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 Post subject: The Journey Continues Part 1
 Post Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:30 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:24 pm
Posts: 176
Location: Derby
Hi

fantastic day on the markets today with the FTSE gaining a massive 114 points! Since most of my positions are 'tiddlers' in the AIM index, a great day on the FTSE rarely translates to my portfolio; having said that I did see a small increase today of around £40, so no complaints...

Two of my positions stopped out today for a loss of around £12, so not really the end of the world. To put this into context, however, 6 new positions executed today and I still ended up with a gain so I'm reasonably happy.

Stop outs were 2 x CONDOR RESOURCES PLC which was a bit disappointing because they were looking extremely promising. But that's spread betting, you win some, you lose some; as long as the gains outweigh the losses I don't really care how many stop outs I have.

New positions are:

1 BEACON HILL RESOURCES LTD
2 FORTUNE OIL PLC
3 RANGE RESOURCES LTD
4 PATAGONIA GOLD PLC
5 LANDORE RESOURCES LTD
6 ARIAN SILVER CORPORATION

which gives me a total of 67 open positions. My account funds are £1875 giving a profit to date of £1050...

Just a final thought - isn't it amazing how your perspective and views change over such a short time; 8 months ago I would have been over the moon with a small profit, or even a reduced loss. But today I actually feel disappointed that I only gained £40 - weird or what :?: I'm starting to feel slightly impatient as well even though my portfolio has been rising steadily for over a month. This is not a good sign so it's time to get a grip and realise (again) that it's better to make a lot of money slowly, rather than lose a lot of money quickly! Nuff said, see you tomorrow...

Regards, Big Al


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 Post subject: Re: The Journey Continues Part 1
 Post Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:10 pm 
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 9:10 pm
Posts: 147
Hi Big Al,

Well done with the trading so far, here's hoping it continues the same way for you.

I know what you mean about how your perspective changes and I certainly know the feeling of impatience. It would seem that you have maybe hit that point in your spread betting career and the next steps you take could be crucial to how it pans out for you. This time last year I was sitting at just under break even having recovered my install losses. I started to get impatient and started losing. This continued for the next few months and it wasn't until I started to get more blog readers around May/June time that I stopped being so reckless. Although I started the blog in February, it took time to build some readers. When I had more readers I felt that not only did I have to justify my trades to myself but also to my readers. This was a godsend. I actually started to trade properly, if there is such a thing. The main point is it stopped me trading recklessly and trading for trading sake.

I'm not suggesting that you will experience the same scenario but if you find yourself trading for the sake of it and then questioning your own judgement after the trade then you are probably trading out of your own impatience. If you find your self creating reasons to trade or looking for price patterns that you are not certain are there then I would suggest that, you don't trade, and take another look later. I found myself almost seeing things in charts that were not there only to make a loss and question why I took the trade on in the first place. If you find yourself doing the same then take a break and come back to it. As I keep harping on about in my blog entries, there is no such thing as a missed opportunity.

Hopefully this has not come across as me lecturing you on this. Everyone is different and well all have our own spread betting path to walk. My goal of this website and blog is to pass on my experience and hopefully help others avoid my mistakes and that is what I am trying to impress here. You have made a good return on your original investment and I hope it continues for you.

That said, I wasn't really sticking to any kind of strategy, which I know you are. I'm sure if you just keep doing what you are doing a stick to your strategy you will continue your good run. Just don't let your impatience get the better of you like I did. Get rich slowly! ;)

All the best with your trading,

_________________
May the markets be with you!

Harry,
The Spread betting beginner


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 Post subject: Re: The Journey Continues Part 1
 Post Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:36 pm 
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Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:39 pm
Posts: 15
Harry:

I too thought that reporting my trades to blog followers would make me even more careful, and at first it did, but you saw what happened after I had cashed-out perfectly but then felt compelled to re-enter the markets too quickly so as to have something to report. When I took a step back from reporting every single trade, my portfolio stabilised and started to recover.

It was a lethal combination of pressure to perform coming immediately after a demonstration of superior skill ;-)

Big Al... be warned! (but good luck)

Tony Loton, Position Trader


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