Over on The Motley Fool (for whom I used to write), Malcolm Wheatley asks How much diversification is enough? First of all, I think there are two reasons to diversify: On the downside we need to diversify to spread our risk, because any stock can suffer a sudden collapse and take much of our portfolio […]
Archive | August, 2012
An Example of How to Average Down (Safely)
One of the golden rules of trading and investment is to never average down, despite the fact that logically this should lower your average purchase price thereby enabling you to break-even much sooner. As I see it, the problems with “averaging down” are twofold: 1) If you’re not careful, averaging down on your falling stock […]
First a Position Trade, then a Day Trade on FirstGroup
By Tony on August 15, 2012 in capital spreads, financial spreads, firstgroup, ig index, intertrader, resistance, support
The first thing I did this morning (apart from having a shave) was to take a punt on FirstGroup when it was announced that the company had been awarded the West Coast rail franchise ahead of the incumbent Virgin / Stagecoach combo. Sir Richard Branson was single-mindedly in the opinion that the government had made […]
Can’t Move Guaranteed Stop Orders When Markets Are Closed
By Tony on August 14, 2012 in capital spreads, ig index, intertrader, spread co, spreadco, spreadex, stop orders
I’ve been out walking and enjoying the sunshine today rather than trading or writing, and when I got home I was keen to review and adjust my stop orders so as to lock in more of the profits on of today’s rising positions. Except that I couldn’t, because for the most part my stop orders […]
Trade of The Week: Trendy Tesco
Whoever thought I’d find myself describing Tesco as “trendy”? The trendiness of Tesco will not have been helped by it reportedly receiving an investment not so long ago from Warren Buffett — who is probably one of the least “trendy” people on the planet (no offence)! But Buffett’s interest may have helped the share price, […]
FSCS Payout from the World Spreads Collapse
Continuing the timeline that I had begun in my Better Spread Betting book, I can now confirm that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has now sent me a cheque for the money I was owed by the now-defunct spread betting company World Spreads. They didn’t owe me very much — less than £1000 — […]
Dicing with Death on a Standard Chartered Day Trade
I don’t usually day trade, but this morning I was simply too tempted to try and get a quick profit out of Standard Chartered, the bank that was accused of money laundering for Iran. I heard on the morning news that the shares had fallen overnight in Hong Kong, so I knew they would fall […]
On a buying spree…
Ever since I used guaranteed stops to conjure additional trading funds out of thin air my trading accounts have been all dressed up with no place to go; so today I’ve been on a bit of a buying spree which has also been helped by freeing up yet more funds by trailing the guaranteed stop […]
Trade of The Week: Update on Lamprell
By Tony on August 5, 2012 in etx capital, ig index, position trading, stop orders, trade of the week
I just realised it was over a week since I last posted a “Trade of the Week” feature. How lax of me! The previous one was my Lucky Escape from Lamprell, and this week I thought I’d provide an update on the same trade, not least because it gives me another opportunity to show off […]
Reviews of the Better Spread Betting book
A very experienced publisher once told me that “reviews sell books”. Although I think there’s a bit more to it than that, I hope he’s right because so far I’m pleased with what the reviewers on Amazon.co.uk are saying about my Better Spread Betting book. The consensus opinion seems to be that the book is […]