Spreadbetting - Beginner to pro

[SanMiguel]

Yeah, well, I'll be looking into both kinds of company, betting on both longer term undervalued companies and then betting shorter term on companies with momentum!
What would you say is a good dividend? Is there a specific ratio with the share price or is it more about if the dividend is rising?

A history of rising dividends in a company that has dividend cover and will continue to pay, a dividend above the market average but not too much, etc.

 

[Caledonianbu]

A history of rising dividends in a company that has dividend cover and will continue to pay, a dividend above the market average but not too much, etc.

Yep, that's what I've been looking for, thank you

 

[Caledonianbu]

Thought I'd do a little post about how I initially find shares - in someways this is the hardest bit... My method is quite time intensive and could be much easier if i'd part with £5 a month for ADVFN bronze level... but I'd rather put in the extra time.

So I have a free ADVFN account and the way I select shares is simple. Go through the top list of gainers/loosers - finding the shares within my 'price bracket' (100-500p) and copy/pasting them into a word document, along with if there is any news associated with the moves (it says so on the right hand side). I then go through doing a quick chart check on IG - I'm looking for break throughs in either direction, or any obvious trending. If they have either of these things, they go onto my FUND watchlist, which is where I start looking at the fundamentals of the company, from there they can go into one of my three watchlists - Chronic (long term) Acute (short term) or Pennies. I'm not focusing too much on pennies at the moment. My long is still running on solo oil plc, for £0.00 won or lost. Just waiting for their next drill report and hope they've struck oil .
After they're in the FUND (fundamentals) watchlist, I start combing through their details, and putting them onto word documents which I have saved to my computer - only done about 3 companies so far, but i'm still perfecting it.....

 

[Caledonianbu]

What sort of triggers do most people use out of interest? Is it based on candlestick? double/triples (sorry, I don't know the proper name for this). I'm getting more comfortable researching companies - around 15 to date, and I'm thinking of starting to bet on them properly now. Just really need to know what sort of entry points people are looking for/exit strategy. Finding it hard to find anything relevant/easily understandable online - any direction would be appreciated.

 

[SanMiguel]

What sort of triggers do most people use out of interest? Is it based on candlestick? double/triples (sorry, I don't know the proper name for this). I'm getting more comfortable researching companies - around 15 to date, and I'm thinking of starting to bet on them properly now. Just really need to know what sort of entry points people are looking for/exit strategy. Finding it hard to find anything relevant/easily understandable online - any direction would be appreciated.

Use a scanner to shortlist companies with your criteria, then post some charts.
Some basic advice is that if it is a company you have decided to buy then look to buy at a support area, maybe a double wicked candle, make sure moving averages are pointing in the right direction, etc.

Here's an example of one I made 25% on last month, Microgen.
I bought at the retrace to the 50MA but you could just as easily have told yourself that it was a long term hold and bought anytime the stochs were low.

The scan is the important thing here. The technical analysis is just to time your entry.

 

[Caledonianbu]

Sorry, what is a scanner? Is it a programme that just chooses things based on my criteria? Thank you, I haven't looked into using stochs, I will do so.

 

[SanMiguel]

Sorry, what is a scanner? Is it a programme that just chooses things based on my criteria? Thank you, I haven't looked into using stochs, I will do so.

scanner/screener.
Try this: http://www.digitallook.com/dlmedia/investing/screening_tools/performance_tables?
Also, try out some of the Motley fool value / momentum boards you will get better opinion than on here for fundamental analysis:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investin...es-for-deep-value.aspx?source=uoofolrf0010002

 

[Caledonianbu]

scanner/screener.
Try this: http://www.digitallook.com/dlmedia/investing/screening_tools/performance_tables?
Also, try out some of the Motley fool value / momentum boards you will get better opinion than on here for fundamental analysis:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/investin...es-for-deep-value.aspx?source=uoofolrf0010002

Thank you very much. I'm quite happy with my Fundamentals analysis, I've been reading into it for quite some time, but i'll have a look over there too!

 

[Caledonianbu]

WOW that screening tool is so useful!!

 

[Caledonianbu]

Long on Umeco PLC at 379...... run this for a few weeks, it took a battering recently, but looking FA seems like it's in a strong sector and TA seems to be recovering.....

