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Hi, I won't bore you with a detailed biography, but a few words of introduction might be useful. I live and work in Derbyshire with my wife and family; I've had a varied but (so far!) fairly uneventful life; I'm neither rich nor poor, and most importantly, I've finally reached an age where I've stopped caring about my age! Other than family my main interests are reading (sci-fi, horror, aviation, history), learning/playing electric guitar and, of course, spread betting. I actually first 'dabbled' with spread betting about 10 years ago; unfortunately this was a complete disaster and resulted in a loss of around £4000 over a fairly short period of time! Naturally I vowed never to indulge again; however time is a great healer, and back in April 2010 I decided, somewhat tentatively, to try again? Why then, after such an experience, am I stepping back into the Lion's den? And why, indeed, am I bothering with spread betting at all? Well, firstly I really enjoy spread betting; to me the whole process is an exciting and fascinating exercise in trying to beat the system. Secondly, and despite the odds being stacked against the average spread better, the prospect of free money is very appealing. And last, but not least, the great thing about spread betting is the ability to 'punt' (for want of a better word) on different shares and financial markets with relatively small amounts of money. Ten years ago I managed to survive a month or so in SB before falling by the wayside; this time around I'm into my seventh month (at time of writing). I am also holding a small profit which, I like to think, is not entirely down to luck. Although I enjoy the process and mechanics of spread betting I'm mostly here for the money - well potential money anyway - but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. In any event I'm pleased to have survived this far relatively intact; my main ambition now is to survive into, and hopefully beyond 2011. If I can manage that then my chances of making reasonable returns will be so much the greater. According to Vince Stanzioni (the spread betting guru you either love or loathe) at least 80% of all new spread betters lose serious money within the first 6-12 months of starting trading - well he was spot on in my case! So, if we are to accept these figures, then anyone trading beyond this period is, by definition, a winner. That's the theory anyway! The other aspect to starting up again is this: I learnt some very useful lessons the first time round. One of these lessons (amongst many) is NEVER TRADE WITHOUT A STOP LOSS in place, at least not until you are a very experienced spread better. This is undoubtedly the single biggest reason I lost so much money... Also I had the 'misfortune' of enjoying some early profits - about £600 in the first week - and this resulted in a serious case of over confidence; - not a useful trait in any form of betting. In retrospect I suppose losing money, whilst not desireable, could be considered a useful experience. It was useful for me anyway - and I'm certainly not as impatient to trade as I used to be. By the way I lost most of my money by tradiing the FTSE; this is another useful lesson: only trade shares when you start out as the FTSE is far too volatile for beginners!
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