Jump straight to the book, or…
In the course of constructing my new Better Spread Betting book I posed a question to spread betting industry experts and other respected spread betting author-publishers. The question was:
“If there was one more thing… (just one) that you could advise spread bettors, what would it be?”
In case you’re wondering, the “one more thing” idea was inspired by Steve Jobs’s tendency to conclude new product presentations with the phrase “One more thing…” whereupon he would reveal the piece de resistance show-stopping new product.
Anyway, when I posed the question I naively assumed that some of the respondents – possibly from the spread betting companies themselves – would offer some gung-ho suggestions for how spread bettors might maximise their winnings. But I was wrong.
Almost without exception, my respondents gave the clear message that a “safety first” approach through good money- and risk- management (perhaps using a stop orders) is paramount. The clear message seemed to be:
“Look after the downside, and let the upside take care of itself.”
I needn’t have been surprised, because I already knew that all good spread bettors and other traders adopt the safety-first attitude.
And now for a little light relief, I’ll share with you the first piece of “advice” that a well-known spread betting author (okay, it was Robbie Burns – the Naked Trader) offered me for inclusion in the book:
“Don’t tell your wife how much you lost spread betting, as she will ****ing kill you!”
As far as I know, his marriage is still intact, and so is mine, so we must be doing something right.