IG index & my partner

dilemma10

Hi everybody,
I am not sure what anybody could say to help but my boyfriend is wildly addicted to the IG Index and playing around with currencies, however, this has spiralled out of control!
He is only 22 and had managed to save around £10k so was doing fantastically all on his own. He used to only invest in shares and at one point had £14k in his bank. However he then discovered the IG Index and that was the worst thing to ever happen...he went from £10k to £6.5k in a week and then in the space of another week back down to £3.5k. Well on Sunday evening he made £900 so was happy but reinvested it in the Nikkei and now OWES £1.6k to IG Index. He now has about just less than £2k.
The weird thing is, although he is distraught about it, he is adament that he is good at the system and he sits on his laptop all day and night chasing the arrows and playing on his demo account.
He also spent £60 on a trading systems book and says he wants to do it for a career.
I am seriously pulling my hair out at the fact somebody just lost 80-90% of their savings in less than a month!!!

sabretoothtigger

For 10k I would say a reasonable daily limit to losses would be about 1%
Doubling the bet to 'win' is a classic mistake.

Instead of coming across as moaning at him, you could buy him a place at a seminar with Robbie Burns or similar. I know he is quite good on limiting risks and your bf can hardly argue with an expert on good advice

edinburgher

He's obviously not very good at 'the system' if he's lost 80-90% of his savings in what sounds like a relatively short space of time.

You're right to be worried, but your post is a little confusing, as you say he owes IG Index £1600, but still has just under £2000. Does this mean he has £3600, but owes them £1600? Perhaps present the hard facts that if he continues to be as 'good' as he currently is, that he could easily go from having savings to being a debtor in another fortnight?

Sounds like he has far too high a tolerance for risk/a possible gambling issue there. I'd consider doing some research on this.

Sceptic001

This sounds like a gambling problem. Try http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/

ses6jwg

I closed my IG Index account as I found it was too dangerous.

Henry_P_Chester

Sceptic001 wrote: »

This sounds like a gambling problem. Try http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/

Agreed. He has no system to manage risk and is gambling wildly by the sounds of it.

I use IG for spread bets. It takes huge discipline and control, if someone is of an addictive/gambling background they should stay well away.

jimjames

Sceptic001 wrote: »

This sounds like a gambling problem. Try http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/

Good place to look for advice as the way he is doing it really is gambling not investing.

It might not seem it at the moment but you may have caught it just in time as he has "only" lost his savings. At least he has not yet racked up thousands of debt although that sounds like a possibility if he carries on.

The only winner will be IG Index.

Unfortunately it doesn't give the same buzz but the saying "get rich slowly" is the way to build up money long term investing in boring shares and holding them.

Loughton_Monkey

dilemma10 wrote: »

.....Well on Sunday evening he made £900 so was happy but reinvested it in the Nikkei and now OWES £1.6k to IG Index.............. !!!

Nothing will convince me you are not making this up!

The Japanese Stock market was closed Friday before the earthquake. The Japanese Stock market had not opened for Monday.

I even made a post myself saying that in pre-trading it was 'only' 4% down.

You are telling us that he bought the Nikkei??

If you told us he shorted it, then fine, he would have recovered some of his losses.

He BOUGHT Japan stocks straight after the biggest earthquake in history.

You are having a very sick laugh. He cannot be that stupid. Please take your ironic humour to "Money Saver's Arms".

jimjames

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Nothing will convince me you are not making this up!

The Japanese Stock market was closed Friday before the earthquake. The Japanese Stock market had not opened for Monday.

Sunday eve/Monday morning UK time would have the Japanese market open. Other currency markets would be open on Sunday - it doesn't say Nikkei trading made the money.

If it is a partner's trading then knowing every detail of the trade and technical terms like shorting seems unlikely when to a layperson it is buying/selling. I know my wife wouldn't know technical terms to describe my trading if she had to explain it.

I just hope the partner isn't foxwales
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3081200

Loughton_Monkey

jimjames wrote: »

Sunday eve/Monday morning UK time would have the Japanese market open. Other currency markets would be open on Sunday - it doesn't say Nikkei trading made the money.

If it is a partner's trading then knowing every detail of the trade and technical terms like shorting seems unlikely when to a layperson it is buying/selling. I know my wife wouldn't know technical terms to describe my trading if she had to explain it.

Well the way I read it was quite clear. Having made £900 that evening on something and then he invested it on Nikkei and owed them £1,600! And we know he didn't short otherwise he would have been rich. But the point is I don't believe anyone would do that. A bit like buying a holiday home in Libya the day after the first demonstration.

blinko

this sounds like a wind up i think we should let this topic die