Lets see where this takes us

I'm more than happy to write more explanation than before if anyone fancies?

 

[Caledonianbu]

thought'd I'd fill in the details on that long position.

Long on UMECO PLC @ 379.91, STOP @ 360.00, limit 400 - though I'll shift this up if it follows the pattern i'm expecting. And I'll trail the SL too! (risking 2% with SL)

 

[Caledonianbu]

So many thanks to SanMiguel. I'm using that screening tool to now make my fundamentals analysis (the first bit anway) Much, much quicker. I haven't used all the available settings - I only understand what about 1/4 of them actually mean .

It keeps bringing a list of around 6 companies, need to have alittle play. I've got around 22 companies in my watchlists now and have thoroughly looked into 6 (been quite busy recently). Want to try and look into 3 maybe 4 more today inbetween the other stuff I have going on.

Long on Umeco is yet to show anything other than a loss - but it's no biggie, I'm holding it longer term, so we'll see where it goes!

So far I'm basically using in my scanner/screener - Market Cap of 50-1150m, Value 100-650, dividend of 5% (this might be my mistake, causing so few companies), a P/E of 12-20 and I think that's about it. I then do more background including traffic lighting the latest report - that's a crucial way of finding if something is a long or short for me. Obviously a chart check (just scan for basic trends) and look into debt/the actual workings of the company.

Any advice, as always, is appreciated!

 

[Caledonianbu]

Pretty annoyed - apparently the 10p a point thing at IG index only lasts for 2 weeks, then it increases every fortnight.

Any spreadbet companies where the bet remains at 10p?!

 

[SanMiguel]

Pretty annoyed - apparently the 10p a point thing at IG index only lasts for 2 weeks, then it increases every fortnight.

Any spreadbet companies where the bet remains at 10p?!

Um...if you are going to trade stocks outside of the FTSE 100, then IG is your best provider TBH especially if using leverage.
Your only other alternative would be to trade actual shares with someone like IB.
Finspreads do 10p but only on certain markets.
What are you looking to risk per trade in £, ie on your recent trade you had a 20p SL.
Aren't the trades usually £x per 1 (at least they are on my broker) so in this case £0.10 * 20 = £2 or am I a factor of 10/100 out (depends on the broker)?

How many trades do you expect to take per week? How many open at the same time?
What can you afford to lose learning?

 

[Caledonianbu]

No, that is correct, risking 2% of my capital (£100) was the plan. Well, I could probably afford more than £100, but I don't really want to lose more than that. That's what I put aside.

I'm probably looking at between 2-5 trades per week, with no more than 3 positions open at any one time.

Umeco was closed out @360.

 

[Caledonianbu]

Pretty breakeven day +10pips in one bet, -7 in another. Have spent most of the day just looking at charts and trying to get them into my head, I'm getting much more interested in focusing on technical analysis - Been reading the epic thread that is James16's!
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331&page=56
I know it's forex based, but a lot of fantastic information in there. Had a few paper trades going recently, a bit of spot FX and a few shares, all seem to be going well at present . Oh and a position open on a random investment company - short, yet to show profit... But close .

 

[Dogtrade]

Pretty breakeven day +10pips in one bet, -7 in another. Have spent most of the day just looking at charts and trying to get them into my head, I'm getting much more interested in focusing on technical analysis - Been reading the epic thread that is James16's!
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=2331&page=56
I know it's forex based, but a lot of fantastic information in there. Had a few paper trades going recently, a bit of spot FX and a few shares, all seem to be going well at present . Oh and a position open on a random investment company - short, yet to show profit... But close .

The James16 thread over at ff is an enormous resource. A propos epic threads; based on what I've learned that you're into so far I think you would also enjoy reading some of the threads by a user called dbPhoenix. Especially since you are into stocks. His posts helped me make sense out of volume, in a way which the books I read never really helped to do.

For instance:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/price-volume/29313-springboard.html

 

[Caledonianbu]

thank you!

 

[Caledonianbu]

+5 pips on the last bet . pretty happy with how it's going, if i'd done some slightly better analysis of where to put my stop losses it would be more like +15, but nevermind, live and learn!!

 

[SanMiguel]

10pips on FX is pretty small, just be careful if you are scalping, you will end up paying a lot in spread.