It’s been a few months since I last traded and the reasons are many. The reason I still haven’t traded is one of time and confidence. On the time front I have a heavy workload and a fantastic newborn son to play with. Both of these are keeping me for giving a 100% to my market analysis but I’m not complaining. This time away has taught me more about relaxing, patience timing and the markets ability to surprise. It’s been time well spent.

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I am getting back into the daily news and trying to get my focus back on the markets. It’s another earnings season and with that we can expect some good beats and some scary misses. The interesting thing will be if we can push the markets higher or sink back lower when all is said and done. Personally I think we will escape flat to slightly higher once the earnings are over and this will leave us time for a nice Christmas rally. Yeah I’m already thinking of the Christmas rally. Every year it has taken me for a ride but maybe this year I should sit it out and save some cash.

The rally so far has taken on many new subscribers with me included. Many of the perma-bears have shed their coat and are now wearing a nice new
bull skin. I had thought that the fundamentals would have put the breaks on the markets but then lots of little things kept improving. This morning is a case in point as UK house prices rise for the first time in 16 months. All this little signs have fed the most amazing and unprecedented rally in recent history. Hindsight has clearly shown us that the March lows were very oversold but the current pricing in of growth is in my humble opinion overly exuberant. Somewhere in between these two extremes lies the perfect market price. However that’s not my concern, in the past this would have swayed my view but now I’m just watching the trend and not questioning the greed.

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And finally I have the new site design live after what seems like forever. The new site is broken into a few new sections which should make it easier to get around. The Trade Diary will have my views and opinions on current market news whilst the Trade History will document my trading patterns.

A new Spread Betting section will document my trials and tribulations as I try and become a successful trader. This section is more of a cathartic look at my failing and insights on how to remedy those. It should prove beneficial to beginner traders and those looking to learn from my mistakes. Finally the Book Reviews are self explanatory. I hope you like the new design and I’m looking forward to getting back into the markets after a long break. All feedback is more than welcome.

Welcome to the new Spread Betting category which seeks to explain why I have been away for an extended period. The purpose of this new section is to work through the mistakes I have made in order to learn from them in an attempt not to repeat them. Hopefully this will help me by exploring the though process of some of the catastrophic decisions I have made and hopefully it will help those reading to not make the same mistakes.

I want to try and explore the psychology of trading and the impact emotion has on fear and greed. I want to take a detailed look at how trading affects you emotionally and physically in order to understand how to control the emotional and irrational side of trading. I know these things have been explored in depth by qualified traders but considering 90% of spread bettors fail I think an ordinary punters view and experience may help others starting out. Over the next few weeks I will start a series of articles tracing my last trades and the progressively deteriorating decisions I made. I’m looking forward to the whole experience and hopefully it will help me regain my confidence and bring me closer to being a more focused and determined trader.

This book doesn’t quite fit the whole spread betting theme but it does provide a fascinating insight into the mind of a gifted and inspired visionary. Now I know Alan Greenspan is getting a bit of a hard time lately being branded the scapegoat for the subprime crisis. However this man presided over the financial system of the United States through some of the most problematic periods in economic history. His legacy may now be slightly blemished but his wisdom and insight are as valuable now as they were then.

The book leads you through his life from his earlier years in a nostalgic and eloquent manner as you might expect. It is a personal memoir that makes you feel a part of it, giving you the sense that he is speaking to you over a whiskey by the fire. This tone is carried through the first half of the book as he discusses his love of numbers and music. An endearing tale of a man who had strong personal values and a firm belief in himself which is what led him through his earlier years.

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I need to preface this review by stating that this book does contain many gems of information and is a good worthwhile addition to any spread bettors library. That said why the mountain? If I wanted a mountaineering book I surly would have bought one. The necessity to metaphor learning with climbing a mountain for anyone older than 5 years of age should never be used as a writer’s device, in any book (except for a mountaineering book).

Malcolm has successfully turned an exciting and adrenaline educing topic into a lecture on the physics of molecular diversity within singular cell organisms. The drab tone and lack lustre writing is a kin to reading a technical manual whilst your great new shiny tech toy sits on the floor.

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Having read the “Beginners Guide to Short Term Trading” I bought this and even though they have similar content they do complement each other. Toni Turners friendly style delivers a coherent dissection of the skills required and introduces you to each. The chapters are again logically driven and well defined.

This book goes into further detail on technical trading and charts are well discussed. The theme is obviously geared towards day trading but the principals are similar and the book does provide some valuable insights. For day traders the language is broken down and the differing types of day trader analysed. Instead of recommending a path or strategy Toni simply outlines the options to allow you to choose. The pros and cons to each of these are well discussed as are methods of trying each.

This is another good book from an authoritative figure which will have you scalping and shorting in no time.

This book is a must have in any traders arsenal. It is insightful and logically progresses step by step through each chapter. This approach builds on the knowledge you have gained and advances it incrementally thus never making the book feel like a heavy text book.

Toni Turner talks from the perspective of a winning trader who has had a long successful career. She shares her wins and losses and most importantly the knowledge she gained through each. From a basic history of the stock market to setting up, technical and fundamental analysis the book delivers a well rounded introduction to short term trading.

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