Chesterfield Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Spreadbetting has the unique feature that you can lose more than your initial investment, so be sure you understand the total risk before wading in. A simple calculation of your risk is: bet per point X total current price of the shares. eg. £5 per point on a 341p share gives a total risk of £1,705. If this share is in banking then the total margin required to place the bet is about 10%, which means you need £171 in your spread betting account to take out a £5 per point bet on that share. However, if that share goes to Zero, then you owe 341p x £5, which is the full value of the risk (£1,705). Hence why you can lose more than your initial investment. Multiply the bet by ten and you can see how for an initial investment of £1705 you can effectively make as much profit as if you had purchased £17,050 worth of shares... If they go to zero though you will owe the full £17,050 just if you had bought the shares.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Spreadbetting has the unique feature that you can lose more than your initial investment, so be sure you understand the total risk before wading in. A simple calculation of your risk is: bet per point X total current price of the shares. eg. £5 per point on a 341p share gives a total risk of £1,705. If this share is in banking then the total margin required to place the bet is about 10%, which means you need £171 in your spread betting account to take out a £5 per point bet on that share. However, if that share goes to Zero, then you owe 341p x £5, which is the full value of the risk (£1,705). Hence why you can lose more than your initial investment. Multiply the bet by ten and you can see how for an initial investment of £1705 you can effectively make as much profit as if you had purchased £17,050 worth of shares... If they go to zero though you will owe the full £17,050 just if you had bought the shares.... not to forget its tax free at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 Always been interested in buying stocks, but never sure where to start. Any websites you can advise where to read up to get an understanding of everything? What is the best way to start? Read the whole thread - I've given all the info you want twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Did anything come of MERE? I was considering putting a few bucks on it. Bottled it though I dont have a scoob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 Did anything come of MERE? I was considering putting a few bucks on it. Bottled it though I dont have a scoob 115 to 140 in 48 hours - anybody sticking their £10,200 allowance in would have made £2,300 "overnight" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Did anything come of MERE? I was considering putting a few bucks on it. Bottled it though I dont have a scoob 115 to 140 in 48 hours - anybody sticking their £10,200 allowance in would have made £2,300 "overnight" Thats heavy investment though. I was thinking of throwing £500 in I cant match the big rollers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARphotographs Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 a friend of mine advised me to run a ghost account on interactive investor, so i can get my head around it with no worries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted April 21, 2010 Author Share Posted April 21, 2010 Did anything come of MERE? I was considering putting a few bucks on it. Bottled it though I dont have a scoob 115 to 140 in 48 hours - anybody sticking their £10,200 allowance in would have made £2,300 "overnight" Thats heavy investment though. I was thinking of throwing £500 in I cant match the big rollers Nothing wrong with working with £500 - you'd have still made £115 on MERE. Open an account with TD Waterhouse or similar and see how you do. Maybe buy 3 stocks ranging from blue-chip (Tescos, ICI, Vodaphone) to mildly risky (Lloyds) to speculative. I'd go Centamin Egypt (CEY) for this. Gold miner with potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kazman Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Some interesting info here, may start researching some of the links you have provided. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 I'll have to check on figures but in HMV,DES,BT & RRL at the mo, waiting for LLOY & RBS to drop again to buy in and keeping my eye on TW & HAWK. Just bought 84,000 RRL shares. There's a "drink" for you when they reach 5p RRL up to 5.5p Mr Wrightster - up 30% today. PM me and the "drink" will be on its way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 what do we think the euro vs usd will be end next week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted May 22, 2010 Author Share Posted May 22, 2010 No idea bud. All I know is I've lost £4k in 4 days 'cos of the Krauts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 No idea bud. All I know is I've lost £4k in 4 days 'cos of the Krauts. was planning on going in at 1.24 to bet downwards but after monitoring it for the first half of the day it looks like it's a high resistance to go any deeper unless there are crazy news next week that nobody knows about (internally) already... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andlid Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 should have gone in on the usd... should have gotten BP... (bet downwards) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToffeeZ Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Is it worth a punt on BP shares ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Remains to be seen what the US will dish out to BP in terms of sanctions. If they are prohibited from bidding for any new US contracts, then that could be a further downward movement as 10% of their global revenue comes from that market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 I don't see the US handing out any new licenses for the blocks they have and I don't see them getting future blocks. The US really dislike BP after the explosion at the plant and now this spill. The explosion resulted in the biggest corporate fine ever IIRC so expect similar for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 I guess the Americans wont like higher fuel prices then.... All will be forgiven when petrol hits $10 a gallon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted June 10, 2010 Author Share Posted June 10, 2010 Is it worth a punt on BP shares ? Bought £7.5k at an average of 404p so I guess yes. Closing SP of 366p. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Great thread! Just a quick note to say that 'cmc markets', TD Waterhouse and pretty much most spread betting companies are simply a whitelabel company for City Index - Those are the real people you're dealing with. I should know, I used to work for them! lol The two big players for spread betting and CFDs is City Index and IG Index - That's pretty much it. Anyone else you find will be going through one of these two companies, that includes iii.co.uk, barclays stockbrokers, and so on... A little bit of inside info for ya! As for actually trading, I'm getting back into it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Thought I'd resurrect this thread as the last 18 months panned out pretty well (135% up compared to 0.5% in a savings account ) so I'm happy to share experiences if anybody's interested. Please ensure you read the disclaimer from the mods and understand I am NOT a qualified IFA and I am NOT giving financial advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I work for a major financial data company*, annoyingly for any purchase of shares over a certain limit (i.e: anything that would be worth the investment) I have to get approval from the company prior to the purchase which usually means by the time I get approval I no longer want to invest in that stock - PITA. Because of that I can't really take part, but I'll watch this thread with interest. *The name's above - not going to say which 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan21 Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I've been wanting to invest properly in shares for a long term so wil defiantly be interested in having a few people to chat to about potential tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 I've been wanting to invest properly in shares for a long term so wil defiantly be interested in having a few people to chat to about potential tips. Happy to oblige. You need to work out a few things: 1. How much to invest. This isn't the same as saving. You can lose a large % in a day - see BP. 2. Attitude to risk. You can buy shares in Tesco, Vodaphone, Scottish Water etc. and look forward to a nice 5% dividend and a marginal share rise each year. Or..............you can buy shares in fledgling oil and gas explorers on the AIM market and make 1000% in a year - or lose it all when they go bust! A balanced portfolio is most adviseable. 3. Whatever you do, ensure that up to £10,200 of your investment is put in a stocks and shares ISA because it's free of CGT. 4. Length of investment. My plan is to retire by 55 at the VERY latest. This gives me 8 more years to build a susbstantial fund. If you are younger and plan to retire later, your investment strategy may be different. You might want to "day-trade" (buying and selling shares within hours/days) on spikes and troughs. In my experience this is very tricky unless you are "in the know". Looking back at all the shares I've sold over the last 18 months, the vast majority are now worth more than when I sold and I would have done just as well by holding. If you answer these questions then you should be able to work out a strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I work for a major financial data company*, annoyingly for any purchase of shares over a certain limit (i.e: anything that would be worth the investment) I have to get approval from the company prior to the purchase which usually means by the time I get approval I no longer want to invest in that stock - PITA. Because of that I can't really take part, but I'll watch this thread with interest. *The name's above - not going to say which 1. In this case would spread betting be a viable option? Just calculate your overall risk to be the same value as you would actually wish to invest if the option to purchase was available. Though I guess the reason for getting aproval is to ensure they cannot be accused of providing insider information - so perhaps they apply the same rules to spread betting and the overall "value" of the risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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