Archive | June, 2012

And another thing…

It didn’t make the deadline for the first publication of my Better Spread Betting book, but here’s what Ajay Pabari, Founder and CEO of Spread Co said in response to my question “If you could give just one piece of advice to a spread bettor, what would it be?”: Be smart in the use of leverage. Margin can be a very […]

Balance-Affecting Transactions in Spread Betting

There are various events that affect the cash balance in your spread betting account, including: the profit or loss from closing a position an adjustment for a dividend the debiting of overnight financing (rolling) charges To show what these balance-affecting transactions look like, I took a 24-hour snapshot from an IG Index account (although it […]

Profitable Pyramiding

Readers of my Better Spread Betting, Position Trading and Stop Orders books will know that I am inclined to try and pyramid profitable positions to higher stakes. For me, a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for pyramiding is that the potential loss on my second position is less than the profit accrued on my original position — so that I […]

"Better Spread Betting" (the book) now in print!

I know some people still like print books that they can read in the bath, and truthfully so do I, so I have some… Great news! The print edition of my Better Spread Betting book is now available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. Disclaimer: this posting is for general education only; it is not trading advice.

Why so long?

Readers of my Better Spread Betting, Position Trading and Stop Orders books will know that I am predominantly a long trader; and some of you might be wondering why. It’s not for any moral reasons (e.g. “short selling is bad”) but for the following reasons: In the long run, stock markets generally rise, but I […]

Selling the Spread Betting Sausage (not the Sizzle)

Jump straight to the book, or… There’s a well known saying in sales and marketing circles, which is… “Sell the sizzle, not the sausage!” The temptation when writing and marketing any book is to make outrageous claims that will have potential readers chomping at the bit to get their hands on the book. “Want to […]

Making A Little Money Go A Long Way

Jump straight to the book, or… Sometimes people ask me how much money they need in order to begin financial trading. In a regular stockbroker share dealing account it’s quite a lot, because you probably need to “invest” at least £1000 in any one share in order to overcome the fixed buying and selling fees […]