The Financial Spread Betting Handbook

by Pryor, Malcolm

• ISBN13: 9780857190857
• ISBN10: 0857190857
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-08-31
• Publisher: Harriman House Pub

Summary

Reach the heights of spread betting success! Financial spread betting is growing in popularity. But who wins and who loses at this game? What do the winners do that differs from the losers? That is what this book is about. Malcolm Pryor uses the model of climbing a mountain to explain a disciplined, winning approach to spread betting. First a base camp must be established: which includes getting set up with the right corporate data, charting and accounts software, deciding what to bet on and what your time frame should be, learning the nuances of operating an account, controlling risk, and learning from other people's mistakes. Many spread betters don't even get this far. Next, we start climbing the mountain: this means having strategies that are right for us. The whole of this section is devoted to illustrating strategies which can be used for spread betting, for example trend following, counter trend strategies and delta neutral strategies such as pairs trading. Finally, we make our assault on the summit of the mountain: which is where the winners set themselves apart from the losers. Issues covered here include trade planning, record keeping, performance reviews, more on risk management, psychology and continual development. Spread betting is great fun, and almost anyone can enjoy the odd bet now and again. But if you want to make money from spread betting, then it must be taken seriously and a disciplined and tactical approach is required. This book is the essential guide to get to the top of the mountain.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2011 edition	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgements	p. xviii
Risk Warning	p. xix
Introduction	p. xxi
Base Camp	p. 1
Choosing A Spread Betting Firm	p. 5
Origins and growth of the market	p. 7
Selection criteria	p. 8
The 6-Stage Plan for opening an account	p. 9
Getting Set Up - Computer Hardware And Software	p. 11
Hardware	p. 13
Internet connection	p. 15
General software	p. 15
Backing up	p. 16
Trading Resources	p. 17
Trading software	p. 19
Price data	p. 21
Information	p. 24
Websites	p. 25
What Do Winning Spread Bettors Bet On?	p. 27
Markets	p. 29
The 3 key tests	p. 32
Differences between the spread betting firms	p. 37
Personal observation	p. 37
Choosing A Spread Betting Type	p. 39
Types of betting	p. 41
Differences between the spread betting firms	p. 47
Timescales For Spread Bets	p. 49
Extremely short timescale	p. 51
Short timescale	p. 51
Medium timescale	p. 52
Long timescale	p. 52
Very long timescale	p. 54
Pricing And Hedging	p. 57
Do they really want you to win?	p. 59
How spread betting firms work out their prices	p. 61
How competitive is the market?	p. 64
Do they hedge?	p. 64
Future developments - a wish list	p. 65
10 Common And Really Expensive Spread Betting Errors	p. 67
No edge	p. 69
No planning	p. 69
Wrong bet size	p. 70
No risk management	p. 71
Mistiming exits	p. 72
Out of control	p. 74
Not in tune with the markets	p. 75
Running before walking	p. 76
Emotionally unstable	p. 76
Not taking responsibility	p. 77
Keeping Losses Small - The Stop Loss	p. 79
Stop or no stop?	p. 81
Near or far?	p. 82
Automated or mental?	p. 83
Instant or delayed?	p. 84
Techniques for placing stops	p. 84
One more useful approach - the time stop	p. 87
Two tips	p. 87
Moving stops	p. 88
Spread Betting Order Types	p. 91
Time stop	p. 97
Are some orders better than others?	p. 98
What's on offer in the market?	p. 100
Practical Issues	p. 101
Order placement	p. 103
Automated stop orders	p. 107
Dispute resolution	p. 109
Funds transfers	p. 111
Keep abreast of your margining position	p. 111
Congratulations!	p. 112
Climbing The Mountain	p. 113
Finding A Strategy That Works For You	p. 117
What do you like?	p. 119
Technical analysis is excellent for spread betting	p. 120
The basic choice: trend or countertrend strategies?	p. 123
Or delta neutral strategies	p. 125
Master one strategy first	p. 125
Spread Betting Strategy I - Betting On A Trend - Trend Identification	p. 127
Basic concept - using spread betting to ride a trend	p. 129
Break outs or pullbacks?	p. 132
How to identify trends	p. 132
Spread Betting Strategy I - Betting On A Trend - Selecting A Bet	p. 147
Simplifying trade selection - the weekly shortlist	p. 150
Simplifying trade selection - identifying daily set ups	p. 152
Taking the trade - entry triggers	p. 155
A new approach to short listing	p. 157
Spread Betting Strategy I - Betting On A Trend - Bet Size	p. 159
Taking the trade - the right size of spread bet	p. 161
When To Exit A Bet	p. 167
The bet goes against us	p. 169
The bet goes nowhere	p. 169
The reason for the bet disappears	p. 170
The bet goes our way	p. 170
The Re-entry	p. 177
Spread Betting Strategy II - Betting On Reversals	p. 181
Buying support and selling resistance	p. 183
Betting on candle patterns	p. 185
Betting on gaps	p. 187
Betting on divergence	p. 187
Spread Betting Strategy III - In And Out Within A Day	p. 191
You need the time to do this	p. 193
Finding intraday bets	p. 193
Betting as company results come out	p. 193
Betting on false break outs	p. 195
Betting on blow offs	p. 198
Betting on indices and currencies intraday	p. 199
Binary betting	p. 202
Advanced Strategies	p. 207
Arbitrage	p. 209
Pairs trading	p. 211
Hedging	p. 215
The Route To The Summit	p. 217
The Right Strategy For You	p. 221
Character	p. 223
Account size	p. 224
Beliefs	p. 224
Attitude to risk	p. 226
Staying In Control - Planning	p. 229
Annual trading plan	p. 231
A week in the life of a successful spread bettor	p. 233
Staying In Control - Record Keeping	p. 237
Staying In Control - Regular Reviews	p. 241
Monthly review	p. 243
Annual review	p. 244
Staying In Control - Risk Management, Again	p. 245
Staying in tune with the markets	p. 247
Monitoring positions	p. 248
Margin control	p. 249
Managing total exposure and leverage	p. 249
Net long/short	p. 251
Diversification	p. 251
Standing aside	p. 251
Counterparty risk	p. 252
Exceptional events	p. 252
Contingency planning	p. 252
Developing A Winning Attitude	p. 255
Profile of the successful spread bettor	p. 258
10 rules for profitable spread betting	p. 260
Continual Development	p. 263
Books	p. 265
Seminars	p. 267
Appendices	p. 269
Examples of Basic Bets	p. 271
Spread Betting Glossary	p. 273
ADX	p. 275
Support and Resistance	p. 276
Betting via Exchanges	p. 277
How it works	p. 277
Benefits and risks of this type of betting	p. 277
Index	p. 279
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