The Gold contract that I sold at a loss for $663.05 a couple of days ago is now worth $671.
Today, I shorted TLS @ $4.49, since it looked to have formed a double top at $4.55 , and guess what - it punches through and closes @ $4.62! So I'm trading in the red in this one - when I had fantastic visions of making some decent $$. Apparently, the reason for this was because of telecom re-rating happening in the US due to higher oil prices (communication being a substitute for transport). Also, read a rumour on HC that in May, when the Future Fund can get out of its T3 holding, TLS may come into play.
Now the thing is - what do I do with this position? I have a SL @$4.79, just above the next resistance point @ $4.74 - do I switch my position about?
I have a few speccy shares on my investment wishlist - TFE and TRF among them. Unfortunately, I haven't had any money lying around to do anything about them - and have looked helplessly on as TFE has gone from $0.47 to $0.61 earlier this week and TRF ran from $0.81 y'day to $1.02 today.
OK - so you say - "dude, you could have borrowed the money"; and I say "I could have - but I have an aversion to debt, and taking it on to buy speccy stocks isn't my idea of smart".
On the positive side, ARU and NUP have been blazing along; and APG had a good run today as well. So, maybe, the market isn't cruel after all - it is just ... the market.
Showing posts with label CFDs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CFDs. Show all posts
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Finally!
Got to put in a couple of orders this morning!
Long OXR @ $2.7 (current price $2.8), and short ZFX @ $17.15 (current price $16.2). These haven't been filled yet, but I expect it won't be long.
Tried the long position on LHG, however "Computer says no".
When I think about it, both these positions are me trying to 'catch a falling knife'. Which, I've been told is a bad idea. Conceptually, I get that - however, since I'm not sitting in front of the screen all day (much as I would like to), I need to make (what I consider) to be calculated risks. Let's see how this plays out....
Methinx there a bearish pattern developing in AMP. Will watch it some more.
Long OXR @ $2.7 (current price $2.8), and short ZFX @ $17.15 (current price $16.2). These haven't been filled yet, but I expect it won't be long.
Tried the long position on LHG, however "Computer says no".
When I think about it, both these positions are me trying to 'catch a falling knife'. Which, I've been told is a bad idea. Conceptually, I get that - however, since I'm not sitting in front of the screen all day (much as I would like to), I need to make (what I consider) to be calculated risks. Let's see how this plays out....
Methinx there a bearish pattern developing in AMP. Will watch it some more.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
This stinks!
So I roll up - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to put through my first CFD trade. Get the computer going, log into my account.... and find that I can't see any shares listed. That's Stink#1.
So I call IG Markets, and am told that "My Shares" will be activated in 10 minutes. Sure enough, that happens. The next thing I know, I get an email from IGM saying that unless I make 4 trades a month, I'll have to pay $38 for access to ASX prices. Not only is that wierd, coming AFTER I've signed up, its also stoopid since everyone else (and I mean Tricom) gives me free data - even on a demo account! That's Stink#2.
I think - OK, we'll try to work with that - let's get our orders in. Which leads me to Stink #3 - and this one smells. I could not place a single order!! LHG trading @ $3.16, I try to place a Buy @$3.01 with a SL @ $2.95 - I could almost hear Carol Beer saying "Computer says No". ZFX trading @ $16.33, I try to place a Sell @ $17.15 and, again, I get "Computer says No".
Fed up, I went about my day - and for the last 2 hours have been comparing Marketech's platform with Tricom's. I now think Tricom's is vastly superior to both IGMs and Marketech's in terms of breadth of low margin products (such as the NY Gold/Silver mini) offered; but most importantly at least I can put an order through, even if its outside market hours! Methinx a switch to Tricom is on the cards. Now, does IGM have a "cancellation fee" policy? That would really piss me off.
