My First Spread Bet
Bob Smith is an experienced spread better with 5 years under his belt. He has taken the time to discuss his personal experiences, tips, suggestions and methods he uses while spread betting. The Spread Betting Trading Centre conducted this interview in July 2007
Spread Betting Trading Centre: When did you start spread betting? Do you remember what your first bet was on?
Bob Smith: I started about 5 years ago. I can't remember my first bet, other than it was a FTSE 100 stock.
Spread Betting Trading Centre: What first attracted you to spread betting and what keeps you betting?
Bob Smith: It is a way of making greater tax free profits principally on shares I hold anyway whilst tying up less capital. I keep betting because I keep making money. If I didn't, I would stop.
Spread Betting Trading Centre: What do you use spread betting for - hedging short-term deals, capital gain, etc.?
Bob Smith: Solely capital gain. I have considered using it for hedging, but for Private Investors, I don't think the figures stack up. Better to do your research and planning thoroughly and back your judgement. Of course you'll make mistakes from time to time but overall, if you're disciplined, you should make money. The important thing I think is to bench mark yourself against an index, and keep records, so you're not kidding yourself you're making money if your not.
Spread Betting Trading Centre: How often do you check and/or change your bets and why?
Bob Smith: I check them every day. I manage my spread betting portfolio in exactly the same way as my equity portfolio. As long as a stock or sector is going the way I thought it would, I tend to stick with it. There's an even greater temptation to over trade on spread bets than on equities, but the very act of trading eats away at your profits mainly because of spread. The only difference is in the last month of a spread betting position, where I err on the side of caution. I aim never to let a profit turn into a loss, especially in the last few weeks so if the short term trend is down, I am more inclined to close the position, whereas I wouldn't necessarily sell the corresponding equity as long as I was happy that the underlying trend was still valid. I am quite happy to roll over positions as often as I can, but only roll over a position if I would have opened a new one if I didn't already have the old one: in other words, when it comes to deciding whether to roll over, my main consideration is whether the reasons for opening it originally are still valid.
Page 1 - My First Spread Bet
Page 2 - Never Change a Spread Betting Stop Loss Page 3 - My Spread Betting Gains and Losses Page 4 - Spead Betting Tips and Methods
