no probs. Margin may be an issue though.

If you don't have time to wait for that, the second best bet is to find a list of the crop reports from somewhere on the web. Pull up a ticker for something like Wheat or Corn on your preffered account and get tickers up for it from all the big names. Watch it like a hawk. You should realise what to do after not long.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

 

[Splitlink]

Hi folks,

First post here so please be gentle!

As someone who has recently started a (self) education on the markets with a view to opening a spread betting account at some point in the future, I was just wondering what the best way of doubling my initial opening account of £150 would be? I am currently working on a strategy via the demo account on one SB website but the analysis tools and speed are not a patch on their live account which makes the process rather labourious.

Anyway, enough of the waffle - bottom line question is: if you were starting with as little as £150 and wanted to double it ASAP, (risks aside) how would go about it?

Also, if you have any other advice on trading with small accounts I would be very grateful. The one problem of my strategy thus far is that I would possibly have insufficient funds to place a stop loss as low as I would like to take account of the preeceding days lows on a breakout bet.

Thanks for your time.

I am a customer of Finspreads and have been for, at least, a decade. Can't be bothered to look anywhere else because I have always had good service.

I'm not a shareholder, nor have any interest in promoting them. It's as I find them.

They offer new accounts 100 pounds to play with, which nearly doubles your capacity before you start, but you must look into the small print to see what it says.

1 point spread on FT100, Dow, Dax, CAC and maybe others.

Most indices and shares can be traded for 50p per point so, by trading with some knowledge (I emphasise that), you should be able to get started. Margin for 50p on FT would be 30 pounds.

HTH

 

[Bulletbelt]

Trader Dante,

Many thanks for that prompt reply. Some very interesting points there for me to take away and digest - I read this week that wheat prices were up 50% but as yet hadn't thought to study the charts due to the fact I'm keen to build up as much knowledge about SB and the markets before trading, in which time any bull markets on wheat may have petered out? Hmmm.... maybe I shall investigate further so many thanks.

Could you elaborate a little on your comment re: playing the outside days in Nat Gas please?

Spitlink,

Will look into Finspreads - at the moment I have only really looked at Tradefair as this is the site a friend uses - for ease of learning I figured I would stick with it until I get more of a handle on SB. Their min is £1/point though so obviously 50p/point is worth looking into so thanks.

 

[Splitlink]

Trader Dante,

Many thanks for that prompt reply. Some very interesting points there for me to take away and digest - I read this week that wheat prices were up 50% but as yet hadn't thought to study the charts due to the fact I'm keen to build up as much knowledge about SB and the markets before trading, in which time any bull markets on wheat may have petered out? Hmmm.... maybe I shall investigate further so many thanks.

Could you elaborate a little on your comment re: playing the outside days in Nat Gas please?

Spitlink,

Will look into Finspreads - at the moment I have only really looked at Tradefair as this is the site a friend uses - for ease of learning I figured I would stick with it until I get more of a handle on SB. Their min is £1/point though so obviously 50p/point is worth looking into so thanks.

London shares are 50p, too, but if you are interested in something in particular ask them before you open an account. Check the spreads on forex and commodities. Share spreads vary according to volume traded.

 

[Splitlink]

Just had a look at Fins page. The hundred pounds is credit. That, in my book, means that it has to be paid back.

Just covering my backside, I don't want you coming back to me, afterwards!

 

[Bulletbelt]

No worries Spitlink! Thanks for the suggestions - shall check them all out in due course.

Just to turn the original question on its head for a moment - lets say there was no rush and I was happy to double my money over a period of weeks: would this present many less risky options?

To put you in the picture I have been reading a couple of Malcolm Priors books on spread betting for the medium term. Whilst I would like to follow his (sound) advice regarding not risking more than 2% of my speculative funds I do realise that to build my account up to a level whereby I can follow this strategy I would have to take a few educated risks. Basically I am prepared to gamble £150 for the chance of getting up on my feet, subject to success in developing a SB strategy via an online demo account first.

 

[Splitlink]

No worries Spitlink! Thanks for the suggestions - shall check them all out in due course.

Just to turn the original question on its head for a moment - lets say there was no rush and I was happy to double my money over a period of weeks: would this present many less risky options?

To put you in the picture I have been reading a couple of Malcolm Priors books on spread betting for the medium term. Whilst I would like to follow his (sound) advice regarding not risking more than 2% of my speculative funds I do realise that to build my account up to a level whereby I can follow this strategy I would have to take a few educated risks. Basically I am prepared to gamble £150 for the chance of getting up on my feet, subject to success in developing a SB strategy via an online demo account first.

You can trade as heavily as you like, always provided that you are right. That is dreaming, though. Once the cash is gone and if you cannot replace it there is no second chance. Most, if not all traders, work with the knowledge that a percentage of their trades will be losers, breakevens and winners. I'm sure that you are sensible enough to have considered those options, along with your trading ability, so enough said.

Good luck.

 

[trader_dante]

Trader Dante,

Many thanks for that prompt reply. Some very interesting points there for me to take away and digest - I read this week that wheat prices were up 50% but as yet hadn't thought to study the charts due to the fact I'm keen to build up as much knowledge about SB and the markets before trading, in which time any bull markets on wheat may have petered out? Hmmm.... maybe I shall investigate further so many thanks.

Actually, I wasn't talking about trading a bull market. I was talking more about taking advantage of price inefficiences. You sometimes get them in the major pairs but it might be easier to find them in the lesser traded. You have to watch the tickers carefully though.

Could you elaborate a little on your comment re: playing the outside days in Nat Gas please?

An outside day is one where the current days high is higher than the previous days high and the close is lower than the previous days low. This is a bearish outside day.

For a bullish one, you reverse the above criteria.

This has an astonishingly high success rate in Nat Gas but you will want to investigate the exit strategy a little.

 

[Bulletbelt]

Thanks TD, and apologies for the confusion.

An outside day is one where the current days high is higher than the previous days high and the close is lower than the previous days low. This is a bearish outside day.

For a bullish one, you reverse the above criteria.

This has an astonishingly high success rate in Nat Gas but you will want to investigate the exit strategy a little.

Understand the point re: exit strategy, but what about the entry trigger? I assume this would be one of those trades whereby you closely monitor the intraday data and time your entry as things gather pace but how do you diagnose these circumstances at the time?

Sorry for so many questions!

Spitlink,

Thanks for your help and kind wishes - I shall hopefully let you know as and when I start trading. Cheers.

 

[trader_dante]

Thanks TD, and apologies for the confusion.



Understand the point re: exit strategy, but what about the entry trigger? I assume this would be one of those trades whereby you closely monitor the intraday data and time your entry as things gather pace but how do you diagnose these circumstances at the time?

Sorry for so many questions!

Spitlink,

Thanks for your help and kind wishes - I shall hopefully let you know as and when I start trading. Cheers.

You can just use the day low to enter short or day high to enter long.

Actually you just recently missed one that's been good for 260 ticks so far.

Wait for the next one