FTSE 350 Spreadbet Journal

[think-it-thru]

Hello there
Im new to forums etc, I posted a message a while back wondering if there were any traders in the Notts area willing to meet, but I got no replies. Im sorry if that was the wrong thing to do as in incorrect etiquete etc.

Anyway Ive been studying the markets for 2 years now and have paper traded since January this year, with 3 spreadbetting contracts. Each time I they made profit, from 25% to 48%. The virtual bank was £2000 and not risking any more than 2% on any one trade.Most trades were in the FTSE 350 stocks but a couple of forex ones too, but I find the forex a bit wild for me right now. Most of my trades were about £1 per point

I havent got £2000 that I can afford to lose at the minute, so I have been looking around and have opened an account with iii.co.uk and I can bet 10p per point for the first 4 weeks, so I deposited £200, and then a couple of my friends gave me another £300. I will still risk no more than 2% but im not sure if its wise to lift it to 4%, I will see.
Im not here to sell anything or buy anything, just to post my trades and accept whatever comments anybody has.

 

[think-it-thru]

My Open positions

Sep 10 contract
Date Stock Direction Price
24/08/2010 3i Infastructure Long 113.94
24/08/2010 Admiral group plc Long 1478.74
24/08/2010 Aquarius Platinum Short 260.38
24/08/2010 Bellway Short 519.4
26/08/2010 Bluebay Asset Management Short 275.1
26/08/2010 Premier Foods Short 16.47

P/L £3.76

 

[davidnorman]

Best of luck will watch with interest..

 

[tomorton]

Hi. Thanks for posting your positions. Interesting spread of companies - can I ask, how did you pick these in particular? - purely from charts, fundamentals, a combination of both, other methods?

 

[Dentalfloss]

are all the stock picks moving with the index.ie ftse 100 ?

 

[think-it-thru]

Best of luck will watch with interest..

Thank you davidnorman

 

[think-it-thru]

Hi. Thanks for posting your positions. Interesting spread of companies - can I ask, how did you pick these in particular? - purely from charts, fundamentals, a combination of both, other methods?

Hello there tomorton
Mainly from charts, then a quick look at recent news to see if there is not something bad, with the long positions. Longs have to above 200DMA and shorts below it.
Im doing some research this weekend, into the sectors in the FTSE 350 and will try to spread my risk over different sectors if I trade next week.
How do you trade?

 

[think-it-thru]

are all the stock picks moving with the index.ie ftse 100 ?

Good question, I dont know, I didnt really look at the main index, I guess that wansnt smart, I was just looking at the trends of the individual stocks, however thank you for making me think and I will check the 350 index as well as the 100. What would you advise me to do?

 

[think-it-thru]

mmmmmmmm.......

I returned form work this evening and upon looking at my positions, I had a pending order to Buy Astrazeneca at 3270, which was filled, but when I checked the daily chart, todays candle high doesnt reach 3270 and the information popup on the candle says high 3249.75 and the close 3241.74 but on my open postions list the order has been filled and it says the current price is 3233.99????
Anyway I dont understand, and I would appreciate it if anyone can fill me in?

Of course if Astrazeneca goes up i will be better off as my order is filled now, but if they go down, my order , well I think shouldnt have been filled.

Any thoughts?

 

[tomorton]

Seems odd. Astra got nowhere near 3270 today, as far as its real price is concerned. I would be surprised if the spread opened so far out to take in 3270 with maximum mid-price 3247.0. That would suggest a spread on a FTSE100 company of over 1-2%.

But was your order with an SB firm and based on real price or future, for say September or December? SB prices are their quotes and theirs alone, not directly equivalent to the underlying share.

 

[think-it-thru]

Seems odd. Astra got nowhere near 3270 today, as far as its real price is concerned. I would be surprised if the spread opened so far out to take in 3270 with maximum mid-price 3247.0. That would suggest a spread on a FTSE100 company of over 1-2%.

But was your order with an SB firm and based on real price or future, for say September or December? SB prices are their quotes and theirs alone, not directly equivalent to the underlying share.

