Trading as a living

blinko

Booby check PMs re IGindex

Shatners_Bassoon

There are two types of people who play the stock market, the traders (day traders) and then proper long term investors. The AIM market (where the penny share and proper money is to be made if you get the right company) is extremely almost impossible to day trade because of it's high volatility nature.

I am an investor and choose a company and then leave it in mid to long term and when the share hits my exit point I up and go. If you want to play the investment game do some research, choose 10 companies that you believe in and invest a few hundred quid in each (more if you can afford it) and aim for 10% in the first year, sure there will be some that make more than that but some will bomb and you need to sell those off, do not be scared of seeling if you have a loss!

I am lucky to be in a job where I can trade all day kong as well as work as I'm on the phone and in front of a PC most of the time so I'm constantly looking into new companies etc... I would recommend checking your portfolio every 3 months to assess it all and then decide what to do with each company.

Day trading and shorting stock is not for me, it's way too hard to call the right time on these AIM stocks!

blinko

AIM is a different market, shorting isnt easy either but it does give you other options and allow you to hedge

shatners when is this BMR RNS due ?

Shatners_Bassoon

blinko agreed AIM is a different kettle of fish but there is simply no money from investing in the FTSE companies (note I say investing not trasing). Unless you want dividends then the FTSE may not be for all. AIM is a great way to find the small starter companies that can become the next Nokia, Google etc.. or looking at it now the next RKH, XEL and GKP!

blinko did you read the BMR RNS from today? It was a cash call and in the RNS it detailed that the deal was being done with a couple of delays but on track for the new couple of weeks.

blinko

Shatners_Bassoon wrote: »

blinko agreed AIM is a different kettle of fish but there is simply no money from investing in the FTSE companies (note I say investing not trasing). Unless you want dividends then the FTSE may not be for all. AIM is a great way to find the small starter companies that can become the next Nokia, Google etc.. or looking at it now the next RKH, XEL and GKP!

blinko did you read the BMR RNS from today? It was a cash call and in the RNS it detailed that the deal was being done with a couple of delays but on track for the new couple of weeks.

yeah i though that was cheeky, sounds like what happended over at VOG, they are gonna be generating cash next year Q1 2011 and yet then wanted a cash call !!!!!! i didnt like that !

i will probably chance BMR but sheesh take about hiding good news and badnews cheeky chappies !

what price did you get in at may i ask

Shatners_Bassoon

Got in at 3.8p but as I said earlier once the acquistion is confirmed then it's a done deal and processing will start. Funds were raised for the factory and it will be 10p soon. In the next year or so I expect a steady growth and who know we could see the 20p figure especially as Zinc value has gone through the roof in the last month or so.

Good luck mate!

adindas

Dear smeagold

How much money are we talking about here if we want to use trading as a living ?.

Also how many percentage may fail in this game ? I am aware that win and lost is part of the game.

ADINDAS

smeagold wrote: »

Don't believe some of the nonsense posted sometimes about needing special knowledge. its only speed of knowledge. Sure some insiders might have a head start but thats a tiny fraction. everyone else is on the same playing field.

I trade as a living. I watch the charts all day. When we get a big announcement the markets know before anybody.

For instance I have bloomberg news on all the time, say there is a jobs number out of the US if its very bad the EUR/USD will spike higher by a few bps 30 seconds before the hamfisted presenter has spat out the info. Everyone relys on speed of knowledge. I can tell by the movements of certain markets roughly what the news is by the reaction of the markets without even listening to the news.

If the jobs number is very bad the dollar will drop if its very good the dollar will spike. Knowing how markets react to certain news events is fundamental in being a trader and its a very good way to scalp(very shorterm trades catching ride on a news event or a drop or rise-timing the reversal) I scalp and trade longer term.

traders arn't any cleverer than anybody else. Its just a discipline, just something to learn. Anyone can learn just depends how determined you are.

smeagold

adindas wrote: »

Dear smeagold

How much money are we talking about here if we want to use trading as a living ?.

Also how many percentage may fail in this game ? I am aware that win and lost is part of the game.

ADINDAS

Hi Adindas,

it basically depends on how much money you wish to make a week, if your happy with say £2-300 a week the maybe £5k as 'risk capital' in your account is probably enough.(scale up from that)

Basically you only want to be risking between 1-3% of your risk capital per trade. At least the way I trade. I basically scalp/intraday trading and on average get about 80% of trades right and make anywhere between 5 and 20 trades a day, usually about 10 plus on a good day but will also open longer term positions if I'm offered a really good entry point.

I trade exclusively in the gold and silver markets as I understand them very well.

Most traders use stops or stop losses. I don't, and I never go short I only ever buy the dips. Gold and silver are in a multiyear bull market and while they might suffer corrections they won't collapse so even if I get a trade wrong or the market moves against me I can leave that position open for days knowing that it will come back up, so I am not forced to book a loss and because I only use 1-3% of risk capital per trade, one or 2 open losing positions will never bankrupt my account.

If you stick to very low percentage amounts per trade and find a market your interested in and enjoy and spend the time learning all you can about it theres really no reason you shouldn't do well.

Apparently 95% of traders lose money. basically I think because 95% of traders don't specialise, they get a 'tip' on the footsie or a 'tip' on usd/jpy or hear a bit of news and trade a market they don't understand. Don't do that, pick a market and learn everything you can about that market and watch it as often as you can and learn what affects it and why. thats how you get to become one the 5% that succeeds. theres no easy shortcut, no secret, no holy grail, its just hard work, research and dedication. if you have that you can make money.

Say you decide to trade in oil learn everything about the oil market supply/demand, inflationary/deflationary concerns, Opec reports. inventories, find out when important announcements are due, find out what the hedgefunds are doing, trackdown all the analysts. read all government reports, watch how the usdx affects oil, watch the chart and how it behaves as the data comes in, learn some basic tech analysis and how to read tech indictors etc, learn everything, become an expert. Thats how you succeed.

musehead

smeagold wrote: »

Gold and silver are in a multiyear bull market and while they might suffer corrections they won't collapse so even if I get a trade wrong or the market moves against me I can leave that position open for days knowing that it will come back up

Sounds like a risky strategy!

smeagold

musehead wrote: »

Sounds like a risky strategy!

Research the drops:

The average of all major corrections is 19.7%. Based on the London PM fix of $28.55 on November 9, silver would fall to $22.92 if it matched the average decline. As of Wednesdays close of $25.20, silver has fallen 11.7%, comparatively small.

If we remove the 20008 meltdown, the average of all pullbacks is 17.7%. If we hit that average, the silver price would fall to $23.50.
Since silver logged its second biggest run-up, what if it matched its second biggest decline? If we again remove the 2008 aberration, a 33.7% correction would take the price to $18.92.

Only in a full-blown deflationary sell-off do I see silver losing a third of its value. And if it did, I'd be turning over couch cushions to find every spare nickel I could to buy it.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/silver-could-drop-another-8--before-making-a-big-spike-2010-11#ixzz15lKtwOkF

my account balance could easily withstand such a correction even with 6 open positions swinging in the breeze. with plenty of capital to spare to buy at the bottom.