So I call IG Markets, and am told that "My Shares" will be activated in 10 minutes. Sure enough, that happens. The next thing I know, I get an email from IGM saying that unless I make 4 trades a month, I'll have to pay $38 for access to ASX prices. Not only is that wierd, coming AFTER I've signed up, its also stoopid since everyone else (and I mean Tricom) gives me free data - even on a demo account! That's Stink#2.
I think - OK, we'll try to work with that - let's get our orders in. Which leads me to Stink #3 - and this one smells. I could not place a single order!! LHG trading @ $3.16, I try to place a Buy @$3.01 with a SL @ $2.95 - I could almost hear Carol Beer saying "Computer says No". ZFX trading @ $16.33, I try to place a Sell @ $17.15 and, again, I get "Computer says No".
Fed up, I went about my day - and for the last 2 hours have been comparing Marketech's platform with Tricom's. I now think Tricom's is vastly superior to both IGMs and Marketech's in terms of breadth of low margin products (such as the NY Gold/Silver mini) offered; but most importantly at least I can put an order through, even if its outside market hours! Methinx a switch to Tricom is on the cards. Now, does IGM have a "cancellation fee" policy? That would really piss me off.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
CFDs, etc.
Finally got round to funding my CFD account with IG Markets today. Its been a bit of an ordeal trying to decide which provider gets my hard-earned $$, but eventually it became a toss-up between Tricom and IG Markets. Eventually chose IGM since their platform is hosted, which means no down-loading of software, and the freedom to access my a/c from any internet site (I'm not convinced my life is completely computer-failure proof).
The flip side is that the IGM platform is static, and can't be tailored to suit my needs. Also, Tricom has a daily newsletter from Marcus Padley, who I think is a severely under-rated dude. Since I'd signed up for a demo-version of the Tricom platform in late Jan, I'm still on the mailing list - and so am pretty happy...
Funding the account, however, has proved to be quite an event. As usual, since I don't have any money, I've had to ask my long-suffering Woman for a loan. On Sunday, 11 March, she deposited $5K into the IGM nominated account. Monday was a bank holiday, so things finally got going on Tuesday. By Thursday, however, the funds had still not showed up in my account. A phone call revealed that they couldn't trace the money! Several rounds of phonecalls later, it became clear that the seed money needed to come through MY bank account (apparently, there's this whole thing about money-laundering that they want to avoid). So the money was sent back to My Woman, who sent it to me, and I finally got round to funding my account today.
Now, as we wait patiently for it to get activated for trading, I came across this article. This quote is particularly disconcerting: "You are on the learning curve and are paying your dues. How long does it take? This is the question most frequently asked. The answer is: in my experience, it takes 10 years and 10-20,000 hours of practice before the average person gains enough expertise to succeed consistently in the trading shark tank." 20,000 hours of practice!! Crap - I'm screwed!!!
The flip side is that the IGM platform is static, and can't be tailored to suit my needs. Also, Tricom has a daily newsletter from Marcus Padley, who I think is a severely under-rated dude. Since I'd signed up for a demo-version of the Tricom platform in late Jan, I'm still on the mailing list - and so am pretty happy...
Funding the account, however, has proved to be quite an event. As usual, since I don't have any money, I've had to ask my long-suffering Woman for a loan. On Sunday, 11 March, she deposited $5K into the IGM nominated account. Monday was a bank holiday, so things finally got going on Tuesday. By Thursday, however, the funds had still not showed up in my account. A phone call revealed that they couldn't trace the money! Several rounds of phonecalls later, it became clear that the seed money needed to come through MY bank account (apparently, there's this whole thing about money-laundering that they want to avoid). So the money was sent back to My Woman, who sent it to me, and I finally got round to funding my account today.
Now, as we wait patiently for it to get activated for trading, I came across this article. This quote is particularly disconcerting: "You are on the learning curve and are paying your dues. How long does it take? This is the question most frequently asked. The answer is: in my experience, it takes 10 years and 10-20,000 hours of practice before the average person gains enough expertise to succeed consistently in the trading shark tank." 20,000 hours of practice!! Crap - I'm screwed!!!
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