Who punts on the stock market?

[BlasterBates]

It just looks like futures trading. Futures are very similar in that they go up and down with the current market, and give you an opportunity to speculate on stocks indices, FX rates etc. It would be interesting to compare.

[_V_]

I'm playing using https://www.tradindex.com/index.asp

I've just managed to lose £1K in about 15 seconds.

Thank god it's not real money.

[Pondlife]

What's the consus on spread betting? I don't really do stock market investments (I love property ), but spread bets look like fun and no tax either.

A good thing to play with?

I think that there's the potential to get seriously burnt. In short your losses are not limited to the money you've put in.

[_V_]

What's the consus on spread betting? I don't really do stock market investments (I love property ), but spread bets look like fun and no tax either.

A good thing to play with?

[BlasterBates]

Be very careful of stop-losses.

Firstly sometimes the price will dip momentarily, say over a day trigger the stop-loss, cause a sale and a day later they're back up. That happened to me so I don't use them anymore. But then I do buy and sell volatile stocks.


Secondly there are spreads so when you buy and sell you can lose 10% easily simply on the spread, nothing to do with the price. So it is expensive, it can mean a triggered stop-loss on 10% causes 15-20% losses. But admittedly this does depend on market liquidity.

Thirdly if the market suddenly crashes you may very well find you get the crappiest price of the day.

Personally I prefer to do without.

[Ardesco]

It's all good, just make sure you have stop losses in place so that if the shares suddenly do start to dive your stock is auto sold. Unless you are watching them all the time the market is open it could happen to you so the added security is useful.

Also funds are worth looking into. I used up my ISA allowance on the Fidelity Special Situations Fund a few years ago and make a nice 40% increase over 2 years. Was useful as part of a deposit for a new place

[BlasterBates]

The shares then went to over 60p a share

Exactly....i.e. try again

The trouble is this often happens the instincts take over, you lose money and then never touch them again.

I invested in the late 1990's in emerging markets, the portfolio halved in value and I was very tempted to dump the whole lot, but I didn't, I checked the financial health of the companies, making sure I hadn't bought basket cases and you know within a few years the halved portfolio had quadrupled.

I'm now heavily building up a position after the Spring drop. I'm putting thousands more pounds in to selected stocks.

So the morale is, get decent stock valuations i.e. don't buy "puffed up" stocks and get an analysis and it is available and if the stock is good and it goes down, hey buy some more

I've just gone big time into a Brazilian telecoms, it just dropped a few percent so, hey they're even cheaper man, and got some more, and guesss what? just made a few hundred overnight

The thing is once you get into the groove i.e. holding cash so you can dive in during those heart stopping 20% drops, and have the guts to go in and buy when all the stock sites have horrible red fonts all over them you can really limit your losses, and make some serious dosh.

I have access to an Equity research website from an Investment bank, so I check the valuations.

[MarillionFan]

I was thinking of giving £20000 to the Labour party.
Peerage and sound financial move methinks!

[ChimpMaster]

I regular punt on the stock markets. I don't trade shares though, they're too expensive, slow and you need too much money.

Try CFDs , Listed CFDs, covered warrants. They allow you to use smaller amounts of cash to leverage up greater volumes. The result is greater profit or loss for your initial capital.

Good luck.

[_V_]

All money should be channelled into houses in the UK. They are going through the roof. Easy, crash proof returns.

HTH

[Jabberwocky]

I punt on the Cam whilst a beautiful undergrad girl sucks on my big toe.

[expat]

Many a year ago (dotcom) I used to have a flutter on the stock market. Over a two year period I invested(nay wasted) 2k a month.

I lost most of it when the towers went down. One company had something to do with insurance and was tied to the tower, the other made airplanes.

I then spent 3 months daytrading to get some losses back and my last set of shares was worth £20k in a company called Spirent. I bought them at around 6p, sold them at 11p and used the money for the shop. The shares then went to over 60p a share(gutted to say the least).

I now steer clear.

Who still punts on the stock market?

I bought airline shares on September 13th 2001. They were very cheap....

[MrsGoof]

ahh penny shares

the old man started on them a few years back, when he closed his portfolio he bought a house for about £1.5milln, and can he event afford a birthday card for me.

Fecker

[AtW]

I lost most of it when the towers went down. One company had something to do with insurance and was tied to the tower, the other made airplanes.

Now I know why Mordac calls you "Lucky"...

[MarillionFan]

Many a year ago (dotcom) I used to have a flutter on the stock market. Over a two year period I invested(nay wasted) 2k a month.

I lost most of it when the towers went down. One company had something to do with insurance and was tied to the tower, the other made airplanes.

I then spent 3 months daytrading to get some losses back and my last set of shares was worth £20k in a company called Spirent. I bought them at around 6p, sold them at 11p and used the money for the shop. The shares then went to over 60p a share(gutted to say the least).

I now steer clear.

Who still punts on the stock market?