Hello there tomorton
Yes my order was with a SB firm iii.co.uk and it is the September contract.
I understand that their prices are not exactly the same as the real prices, but they are close...right?
The chart I checked belonged to the same firm, its on their platform, however I didnt check the sprerad, but I did this morning and its 15.5 pts this morning and even adding the full spread to the high of yesterday doesnt hit 3270.
Do the spreads change throughout the day?
I will call them on Monday.
Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[tomorton]

Hello there tomorton
Yes my order was with a SB firm iii.co.uk and it is the September contract.
I understand that their prices are not exactly the same as the real prices, but they are close...right?

Yes, for example, using yesterday with AZN share prices against Finspreads September quotes -
Open = 3211.5 (3215.9)
High = 3247.0 (3249.8)
Low = 3208.0 (3210.2)
Close = 3241.0 (3241.7)
Spread currently 15.5.

What the SB tick chart does not show is spread, just mid-price. Yesterday was a volatile day with the key Bernanke speech in our pm session. I wonder if your firm seriously widened their spreads to allow for this. The customer would only be able to contest this if watching the platform at the time and logging the spread.

On the other hand, I have occasionally seen tick charts with obviously rogue data, and you should not be disadvantaged by this.

 

[think-it-thru]

Yes, for example, using yesterday with AZN share prices against Finspreads September quotes -
Open = 3211.5 (3215.9)
High = 3247.0 (3249.8)
Low = 3208.0 (3210.2)
Close = 3241.0 (3241.7)
Spread currently 15.5.

What the SB tick chart does not show is spread, just mid-price. Yesterday was a volatile day with the key Bernanke speech in our pm session. I wonder if your firm seriously widened their spreads to allow for this. The customer would only be able to contest this if watching the platform at the time and logging the spread.

On the other hand, I have occasionally seen tick charts with obviously rogue data, and you should not be disadvantaged by this.

Hello there tomorton, thank you for your reply, maybe they did widen their spreads for that speech, however I will call them on Monday to ask about this.
It will be a serious dissapointment if this is the usual carry on with SB firms, I hope not.

 

[think-it-thru]

Hello there tomorton, thank you for your reply, maybe they did widen their spreads for that speech, however I will call them on Monday to ask about this.
It will be a serious dissapointment if this is the usual carry on with SB firms, I hope not.

I rang iii about the trade this morning, (also AZN had gone down and my stop had been hit).
They were very helpful, and put me through to someone on a dealing desk, who immediatly siad there was an error and refunded me immediatly.

possible bad points and I say only possible, are I hope I didnt get my refund promptly because I am only on a very small position 20p per point and
I hope this isnt a regular thing.

The good points were the people I spoke to were very polite , straight to the point, and the issue couldnt have beem resolved any quicker,im still happy with the service, thank you iii.

P/L so far £1.37

 

[pboyles]

It will be a serious dissapointment if this is the usual carry on with SB firms, I hope not.

I'm afraid it is the usual carry on with spreadbetting firms. They will increase the spread as and when they please, there are some nightmare stories on T2W about SBetting. If/when you start making a serious profit you'll see a lot more of this type of thing.

 

[tomorton]

I rang iii about the trade this morning, (also AZN had gone down and my stop had been hit).
They were very helpful, and put me through to someone on a dealing desk, who immediatly siad there was an error and refunded me immediatly.

possible bad points and I say only possible, are I hope I didnt get my refund promptly because I am only on a very small position 20p per point and
I hope this isnt a regular thing.

The good points were the people I spoke to were very polite , straight to the point, and the issue couldnt have beem resolved any quicker,im still happy with the service, thank you iii.

P/L so far £1.37

Well done you and well done iii.

 

[think-it-thru]

Well done you and well done iii.

Thank you for the kind words tomorton,

Got stopped out of Bluebay asset management today

Current P/L £-2.58

 

[think-it-thru]

New positions

01/09/2010 EnQuest Plc Sep 10 Spread Long 118.76
01/09/2010 Mondi Sep 10 Spread Long 476.78
01/09/2010 Croda International Sep 10 Spread Long 1270.88

Current P/L £-3.55

 

[think-it-thru]

My Astrazeneca Sep 10 Long order got filled yesterday at 3270

Current P/L £4.74

 

[think-it-thru]

I moved the stop on my Admiral position to break even