How do I learn Spread Betting

magisana

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Hello all,

I am currently learning how to trade forex and it seems that I need to save a bit more capital before jumping in with my strategy. I was wondering if Spread Betting would be better suited as I wouldn't need as much capital. The only thing is that I don't really understand how it works and where to find out about it. Is there certain strategies that I would need to learn in order to do this and how do I set it up. Can anyone please direct me to where I might find out more about getting involved in this. I am in Australia also, so I believe that it is legal over here.

thanks in advance.:confused:
 
Definitely open a demo account before you start for real.

Quite apart from the trading aspects (which are substantial), this will give you a good handle on the mechanics of placing trades. The specifics differ from firm to firm, but the essentials will be the same.

A lot of SB firms offer demo accounts. Typically they may not be as fully functional as a live account, e.g. in some cases the charts are delayed, but definitely better than diving in to the deep end of live trading with your hard earned (or cleverly swindled, or whatever ...) money.

One book on SB that seems quite well thought of is "The Financial Spread Betting Handbook" by Malcolm Pryor.
 
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Hello all,

I am currently learning how to trade forex and it seems that I need to save a bit more capital before jumping in with my strategy. I was wondering if Spread Betting would be better suited as I wouldn't need as much capital. The only thing is that I don't really understand how it works and where to find out about it. Is there certain strategies that I would need to learn in order to do this and how do I set it up. Can anyone please direct me to where I might find out more about getting involved in this. I am in Australia also, so I believe that it is legal over here.

thanks in advance.:confused:

Go to the web sites and read their information - i.e. save yourself any confusion by going directly to the source for the most reliable info. They all have comprehensive information on how their service works. Although the actual 'mechanics' of placing a trade/bet is different to buying/selling stock or other trading, the principal is exactly the same. For example an auto car, manual car, motorcylce, truck, etc are all different VEHICLES, but the purpose is the same i.e. getting you from A to B. Spreadbetting is just another vehicle, as it were.
 
Go to the web sites and read their information - i.e. save yourself any confusion by going directly to the source for the most reliable info. They all have comprehensive information on how their service works. Although the actual 'mechanics' of placing a trade/bet is different to buying/selling stock or other trading, the principal is exactly the same. For example an auto car, manual car, motorcylce, truck, etc are all different VEHICLES, but the purpose is the same i.e. getting you from A to B. Spreadbetting is just another vehicle, as it were.

thanks for the response and advice.
 
Good advice above. Malcolm Pryor's book is a good intro to spreadbetting, but use it for that rather than anything further. You can get it free by opening an account with one of the firms, but I can't remember which one.

Demo for sure, then maybe look at IG - 10p per pip / point, which can (or certainly could) be extended for quite a while - I've still got it after 5 months or so.

Head over to Forex Factory for a ton of great info. If you're relatively new, don't miss the james16 chart thread. Reading that has completely turned my fortunes around.

All the best.
 
Good advice above. Malcolm Pryor's book is a good intro to spreadbetting, but use it for that rather than anything further. You can get it free by opening an account with one of the firms, but I can't remember which one.
Interactive Investor.
[...]
Head over to Forex Factory for a ton of great info. If you're relatively new, don't miss the james16 chart thread. Reading that has completely turned my fortunes around.
Did you join his PF (James16 Group)?

Let's not forget our own trader_dante's "Making Money Trading" thread here which is based on very similar principles, but a bit of a shorter thread (well, not that short actually...some 700 plus postings by TD, which are the ones to concentrate on at first).
 
Mike,

I've been meaning to get round to reading that thread.

Yes, I joined the private group, and it is excellent in my opinion. Certainly a little pricy, although if you really wanted to I think that you could get most of the material out of it in the first month, and go through it at your leisure. At the moment, I plan to stay for the year (at which point membership fees stop) as I've been impressed by the ongoing support.

Having said that, if you're willing to put a bit more work in, the essential points are available on the free thread.

My trading has been changed out of all recognition since I discovered that thread. The material is simple, but believe it or not when I started trading I just followed systems, and ignored s/r and pa altogether. I wouldn't knock any approach that people want to take, but I've now gone indicator-free (well, I still keep a MACD hanging around for auld lang syne and a bit of divergence) and this has meant that I am growing my account instead of seeing it gradually bleed away. The difference has been staggering to be honest.

It's taken me 6 hard months to get to the point where I'm looking at price on charts instead of waiting for layers of lagging squiggles to line up, and there is no way I'd go back to that approach. Again, I won't criticise anybody's method - whatever works for people is great. On another forum I'm a member of, there are comparatively new traders who are consistently successful more or less following out of the box sytems. I just can't make anything like that work for me.

I've come to realise that I have to find my own way.

To the op, sorry for getting off the topic.
 
Mike,

I've been meaning to get round to reading that thread.
You may not need it now; however, when you do read it, you will see the similarities (and differences) between the two approaches. I looked briefly at it when I first signed up to T2W, noted it as something to come back to, and then of course got sidetracked. Wish I'd read it properly the first time! Might have saved myself a packet.

Yes, I joined the private group, and it is excellent in my opinion. Certainly a little pricy, although if you really wanted to I think that you could get most of the material out of it in the first month, and go through it at your leisure. At the moment, I plan to stay for the year (at which point membership fees stop) as I've been impressed by the ongoing support.
I have been very tempted to join it, but have refrained so far. I suspect I'd get overwhelmed. I decided to go over TD's stuff again more thoroughly. Even though it's simple in principle, putting it into practice properly takes some getting into, especially if you've got used to other ways of doing things beforehand.
Having said that, if you're willing to put a bit more work in, the essential points are available on the free thread.

My trading has been changed out of all recognition since I discovered that thread. The material is simple, but believe it or not when I started trading I just followed systems, and ignored s/r and pa altogether. I wouldn't knock any approach that people want to take, but I've now gone indicator-free (well, I still keep a MACD hanging around for auld lang syne and a bit of divergence) and this has meant that I am growing my account instead of seeing it gradually bleed away. The difference has been staggering to be honest.
I can relate to a lot of this. When I started, I read of course about S&R, but I was inclined to take it all with a pinch of salt. Intellectually, I found it hard to accept that price could have a "memory" like that. I did the usual newbie thing of chasing the next indicator, and the next, etc.

Now I am indicator-free, with just J16's 365EMA (if anything), S&R pivots, and Fids, and the occasional TL. It's amazing seeing the price react to your own "levels", although I still seem to draw too many, and sometimes even then miss an important one. I seem to be ok at catching relatively short moves (working on 1H TF), but not very good at spotting the longer ones (which should be the real key to success with this method).

It's taken me 6 hard months to get to the point where I'm looking at price on charts instead of waiting for layers of lagging squiggles to line up, and there is no way I'd go back to that approach. Again, I won't criticise anybody's method - whatever works for people is great. On another forum I'm a member of, there are comparatively new traders who are consistently successful more or less following out of the box sytems. I just can't make anything like that work for me.
Never did for me, either. I get the impression that indicators, some of them anyway, would actually really come into their own once one had really got PASR (or SRPA) down to a fine art. i.e. learn the basics, flying by the seat of your pants, then add the "instruments" to add finesse. There were some postings on another thread the other day, where some experienced traders were saying how some well known successful traders do use indicators, so there must be something in them. I think the problem with them is that they are probably counterproductive and a distraction to newbies, if they haven't learned SRPA/PASR properly first. I wish I had realised this 18 months ago :)
I've come to realise that I have to find my own way.
Good point.
 
Mike, sounds like we've been on a very similar trip. Wonder if we're the only ones lol?

Wish you all the best for the remainder of your journey.

Pip pip!
 
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