Index Spread Betting

[Phil Mibbutz]

Hi Phil,

As stated on my profile page after your message, no positions are currently held nor due to be held for some time. This was bought about by expiry on the contracts and above usual losses. Usual losses amount to no more than 2 weeks in every quarter, this time round gave losses in excess of several weeks wiping out 3 quarters of the gains in that period.

I am currently working on a strategy for the current climate (which is in play) and am studying and paper trading a divergence convergence system between two european markets.

I am currently day trading only. Usual average trades per week are around 20, currently I am doing in excess of 40 per day. This causes more paper work than I wish for and I have provided a link for some recent trades I have done.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-trading-chat/41248-ig-wouldnt-close-3.html

I will not be updating my blog with day trading as it's totally irrelevant and the moment to trade would have past days ago, therefor, warranting it useless and irrelevant. Also, it would take many screenshots and trades would amount to over200 per week. I hope you understand that because of this, the blog will not be updated.

Blog will resume when I have a firm understanding of general market direction and wont be before christmas due to taking it easy, a break well deserved I feel.

OK, thanks, Lee. I was just interested in how your method worked when the markets started to fall apart. If you lost 75% of your gains in that period, i.e. made a profit, surely that still counts as a success (especially compared with what a lot of investors have suffered), so why not keep going?

 

[Lee Shepherd]

OK, thanks, Lee. I was just interested in how your method worked when the markets started to fall apart. If you lost 75% of your gains in that period, i.e. made a profit, surely that still counts as a success (especially compared with what a lot of investors have suffered), so why not keep going?

Firstly, with regards to success, I trade for a living so if a certain style or strat starts to dip in earnings then it is quickly chopped out and replaced. The mere fact that I still made money during that period is simply not enough when I have a lifestyle to attend to, afterall, I need a wage plus grow the account and then excess to pay into my long term savings, commonly known as a pension plan.

Secondly, why not keep going?
I have no idea on market direction, I know this because my quarterly earnings where far worse than they should be. As the saying goes, 'if in doubt, get out and stay out'.
This is where I am at present, I have no idea on general market direction enough to feel comfortable trading it, this would lead only to irrational behaviour and bad trading decisions.

For the time being I will remain day trading only with no biased direction, of course, because I dont know which direction so do not have an opinion, just simply trade what I see.

 

[Phil Mibbutz]

For the time being I will remain day trading only with no biased direction, of course, because I dont know which direction so do not have an opinion, just simply trade what I see.

That's always the way I trade these days, whether I think I know the direction or not. My longer term efforts, now only in a paper account, tend to have huge ups and downs, with the eventual accent on the latter.

 

[Rupert206]

Wheres the OP gone? Can we get some feedback as to what happened? Can we assume the worse and put this down as an account blowout?

Agree with everything Lee picked up on. Reading the thread and just seeing the P+L painted a very rosy picture. But due to Lee's sharp eye we all reaslised that the R/R was way out. Surefire way to lose the lot.

I also picked up that too many stocks/indices were being traded. Trades were agressive at times. £100pp for a measly 2 points, and god know how much it went against him before giving him those 2 points. No need to be a jack of all trades, master a few stocks or an index, and then continuosly exploit the edge you have gathered.

Bad trading all round..Ideal thread for newbies to read on how not to trade.

And trading without any kind of stops on a index?! An absolute NO NO!

 

[Mornington Crescent]

ttt

 

[Splitlink]

Salt in the wounds comes when the order is triggered getting you long on a short-term spike - and at this point you are trading naked with no stop: had two big losses lately due to this. (I wish the SBs would allow an order fill to trigger a text or an e-mail so I would know to immediately put a stop on (or get out).)

.

Sorry to be so late. I was browsing through.

Maybe I haven't got this right, Tom. My SB allow's me to place orders with an "if triggered " stop on it. How come yours does not?

 

[tomorton]

Sorry to be so late. I was browsing through.

Maybe I haven't got this right, Tom. My SB allow's me to place orders with an "if triggered " stop on it. How come yours does not?

They do indeed but I can't remember now if I was talking about my earlier and innocent experiences or if I was placing myself in the position of the other poster. Anyway, I now always enter both a stop and a target on any position I open live or any order placed. Makes no sense not to.

 

[Splitlink]

They do indeed but I can't remember now if I was talking about my earlier and innocent experiences or if I was placing myself in the position of the other poster. Anyway, I now always enter both a stop and a target on any position I open live or any order placed. Makes no sense not to.

I'm sure that it must have been when you more innocent!

Still, I thought I'd bring it up because there are a lot of tricks that I have never, competely understood and I was hoping to be able to show you something that I know how to do!