Hi Nigel
Do you spread bet, if not who do you use, a broker?
If you spread bet do you place a daily rolling bet with rollover charges or go for a future month with a wider spread?
Thanks
Hi robwin
No, I don't spreadbet. I have my capital spread over a few broker accounts, FXCM, GFT, Oanda. I don't have any aversion to spread betting, I think the point is just to make sure you are leveraged appropriately.
I started out with Oanda because of their no minimum trade policy. It allows you to trade like a pro with a small account. Traders who are starting out trading with excessively high leverage are really not giving themselves a chance.
Long Term Capital Management got into trouble with billions under management at 25:1 and before it blew up was levered 250:1. It had finance professionals and Nobel prize winners coming out of its ears (by contrast we have our puny accounts, some websites and 3 Ducks). The story demonstrates very well the psychological impact of chasing bigger returns with higher leverage has on even the brightest minds.
Consequently, if a trader opens a spread bet account, or a highly leveraged broker account with say, €200 and is trading at €1 a point, he basically has less than 200 pips to lose (margin call will come before €0). The market can fart 50 pips before it wakes up and suddenly Johnny New. B. Trader is down 25%! And panicking.
So I suppose I would say that when you open an account make sure it allows you to risk an amount on a trade that is low enough so that if the trade is a loser it does not affect you emotionally and does not prompt an angry response.
If you close a trade at a loss and start blaming the market or the broker or feel yourself inclined to double up on the next trade to win back your losses, I would hazard a guess that you are probably levered too high. If you close at a loss and are able to accept the trade for what it is, even it is number 4 or 5 in a losing streak (which inevitably comes) then you are probably levered ok. Water off a duck's back, to keep in line with the thread. Everyone's threshold is different.
On a side note, does anyone have any good trading book recommendations for over the Christmas holidays? As I say in my profile, I think any of the Market Wizards books by Jack D. Schwager are great reads, and Jessie Livermore's stuff is classic. If you haven't read these books and want to trade seriously I would wholeheartedly recommend them. I'll probably be reading them again myself. It can be hard to find on the internet but the film by Paul Tudor Jones, "Trader: The Documentary" is a great watch. I think he tried to get it erased off the internet but it turned up on some Chinese website.
Good trading
Nigel